Co-parenting With God's Helpনমুনা

Each summer when my children would visit their other parent, the same thing would happen. 

As soon as my daughter would arrive, her stepmother would take down her freshly done hair and redo it, and each time this happened I would become furious. 

I didn’t understand. What was the point? Why in the world would she redo something that was in perfectly good condition? Why wouldn’t they message me and ask me questions about her hair maintenance? Or at least ask me how long the style should last? I take care of her all year!

Eventually, I concluded that they were doing this on purpose to get back at me or to prove a point that they could be better parents than me. 

I may have been right. But in all my frustration, fussing, and pointing the finger, I failed to see the logs in my own eye—logs of assumption and judgment regarding their motives and intentions. 

Proverbs 16:2 says “All a person's ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” 

You may be saying, "Wait, we aren't allowed to assume the reason behind a people’s actions?"

Well, from what this says, that is to be determined by God. I simply need to share my concern with God and leave it up to him to judge and handle. 

As I did just that, God began to reveal to me that I had never even mentioned anything about my daughter's hair to my ex or his new wife. Not a message, call, nothing. I just assumed that they should come to me and ask, and if they didn’t, they were acting intentionally, against me.  

My logs were blinding me from seeing my sinfulness and when God revealed this to me and highlighted my pattern of entitlement, pride, and assumptions (all my seemingly right ways), His conviction led me to repentance. 

I am so thankful He took the time to show me myself. Some of the greatest challenges in my walk with Christ has been a result of co-parenting. It can and will perfect us if we allow it to.

Today I want to encourage you to choose to be perfected by this process and allow God to create in you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you. Allow God to weigh the heart and motive of the other parent and choose to model Christ before them.

Today's Devotional was written by Rachel G. Scott