"Lord, I Believe.Help My Unbelief": Encouragement for Parents in Hard Seasons- Mark 9:14-29 (Praying for Your Child Series - Part 2)

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Hello, friend. Welcome back to Grace for My Home. I'm Audrey McCracken, and I'm so glad to be back with you again this week. I hope that you're doing well. We're doing well. We have seamlessly transitioned from one sport to the next this year. So we've moved from basketball to soccer, and I only have one playing right now, which he just got his driver's license. So it it feels so easy right now. I just got to show up for games. And I don't know how to, you know, I don't know how to to to feel about that. I feel good, but at the same time a little sad. But I'm sure I'll I'm sure I'll get over it. We're also getting ready to have another high school graduate. My middle son, Luke, he graduates in June, and he's trying to decide what he's going to do for college. And that's a a wonderful time, but a scary time. He's a little nervous. We've done some college visits, but I think he has a plan. So we'll see. We'll see if that changes. It very well could. This week I want to share with you, kind of staying with the same theme that I started last week. Last week we talked about the Seraphonician woman and how she pressed into Jesus and got what she needed for her daughter. And the Bible is so has so much to say for parents who need Jesus to touch and meet their children. It has it's so rich with hope. It's so rich with examples of how when parents come to Jesus and bring their children to Jesus, that Jesus has compassion and does something for them. And today I want to share another story like that. It's in it it's found in the Bible two places. One in Matthew 17, verses 14 through 21, and another s another place, Mark 9, verses 14 through 29. And it's about the Father who brings his son to Jesus, who has he he keeps having convulsions, he keeps having seizures. I've heard this taught as he had epilepsy. I don't know if that's true or not. I don't know that it matters for what we're going to talk about today, but the the bottom line is he had a problem that only Jesus could fix. He had an issue. His son had an issue that only Jesus could make better. And this story, it holds a special place in my heart. And I wanted I want to tell you a little bit about my story. I've been doing the podcast here for about three, going on four years now. And my heart with this podcast is to encourage you. You know, God has shown me things, just like He's taught you things. He's taught me things. And those things have been so life-changing and life-giving in my home and in my family that my heart is to share those things with you. But I I go through things too. And I know that's no surprise. You know, I we go through seasons of hardship and things and that we wish were different and trials. We all do. And I don't speak a lot about those here. I try to speak about those things after I get through them. Because in the middle of them, I don't really have a whole lot of hope for you because I'm just trying to hold on to hope myself sometimes. But the things I've been through, I can speak on those. But about a year ago, we went through what was for me a very difficult time. We had some transition going on in our lives, and it was a big transition. And we had a lot of things that I really didn't feel comfortable or didn't feel like I should speak to here on the podcast. It was a time of testing for me. You have you ever noticed that a lot of times, you know, a time of testing, it's not normally just one thing, but when you're in a time of testing, it's like one thing, and then something else hits, and then something else hits, and you think it can't get any worse, and then something else hat hits. And that's a time of testing, you know, that's a time when we have to hold on for with all we have. And sometimes we just have to be held, you know, we have to hold on with all we can, and then we just have to trust that God's holding us. And I went through a time like that, a season like that, about a year ago. We had some major transition in our lives. My husband stepped down from ministry, he had been a pastor, the pastor of our church, for

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about 16 years. And that was the same church that we had, we both became Christians in. We both were born again in that church, and we're we were, you know, I didn't go to that church until I was in my 20s, but my husband was raised in that church. And so this was a big, a huge transition for us, and we were trying to figure it out. And I was having a little identity crisis. You know, what am I supposed to be doing? Who am I? Is this real really what I'm what God's called me to do? And, you know, my husband, he seemed more focused. It's like he got a revelation from God that this is not what I'm supposed to be doing right now, that this is not where my focus should be. He he had such peace with it. Me not so much. I was, you know, trying to figure it out. But during that time, we decided that we needed to, for a period of time, go to another church. Not forever, but just to give people a chance to kind of figure it out without us, so that you know, they weren't looking to us to lead the services and those kind of things, just to step away for a while and reset. And my husband had found a church that he wanted us to attend at Myrtle Beach, which is about an about 45 minutes an hour from us, depending on the traffic. And it was a large church, much different than our small church. You know, in our church, we know everybody, and everybody knows us. But this church is a large church, it seats thousands, and it has three services on Sunday, just so everybody can can hear the message on Sunday. And their staff, both volunteer and paid, just their staff is larger than our church membership. And so, you know, my husband thought this would be