Fearing the Future for Your Kids

The other day I read another blog post that made tension in my body rise from my toes. This time it was about our culture and politics and lawmaking. Basically how the tapestry of our society is changing faster than we can write the next blog post rant.

I’ve always considered myself a city-girl. I grew up outside of Atlanta, and, having only lived away from the city for six years, I still tend to feel safer amongst the tall buildings and bustling people downtown than I do in the middle of a cornfield surrounded my trees. However, lately I’ve wanted to pack up my husband and baby girl and head for some cornfields to insulate myself from all these changes to come in the future. You know, a place so far away that we have to “go to town” to see the real world.

Ahhh, just the thought of it makes the tension go away.

I must stay the course . . .

I look at my baby girl of only 16 months, and sometimes I’m so tired already. I’ve told her no less than a thousand times in these brief months she’s been walking, “No, not a toy!” when she reaches for my cell phone. And yet she reaches for it again, only three minutes later. Then there’s the new melt-downs over wanting more snack even though it’s almost time for dinner. I just want to say, “Fine, eat the whole bag”, but I know I can’t.

I’m weary and the training has just started. Will I even have the energy to suit up for the more pressing battles to come?

When I read this latest blog post and thoughts of cornfields and future battles came to my mind, along with undeniable exhaustion, I knew that God had not called me to tension or hiding or fearing or giving-up.

He called me for such a time as this.

Sometimes I look back to generations before me with nostalgia, and I think, “Why couldn’t I have been born back then when everything seemed easy? Why do my children have to be born now and face the battles ahead as they strive to finish this great race God set them on? Why us and why now?”

I romanticize times past, and yet I know they were not without their troubles. However, romanticizing the future isn’t helpful either. The Bible clearly tells us that each day is one day closer to Jesus’ return to earth. And as each day moves forward, so will the intensity of this battle we, as Christians, are in against the enemy.

It comforts me, knowing that God specifically chose this era in time for me to live on earth. And He chose it for my children. It was no mistake to Him because every one of our days were set in motion before even the creation of the world. That tells me that if God chose 2014 and beyond for us, then He chose the challenges the years bring too. We were the ones He chose to face the types of battles we will encounter – with grace and strength, of course. That doesn’t disqualify the battles people who came before us faced. It just shows that they were equipped to face different ones.

These reflections gave me a new motivation to face each day with tenacity and fervor as a mom. There is no time to get weary. I must not give up. My days will be full, and when I’m rocking my baby before bed and just want to skip the prayers that night, knowing that God hears the unspoken too, I must press on, offering up pleas for strength and wisdom for us both.

When my words are vapors in the air and my one-day-teenage girl makes an unwise choice, I must stay the course knowing that I am training a woman who will go into battle.

Fellow mamas, our children will be going into battle.

We must not grow weary. We have been given this assignment for this time — for such a time as this and there is no one but us who can do it. So join me in suiting up our armor of God and pressing on towards the finish line for our children and for the Gospel. We were created for this. With God’s strength, we will triumph.

5 thoughts on “Fearing the Future for Your Kids”

  1. This really resounded with me as a mama of two little girls, 17 months and nearly 4. Thank you for sharing your insight!

  2. Pingback: Confession: I'm Afraid of the Future for My Daughter

  3. I remember thinking the same thoughts when my children were small — the desire to go deep into the wilderness and open spaces and protect them from the outside world. I was talking with folks over the weekend, and one speculated that is why we are so fascinated with Amish fiction right now. Thanks for the encouragement and challenge for all us modern mommas!

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