A friend texted me this picture over the weekend. This is at the home of someone she loves deeply, her daughter. She mows her yard, does housework, and helps with personal needs.
Lately when she arrives at the home, she feels a heaviness due to her inability to help her daughter with debilitating health issues. Her words were, “I feel a bit broken inside.”
As parents, haven’t we all felt a bit broken inside at times with our children?
There is nothing worse than to watch your child suffer mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, or financially. We have felt…no, it’s more like, lived…our children’s pain. Maybe not to the extent of my friend here with her daughter’s health issues, but struggles none-the-less.
I am like a sponge. I absorb their pain and confusion. I carry it as though it were my own. Maybe I feel I have relieved their burden some by taking it upon myself. Truth is…probably not so much. Now there are two carrying around the same burden with no where to unload it.
But God says to lean on him.
Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; ♥️
And he loved us so much that he sent Jesus to us to help us on our earthly walk. This is where parents can find some peace.
Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
I wrote a post in February of 2022 (link below) about a parent’s happiness. Another friend had inspired that post. His father would tell him:
A parent is only as happy as their unhappiest child.
A Parent’s Happiness
Do you find this to be true?
I find it impossible for my happiness to rise above the brokenness of one of my children. At least it’s been proven true so far for me and my six.
Parenting never completely ceases. That’s kind of built into our design. It’s truly the toughest “job” we will ever have. Maybe though, God also sends compassionate friends to help us through the rough patches of feeling a bit broken inside. ♥️
Andi
Coffee with Andi 