Recently, someone told me they felt led of the LORD to pray that my son would come home. 

Appreciative of their caring heart, I shared the following:

If our son comes home, just because we want him home, he would have to step outside the LORD’s will. But for our son, the center of God’s will right now is to be in a land far away from us; not near us. While our son’s calling was to go, our calling was to let him go. And as God equips our son to live the life of his calling, so God equips us to live the life of our calling. 

So as you pray for us, consider this:

   Just because you may witness tears in our eyes as we talk about our son and his family, that doesn’t mean we need them to come home. We are just expressing a love deeply felt. We need compassion at times like these; not sympathy.

   God has His way of working things out for our good, equipping us to walk the path before us successfully. In my case, after those first few painful months, I found the pain grew less intense. In it’s place, God put a numbness. I liken it to what the doctor did for me as I was feeling the full impact of my contractions in the delivery room. He gave me a pain medication that took the top edge off the contraction. I still felt the pain but because it wasn’t as intense it was manageable. Therefore, in like manner, God didn’t remove the pain of living separated from my son and his family, He made it manageable.  And because of this, my joy is beyond describing; my peace beyond understanding. 

   Unless you walk a path similar to ours, it will be hard to understand what we are feeling. Therefore, if you base your prayers for us on your feelings about what we are going through, then you may not be able to discern the best way to pray. 

   Therefore, may I suggest, using verses like the following as a guide when you pray for those of us who have been called to “let go”: 

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes. Psalm 119:71 HCSB

He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trust in the LORD, happy is he. Proverbs 16:20 NKJV

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