a good idea, and that way, you know, we're not going somewhere local and you know, people talk and they might think, well, what's going on with that church? You know, the pastor's visiting our church. So we thought, well, this will give us an opportunity to get away and kind of, you know, see something new. And it'll give our church an opportunity to kind of reset. And I really wasn't looking forward to it because I love our church, but I I knew there was wisdom in it, and so that's what we did. And I was struggling in this transition, and and for some other reasons too. There was a lot of questions in my mind. Well, during the middle of this huge life-changing transition, something happened with one of our sons, and for his privacy and protection, I'm not gonna go into it, but it was a huge hit for him, and he did some things during that time that I would never have believed he would do. I felt so bad for him, and at the same time, I was angry at him. But he he was a teenager trying to figure life out, and I just it it was like a huge hit for him and for us. And I don't, I don't want, like I said, I don't want to go into it because I love him and you know, and and people shouldn't have their stuff plastered all over, you know. We just loved with loved on him and prayed for him as best we could. But he didn't really want to talk to us about it, and he didn't really want to talk about it at all to anybody. And during that time, I started questioning if I should even be doing this podcast. You know, who who am I? These are the questions, these are the thoughts that were coming to my mind. Who am I to go every week and tell women to pray for their children and to teach women how to love and care for their families when it feels like my family's falling apart? You know, didn't my kids even get the message? You know, did they even take to heart the things that I taught them? And I just wanted to hide for a while. You know, the Lord wouldn't allow me to do that. And when I went to him in prayer and said, Lord, who who am I to talk to other women about children? And he said, Well, Audrey, you're you're not gonna judge them because you're going through it with them. You know, I I don't want somebody who's perfect because who can relate to perfect? But if you're struggling in the same areas or similar areas that they're struggling in, then you're gonna have compassion, then you're gonna speak to them gently, and you're gonna help them with grace. And you know, you're not gonna be on the ivory tower looking down, telling them what they should do. You're gonna be right there in the trenches with them, believing with them, praying with them, hoping with them. And so that's how I turned that around that season. But back to that season, you know, the the fur it this happened almost simultaneously, you know, us leaving the church, stepping down from ministry, going to this other church, and then this thing hits my son. And I did not know what to do. Our first Sunday, I think I think we ended up going there for six weeks, but our first Sunday at that church, I just was so defeated. I felt so defeated, so confused, angry, because that's not where I wanted to be. And I remember thinking on the way to the church that morning, they're not gonna have anything for me. You know, this this is more of a production. That that was my attitude. This is more of a production. You know, there's this pastor's not gonna have a word from God that that I need this morning, you know, I need to hear from God this morning. And that was my attitude. And I'm so glad to say I was wrong. Because that morning, you know, it was different. And different sometimes it's good. Sometimes we need different to kind of shake us out of our out of our routine, out of our mindsets. And so, yes, it was different. The worship was different. The in the announcements were different, the seating was different, everything was different. Nobody was looking to me and my husband, which that was kind of nice, right? We were just visitors. But when the pastor got up to speak, he shared a message, and he shared this message from Mark 9, 14 through 29 about the Father who brought his son to Jesus. And not only had I read that message many times, I had spoken on that message, I had preached that message, but for some but that morning, that was God's message to me. And it was like a light shining in the dark. I took notes. I still have the notebook where I took the notes. You know, I took notes, I come home, I actually went online and found that message where on their YouTube channel, that church's YouTube channel, listened to the message a couple of more times. And I prayed and I thanked God that He knew what I needed when I needed it. And so that word, that scripture took on a whole new life in my life, a whole new meaning. And I want to share with you today some of the hope that God brought to me in this story. Now it starts as Jesus is coming off the Mount of Transfiguration. So he is in the on the mountain, and he has been with Elijah and Moses, and he has just had an experience with his father. And so then he descends down the mountain and he finds chaos. He finds that his disciples are arguing with the scribes, and there's commotion, and the first thing he asks is, you know, what's going on? What's going on here? And this man speaks up and he says, I brought my son to your disciples because he is be he is suffering from a demonic spirit, and they were not able to help him. And so Jesus has a conversation with this father, and he says, Okay, tell me what happens, tell me what's going on. And you can read it for yourself. I'm I'm not going to go into all of the details, but he he says, Well, often he this spirit will attack him and he'll foam at the mouth and he'll go rigid and he'll fall into the water or he'll fall into the fire. And so he he needs help. And and then he says, Jesus, if if you can help us, and Jesus says, If all