A Mother’s Heart
There is probably nothing more on a mother’s heart than her husband and children. Children hold a very tender place in the mothers’ heart because so often they are introduced into her life in their most helpless state, and that is as tiny unborn infants.
Even after they are born, Mothers are keenly aware that their babies only live because she feed them, keeps them warm and dry. She guards them with her life. Typically, a mother carries her baby from the moment of conception to birth. Also, she is the one God has gifted with the amazing ability to suckle her child. To say that the bond is very strong is an understantement.
When children leave us
Therefore, mothers often struggle to accept that their children will grow up and leave home. That is a geographical separation that is the climax of a process that takes place throughout childhood and early adulthood. Healthy motherhood understands and embraces it gratefully, albeit with a tear in the eye. Graduations and weddings are milestones on this road. As one mom put it to me, “we work ourselves out of a job”.
When children leave in the worst way
But there are other kinds of leaving that can take place. As Christian mothers, our worst nightmare is that our beloved children would leave the faith they once professed. Yet this nightmare is a reality for a growing number of parents. Their children have bought into the current trend of Christian deconstruction
Here’s an excellent sermon series, part 1 and part 2, by Dr. John MacArthur, that give a biblical context for this so-called Christian deconstruction movement. There is nothing new under the sun. While the number of young people joining this movement is growing, so is the number of heartbroken Christian parents.
The children they have loved, protected, cared for and nurtured are now held captive by the evil of this deception. Those same children who once professed Christ, to the joy of their parents, have renounced Him. This brings unspeakable grief to those same parents.
Many former “celebrity Christians” have joined this trend of Christian deconstruction, giving it more publicity and exposure. If you are a parent who is baffled and heartbroken by your child’s defection from Christ, this may be what they have joined.
High profile former Christians and the media only add to this terrible trend.
High profile former Christians like Jen Hatmaker are now giving “testimonials” of how they have come to renounce Christian orthodoxy. Jen’s story is useful for parents who wonder why in the world their adult or near adult children are suddenly angry with them for their evangelical Christian upbringing.
There are many, many more like Jen. It was heartbreaking for me, a huge Amy Grant fan back in the day, to hear of her hosting her niece’s same-sex wedding on her Tennessee farm.
Another useful illustration of this trend is a far-from-Christian documentary on the Duggar family. It has been on several streaming services such as Amazon Prime. Whatever anyone may think of the Duggars or their church (and it seems that there were indeed some serious issues), the agenda of this documentary is clearly anti Christian. It is particularly evident in the last episode, with interviews of former professing Christian pouring out their anger at Christian parents, basically for not letting them “be who they wanted to be”.
Roughly translated, the parents did not affirm them in their sinful desires. Some parents who have watched this now have clarity about what Satan has done to seduce their own children.
We are praying for our children who have deconstructed. And those who have embraced other commonly approved sins of our culture.
In addition to this, our world seems bent on up-ending truths that are not just moral truths, but sins that defy our Creator and our very being. They defy who we have been created to be by Almighty God!
On a recent trip to New England, we couldn’t help grieving at the rainbow flags on so-called churches. These places have taken the sign of the covenant God made with Noah, and used that sign to approve what God calls an abomination.
To add to that, it is no longer safe to be a child in a government school. Rosaria Butterfield’s latest book, Five Lies of our Anti Christian Age speaks of this and much more. You can also hear a great interview with her on YouTube here.
For parents living these nightmares of what is evil being presented as good to their children, these resources are invaluable.
Is this time in our culture unprecedented?
No. Of course not. Nothing new is under the sun, as far as the enemy of our souls, Satan, is concerned. Parents sacrificed their children to the fire of Molech in the old testament. Also, the world was so wicked in the days of Noah, God killed everyone except Noah and the 7 members of his family. And of course in the city of Sodom, every man came out to Lot’s house to demand to “know” the angelic visitors in his home, and even when God blinded these demented, depraved souls,, they tried to grope their way the angels to molest them.
What did the righteous do in those days? They spoke out against the sin, they walked with God, and they prayed.
Amy Carmichael, an Irish mother in India
Amy Carmichael was one such woman. Though she never married and had children of her own, she was in every sense a mother. As a result, she prayed for her adopted children in dark times.
Aaron Garroit writes this in an article on the Ligonier website titled Who was Amy Carmichael?:
It was March 1901. A seven-year-old Indian girl named Preena escaped a Hindu temple where she had been abandoned by her mother as a “devotion to the gods.” (She was to serve as a temple prostitute for life.) It wasn’t the first time she had fled the temple. The first time, Preena had hoped her mother would rescue her. Sadly, her mother renounced her again and the temple women punished Preena’s desertion with hot irons to the hands. Perhaps that would move her mother to see her desperation and keep her.
Her second time on the run, Preena wandered across a large body of water and came in the dark upon a church in the village of Pannaivilai—hopefully this church was different than the “church” she had been living in. Was her mother close? Would her mother keep her this time? Providentially, yes. The next day, she embraced and kissed her “Amma” (“Mother” in Tamil). But it wasn’t her birth mother. It was a thirty-four-year-old Irish woman. Her name was Amy Carmichael (1867–1951).
Amy spent her life rescuing and adopting such orphans. She also wrote a beautiful poem about her prayers for her children. By 1913, there were 130 girls who called her “Amma”. Later, the orphanage was enlarged to include little boys who also saw her as their mother!
Amy Carmichael’s prayer For Our Children!
Here is her poem, a prayer for her children in dark times. I have quoted it from the Splashes of Serenity blog.
Let it be our prayer too, for our children! Sadly, to this date I have not come across one instance of someone who truly has repented of their deconstruction.
Let’s storm heaven the way Amy Carmichael did and ask the Lord to bring our children back!
To help us, I have written a melody to this prayer and I will leave a link below in case you want to listen and sing along.
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