Letting God do the Parenting

Supporting a neighbor

For ten weeks my neighbor seems to have been challenged by something the medical field hasn’t been able to diagnose. Last week she was VERY afraid. Although she is not a monotheist, I asked her if she believes that deity created her, because I believe that God created me and that He couldn’t mess up—He got it right. Therefore I believe that He is my Parent. Just as I would climb into my parent’s lap when I was a kid, I sometimes like to feel as though I’m climbing into God’s lap and turning everything over to Him. In a parent’s lap you can let go of all your concerns and know that you are being taken care of, that everything is under control.

I let her know that I’d be praying while she went for her test. She was calmer. The next day the voicemail message she left on my machine was, “I made out ok at the doctor’s office.” There is still no diagnosis, but I’m not expecting one.

Supporting a friend

My girlfriend from college and I have remained best friends and love to share ideas about God. Back in the early 90s she was the soloist at a Christian Science church and liked the peacefulness of the service. At that time she found sudden relief from a knee problem. Over the next two and a half years there were several challenges that she asked me to pray about. Healings were bountiful and quick, usually with one treatment. She was very impressed with her baby daughter’s healing of a concussion, especially of an eye that appeared as if it needed to be drained. She was also impressed that I supported her prayers when her Dad was having heart procedures and that it was so successful and that he lived many years longer.

Then a surgical procedure, some experimenting with weight loss methods, and ultimately a mental diagnosis led to her having fewer healings. Over time she has drifted further and further away from relying on Christian Science treatment and has become involved in other practices, even becoming interested in going to a spiritualist church.

Last Friday I visited her. She was very concerned about her son, who is in the hospital. He has been diagnosed with a mental condition and is scheduled for electric shock treatment. Over the last two or three years she and her husband have been very proactive about being involved in decision-making and in seeking information about his condition, including exhaustive internet research. Yet it seems that they are not being kept in the loop, which is frustrating and scary for them. She knows that my older son is now out from under psychological holds and is doing well. Since her son seems to have the same label, this is encouraging to her.

Here is what I was able to share with her: Recently I went to bed all worked up because my younger son seemed to be accelerating toward the edge of a financial-ruin cliff and would not listen to my husband and me. I had a hard time getting to sleep until I chose to see him as God sees him. In the morning, I started down the same path again, until God told me in no uncertain terms, “He is MY son!”

Together my friend and I realized that it takes a lot of humility to let God do the Parenting, to keep listening for God’s direction, and to act on that direction immediately. I could see her relax completely. She told me that there was a reason why I was led to visit her that day. She knew she had her answer from God and was at peace.