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A Parent’s Prayer on Hard Days
If you’ve been on a long, uphill journey with your child and today is a hard day, you probably don’t know how to pray anymore. I did. Often my best prayer was the simplest, “God, please help me!” I’ve prayed this way many times. Have you? If this is you, this blog post might help.
How Can Parents in Pain Correct Stinking Thinking?
Are you a parent who suffers from stinking thinking? Do you beat yourself up believing you must have done a terrible job because of how your child turned out? They abuse...
Defining Moments in Parenting
I trudged into my 12-year-old daughter’s bedroom after we’d had yet another argument to the shocking discovery of self-inflicted cuts up and down both of her forearms. My stomach...
Four Steps to Emotional Freedom for Brokenhearted Parents
Yesterday was the 4th of July when we celebrated our freedom as Americans. However, some people are still in bondage...emotional bondage. Brokenhearted parents. Agonizing over...
The Gift of a Prodigal: One Mom’s Perspective
Today I welcome guest blogger and lover of prodigals, Judy Douglass. "Fifteen years ago, God sent us a son. He was nine-years-old when he came into our family. His first years...
6 Helpful Tips If Father’s Day Will be Hard for You
Father's Day is tomorrow. Are you a brokenhearted dad because of your child’s poor choices, struggles, and dangerous behaviors? Is your soul shipwrecked with disappointment,...
Learning to Respond When Your Child Practices Self-Harm by Kirsten Panachyda
A Learned Response “Mom, I need your help.” Nicholas’s face looked drawn and pale. His left sleeve was pulled up and his right hand cupped the skin of his forearm. I took a deep...
5 Faulty Expectations Parents Have of God
I was blindsided! My early parenting years didn't prepare me. No one prepared me for what was to come. It's not fair. I believed with prayer and trying to do everything "right"...
Pondering the Long and Hard Seasons of Parenting
Welcome today's guest blogger, one of our teammates, Beth Denhof. Several years ago, after a hard season in my marriage, I sat with a good friend and mentor as I staggered...
A Good Goal and A Practical Tip When Your Child Has a Mental Illness
May is Mental Health Awareness month. Today's blog is designed to draw attention to mental illness and offer help to bewldered parents. "You'll get over it." "Snap out of it."...
7 Tips When Mother’s Day Hurts
Mother’s Day is tomorrow. When you have a child who struggles with addiction, mental illness, suicidal thoughts, same-sex desire, is incarcerated, or has other issues,...
A Question for Parents of Prodigals to Consider
"Why did this happen? I can't believe it! Who can I talk to? Who could possibly understand what we're going through?" My husband had no anwers. Our 23 year old daughter was in...
Disappointed Parents: You Never Know What God Might be Up To
Life is full of surprises and disappointments. We never know what we're going get, like Forrest Gump’s momma said about a box of chocolates. Some surprises are good. We’re...