Parenting: The Hardest Job You’ve Ever Done

I think all parents would agree that parenting is the hardest thing they’ve ever done. It’s a big job to raise up little people to love God, love others, and be responsible adults. It’s a job that requires great patience, wisdom, and love. It’s a job that we could never do well alone. Thankfully, we don’t have to! We serve a God who is patient, wise, and loving and never leaves us. He is a Father Himself and His heart for parents is beyond incredible.

First and foremost, God wants us to know that we are not alone.

Throughout the Bible, God tells parents to train up and teach our children.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. — Proverbs 22:6

God’s character is not one to tell us to do something and then leave us to do it alone. He wants to be our strength as it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God wants to be our strength. The key, however, is that we have to let Him be our strength. I don’t believe He forces Himself upon us. He’s there at the ready longing for us to invite Him in. There’s many times in the day-to-day training up and teaching of my children that I feel weak and inadequate. God’s understands. He sees. He’s there. He’s ready to be my strength. It’s in my weakness that His power will rest on me.

Another key point in this verse is that Paul says he boasts about his weaknesses. In order to boast about something, you have to audibly speak it out. I believe if we’re going to do the parenting journey well, we need others to come alongside us to help and encourage us. Our choice of parenting styles is a very personal thing that is vulnerable to share with others. To avoid the risk of judgment, we often hold back sharing the difficulties. One of the best decisions I ever made was to share my struggles in raising up my beautiful children with people who have walked the road before me. Not only did I receive great advice, I also received support and encouragement from a group of people who understood what I was dealing with. I realized that I wasn’t the only one who struggled with feeling inadequate and who lost my cool when I shouldn’t have. The fact that they understood me brought incredible strength that fueled me to keep going. God uses people in our lives, but we have to be willing to humbly admit when we’re experiencing difficulty so that God’s power can be made perfect in our weakness.

God’s heart is that we are honored as parents. That is evident in the second book of the Bible in Exodus 20:12 when He spoke the Ten Commandments and said,

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

He knows it’s not an easy job, and He wants us to be honored for it.

Next time you’re feeling a little weak and inadequate in the parenting journey, read these verses from God’s word to help you draw on His strength.

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
— Lamentations 3:22-24

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. — Philippians 4:6

I can do all things [a]through Him who strengthens me. — Philippians 4:13

I am with you always, even to the end of the age. — Matthew 28:20b

If you (and your kids) need another boost of encouragement, take some time to read God Loves Daddy and Me and God Loves Mommy and Me. These precious board books reinforce God’s Father heart for us and reminds us just how much He loves parents and children!

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Your Turn

In what ways have you experienced God’s heart for you as a parent?

Take a look inside…

Take a look inside…