Jenifer Metzger : Parenting Teens & Choices

One of the hardest things {for me} that I have realized about parenting teenagers is letting them make their own choices. I have a great fear of them making the wrong choices. Of them walking away from everything good and true. Yet as I watch my 16 and 14 year old, I realize I am powerless.

But God is my Rock.

This fear has had a grip on me for quite awhile. My husband has to {often} remind me that our daughter will be an adult in a few short years so we need to let her make decisions now and learn.

As I read I Need Some Help Here by Kathi Lipp, she reminds me:

You can't force your kid to make good choices. And if you're being honest, God can't either. He is pretty firm with that whole free will thing. But God can work miracles in your kids' lives so they'll want to make good choices.

She also shares:

Something I've needed to remember is that throughout all my own bad choices as a child, God never left me. He never abandoned me.

No I can't make their choices for them. They have to choose on their own to follow God. They have to choose on their own to be honest and live with integrity. They have to choose on their own to be kind, patient and caring. They have to choose on their own to be a hard worker and diligent. I can't do it for them.

What I can do is pray. I can give them over to Jesus. When my children where newborns, we dedicated them to God. We have prayed for them and with them their entire lives. We have raised them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Now we leave them with Jesus. Kathi also reminds me that the best thing my husband and I can do for our children is place them at the safest place possible: the feet of Jesus.

I Need Some Help Here is full of incredible encouragement for parenting kids, teens and adult children when your child makes poor choices. Kathi includes Scriptures to pray over your children in this area and so much more. Check out I Need Some Help Here today!