VL - Issue 34 - January 2020

STEPPING FORWARD
BY LINDA CUBBEDGE-SMITH
any years ago, our son began
making bad choices.
He was still living at home,
so my husband and I made
sure he knew his actions
were unacceptable. But instead
of changing his ways,
he moved out. He wanted to
show us he was old enough to make his
own decisions.
We were crushed. We had tried to be
faithful in serving God and providing well
for our three sons and daughter. We had
never experienced such outright rebellion
before. My husband and I tried many
things to get him back on track. We took
his car from him. We tried to guilt him into
coming back home and doing what was
right. Nothing worked.
I have always prayed for my children,
but this time, I knew I needed to seek the
Lord more diligently. I needed His wisdom;
we obviously weren’t making any headway
with ours.
I prayed. I cried. I poured out my broken
heart to Jesus. He graciously answered,
but not with the words I expected. I heard,
“Just try a little kindness.”
Be kind to our son who was acting so rebelliously
and selfishly? That just seemed
wrong. And I told the Lord that! But God’s
ways are always higher than ours.
In the end, I obeyed the Lord. I knew
that only He knew how to return our son to
the respectful, well mannered, and godly
young man we knew him to be.
Returning his car was the first act of
kindness the Lord led us to do. Then, He
told me to take him shopping. What?! Yes,
I was to be kind and treat him as if he were
the best son ever.
Several months went by without much
change in him—but I was changing. I was
more at peace, and I had more compassion
for my son. I learned to trust God more as
He showed me that our son needed kindness
as he charted his own path through
this world’s stormy waters.
10 Issue 01 / 2020 VICTORIOUSLIVINGMAGAZINE.COM