Life changed when I had children, no doubt about it. I even mentioned to my husband just yesterday that I seemed to respond to movies differently since becoming a mother. Movies with a lot of violence and killing now weren’t so much entertainment as they were anxiety-inducing. It’s like they served as a reminder of how cruel this world can be, and I wanted no part of it!
When I first became a mom I realized something right away. Babies are tiny! I was in awe staring at the small head of my newborn, and shocked by bones that seemed so small and fragile. The possibilities of injury were endless, and the chance of harm very great.
With stories falling in front of my new mom eyes about SIDS, or Amber Alerts invading my senses, it was enough to send me into a panic with my already sensitive emotional frailty due to hormonal imbalances. And even now when I hold my baby and feel the bendable rib cage in my hands I am affected. I watch her sleep, focusing in on the rise and fall of her small chest, and I pray. Oh boy do I pray.
There’s nothing wrong with praying for the safety and health of your children. I do it quite frequently to be perfectly honest. But there’s also the tendency as a parent to worry endlessly about your babies. And while there’s nothing wrong with prudent concern that causes one to act intelligently to prevent harm, there is such a thing as becoming a worry wart. It’s in these stress-inducing thoughts of wild worry that you get it all wrong. We all do.
The other day as I left for work, leaving my children in the hands of someone other than myself, God reminded me of something very simple that we may all forget. The promises that occur in scripture, the ones that I draw strength from for my daily walk, those same Biblical truths apply to my children.
His plans are to prosper my babies, not to cause them harm. (Jeremiah 29:11)
He walks beside my babies. His rod and staff comfort them. (Psalm 23:4)
He gives my babies strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)
He is a refuge and strong tower for my babies. (Psalm 61:3)
He upholds my babies with His righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
He will not fail or forsake my babies. (Deuteronomy 31:16)
He will not allow their foot to slip. (Psalm 21:3)
He will rescue my babies from all evil. (2 Timothy 4:18)
No weapon fashioned against my babies will succeed. (Isaiah 54:17)
Surely His goodness and mercy will follow my babies all the days of their lives. (Psalm 23:6)
The fact is I can hold these promises true for my children just the same as I can for myself, and I don’t have to fret about if I can protect them from this world. Though the good Lord gives me the smarts to keep them from the hands of evil, I can rest in the fact that when I have done my best and bad things still spin out of control in this world, that my Jesus has overcome the world.
In essence my children are not my own. They belong to God, and He has entrusted me to care for them on this earth. But my first order of business in accepting that responsibility is trusting in His hand of protection on their lives and His guidance to help me do my part in their care.
And when I can do that, there’s really no need to worry too much about it.