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Every parent knows the difficulty of  walking by faith amidst the various pitfalls and hardships of parenting. Onn this episode Mindi shares her journey of learning to trust God with her concerns for her children. She emphasizes the need to cast our cares on God and choose faith over worry – and tells the story of how God taught her these lessons.

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Episode Transcript (click to open) {{UNEDITED}}

Hello friends. We are so happy to be here with you today. I am Mindy Green.
And I’m Kerry. We are back once again and glad to have you with us.
You know, in the Christian life, we talk about walking by faith or living by faith, kind of synonymous terms there.

Understanding the concept of walking by faith

[1:00] It’s spoken of from the pulpit on Sundays or Saturdays, whenever you go to church.
It’s spoken of in Sunday school classes or small groups.
And I think we all have a general idea of what that means.
It basically means to trust God. But I think there’s often scenarios or situations in our lives where we don’t realize what walking by faith looks like in that scenario. And we’re just kind of on autopilot living the way we normally would live and not evaluating, am I walking by faith in this circumstance?
And what put this topic on our minds to talk about, especially as it relates to parenting is some circumstances we’ve been experiencing lately and thoughts Mindy had coming to our mind about.
Her role and life as a mom of adult kids and walking by faith and was she really doing that?
And so I’m going to let her tell you what’s been on her mind about that.
And then we’ll kind of discuss where that took us in our thinking.
Yeah, the Lord has been so faithful to me to teach me what it means to walk by faith.
The verse that says, and without faith, it is impossible to please Him.
For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek him. That’s Hebrews 11, 6. I’ve known that verse for many, many years. And a few months ago, God just brought that verse to my mind and what he had pop out was it’s impossible to please him.

[2:25] And my heart was longing. I want to please the Lord. And I just asked the Lord, show me how I’m not pleasing you. Show me how I’m not walking by faith. And of course, He was faithful to answer that, and he’s continuing to answer it.
But God just started showing me daily how I wasn’t walking by faith.
As a mom to adult children, I have regular concerns for my adult kids.
I’m seeing them living their life.
They’re growing in their relationship with the Lord. They’re growing in their relationship with their spouses, with their kids, and just all different kinds of situations. It could be a work situation.
It could be financial issues, whatever.
And so I have these burdens for my kids, like I had when they were at home, but this is different because I’m not involved in it.
I can’t help make changes as much as I would love to as a mom.

Challenges of parenting adult children and walking by faith

[3:20] And so my main avenue of caring for my kids is through prayer.
And the Lord just showed me, Mindy, you’re upset all day because you’re carrying a burden in about one of your children, for example.

[3:34] Or sometimes I would be down and sad all day or depressed, or just kind of have this weight in the back of my mind, you know, why am I feeling kind of sad? Oh, it’s because I’m concerned about this going on with my child. And the Lord just starts showing me, you’re not believing me to work in that situation. You’re asking me all the time, every day, all throughout the day, you’re asking me to do a work in that situation. But are you really believing that I’m I’m gonna do it.
Are you really believing that I’m good and I’m loving, I’m faithful, that I care for them more than you even care for them? Are you believing the good about me?

[4:11] And God just really convicted me that my actions were showing that I wasn’t believing it.
So you didn’t really have faith in those circumstances.
You weren’t walking by faith, which means living out the trust you have in the Lord in the particulars of the circumstance.
Right, exactly. Yeah, some things I just wanna highlight, and clarify. First off, the things that brought it to your attention that you weren’t walking by faith were burdens, anxieties, feelings of stress or being discouraged that were persistent. It’s, not that those things in and of themselves are bad, but they were just persistent. They were always there or they were frequently there maybe is a better way to say it. And that served kind like a warning light to you. Why is this the case? I want to have you speak to that in a moment, but I just want to put that on your radar, friends, to think about that. Think about your own life in those terms. What are the things that are persistent in your life that are negative emotionally or mentally? And could those be signs that there’s something you’re not entrusting to of the ward.

