Releasing Your Kids to God - #1

As our children grow, there will be repeated times of releasing each one to God: letting go of a little hand as a baby takes that first wobbly step . . . letting go of total educational control as a child steps onto that school bus or enrolls in that first college course. Or what about that moment when we let go of the car keys and an eager teenager plops into the driver's seat of our car and takes control of the steering wheel?

Sometimes it's very scary.

The Bible says in Psalm 127:4, "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth."

This verse recently "hit" me in a new way as I was attending a graduation party. During the evening, a group of church leaders, led by the graduate's father, gathered to pray for this young man. He had been raised to have a fervent heart for God and for world missions, and we prayed for God's purposes to be fulfilled. As I laid my hands on the graduate's mom (my dear friend Karen), I could sympathize with her mixed feelings: happiness and pride combined with a sad realization that this season in their family's life was coming to an end. As we prayed, I "saw" (in my mind's eye) her eighteen-year-old son as a straight arrow in a bow. Afterward, I leaned over and whispered in my friend's ear, "You know, Karen, it's not enough just to aim our arrows; to hit the target we've got to release the string!"

God has a destiny for your family. He has an individual plan for each member, as well as a "corporate" purpose for you as a family unit. God will help you, as parents, to train each child toward God's mission for his or her life, and He will help you to focus your family toward making a strong impact for His kingdom -- in your community, in your church, in your children's schools, and in the world.

With our big family, my husband and I are continually learning (and re-learning) how to release our kids into God's hands. Right now, we have a sixteen-year-old driving his own car, an eighteen-year-old studying at college (2,000 miles from home!), a twenty-year-old who recently returned from a thrilling mission outreach to Mozambique and Swaziland in S.E. Africa, and a God-loving twenty-two-year-old who will likely be sent overseas later this year, in service to our nation, as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Just like Hannah released her little Samuel, I have surrendered each child to the Lord; yet I still have times when God convicts me that I need to rely on Him even more.

At a deeper level, I need to continue to trust Him. With faith, I need to trust that God will direct each of my kids to fulfill His purposes (without me pushing them to do what I want). I need to trust that God will bring just the right spouse for each of my sons and daughters (without me trying to make something happen). And I need to trust God that He will protect my children as they begin to step out to fulfill His destiny (without me worrying or trying to figure it out).

No matter how many times I have released my children, I continually need to rely on God's fresh grace for today's particular moment. Whether it's dropping off a little one into the arms of a church nursery worker or dropping off a young adult at an international airport, I need to trust God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says,

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

As parents, we need to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. We need to lean on and put our total trust and dependency in the Lord, and not on our own understanding or limited perspective.

There will be many times in our parenting adventure when we won't know how to handle a particular situation, but that's okay. As we simply acknowledge our need for God's wisdom and direction, and as we ernestly seek His counsel through prayer (asking Him, "Lord, what do I do now?") . . . God will be faithful to help us and to give us His guidance. As we release our family, and each of our children into His almighty hands, He will direct our paths.

Comments/Feedback: So what about YOU? As a Christian parent, do you see yourself as a "steward" of the child(ren) God has entrusted into your care? It's a different concept to acknowledge that "our kids" are actually "God's kids" - and as parents, our role is to train them for God's eternal purposes. Has God ever asked you to "release" one of your kids or teens/young adults to Him (as when Hannah chose to "release" her precious little Samuel to Eli), for His purposes?

This article is adapted from Ann Dunagan's most recent book, The Mission-Minded Family - Releasing Your Family to God's Destiny.