3. There are no perfect parents.
At night the voices whisper loudly. You lost your temper—a lot. You didn’t pray enough. You didn’t take them to church enough. You took them to church too often. You sent them to private school. You sent them to Christian school. You homeschooled them. It’s all your husband’s fault; if you’d married someone else it would have been different.
These are all lies.
Adam and Eve had a perfect parent, and they still chose to go their own way. James 1:14 explains how each bears the responsibility for his own choices and his own sin—including our prodigal children. “But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”
4. God can use the sins of others (including you) to accomplish his purpose in your child’s life.
If you have sinned against your child (and we all have, either intentionally or unintentionally), God is sovereign even over that sin. If someone else has sinned against your child, God is sovereign over that as well.
Some of us came to Christ late and lived a godless example in front of our children. Although we’ve repented, forsaken, and asked forgiveness of God and our children, we find it hard to forgive ourselves.
Other times we see events in our children’s lives outside our control and wonder if those events pushed them over the prodigal precipice.
The story of Joseph should give us hope. Listen to what he said to his brothers as they stood before him in guilt and fear over their sinful actions:
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives,” (Gen 50:20).
Joseph understood that while God didn’t cause the sin that changed his life forever, he was able to use the sin to accomplish something good. He can do the same for our children.
