You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. — 2 Corinthians 3:2-3

As Christian parents, this is what our kids are to us, letters in the earth, written with love, revealing our work of faith in raising them in Christ. We do our best – the best we know how – to write The Word on the tablets of their hearts. When they are out among others, it thrills us to see progress in their behavior and belief system. When they shine the light of Jesus, it’s a checkmark to our hearts, affirming our work of love in the Lord.

In reverse, it also explains the heartache we have when our children go the way of the world. We feel personally responsible. And we may even feel that God failed His promises to us. We forget that, like Paul and Apollo’s, our responsibility as parents is to plant and water the seed of Truth, but it is God who causes the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)

Our microwave thinking wants everything we hope for our children to come into view now. We forget the need to wait on and trust in the Lord when it seems we have failed. We fall to pride without realizing it.

Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. — 2 Corinthians 3:4-6

It is the Spirit at work in our children that will rise up at the right time and bring them forth shining like gold. I cannot tell you the number of times some scripture planted in me in childhood came to light for me in just the right moment, adjusting my course. God causes the seed to grow in ways that penetrate our hearts, putting down strong roots.

Perhaps the letter you’ve written with seeds of truth have landed on hearts of stone. Don’t give up. Don’t let pride enter in to raise up shame that puts a veil over your face, hiding the light of God in you. Keep lovingly praying. Take every opportunity to water the seeds. Trust God to use the struggles of this life to till the soil of their hearts. And stand firm on God’s word of promise.

I have a friend who, every time her daughter would deny God, she would tell her, “That’s a lie.” And she would quote the promise she was standing on to her daughter, telling her that she belongs to God and cannot deny her roots. The daughter often stormed off, but momma kept praying, loving and trusting. God used His truth and momma’s loving faithfulness to soften her daughter’s heart. After about a year, the daughter turned, returning first to God, then to momma.

God is faithful! We faithfully do what we can to plant and water, knowing it is God who causes the growth. Stand firm in the adequacy God gives you while resting the results in His hands.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. — 2 Corinthians 3:17-18