Tina M89
Growing up...
I was in the kitchen making dinner last night and William our oldest son was sitting at the counter doing some work on his computer. He was listening to music as he worked. I smiled to myself because what he was listening to was praise and worship. I thought to myself, boy he's come a long way and I'm so thankful.
There were many years when all he listened to was dark rebellious music. Those were tough years for our family. There was a lot of anger in William and it came out in these awful outbursts. It broke my heart as his mom. You wonder what went wrong. We wanted to see our son soar and become all God intended for him to be and yet he was destroying his life and the lives of those around him.
A few years ago things in his life came to a head and he wrote down what music meant in his life. He actually felt he needed to give up music for a time. Here's some of what he wrote:
"Its an idol, it has been an idol since grade 7. It has fuelled all the problems in my family and in my life; it has fuelled my rage and anger. When I used to get into that place of hatred, that place of anger; that unstoppable rage that flew through my body, it was the music coming through. There's no doubt, I did have a choice but I never made it. I let the music take over and became a slave to it. The screaming and disarray of the genre's of music I listened to captivated me. In a sick sense it calmed me down, I felt at peace when I listened to it. It wasn't peace though, it was just wood to the fire, stoking it till the next time someone set me off. As much as I wanted to tell myself that music didn't affect me, and that it just went in one ear and out the other, I knew what was right."
And so he gave up his music and life changed, his heart changed. Now you can see why last night brought a smile to my face and a peace to my heart. It can be tough raising our kids and there can be times when you feel like you're failing but persevere they do grow up and God will use even those dark rebellious times for His glory.
Last night as my husband and I were driving home from a worship concert we noticed a woman walking along the highway. It seemed strange, it was dark, she was in a skirt and heels carrying her purse. So we stopped to see if she needed a ride, she said she didn't. I pressed in and asked again and then asked if anything was wrong, she said she just wanted to go home but still didn't want a ride. So I offered to walk with her and pressed into her space as we walked and then she broke. Her heart was breaking for her 25 year old son. I don't know many of the details but she was in pain and I knew that pain as a mom of a son who broke my heart. She decided to take us up on our offer to give her a ride and so we took her home. Before she got out of the car I asked if we could pray for her and she allowed us to. As we were leaving I told her where we lived if she ever needed anything.
Sometimes as a mom life can be tough, by their actions and choices our kids can break our hearts and we can experience such deep pain but for me there is hope and His name is Jesus...the redeemer...the restorer and how do I know this is true, last night in the kitchen there was living proof ;-)
Growing up...
I was in the kitchen making dinner last night and William our oldest son was sitting at the counter doing some work on his computer. He was listening to music as he worked. I smiled to myself because what he was listening to was praise and worship. I thought to myself, boy he's come a long way and I'm so thankful.
There were many years when all he listened to was dark rebellious music. Those were tough years for our family. There was a lot of anger in William and it came out in these awful outbursts. It broke my heart as his mom. You wonder what went wrong. We wanted to see our son soar and become all God intended for him to be and yet he was destroying his life and the lives of those around him.
A few years ago things in his life came to a head and he wrote down what music meant in his life. He actually felt he needed to give up music for a time. Here's some of what he wrote:
"Its an idol, it has been an idol since grade 7. It has fuelled all the problems in my family and in my life; it has fuelled my rage and anger. When I used to get into that place of hatred, that place of anger; that unstoppable rage that flew through my body, it was the music coming through. There's no doubt, I did have a choice but I never made it. I let the music take over and became a slave to it. The screaming and disarray of the genre's of music I listened to captivated me. In a sick sense it calmed me down, I felt at peace when I listened to it. It wasn't peace though, it was just wood to the fire, stoking it till the next time someone set me off. As much as I wanted to tell myself that music didn't affect me, and that it just went in one ear and out the other, I knew what was right."
And so he gave up his music and life changed, his heart changed. Now you can see why last night brought a smile to my face and a peace to my heart. It can be tough raising our kids and there can be times when you feel like you're failing but persevere they do grow up and God will use even those dark rebellious times for His glory.
Last night as my husband and I were driving home from a worship concert we noticed a woman walking along the highway. It seemed strange, it was dark, she was in a skirt and heels carrying her purse. So we stopped to see if she needed a ride, she said she didn't. I pressed in and asked again and then asked if anything was wrong, she said she just wanted to go home but still didn't want a ride. So I offered to walk with her and pressed into her space as we walked and then she broke. Her heart was breaking for her 25 year old son. I don't know many of the details but she was in pain and I knew that pain as a mom of a son who broke my heart. She decided to take us up on our offer to give her a ride and so we took her home. Before she got out of the car I asked if we could pray for her and she allowed us to. As we were leaving I told her where we lived if she ever needed anything.
Sometimes as a mom life can be tough, by their actions and choices our kids can break our hearts and we can experience such deep pain but for me there is hope and His name is Jesus...the redeemer...the restorer and how do I know this is true, last night in the kitchen there was living proof ;-)