It’s hard to feel peaceful when those you love aren’t doing well—especially when it comes to your children. Many of us have children who have strayed from the values we taught them. They may have drug or alcohol problems. They may be caught in destructive relationships. They may be sitting in jail. Or they may be comfortably ensconced in a corner office but living a godless existence. Whatever their circumstances, we know they are not in a safe place because they have turned their backs on God. What then? How can we possibly be at peace when our children are not?
Quin Sherrer, the author of A Mother’s Guide to Praying for Your Children, speaks of a time when she was praying hard for one of her own. “The snow was still a foot deep, following a freak, three-day winter storm,” she explains. “As my husband drove cautiously down the icy pavement, I spied a little lost black lamb not far from the roadside, bogged down helplessly in the white blanket [of snow]. ‘Look, look!’ I shouted moments later as a farmer stomped his way over to the tiny black ball of wool, swooshed him up in his arms and headed toward the nearby barn to return him safely to his fold.
“My sagging spirits lifted. I had been praying about a troublesome situation in the life of one of our precious ‘lambs.’ God was reminding us once again that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was out looking for His sheep. He is out looking for yours, too. Within three weeks after that incident, our ‘lamb’ called late one night and asked to come home and start over again. ‘Yes!’ we yelled. ‘Come home.’” Quin has since reported that this is the child who, years later, has outdistanced her in prayer and Bible study.
If you are praying for your own lost sheep, take heart, remembering that you are not the only one who is on the lookout for that lamb. Keep praying, believing all the while that God loves your children even more than you do.
