After decades of working with all sorts of children and teens, I have seen a few who are what I would consider truly troubled. Even though I have some limited training in how to minister to their parents, I am not a counselor nor have I raised a child who was troubled. I am always searching for resources though, that may help parents through a valley that must seem impossibly deep and wide.
Recently, I was offered the opportunity to review You Are Not Alone: Hope for Hurting Parents of Troubled Kids by Dena Yohe. Yohe has written a guidebook of sorts for parents who are traveling down the road she has followed. Her daughter struggled with cutting, substance abuse, depression and more. Yohe doesn’t appear to attempt to sugar coat what her family experienced as they tried to help their daughter find a healthier path for herself.
Even though I haven’t personally traveled this road, much of the advice she gives is fairly standard for those in families trying to deal with the addictions of loved ones. I think the advantage in this book is that it’s from a Christian perspective and both she and her daughter share their personal feelings, thoughts and struggles as they worked through everything.
While I am the first to be unhappy if a man thinks I am somehow inferior merely because I am a woman, I think we have lost a lot of important things in our quest to be politically correct. Perhaps one of the most important is recognizing the legitimate differences between men and women and the way God created them. One is not better or worse than the other, just different. In fact, as you know our strengths are also the gateway to our weaknesses.
Schools don’t start here for another month or so, but school supply areas are already filled in box retailers. school supplies now cost pennies on the dollar compared to what they cost the rest of the year. You can buy a lot of supplies for not much money at all if you watch the special sales that they often add to the already lower prices. Then bring the supplies home and have some fun in these last hot days of summer using them to teach your kids about God.
Sluggard is one of those great Bible words we don’t use in regular conversation very often. Yet, the Bible actually has quite a bit to say about sluggards. As someone who considers myself a person who accomplishes more than most in the course of an average day, I never thought much about sluggards.
If you ever doubted it, an hour of flipping around various television networks will remind you that you are battling for your children. Satan has the world firmly in his grasp and they are fighting a fierce battle to lure your kids away from God.