The season of Lent began quietly in our own home — a reminder of our brokenness and our need for God’s graciousness. I never expected what I would be going through in the next 40 days, but the Spirit quickly led my heart to the wilderness of lament, of confession, of self-doubt, of endless challenges — a quiet and safe place where I have been told to be still, pray without ceasing, and expect God to be at work.
LIVING IDEAS
“The tumult, chaos, and unrest of the teen years are not only the result of significant biological changes taking place, but because of a dramatic spiritual war going on as well. Parents who demand comfort, ease, regularity, peace, space, quiet, and harmony will be ill-equipped for this war.”
— Paul David Tripp, Age of Opportunity, p.31-32
The reality of every family is that we are all broken and have our own struggles — whether raw emotions, unmet expectations, conflicts in family relationships, fears and doubts on almost everything around us — complicated with our diverse personality and individual preferences, and further worsen by our very nature of sinfulness.
When these teen years feel uncomfortable, it is much easier to retreat to my idol of comfort (as Tripp termed in his teen parenting book), refusing the unpredictability of sanctification in motherhood, even when I hear God’s gentle but clear voice telling me to loosen my fist, and let Him begin His work in our hearts.
SACRED CALLING
“Transitions are like that. They can bring out the worst in us, depriving us of what we think we must have to be happy, comfortable, and thriving until our true nature is revealed… God allows us to experience the pain, difficulty and discomfort of transitional seasons so our faith is tested and purified because this results in eternal glory and praise for Christ. The transition you just want to end isn’t a throwaway season — it’s a time full of God’s purposes, when hindsight will tell a story of sin and need driving us to the Father and making us love like the Son.”
— Emily Jensen & Laura Wilfer, Risen Motherhood, p.59-60
Honestly, I still find it hard to swallow the fact that our family dynamic is constantly changing. As I listen to my lonely friend whose husband is always on a work trip, leaving her with their young child and literally no support system in the past four years, I lament for our past seasons when it was so easy to keep our family together. As I listened to my kindred friend how her teenager was never home, even ignored her mother’s desire to have a family meal together on a special occasion, I relate how an extended time at family dinner can feel like a luxury right now. Even worse, fears creeps into my heart as I remember my older friend whose daughter walked away from her family since teenage years, thus never got to meet her grandchild all these years…
I impatiently wait for this transition to pass, hoping that my life would be filled with regularity, peace, and harmony again, soon, not knowing that “it’s a time full of God’s purposes.”
BEAUTY SENSE
Our fasts remind us of our weaknesses, temptations, and unstable incarnations. We can either conceal our failures, parading our perfection and forgetting our faults (which the Devil will use to accuse and tempt us to hide), or we can seek God as our hiding place and surround ourselves with His grace and shouts of deliverance.
— My narration for Dwell’s Lent Devotion
In life and in motherhood, I fail a lot, often painfully. When I am tempted to give up and to despair, God always searches me out with His graciousness and compassion, teaching me to lean on Him for provision and protection. In this transitional season, He has opened my eyes to see my children the way He does, precious in His eyes, and changed my heart to love them the way He does. His presence never leaves me, and in the wilderness He is working on my unwilling heart, to call me to repentance, to rest, to quietness, and to trust (Isaiah 30:15).
Despite its discomfort and constant oppositions, this brief season with our teens shall fade. In hindsight, will we be able to tell a story of redemption that drew us nearer to His throne of grace where we received mercy, and found grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16), again and again? May we choose to take up our cross daily, no matter how difficult it is, to hold tightly onto our only Anchor on this earth, and to journey this Lenten season together with our suffering Christ.
Love,
Teresa
