“To let go is not to criticize and regulate anyone,
But to try to become what dream I can be.”

What does God want for you? How long has it been since you took time to seek His will in your own life?

We spend most of our waking hours thinking about and worrying about our child. Why does he or she not understand the hurt they are causing us? Why do they not see that they are destroying their relationships with us and our families? Where did we go wrong? When will they start making good choices? How could this have happened?

We think of all the things we want to say to them and then, when we have an opportunity to talk to them, we push them away by criticizing them and letting them know all the ways that they are hurting us. We are consumed with trying to fix them, control them, or regulate their behavior. Our hurt becomes unbearable and we feel like we are drowning in a sea of painful emotions. How can we stop this cycle that is causing us to feel helpless and empty, like our very lives are being pulled out from under us?

Thankfully, there is an answer to our pain. We must turn our focus away from our child toward the One who has the power to give us peace and joy. He can mend our hearts if we will just open ourselves up to Him and seek His will in our own lives. God has a plan for us that has nothing to do with our children. He wants us to experience His goodness and His grace in our lives despite the situation with our kids. It’s time for us to pursue our own dreams. With God’s help we can begin to feel whole again. We can pursue Him by listening to worship music, reading the Bible, seeking counsel from a wise friend.

We can shift our prayers from being all about our kids to asking Him for the strength to let go of them so that we can experience the richness of what He has for us.