What If My Child Has Wandered?

Discovering Ruth Q & A  9-3-26

Q:   My teenage son started dating a girl who I think is a bad influence on him. He has moved away from God, and I don’t know what to do.

A:  First of all, you need to continue to love this girlfriend instead of judging her, but I would also encourage you that you can tell your son the truth. You can say, “I don’t agree with this. I love you, and I love your girlfriend, but I can’t bless what you’re doing. I didn’t raise you this way.”

Once you have made that clear, your job is just to pray. You know, James 5:16 says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,” and that tells us that our prayers have great power. 

This reminds me of some dear friends of mine and what happened with their daughter once. She was living with her Muslim boyfriend and was just in a place where she was so far from the Lord, but through this whole time, her parents would come and visit her. They would love on her and on her boyfriend, and behind the scenes, they were always praying for her, even though nothing seemed to be happening.

One day, the daughter called her mother, and as they were talking, the mother asked, “How’s your boyfriend?”

The daughter answered, “You know, Mom, that’s just not the right relationship for me.”

Friend, those parents didn’t quit believing. They kept praying and trusting God, and it brought their daughter out of that relationship that was pulling her away from God. In fact, now that daughter is married to a minister, and they have beautiful children.

That’s the power of not giving up. Think of the father of the prodigal son. The Bible doesn’t say how long he waited. It doesn’t say how long he prayed, but he didn’t move from his faith in God and his position of compassion. When that son finally came home, the Bible says the father ran to meet him and fell on the son’s neck.

That’s the compassion that God greets us with every day. He has compassion towards you and your child, and you can keep offering up your prayers in faith that He and His great power are at work in your child’s life, even if you can’t see it.