When Family and Ministry Collide | Part 2
Church planters in Spain and Global Impact Partners Josh and Brenda Lei Casey continue their series on what they’ve learned from raising children on the mission field.
“Your” kids belong to God.
This is a sobering truth we’ve come to recognize: ultimately, your children belong to God, and He has allowed us to steward our kids in this life. He has blessed us with them and entrusted us with them, and this understanding helps us with this principle. As parents, we must be ready for Jesus to call our children at any time and to any place, like He did when James and John left their dad, Zebedee, to follow Jesus (Mark 1:19-20).
There will be times in our children’s lives when God will guide our children into a ministry or calling that sends them away from us. Every protective instinct within us may reject this idea, but we must be willing to give them the support and freedom to follow Jesus as He leads.
If we’re being honest, oftentimes it is the parents who are the true heroes in missions work! They pay a heavy cost to send their kids and grandkids away to follow Jesus and reach people. Personally, we have been blessed to have AMAZINGLY supportive parents. On one visit, one of our parents said, “I was always supportive of you guys being here, but it didn’t change the fact that I did not like it. I still don’t like it. But I can see clearly after watching you loving on all these people. It’s better for you to be here instead of being with me in America.” This is the statement of a true hero.
If we really want to be a family that obeys Jesus’ commands, we have to let our kids go. This may mean you have to let go of the dream family you always imagined, but the heavenly family God promises is better.
If you missed Part 1 of this series, you can read it here.