Blend: Strengthen Your FamilyChikamu

Your Family Name

Did you grow up with a certain type of family with the last name, the family dinners, the mom, the dad, the sibling, and the dog? Or maybe you grew up in separate homes, with grandparents, adoptive parents, or another combination? Whatever our childhood looked like, most of us imagined a day when we’d start our own forever-together family. Then life happened, and at some point our dream seemed to fade.

Maybe you found yourself as a single parent after a painful relationship. Maybe your first marriage included children from a previous relationship. Whatever happened, blending a family will mean needing God in way we might have never imagined.

Have you felt the deep despair that you’re not wanted and someone else was instead? That’s a new way to need God. Or have you worried that your child wouldn’t ever have a full, by-blood sibling? Another way to need God’s love. Maybe a previous spouse, whose intentions and heart you no longer know or understand, is now someone you need to co-parent with. These are such tangible ways to need God.

We didn’t expect to need Him like this, but He’s not surprised, and He’s ready with the grace, strength, and healing we never thought we’d need. One of His most loving interventions will be the people in your life who know you, love you, and love God even more.

If you don’t have people who know God and understand blended families, go find them and pray for them to find you. Invite them to read this Bible Plan with you. Start a weekly get-together to catch up, pray, and encourage one another. Because God shows people His love through people who love Him. 

Whether you have foster children, you’ve invited children into your home through adoption, you’re a single mom or dad, or you’ve gone through a messy divorce, God has a distinct purpose and plan for your family. Actually, the Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the church in Ephesus that the same God who can do abundantly more than you could ever ask or think is the One who named your family. 

Our God named your blended family. We name what matters to us, and your blended family matters to God. Your blended family may not have been what you expected, but it’s not a surprise to God, and He stands ready to do more than you could ever ask, think, or imagine. 

Watch Blend: Proof Blended Families Can Get Along, Part 1 

Pray and listen: God, thank You for thinking of my family before I ever imagined it. Will You show me how You are already at work? Will You help me find the right people to come alongside my family? In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Find everything to go through this content with friends and family.