Lord You Were There
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Watching your teenagers struggle with self-esteem and their faith is the hardest part of being a mother. For teenagers it is equally tough — and many times it is especially so for the oldest child.
Such was the situation I faced as Mark was nearing the end of his last year in high school. There was an identity crisis with the church kids he had grown up with and so he found other friends. These friends led him down the wrong path. He felt uncomfortable living at home and trying to lead a double life. | could see the struggle that was going on and so I really started to pray.
The harder I tried to communicate with him about spiritual things, the further he pulled away. I spent many hours praying, fasting and looking for opportunities to talk to him. Then, he started dating a lovely girl, but she wasn’t a Christian and that concerned me more than ever.
One day as I sat on a hilltop behind our house praying, the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Evelyn, get your hands off that boy. Let me do it.” I knew what the Lord meant. I was to leave Mark’s spiritual condition to the Lord. My task was simply to love him. As I did this, I could see the Holy Spirit at work and now I could begin to praise the Lord.
One day Mark came home and as we were talking he said, “Mom, you’ve brainwashed me.” When I asked for an explanation, he said, “I can’t get out from under what you’ve taught me. I can’t go and have fun. I have to get out from under this.” “Well,” I told him, “praise the Lord. You’ll never get away from the Lord.”
This whole process was also teaching me some lessons. One day in my rendezvous with the Lord, He asked me, “Evelyn, why are you so concerned about Mark? Are you really concerned for his salvation or are you concerned about what others will say about you?” | had to really wrestle with this issue before I was finally able to say that it didn’t matter what others said, Mark’s spiritual welfare was my main concern.
In the meantime, Mark and his girlfriend, Tracy, started coming to church. They were married and moved to Winnipeg where a friend invited them to church right away. We could sense they had a real spiritual hunger and I kept on praying. About five months after they were married, I couldn’t ask for their salvation anymore. The Holy Spirit seemed to be directing me to start thanking and praising even if I couldn’t see the answer. What a wonderful experience!
They were now attending church regularly and talked a lot about what was happening. A few weeks later, one Sunday at noon, Mark phoned to tell us they were getting baptized that evening and invited us to come. That was one of the biggest highlights of my life. To attend the baptism and hear them testify to their love for Jesus was such a blessing.
Why I have been blessed to have my prayers answered so quickly I don’t know, but I will ever praise and thank our Lord for the way He has answered. To see Mark and Tracy living for the Lord and involved in reaching out to others is a blessing for which | will ever thank the Lord.
This article is reprinted with permission from both its author, Evelyn Rodgers, as well as its original publisher, The Messenger, the publication of the Evangelical Mennonite Conference. Permission was obtained September 9, 2020.
