If you are a person of faith, you must teach your grandchildren to rely on faith when life gets tough.
Why?
Simply living life guarantees experiences that will run the gamut from easy and beautiful to painful and difficult. We all must learn to cope with the unexpected or stressful situations we will encounter. It’s part of the human experience and it’s part of our character development.
It’s that simple.
Faith and learning to trust in Scripture along with a personal walk with God is one way persons of faith cope. Our faith strengthens us and gives us the courage and fortitude to carry on when times get rough.
How do we instill such reliance and trust into our grandchildren?
The first step is to be a good role model of faith-sustained living. Do you rely on your faith when times are stressful? Do you attend church? Do you read your Bible? Do you state your trust in your faith during hard times or do you fall apart and wail with fear? Kids watch the adults around them for cues on how to act and react. Always remember and model confidence as much as possible.
Next, do you talk openly about how you find strength in your faith during troubled times? Are you open and honest about what it means to you to live with faith as a core value? Do you have key Scripture verses that you turn to during stress? Can you recite them and share them with your grandchildren?
Finally, when you talk to a grandchild about a troubling matter, do you take time to listen and respond with more than just a pat answer about faith? Do you dig into the core issues causing the trouble, then turn to Scripture and prayer for answers and guidance? Do you speak words of trust in God’s response even when it’s not what you expected or in the timing you preferred?
Coming into faith as an adult can be difficult because we have to set aside some preconceived notions about who God is and how he works among humanity. For children, especially young ones, it’s much easier to accept faith and trust that God loves them and watches out for them. Particularly, if we are living our faith and speaking to them about it. Here’s one example from my personal life that I now see carrying into my grandchildren’s lives as their parents carry on with teaching faith principles:
When my children were young and awakened in the night with a nightmare, I calmed them, got them back into their bed, then talked with them about God watching over them when they were sleeping. After the quiet conversation, we prayed to reinforce what I had just told them and I tucked them in to continue sleeping. Once or twice with each child was all it took and they had the confidence to sleep trusting that God was watching over them. They all became good sleepers and didn’t suffer night fears. The same is now happening with our grandchildren. They sleep well and don’t fear the dark of the night.
It might be easy to discount and call it lucky to have good sleepers, but I believe we instill in our children and grandchildren what we want them to live. Read that sentence again, please.
WE, their parents and grandparents, instill into children the principles we want them to live by.
Indeed, they all have their unique personality, but life skills are taught. We can teach our children to rely on their faith in all situations. It will build their confidence and give them courage!