parenting young kids. I don’t mean all went well, just that I had the basic skill set to do this stage. However now that my oldest is 13 I see my limitations in this new chapter of parenting.
How do I prepare for this stage that crept up much faster then I anticipated? This new season binds me to Jesus, forcing me to rely on Him in ways I haven’t had to in the past. Praying one morning, Jesus challenged me to approach a 20 something girl in our church and ask her to pray for my 13 year old daughter. She was thrilled to pray and I was touched by her enthusiasm. This stage encourages me to reach out to my faith community for support. I have started to “interview” families who have already been through this stage and glean from their experience and wisdom. I was reminded that it is the war we want to win....the war for her heart, not the battles. I pondered that...What does that look like? How does that play out in everyday life? I want to be a safe place for her to land. Even though she may be short with me or impatient with her siblings, I will weigh the battles. I needed to be reminded that she has spent her day walking a very fine line of being smart but not too smart, liked but not too popular, good but not too good. Her day is inundated with pressures and situations I can only imagine, so I choose to be a place where she can be beautiful and messy because we will love her regardless.
So my strategy is love, after all, that is what my Heavenly Father did for me. She knows Jesus and the same Holy Spirit that convicts me will also speak to her. I think my role in this next phase is more about lovingly pointing her to Jesus and giving her a safe place to land. It’s about trusting & interceding, extending love & grace, reaching out and fighting the war for her heart....not so much the battle.
