Keep praying Dads! Your teen or young adult will one day come back and thank you too for never giving up on them. This dad knows it. There is HOPE! Keep your faith in God as you continue to lift up your child to Him. And thank you to this Dad for sharing this letter with Anchor Of Promise. Happy Father’s Day!
Every year, friends, family, and co-workers talk about their New Year’s resolutions. Some of the favorites are losing weight, go on a long awaited trip, spend less money, and even go back to school. When we are a parent with a child in crisis however, our goals fade and we lose ourselves in the chaos that surrounds us.
Most of the time when we set goals, they are too big or take too long and so our hope and desires for them to be fulfilled become diminished. We also lose site of those goals when we only make a list in our heads and never get it on the calendar. That is something I have often done with little success in reaching my goals.
Adding to that difficulty is when your focus is so much on the needs of your child in crisis that we often forget about the care of ourselves. This is another area in which I badly lost my way to reach those goals. This coming year, I chose to make ones that ARE reachable. These goals I pray, will bring my life less stress, give me more rest, and to encourage as well as comfort me when I am confronted with something difficult. So, here they are. Maybe you can add a couple onto your list of goals for 2018. Continue reading
Parents who struggle with a teen in crisis find it extremely overwhelming to get through the holidays. Although Thanksgiving has passed, another holiday is around the corner – Christmas.
While every other parent around you is singing in holiday cheer, you are thinking about how you can just get through the day. While your co-worker or friend talks about how excited they are that their child is coming home for a holiday visit, you are thinking more about how to help your child in crisis. Maybe you are faced with a child who needs to get into a detox program. Maybe you need to figure out how to get your child to eat that holiday dinner when they struggle with an eating disorder.
And let us not forget those parents who have teens who have suicidal tendencies or mental health issues and are not into celebrating any holiday. Continue reading
One of the biggest frustrations parents have is when their teen/young adult child is unwilling to listen to sound wisdom. Even more frustrating is when your child is in crisis and thinks that their wisdom is more sound than yours.
Teens and young adults are wrapped up in their emotions, feelings, and urgency of the circumstances that surround them. This clouds the consequences of their choices and actions. Continue reading
The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey was a devastating blow to the state of Texas. Although the warnings were there ahead of time, what couldn’t be predicted was the amount of destruction it would cause.
The families in Texas feel lost, depressed, discouraged, and unsure of the future. For some, it left catastrophic effects and major loss of their property, animals, and even loved ones.
Around the corner now, Hurricane Irma is bearing down in the ocean leading another path to its target, although unknown at the moment.
To control a hurricane is like trying to control an earthquake. The pre-existing facts are there, but it is too big to stop it.
We can often see the impending crisis with our teen similar to the radar of a hurricane. To control or stop it is another matter. We see the signs for example, in our drug addicted child or self-harming teen, but to bring a halt to their destructive behavior is not something we as parents can physically control. Before we know it, the crisis is beyond our imagination of what we knew to be true. Continue reading