[5:21] And I would say the Lord has shown me in my life that they are absolutely signs that I’m not trusting the Lord, that I’m not walking by faith. Because Christ at the end of his life here on earth, when he was speaking to his disciples, he told them, my peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. And many times that verse would come to my mind just throughout my days. I’m thinking, God, I’m not feeling peaceful. I’m not at peace. And I know, Lord Jesus, you want to give it to me. And in your presence is fullness of joy. And with you, I can be full of peace.
So how come I’m not having that? And the Lord is showing me it’s because of what you are believing in the moment. And so how is your heart? What are you believing about God in, the moment right now about whatever concern you are having, whatever burden you’re carrying?

Believing in God’s goodness and entrusting our cares to Him

[6:13] It could even be something that you’re feeling bad about yourself about. It could be something that you’re feeling concerned about with your spouse, your friends, your family.
But when God says, cast your cares on me because I care for you, are you truly giving him those cares and then saying, thank you, Lord, I know you will take care of it.
I trust you, you are good.
I’m going to go about my day today and be joyful because- Paul Matzkoff Choose to be joyful.
Choose to be joyful because the God of the universe, who raised my Savior from the grave, who parted the Red Sea, who created the mountains and the oceans, how foolish of me to not believe that He is going to answer my prayers and take care of me and my family.
Paul And is capable of carrying that burden that you just gave to Him. Terri Yes. Paul Yeah.
There’s something a little bit twisted and perhaps perverse is an appropriate word that happens in the human psyche when it comes to depressive or sad or self-pitying sort of emotions.
We can find a comfort in those sometimes because they’re about us, you know, it’s me focused. And, so it feels like I’m important or I’m getting some kind of attention or something when really those are warning signs that I’m not giving the burden to the one who’s promised to carry it for.

[7:41] Me. Like you said, he’s so capable. He’s done all these things. Can’t he handle this burden without me having to ratchet up my anxiety about it?
BT. Yeah. And as you would know, the things that get me most upset in my feelings are concerns for our children. And like the second part of this verse in Hebrews, it says, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
And so when I would be having conversations in my mind with the Lord about this great concern, the Holy Spirit would be so faithful and He’d say, so do I not care about that?
Can I not take care of that?

[8:20] Do you think I’m not concerned or I’m not desiring good for your child?
That’s just so helpful to me, because then I can say, yes, you do care about this, Lord.
Yes, I do believe that you are working all things together for good.
I do believe that you’re going to work through the guidance and the training that Carrie and I implemented when we were raising them. I do believe that you’re going to be speaking to my child. That’s believing that he’s existing, that he’s doing all the things he said that he will do that we know from scripture. And then the second part of that is that he rewards those who seek him. So I’m seeking him. I’m trusting him. So guess what? God’s going to answer my prayers in his way. It might not be exactly the way I’m, asking, but he will answer. So I’ve been so encouraged with how God has been guiding me through that process, and he’s helping me to squash those feelings and put them away and turn around in faith and enjoy.
And he’s been answering. I’ve actually been amazed, blown away.
Yeah, it really is amazing when we put into practice what scripture tells us to put into practice and the results scripture promises will come about actually start to come about.
I mean, we read them and we nod our heads in agreement often, but we don’t know it until we apply it.

[9:46] There’s a quote from an old Christian brother, Watchman Nee, that says, all knowledge is, the result of obedience. Everything else is just information.

Putting Faith into Practice and Moving Mountains

[10:00] So we don’t really know the truth, the promise in an experiential sort of a way, in a way that takes root in us until we put it into practice.
And then, you know joy now in those hard circumstances in a way you hadn’t before.

[10:17] Yeah, I truly know. And that’s what’s been so exciting to me.
Then the Lord brought the verse to me where Jesus says, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you can move mountains.
And I really feel like mountains are being moved. I’m like, babe, this is a miracle.
And so I’m just thankful God is being faithful to build my faith, because now I’m getting more into the habit of, yes, I can’t wait to believe God to do X, Y, Z, and I’m not going to get down about this, because I’m going to believe God.
And I just, I love that God is answering my prayers. And so I just wanted to be able to encourage you parents, that as you are carrying burdens about life, about work, about family, home, health, the raising of your children, I want to encourage you to walk by faith.

