Growing With By Kara Powell And Steven ArgueSample

Day Seven

The Answer Is in the Relationship

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:7

At this point in this week-long devotional, you might be contracting Growing With symptoms. You will likely know you are Growing With your kids when: 

You develop an increasing awareness and urgency to address your own growth areas as much as your kids’. Growing With parenting calls you to be honest about your place in your family’s relational ecosystem and for you to consider where you may need to grow, change, forgive, let go, celebrate, or mourn. 

You recognize that your parenting will raise as many questions as it offers answers. Growing With parents reject the notion that parenting is about “faking it until you make it.” Instead, we admit we have limitations. We cannot know everything, control every situation, or give sage-like answers to every question. Not only can we not deliver parenting perfection, but our kids do not want that from us anyway! What your growing kids want is for you to be curious, to be open, to struggle, to wait, to search, and to discover with them. You are becoming more comfortable with the answer “I don’t know,” realizing that the “answer” is in the process and in the relationship. 

You anticipate parenting a different kid tomorrow than the one you are parenting today. Growing With parents admit that while we might benefit from past parenting wins or sting from parenting misses, each day starts with new possibility. We stay on our toes, knowing that our previous successful parenting methods may not work in the present. We have courage that yesterday’s fails do not disqualify us from being the best parents we can be today. Tomorrow your kid will be different and so will you. You are becoming more courageous as you refuse to hide behind yesterday’s parenting track records and trust God to help you be the parent your kids need now. 

Whether you are pondering your parenting wins, planning your next steps, or gauging your Growing With symptoms, we are convinced that your best parenting is not motivated by fear or shame but springs from hope. 

May any inspiration sparked from this devotional spill over into our conversations and our families with hope, possibility, and growth. 

Jesus, thank you that you love my kids even more than I do. Thank you that you want the very best for our family and that you fill us with love, power, and self-discipline. Please help us rest in your powerful grace that continues to transform us all. Amen.