things are possible to him who believes, and the father immediately says, I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. And Jesus casts the spirit out of the boy, and he goes, the boy goes into one of these seizures, and he convulses, and then finally he just collapsed, collapses on the ground as if he's dead. And so people are murmuring, you know, Jesus has killed this boy, he's dead. But Jesus takes him by the hand and lifts him up and he's healed. And later, as they're debriefing, his disciples ask him, Jesus, why couldn't we do that? And he said, This kind only comes out by prayer. This is another level. And you can only deal with this kind of situation through prayer. And I just I want to encourage you, nothing in your life, nothing in your family has caught God off guard. Nothing has surprised him. He knows everything. And he cares. He cares about you. He cares about your children. And if you will bring your children to Jesus, just like this father, even if you don't have perfect faith, use the faith that you have to bring them to Jesus. You know, the man knew, he knew I may not have perfect faith, but I've got some faith. Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief. Sometimes we just need enough faith to pray. We just need enough faith to bring them to Jesus and trust Jesus to do the rest, to do the work in us to help us to believe, and to do the work in our child to bring them the deliverance and the help that they need. So you have this desperate father, and this was not something that just popped up. It it seems like this son of his had been struggling with this issue for many years. I mean, he said often, he throws them into the water, he throws them into the fire, and he's desperate. And so he he has this idea, I will take my son to Jesus. Only he couldn't find Jesus. Jesus was up on the mountain, and so he brings them, so he brings him to his disciples, and that's not very helpful. And his disciples, they start, you know, they they try, but they don't have they don't have what it takes. And so they start arguing with the scribes. The scribes were the keeper of the law, law, they were the theologians, the religious people. And, you know, sometimes that's what it's like. Like we need a miracle. You know, and I need a miracle. I don't need theology. I don't need religion. Only need Jesus because he's the only one who can perform a miracle. And that's what I needed for my son. I needed a miracle. I didn't need another message, another sermon. I didn't need, you know, somebody to feel bad for me or feel sorry for me. I needed a miracle. I needed Jesus. And sometimes we have to press through the people, like we had to press through the situation and the circumstances and all we think we know about Jesus to get to Jesus. And we have to say, Lord, here is my son, here is my daughter. I'm bringing them to you because I believe that you can help us. And and he did. You know, he did. And and I love the way he talked to the father. He didn't just, you know, lay his hands on the on the boy and he was instantly healed, which he, I'm sure he could have done that, but he asked him questions. You know, tell me about this boy of yours. Tell me what's going on. And Jesus had a conversation with the father. And, you know, it it looked like it got worse before it got better. The young man goes into another convulsion and he appears as if he's dead. Anyway, it looks like I came to Jesus to help me, and and it's gotten worse. But Jesus had something in mind. Jesus knew what he was going to do the whole time. Jesus healed him. And so in this story, and I don't remember sometimes, you know, I've listened I listened to that message from that pastor so many times that sometimes I don't remember exactly what he said or exactly what God spoke to me through that message. But I'll tell you how the Lord used this message for me when I was going through a time when I was very uncertain and felt like a horrible mom. And and why do I why did I feel like a horrible mom? Can we talk about that for a minute? Because when our children stroke struggle, we often think this is a reflection on us. And maybe maybe you don't. I'll take it on myself. When my children behave in such a way that I believe they should know better, or I have should have taught them better, immediately think I didn't do a good job. Look at me. If I had been a better role model, if I had better been a better mom, if I'd been a better teacher, then my child would know better, my child would have done better. This is a reflection on me. And guys, it's not. Okay. Especially in the teenage years when your teenager knows more in their head than they're able to act out in their life, there is a disconnect. And not only are they trying to figure life out, but they're trying to figure hormones out and emotions out. And as a mom, if we're not careful, we will take on the responsibility that everything's our fault. And it's not. You know, our children, I said this last last week, our children have to learn to be men and women in their own right. And if we're the only one that is making right decisions for them and they're never learning to make the right decisions for themselves, then they'll never be adults. They'll never be able to stand on their own. And it's better for them to mess up while they're teenagers and get bruises and and and think, oh, that was so dumb. I don't ever want to do that again. It's better for them to do that now while their brains are still developing than for them to be doing it later in life. And now that's easy for me to tell you now. It I wish somebody could have told me that a year ago, and I believed them. But at the moment I felt so responsible for my son's bad decisions and bad actions. But Jesus had compassion. He had compassion on me. And he he said, Bring me these things. And I said, Lord, I don't even feel like praying. I don't even feel like I know how to pray. I feel like you're