“Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward” (Psa.127: 3. The Apostle John said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (I Jn.4). When we can say that about our children, life is joyful and rewarding; otherwise life can become a nightmare.
 Seeing our children take the wrong path brings such heartache. I think it compares with losing someone in death. A counselor told me that the dreams you had for your child are gone. It is like a death because those dreams are dead.  Everything has changed. Sin is worse than death in that it multiplies and brings more sin and hurt. 

When there is a prodigal, the whole family is affected. Grief, shame and guilt visit us.  The mother seems to feel all these emotions more acutely, and guilt becomes our number one enemy. We can look back and see where we failed in our parenting. 

God has children who have gone astray. Was it God’s fault? This is a sinful world and our children are bombarded with so many temptations that we never faced in our generation.
 Satan loves to have us wallow in these feelings. He can paralyze us, making us useless to our family, the church and ourselves. Some even leave the faith, judging themselves unworthy of everlasting life. 

 It is easy to try to blame others when our child goes astray. We might try to blame the church--they didn’t show love, the elders--they should have exhorted more; the siblings-- they put their friends before their sister; or our husband—he wasn’t attentive and didn’t discipline enough, or he was too harsh. This is a time we need to be working together on the problem, rather than looking for someone to blame. 

This problem with our child can have a devastating effect on our marriage. If we become guilt ridden, we might not be able to function as a wife and helpmate to our husband. But we must not become withdrawn from him and other Christian friends. We should seek an older godly person who has gone through this to counsel us (Prov. 27:9).

If we can realize through all of this that we are being attacked by Satan, with God as our helper, we will over come the evil one. We must pray, as we have never prayed before! We must ask for wisdom. Also, if we can pray with a friend--someone who has suffered this trial herself--it will help so much (Jas.5: 16).

God is a loving God who understands our grief. He said to Israel, “When Israel was a child, I loved him...I taught Ephraim to go, taking him by their arms…. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love…. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim, how shall I deliver thee…Mine heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together.”(Hosea 11:1-8)

God loves our children more than we do. He is so much more longsuffering than we can ever imagine, and for this we must constantly thank Him. Without God’s longsuffering, we would all be doomed.

We must never give up. A counselor told me, “The verdict is not in on your child, in fact, the verdict is not in on you.” Remember we are all subject to falling. Satan can snatch us up very quickly if we are not on guard (I Pet. 5:8). The Christian walk requires diligence, hard work, great faith and courage. The God whom we serve suffers long before He gives His children up (2 Pet 3:9) we do not presume on His longsuffering. We must make every effort to live a holy and godly life and with fear pull our prodigal out of the fire. (Jude 23) 

Each Christian mother, with the help of God and her husband will have to work it out. There are many different ideas. What we want is God’s way. So often, we feel that we have been so harsh that we must now give in and go along or we will lose them forever. What we don’t want to do is compromise God’s will. Our child’s salvation is at stake and so is ours.

We recall how Eli dealt with his sons when he heard of their evil dealings with the people: “Why do ye such things?”(I Sam 2:23) Eli appears to have been an affectionate and easy father, who wished his sons to do well. But he did not bring them under proper discipline, and did not use his authority to restrain them. As judge, he had power to cast them out of the vineyard, as wicked and unprofitable servants. But Eli looked the other way, and his and their ruin was the consequence. 
God said: “… I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not” (I Sam.3: 13). God rebuked Eli for honoring his sons above Him (2:29). 

We cannot put our children before God. We must speak out against sin.  We might think if I say those needed things, I will lose my child. We must warn them of the danger of losing their soul if they continue in sin. If not we could lose theirs and ours (Ezek.33: 8, 9).

Can we trust God and His promises? The battle belongs to the Lord, but we have our part to do. No doubt, there will be a change in the relationship. They have moved away from God. It will not be the same. Hopefully this is temporary. 

These are hard sayings. If our child has cancer, are we going to reject the treatment because it will bring pain on our child?  As much as it hurts, we will bear with them through the cure. The great Physician has a cure; shall we not administer? 

This writer believes the promise in Proverbs 22:6. It has been explained to me that there are exceptions. If our children have been taught, there is hope! I encourage anyone reading this to NEVER give up! Seek counsel, cry out to God and live by His way. Plead with your prodigal. Do not despair and do not blame others. Do not withhold the cure to bring him/her back. I have seen it work. Praise God!

As long as there is life, there is much hope. “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”