I was only twenty-one. I remember it well…the first time I held my flawless son in my arms.
I felt so weak, so incompetent. I was scared, worried, couldn’t believe the nursing staff would let us carry this little human out of the hospital…
Let alone raise him….all. by. ourselves.
We were young, both children ourselves, really. Neither one of us knew anything about being the sole parents to this fragile, perfect human.
My husband grew up with nannies. I was in survival-mode most of my childhood.
To say we felt under-qualified is an understatement.
My only prayer in this season was, “God, please don’t let me ruin him”. 
Today, our son is twenty-two. He is smart, handsome, kind, and wise beyond his years.
But, what I learned most about parenting him, along with raising fully or in part sixteen other children is that all is grace from God…and we can’t do anything, really, unless God helps, guides, leads, and teaches us.
Maybe today, you are like I once was…
- A young mom without any clue about what you are doing. Maybe you feel lost, overwhelmed, caught up in the lies that we have to be Pinterest perfect parents to raise our children.
- Maybe sometimes you feel cut short from the resources needed to be a good parents?
- Or maybe your children are grown or nearly graduated and you see the flaws, the weaknesses surfacing from your parenting.
- Maybe the lies have paralyzed you, saying, “I completely failed my children”, or “I can’t do this. I just want to escape”.
Well, don’t give up now. Your children need you now more than ever.
You got this! I believe in you!
If I can fail in so many ways while parenting, yet, in looking back see clearly the providence and fingerprints of God through all of it…
He can and is using you too.
As I write this I wonder if maybe there are some of you that can’t have children, or who are raising step or adopted children.
To those of you who might not be able to birth children, please know your love for children is not a thorn meant to torment you…
God has a plan that might not be revealed to you yet. Don’t give up believing His picture for you might be bigger than you think.
And please know…
Parenting isn’t a birth thing, it is a choosing to love those little one’s God has placed around you; parenting can include fostering, adopting, teaching, training, advocating, or mentoring the next generation of children. Parenting is a gift in any form we walk in it. Parenting is never wasted….it truly does take a village to train a child.
After our son, we gave birth to a biological daughter. Then, we adopted our second daughter. And now…who knows what God has for us.
Through the years, in fostering preemie infants to twelve-year-old children, we have grown to value children more with every hand we hold, mouth we feed, heart we hear…
With every child our hearts have simply expanded.
And while the world says, “there are more important things to do than raise children”; God says, “Great is your calling”, and “Let the little children come to me”.
Don’t give up now; every feeding, every long conversation, every moment spend caring for children is a filling of the buckets towards the generations coming after us.
- Parenting is worth it.
- Parenting has been our greatest blessing.
- Parenting is done well when we are dependent on The One who loves the innocent.
- Parenting is something worth giving our lives for and pouring every ounce of our energy into…
Children, young, old, ours, or someone else’s, are worth investing in.
(Won’t you take some time and read these articles on parenting, HERE)
