Posted on 12/29/2001 12:16:18 AM PST by MississippiMan
I come to you, my fellow Freepers and Christians, asking for your earnest help. My young adult son is straying far from the path that we thought we had amply laid for him as he was being raised. His upbringing may not have been perfect, but it was sincere, always loving, church going, disciplined, and promoting of Christian principles.
His current behavior barely resembles the son I thought I knew. Womanizing, drinking, wild living, and numerous other things of a wayward life have his mother and me just about at the end of our ropes. We've both talked until we're blue in the face and it goes in one ear and out the other. Before you suggest that it's normal sowing of wild oats or that I'm being prudish, let me assure you that I'm anything but prudish. I've lived my share of time on the wrong side of the equation and I'm well aware of what exceeds the limits of normal behavior.
I ask for your help because I know that God does listen to His people who pray to Him. We both pray hard, but the prayers of more brothers and sisters in Christ can only help. I urgently ask you to consider helping us with earnest prayers that God will protect and guide my son and bring him back into the fold. If you're a parent, you can probably imagine how painful this is and how humbling an experience it is to admit that help like this is needed.
Thanks for reading and thanks for any prayer help you're willing to offer.
MM
Went through some similar heartaches about 10 years ago, with 2 daughters; the one I was the hardest on turned out the best....Good Luck, my friend.
In the meantime two suggestions. Join ToughLove and get marriage counseling.
Toughlove works to help you see where you are supporting such behaviors, it teaches you how to detach, and the parents there are a great resource for problem solving.
Even if your marriage is really good, as mine and my wifes is, we found that a couselor helped us improve our communication skills to meet the extra challenges we were enduring. I would look for someone comfortable to do faith based counseling.
Im know most parents (because I did the same at first) in your situation would look at my advice and find all sorts of reasons to not pursue them. Its called denial which unless your the sole exception parent you are in to some degree.
I will include your family in my prayers, but would also ask that you afford him the same latitude you had in finding your own path to Jesus.
This can happen. But let us pray he will be like the Prodigal, who after going astray - finally was broken, and had his eyes opened, and returned to his loving family. I'm sure you have done your best in raising your son, but we know only God can open eyes, and change a person's heart.
Dear Lord, you alone can save, and you alone are God. As you have written:
Ezek 36
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Dear Lord, we all come to you as hopeless sinners. Please save one of your lost lambs, and please change the heart of this young man. We pray for this in the name of our good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thanks for the bump.
MM
I appreciate more than you'll ever know, Cindy.
MM
If you've done all you've said you've done, then you'll just have to believe in God's goodness and not let his actions shake your confidence in all the godly things you planted. If you've done your job, he knows he's messing up...but it keeps you sane and it bugs the heck of kids when parents just smile and say, "I know you'll be okay. We're praying for you."
Time to be courageous and smart. Don't give in to the heartbreak.
It has worked untold wonders in my life. If an atheist would really listen with an open mind to the concrete things prayer have wrought in my life, they would see that the odds of there not being a God do not exist. Thank you so much.
MM
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.