Fiercely Standing Your Ground

BY: Anonymous

As a young first-time mother, I couldn’t fathom loving a child more and being more fiercely protective of the precious baby God had given me. I was overwhelmed with the wonder of new life and the awe that the Lord had entrusted my husband and me with the task of raising this boy to love and honor Him. In the way only the Lord can, He expanded the love in my heart to love and protect three more children just as passionately and fiercely. That fierceness and passion only intensified when my husband left, as it felt like it was just me covering these children. I could very clearly hear God tell me to “Stand your ground.”
         
My children (three of whom are now adults) will tell you that they are stronger, better people because of the valley of suffering we have walked through. They would say to you that they value what matters, they invest their time in people, and they discern truth from fiction in ways they would never have, had they not walked through such an intense battle. What they would also tell you is that my strength and passion are different because of the suffering. Where I would have sought the covering of my husband before, I surrendered to the Lord to guide and protect us. He is constant, unchanging, and sure; all the things we needed when nothing else seemed consistent, steady, and certain.
         
His leading alone became my compass, and He never steered me in the wrong direction. I tried a few wrong approaches in my strength, but the leading from Him was never wrong. When everything around us seemed chaotic and confusing, He was not. God is not the author of chaos and confusion.

I quickly took up a phrase that I often repeated to my children, “We have a standard against which to measure anything that appears confusing, and that is the Lord and His Word.” To the best of my ability, I sought to make each decision from the standard of God’s Word and His voice. Every time I sincerely sought Him for an answer or direction, He reconfirmed each time that I was hearing Him.
         
Not that any of the years of parenting alone have been easy or without struggle, but I have never been alone during them. His covering and promises for my children have been better than any that man could provide. Praying Scripture over each of my four children became a constant, in addition to the specific prayers I had for their individual needs. One of my favorite Scriptures to pray over my children became Isaiah 54:13. I declared that my children are “disciples, taught by the Lord and obedient to His will, and great is their peace and undisturbed composure.” When everything in the natural was falling apart, I clung tightly to those promises I knew the Lord had given me.

He never fails; His Word is constant and sure, and His purpose for my family is not something I will ever turn away from.
         
Every other ground is shaky and uncertain, but standing on the sure foundation of the Lord will never disappoint and will never confuse. I remember reading about St. Augustine’s words regarding having a praying mother. St. Augustine said, “Give me praying mothers, and I will rescue the world.” He spent years living life according to his fleshly desires, while his mother spent those same years in sincere prayer for him, her consistency and character never changing. When earthly standards seem to change second by second, may we be found standing our ground, solid and sure. Standing on the solid rock of the Lord that never changes.