GOD! Help our Kid’s (my story)

If you’re a parent, then I guarantee you constantly think about the safety of your kid’s no matter what age they are. I’ve been a mother for 22 years. We have two boys, one is 25 the other will turn 16 in May.  Like most parents since the day our children were born, one of our top priorities is to hope, pray and do our best to teach and guide them to make decisions that will help and not hurt them.

For the most part I was a pretty good kid.  It wasn’t until my parents separated did I start to “go down the wrong path” so to speak.  Once my Dad (of whom I feared, not because he was a bad dad, but because he’d kick your butt if you got into any kind of trouble) was no longer in the house, all hell broke loose.  On the outside I was this sweet teenage girl, but when adults were nowhere to be found I was out doing all kinds of ungodly stuff! For instance (because people like juicy stories) I would sneak out of the house with some of my friends and we’d sit at the end of our street in the early morning hours and drink whiskey and 7Up, (now that I think back I wonder, ‘where in the heck were the cops!?’).  That was just the beginning.  One time this 13-year-old girl was in a car driving with “friends” (yea right!) smoking weed and the cops pulled us over, again, it was probably another late night/early morning escapade.  I remember being so afraid thinking (because my Dad at the time was captain of the Paramedic Squad in Warren and cops and firefighters work together) “if my Dad finds out, I’m in BIG trouble!” So to save my butt, my friend said that I was his cousin and that they were taking me home, “Whew!” I thought.  Just recently I recalled another incident, while chatting at lunch with my husband, how because I was a track star in elementary and middle school, I was able to outrun a local cop as they busted in on us at another “friends” house again getting high and drinking. Just the other day we were watching a movie and a police officer was chasing a teenager through a field and my hubby who likes to joke said, “There goes Nina” and we both began to laugh.  Yet at the time, it was no laughing matter.  I was one of the “lucky ones” for NOT getting caught! Or was I?

Years went by and It was my turn.  I became a mother.   Before marriage and the birth of our first child I finally got “Caught!” Was it by the police? No, think of a more powerful authority: It was God.  Earlier I said I was “lucky”…in fact, it was not luck at all, it was only by the saving, loving, Grace of God that began to turn my life around.  Most people are taught that God is “mad” at them for doing wrong things in their life, I have good news for you, that thinking couldn’t be farther from the truth.  God’s love is amazing.  His Love forgives and forgets! His love can transform a person’s life. But God is a gentleman, he never forces his love upon anyone…he simply offers it to us, a “free gift” if you will.  “Nothings free!” You might be thinking or saying right now.  You’re right and wrong: For you and me God’s love and grace is free…for Jesus, it was not free…he willingly sacrificed his life for every human being, then, now and for future generations.  The good news: God brought him back to life…and he gives us Life in return.

So where am I going with this? God is ready, willing and able to help our children, but he needs YOU Mom and Dad.  He need’s loving parents to pray for their children, keep tabs on them. (Tip: Get to know your kids “friends”)  We have always been very involved in our children’s lives and “who” they hang with).  The Bible says that if we as parents teach our children about God and his love and making the “right” choices, he promises that they will remember these truths and apply them in their life as they grown older: “Direct (teach) your children onto the ‘right’ path, and when they are older, they will not leave it” Proverbs 22:6

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