Thursday, August 26, 2010

Are You the Parent of a Prodigal?

Years ago when my youngest (troubled) son was placed in a facility to get help (he was an unhealthy hazard to himself and others), I was sharing my heart with Amy Shreve (our harpist and friends that we traveled with for some radio rallies), the night after a concert here in I-Falls.  I was so grieved for this son who has had problems since fighting me in the womb, It is true! Too many heartaches and broken promises that he would straighten up go right and that all never amounted to success.  This mother's heart hurt so badly to see him fail time and time again.  Not to mention the stress it put on my marriage.  How easy it can be to place blame!  It's my fault, the father's fault, the stepfather's fault, everybody else's fault but no owning up to their own responsibility. Living the dysfunctional life I have lived only helped me take on unnecessary blame for a whole host of things that were only partially my fault.

I believe that we are only responsible for the situations that we directly cause and not the speculative ones (if only you...)  If I steal something, I am at fault, not the person who doesn't lock his door to keep a thief out.  If onlys are pure speculation but we can really let ourselves get buried underneath them if we are not wise (or shall I say walking in truth.)  Stuff happens, we make mistakes, acknowledge them, confess them and ask forgiveness of those we have wronged and move on.  How sad when we become buried under guilt and condemnation that really isn't ours to assume provided we have responded correctly like mentioned above. We can become overwhelmed with false guilt.

Prodigals can be used by God to help us look at the truth in our own situations.  Looking back I can now see that there are things that could have been handled differently and with a whole lot more unconditional love.  But then the child has a responsibility also.  They become runners. Runners from the truth, their pain and anything that gets uncomfortably close to their emotions. They need help to see that their poor choices are what they need to own up to.  I am responsible for my choices and my children for theirs, my spouse His, etc.  It is a dynamic that I just don't know how people without the Lord survive and many don't.

I have attached a link to an Oswald Chamber's reading for March 24.  This is what Amy came to show me the next morning when she had been praying for me and my prodigal.  It wasn't even March but she came upon it and shared it with me and it has had a very profound impact on my thinking.  You see dysfunctionality breeds false guilt which in most cases won't let the wrong assume their sorrows and pain that they find themselves in. He must increase... If God is sovereign and in control and I believe He is, then every thing, large and small is used by Him (He is fully aware of it's happening) to grow us up and closer to Him.  According to Chambers, we can become the very thing that gets in the way of our prodigal learning (yes the hard way) his lessons.  Some of us have to learn the hard way, I have.  If someone comes along to smooth out the situation instead of letting the circumstances being used to teach the lesson then that someone has interrupted the class and the lesson may be postponed until a later date and possibly a more severe situation.  The verse for that day is from John 3:30 and it is simple and profound, "He must increase, but I must decrease".  Get out of the way and let God be God and the Holy Spirit do what it is that He desires to do in a wandering soul's heart!  In modern day terms we would say quit being an enabler!  Friend, I have had to say this to myself over and over because that it what I was so used to doing to try and make things right and work!  But I was the one who continued to get in the way.

So I pray that we would not be in the way of the catylist that the Lord would use to work in the heart of that one who is walking contrary to God's ways.  

Father, I cautiously say, do it Lord, whatever it takes to break the heart of the wander so that they would look beyond themselves and see You!  I know You will give me the courage to believe that You hold his or her life in Your hands and that Your desire is to see them come to You and give them the peace they have been searching for.  I can even say "thank you" for the hard lessons that I have had to learn because You used them to bring me a bit closer to You each time.  I not only love You Lord, but I trust You and entrust my loved ones to You, in Jesus' Name!

3 comments:

Ann said...

I do have a prodigal. And it took 26 years for him to know Christ. And a LOT of prayer from me, and MANY others. Prayer works!~
Pray without ceasing...
He had to lose EVERYTHING, so the only thing he could was cry out; "Lord,if you are real, show me the way." Christ beckoned him to Teen Challenge, without any court orders.
He found out who His savior was. Nick said his heart was like stone. Now it is full of love and Spirit.
Does Nick still fall? Yes. He has dual addictions. But now He know a savior who keeps loving him and keeps pulling him back to his feet. In fact...he just needed another little visit to the Itasca Co. jail recently for breaking probation. What was his answer? It would of been blaming in his past life. His answer this time was; "God needed to get my attention, and this is the only way He could do it."
Never give up hope. The God of ALL creation will pursue your prodigal with diligence.
Pray for your prodigals heart of stone. Praise God from whom all blessings fail.
Ann Killian Grand Rapids, MN

Kimberly Dawn Nyborg said...

Ann that is so beautiful and I really like the "praying for your prodigals heart of stone." Our good God wants to replace that heart of stone with a heart of flesh. I am grateful for His patience!

Thanks for sharing dear friend!

susan said...

You know, I"ve come to realize that a prodigal is not just some child who has gone away and really become messed up with drugs, etc. but it is your child who as an adult has walked away from serving the one true God. He/she may be living a "good" life and being responsible, etc. but as a mom you know there could be so much more of a fulfilled life, a FULL life, if that child were walking with and truly serving the King of kings. He is a faithful God and we know as we plead our case for these children He will be faithful to do His part.