Time to Stop. Think about Jesus. Love each other.
Todd has been burning the candle at both ends and in significant chunks right out of the middle and we are worn out. With nighttime turn-in landing somewhere between midnight and 2 a.m. consistently this week, as well as entire days devoted to the needs of those God has put on his path, it is a blessing to our family that a couple of times a week he goes out for an hour ride’s with the children. My frequent prayer is: Send More Workers!
Some of the key issues out there have to do with families falling apart in the 11th hour. Somewhere in the late teens, all the unwise freedoms and the seeds of dissatisfaction, the counterproductive music and the accumulation of nonnurturing experiences away from parental oversight have grown unwatched into adults marked by undesirable behavior and immature, rash thoughts with little self-control and even less principle-based living. We’re not talking about wildly rebellious young adults here; we’re talking about children floundering when they should be flourishing.
When I hear so many sad stories out there of young adult children who veer widely from the godly vision parents once had for them, I quake in my boots thinking about all the gaps in our family that we don’t spend the right amount of time filling with godly training. We had the privilege of breakfast with a missionary couple last week who –unaware of our recent counseling with fractured families– said something that spoke right into my soul: “keep your family a priority, right next to your relationship to God, and don’t sacrifice family on the altar of ministry”. He said he lost his own sons and daughters because he didn’t put them in their proper place in his priorities. Now that he is in his seventies, he is slowly gaining back their hearts.
Do you want some good news? Thursday, Todd and our oldest son spent over four hours with a 20 year old guy who told us that when he was 18 and not a believer, he frequently heard older people pray for his salvation, and he stubbornly thought in his heart, “I won’t let them have their prayers answered”. Yet God drew this young man’s heart to Himself, bit by bit, until His overwhelming love and abundant mercy won over human pride and stubbornness. What a great encouragement to each of us to pray unceasingly for our children.
As for the Report of God’s Provision, we remain in northern Indiana, ministering, waiting on God, and carving out an hour here and a half hour there to nurture the bonds of family.
Happy 4th of July to all of you!
