Being Your Children's Allies

Here is a snippet of a journal I wrote when our youngest son, now in his freshman year of college was in middle school. As I read the journal i thought, “my, how time flies that this child of mine is now 19 and living in another state in college dorms.” Have a read, and I’ll connect with you at the end.

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Thing 6 is in his last year in middle school, and in that tension between boy and man.⁠

Do you remember it? The tension is REAL.⁠

We had a talk recently as he headed off with a bunch of his buddies about how great kids sometimes make bad decisions because they didn't listen to that inner voice that told them to call in a lifeline (mom and dad.)⁠

But I also reminded him that if he ever does make a bad call, to call me as soon as possible to help him navigate it.⁠

"Dad and I are your greatest allies. We have your back like no one else, so don't listen to the inner voice that might say 'hide it'."⁠

Nothing good comes from hiding a mess up.⁠

I don't expect my kids to be perfect, but I want them equipped for how to handle mess ups and potential mess ups.⁠

These are mentoring, trust building years to find that your parents are in your corner, but I tell ya, I have way more gray on this head of mine navigating 6 kids through the maze of middle school.⁠

These are the good, hard years. ⁠

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It’s Traci again, back in 2025. I feel like I blinked twice and this same son is now a high school graduate with honors, and in college on a pretty sweet academic scholarship. He has a growing relationship with Jesus, and is a pretty focused young man. But that is not the whole story.

In the time since I wrote the above excerpt from my journal, he went through a pretty rough time of self discovery, confronting the very topics I wrote on above when in high school. That tension of finding who you are, apart from your parents; desiring to spread your wings and practice flying, without flying straight into trouble that is all too available in the free life of being a budding adult. We put in hours and hours and HOURS talking with him, praying for him, praying with him, praying over him, as he navigated the transition from boy to man.

One day he may guest blog on here and tell his story, but for now I’ll protect his privacy and just say this: we did our best, and he did his best, but the real MVP of his story is the Spirit of God who navigated the road with us, bringing heaven to earth, showing us how to communicate with one another and how much God loves us and wants out best. And now his story is a beautiful, messy, one-of-a-kind lovestory of family, doing the good hard work of following Jesus practically, and loving one another with grace and faithfulness and forgiveness.

God wants the best for you and your son or daughter too. It’s up to us to reach out to Him, and invite Him into our story. Daily, hourly, sometimes minute by minute. And He is faithful. His desire is that not one would miss the opportunity to have close, life-altering relationship with Him! If you want more info for how to invite Jesus into your life, click here “Pray the Prayer”.

Helping you live a great lifestory by shining the light on the path beside you,

TRACI :)