A Mom's Moment
"A Mom's Heart's Desire"
by Grace Fox
Women Alive Online Magazine, June 2007
Hey, moms! What desires do you embrace for your sons and daughters - freedom from financial stress? A lifelong committed marriage? To be surrounded by a great company of friends? To know the gift of good health?
My desires for my children include all of the above. But there's another that towers above the rest: Ultimately, I want my kids to know the Lord and to follow His ways. So far, so good.
Four years ago, daughter #1 left home to attend Bible college. I'll always remember the day we delivered her to the campus. We helped her unpack, and then we exchanged tearful goodbye hugs in the parking lot.
Time has flown like a Boeing 747 streaking across the sky and drawn us back to the same campus for graduation. The uncertain teen we left in the parking lot is gone. In her place stands a confident young woman, eager to spread her wings and soar. Her intended goal is to serve the Lord as an overseas missionary.
And then there's daughter #2. In April we celebrated her twentieth birthday with angel food cake and fresh sliced strawberries. As I watched her unwrap her gifts, my mind wandered back to the day she was born, and then to the day she was born again. I was washing dishes when she tiptoed into the kitchen and stopped beside me. "Mommy," asked my preschooler, "will Jesus come into my heart if I ask Him to?"
The dishes could wait. I dried my hands and led her to the living room where we prayed together. She became a child of God that afternoon, and her interest in spiritual matters has grown consistently ever since.
Our son and his wife are also growing in the faith, involved in a weekly Bible study for couples and exploring ways to use their talents to serve their church. They've made a deliberate choice to base their marriage on Biblical principles, for which I'm ever-so-grateful.
Yes, my foremost desire for my children is that they walk in truth. That desire is being fulfilled right now but I don't want to take it for granted. They have a free will and they could, God-forbid, choose to go their own way someday. As their mom, I recognize my responsibility to pray for their spiritual well-being no matter their ages, and to give God the freedom to work in their lives. He might use means that I wouldn't choose, but I know I can trust His ways because He loves them dearly.
Perhaps your desire matches mine, but your children are struggling spiritually. Please don't despair, dear mom! Ask a trusted girlfriend(s) to pray with you on your children's behalf. Ask God to plant a reverential fear of Him in their hearts. Ask Him to grant them a love for His Word and to understand His unfailing love for them. Persevere - He hears your cries on their behalf.
Truly there is no greater joy than knowing our children walk in truth. And there's no greater peace than knowing our heavenly Father is able to bring that desire to pass.
