From the time my daughter was eight years old she told me she wanted to be a missionary. That’s sweet when you’re looking into the eager eyes of a child. Much harder is peering into the eager eyes of a young adult, realizing this was soon to be a VERY. REAL. THING.
Leslie’s plan was to live in the Czech Republic for a year and work with the local church. She needed approximately $19,000, a nice chunk of change to raise. Most startling was her approach. “Mom, I really feel that God is telling me not to do any fundraisers. He’s telling me that He wants to provide.”
My ideas of support letters, spaghetti dinners, and bake sales were dashed.
She just needs a dose of reality, I thought.
Then I felt my Father’s still, small voice. Isn’t this what you taught her to do . . . to take leaps of faith?
God’s voice stilled my frantic musings. Well, I suppose I had. And here is how you can teach your child to do the same. {But be warned: Faith takes just that—FAITH.}
4 WAYS TO TEACH YOUR CHILD TO TAKE LEAPS OF FAITH
- Model It. I modeled faith when God called me to launch a crisis pregnancy center. I modeled faith when God asked me to mentor young moms. I modeled faith when I said yes to our first mission trip to the Czech Republic—leading a trip when I hadn’t even been on one! My daughter was with every step of the way, and she witnessed God showing up time after time.
- Step Out of the Safety Zone. I always wanted to keep my kids safe, but allowing my daughter to attend a secular college in an urban area was hard. She was not safe. It was far from a safe area, and most of the students were bad examples! Yet I saw Leslie’s character and her love for God, and I told her she could make a difference. She did. The relationships she built still continue—relationships with those who would have never stepped into a church, except for their relationship with my daughter. I stepped out of the safety zone when I allowed my daughter to step into dangerous territory, and she steps out of her safety zone every day and realizes there is no place she’d rather be.
- Become a Person of Prayer. We are weak people. We need God, and prayers give us access to Him. Through the years we’ve tried to pray for needs as they come upon us—whether it is the accident on the highway, the lady down the street, or our own failings. When we teach our children to pray, we teach them how to access the answer for all their needs. My daughter is a person of prayer because I realized it was the only way for me to be an overcomer in this life, and I told her that time and time again. And as she prayed she discovered the same thing.
- Join the Jump. When our children want to take leaps of faith, we need to join the jump. Sending my daughter to an atheistic country for one year wasn’t easy, but I poured myself into being her biggest support and cheerleader. Does your heart pound when you consider what God might call your child to do? Parent, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and take a leap of faith, letting your child know that you trust God’s perfect will and that you expect Him to do great things!
Now, back to that fundraising, I’m happy to say that EVERY penny my daughter needed came in, without support letters, without spaghetti dinners, and without twenty-five-cent cookies. Customers at her work would slip her checks, and an international friend sent her a large sum. Money came in in unexpected ways from unexpected places . . . which means it just grew my daughter’s faith for the future callings God puts on her life!
Read the original post on forthefamily.org
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