Encouragement to Walk by Faith in Daily Life

[11:11] Or another way to say it is…
Walk every day believing in God Believing he is good. He is faithful. He is at work, He is going to answer your prayers in one way or another and in saying that tacking that at the end of your prayers Thank you God for listening to me and hearing me. I know you will answer.

[11:33] So I’m gonna get up and have a great day. Yeah, I think that’s all just incredibly helpful because, We get into the nuts and bolts of life and.

[11:44] Our mind typically is wired in a way that we default to some other mode of operation rather than what you just described, We get into whatever our bent is in our personality. It may be to take control of the situation. It may be to, Ignore the situation. It may be to worry about the situation and by the way, Our prayers many times can become worry rather than faith, because we go back to God again and again and again and again because of the angst in our heart, rather than giving him this in prayer, confident by faith, like you’re saying, that he’s actually going to handle this and that he can handle this. And so parents, I think it’s time for us as believers in Christ to recognize, first of all, we don’t live by faith as much as we think we do, most likely.

Recognizing the Need to Live by Faith and Trust God

[12:35] And secondly, we’re going to stop that. We’re just going to make it a determined decision, with the help of the Holy Spirit that we are going to kill this in our lives and enjoy the blessing of knowing that the all-sufficient God is for us and he’s for our kids.
I think something that breaks my heart when I think of it this way is when our children struggle to think well of us and that they struggle to believe that we love them any given time that might happen when they’re young, when they’re grown. And it breaks our heart because we’re like, how can you not know I love you? How can you not know all the love that I put into you in my thoughts and my prayers?
And I just can hear God’s heart saying the same thing. How can you not know?
And the thing is, we do know, but we’re not applying that knowledge.

[13:34] Yeah, it’s just information at that point. That’s why Scripture says, greater love has no man than this, that he laid down his life for his friends, and Jesus laid down his life. We’re told also God demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we’re still sinners, Christ died for us. So there’s a whole lot of theology there we unpack, but the point is God has proven his love to us. The very fact that we are Christians at all is that proof, and we’ve got to go back to those fundamentals. The gospel, the blessing of God’s grace, all of those things that have changed our life initially for the better when we became believers are the things we have to go back to, to remind ourself of God’s goodness so that we can Express faith in him. We can trust him in the circumstance.

A Prayer for Commitment to the Lord’s Guidance

[14:27] It’s so good. Well, let’s spend some time together, friends, praying one of those, maybe it’s a prayer of commitment that we are going to give this to the Lord in a new way, a fresh way, with a different kind of resolve, with a Holy Spirit-empowered unction, I don’t know what else you might want to call it. Let’s just pray.
Lord, we know our frailty, that we are prone to worry and not faith.
We know that we are prone to all kinds of negative emotion rather than joy.
And I think it’s become evident from what Mindy described and from what I’ve experienced and observed that much of the reason for that is because we haven’t pondered long and deep, your good and gracious character, your wonderful heart of compassion and grace toward us.

Recognizing God’s Goodness and Compassion

[15:18] We don’t recognize in the words on the page in the scriptures that it’s just overflowing with love and with competence and with grace and with goodness.
And that all that applies to us and it applies to our children, it applies to our spouses because you have promised yourself to be for us.
So Lord we’re asking you to help us make that determined choice that we’re going to honor, you, make that determined choice that we want to be people who please you because we are exercising true faith in our actions and leaving our burdens with you.

[15:56] Doesn’t mean we won’t feel it again tomorrow, but we give it to you again and we commit ourselves to not walking in fret and fear, but rather walking in faith.
Lord, it is our determined choice, and we ask you, Holy Spirit, to empower this, to, believe you, to trust you, and to not besmirch your character or malign your name by worry and fear and anxiety.
Especially as it pertains to our kids and our families. You love them just as much as you love us.

[16:29] Music.

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[16:54] In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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