When researching and interviewing for my upcoming book, When Christian Parents Hurt (it’s been given an August 2027 publication date), I was struck by the resilience and love so many parents displayed toward adult children who were all but terrorizing them. That taught me something profound about God’s love. This is the wonder of life in Christ: even an adult child’s hatred can teach us about the depths of God’s love.
Joanna prayed for her son in utero. She listened to worship music while pregnant and nursing. She dedicated her little boy at the front of the church when he was three months old. He attended weekly Sunday School, annual Vacation Bible Schools, and youth retreats. She discussed the Bible with him and did everything she could think of to “raise him up in the way he should go.”
But as soon as her boy hit college, he humiliated her with the way he treated young women, flunked his classes, and even got into minor scrapes with the law. As angry as Joanna was at her son, she admitted to her pastor that she was also angry at…God.
“Where was He?” she wanted to know. And why wasn’t God answering her prayers, offered with faith, and interspersed with fasting?
The last chapter was about not letting your child fracture your marriage; in this chapter, I want to ensure that you draw nearer to God rather than pull away in the midst of your parental pain.
Continue reading this blog on Substack HERE.