embarrassed of me or you're disappointed in me. And it was like, just come to me and talk to me about it. Just like this father came to Jesus and talked to him. Tell me what he's doing. But Lord, you know what he's doing. I know, but let's have a conversation. Okay. Tell me what he's doing. Tell me what you're afraid of. Tell me what you want me to do. Well, Lord, you know what I want you to do. No, be specific. And so daily, as much as I could, I would write down these things. This is what I want God to do in my son's life. This is the breakthrough that I want to see. This is how I want to see this situation turn out. And guys, I'm I'm not gonna lie, it helped me to remember that sometimes it gets worse before it gets better because it got worse. It didn't turn around immediately. It hurt for a while. It hurt for a long time as I saw him doing things that I kept warning him, I don't think that's gonna end well for you. I wouldn't do it that way. Finally, I learned to just shut up. He knows what I think. He's got to make these choices. Now, I'm not talking about anything illegal, okay? I would have put a stop to that, but just not the choices I would make, not the relational choices I would make. And guys, during that season, he burned a lot of bridges. And you know, only now, like a year later, only now, a year later, do I see him repairing some of those relationships that he burned, that he hurt people. And I I knew because I'm his mom, I knew that he was doing that out of hurt and anger, and he he didn't know what to do with these huge emotions. I knew that, but other people didn't know that. You know, nobody's gonna love you and forgive you and give you grace like your mom. But he had to learn that. Your words have consequences, the way you treat people have consequences. You can't just say I'm sorry sometimes. Sometimes sorry isn't enough. You know, sometimes you you got to feel the burn of what you did. And so those are hard times. Do we wish we could save them for those time from those times? Absolutely. But I would continue to come to the Lord and say, Lord, this is what I want you to do. And I ask you to do this in my son's life. Even though I don't feel worthy today of even asking you to do this, I believe that you hear my prayers. And little by little God started turning it turning it around. You know, I I can't put my finger on the day that things started changing, but I did eventually I started seeing God do something. And today, when I look back on it, I see where over this year he has grown leaps and bounds. I see where God has given me peace in the whole situation, and he has restored our relationship, and he's starting to restore relationships with those that he has hurt. And guys, there's hope. There's hope. That was my prayer for so long. Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief. You gotta pray. That's why prayer is so important. There's some things that can only be done by prayer. You know, your words are not gonna turn the situation around. You're nagging, you're reminding of what's right and wrong. That may not do it. That may make that person run from you even further. Do you have the right to speak into their life? Absolutely. But use wisdom so that they're sensitive to your voice and they don't tune you out because, oh, that's just mama. That's just mama. No, use wisdom. You know, Lord, let my words be like arrows that hit the mark at the right time. And not just let me not just be spraying them all the time because then they're gonna run behind a wall because they don't want to be attacked. So I'm I'm so thankful today for this message of this father who brought his son to Jesus, who pushed past the disciples and the religious people, and just needed to get to the heart of Jesus and had a conversation with him and told him everything and and was honest with him and said, I do believe, help my unbelief. You know, you can't go to the Lord in prayer and not have some belief. Maybe you're not where you need to be, but start where you are and he'll help you. And I'm so thankful for that pastor who spoke a word in season. God uses those who prepare their hearts for those situations. God uses people who have been through things, who've been through hurts. If we will allow those things to be turned around, God will use those things to help encourage other people. So I hope that this has been an encouragement to you today. I hope it's built your faith today and encouraged you to bring your son, your daughter, your friend, your husband, whoever God has laid on your heart, whoever you're worried about, bring them to Jesus in prayer. Jesus loves them more than you do. Jesus cares, and he cares about you too. If this has been encouraging to you today, if this has been helpful, the number one way you can say thank you is by sharing this message with a friend. If there's somebody out there who you think, oh, she needs to hear this, or this would be a blessing to him, please share this podcast episode today. I would appreciate that so much. Before we go, I would like to pray for you and just remind you that God is on your side. Father, I thank you for my friend. I thank you that you are using this message today to speak hope, to remind my friend that prayer works. Yes, it's simple. Yes, anybody can do it, but not everybody does. But those who do, Lord, those who bring their faith to you, those who talk with you about their problems, those, Lord, who trust you with their hearts, God, they are not going to be disappointed. And I pray today for this friend of mine and for their loved one, that Lord, you would shine your light and show us the way, that Lord, you would bring faith, Lord, where we've been in worry and doubt and fear and unbelief. That God, you would shine your light in a dark place today and bring hope and turn this thing around. God, and I pray today, Lord, for that newness of life that only you bring in Jesus' precious name. Amen.