A Difficult Child

Have you been praying for better discipline, to love more, to become more like Christ, for God to show you your heart and then help you clean up the junk in it?  Whatever you have been praying for; has it ever occurred to you that your difficult child may be the answer to that prayer? 

I had been reading a book on Idolatry, praying God would show me the ways I carve on people. It wasn’t long after that my son was being very difficult.  He had pushed me and pushed me, it was one of those moments where we moms look at our child and say, “I have had it up to here.” with the hand waving over the top of our head. 

The offense wasn’t in the words but in the tone and the attitude in which I said them. I watched my child take a seat, turn in on himself, and one silent tear trickle down his cheek. My heart broke as I heard God whisper, “That was carving.”

Yes, I got the outward response that I wanted, obedience and quiet, but at the cost of hurting my son’s heart. He knew I was carving. He wouldn’t put that word to it, but he felt it. 

There was no love involved. I did not honor him or value him as a person created in the image of God. I treated him as something I wanted to be obedient to my will. 

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  (Hebrews 12:11 NIV)

I was the one receiving the discipline here, a much needed discipline, and God allowed it to happen in a way I would never forget.  He used my difficult child to show me my heart. 

Are your eyes open to what God may be teaching you through your children?  How you speak to them, the looks and the tone you use with them.  Is God showing you your own heart in that? 

Pay attention!  I hope you like what you see.