Prodigal Children

“A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.” Proverbs 17:25 (NIV)

We celebrated our granddaughter's third birthday today. Watching Caroline blow out her "3" candle, enjoy her favorite strawberry cake, open her presents, and practice forward flips in her new sparkly pink leotard, it's hard to imagine her ever being anything other than pure joy. The same can be said for her Uncle Daniel who shares Caroline's birthday. From the moment Daniel was born, his family nickname has been "Joy Boy." But what happens if the children who initially bring us such joy choose to walk away from God's truth? Surely if there's no greater joy, there can be no greater sorrow.

Our Sunday School prayer request time opened this morning with one woman asking prayer for her daughter. The young woman, a busy wife and mom, is scheduled to have a MRI on her knee tomorrow. It seemed to be a pretty routine prayer request for a family member. But suddenly, my friend's voice was quivering.  She began crying as she named all five of her children and the issues with which they are struggling: a physical illness, a failing marriage, sinful choices far from home, an alternate sexual lifestyle, and destructive dating relationships. Through tears my friend said, "I can usually handle it when one or two kids are struggling, but all five at once is just too much for this one Mama's broken heart." And with that the floodgates opened, not only for my friend, but also for most of the Mamas (and not a few Dads) in that room. One by one, other parents began to request prayer for their sons and daughters who are not walking in God's truth. One Mama's honesty, grief, and brokenness led to a community of lament and corporate prayer for prodigal children.

Christian recording artist Lauren Daigle recently recorded Come Alive as an encouragement to parents with prodigal children.  Ezekiel 37 is the basis for Daigle's song. In this chapter God shows the prophet Ezekiel a valley of dry dead bones and asks him "Can these bones live?" Ezekiel answers, "O, Lord God, you know!" God then commands Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones and say "Hear the word of the Lord." By faith Ezekiel obeys God's command and speaks God's words to the dry bones. God then breathes life into the dry bones so that they miraculously come alive again. Ezekiel 37 and Daigle's Come Alive lyrics remind us that our job as parents and grandparents is to speak forth God's Word; God's job is to bring life from death, to give new hearts for old ones. God is the one who saves, but he commands us to cry out: "O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord."

Who in your life needs to hear the word of the Lord?  And who in your life needs your intercession on his or her behalf? Our Sunday School class is using the words from Come Alive as our prayer for all of our children and grandchildren prodigals. Perhaps you can use the lyrics for your prayer as well. Our job is to pray; God's job is to save. "Salvation belongs to the Lord." Jonah 2:9

Amen and Amen!

Donna