Tough Stuff Parenting by Paul Basden

Author:Paul Basden
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736975070
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

• “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15 NLT).

• “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (Hebrews 1:3 NLT).

I grew up in a home where we prayed, read the Bible, and attended church faithfully—yet I didn’t understand that Jesus was the face of God. Although I had been baptized at the age of ten, my knowledge of God was theoretical, impersonal, and secondhand. But in January 1972, at the age of sixteen, I had a spiritual encounter with Jesus Christ that altered the course of my life. Soon after that, I heard about a huge weeklong Jesus festival in Texas—Explo ’72. Its goal was to bring together 100,000 high school and college students to inspire and train them to share their faith. Although I lived 1,300 miles from Dallas, I felt compelled to attend. Two friends and I made the long drive from Richmond, Virginia, to Dallas.

The festival lived up to its hype. On the final night, Billy Graham gave the closing message, and I can still remember something he said in his sermon: “When I want to know what God is like, I take a long look at Jesus.” That statement became the cornerstone of my maturing theology—God’s character is defined most clearly by Jesus.

I think this is the truest thing you can tell your children. When they want to know what God is like, tell them to take a long look at Jesus. They will discover that if God is like Jesus, then God must be good.

Over the years, I’ve faced my share of trials. The most troubling test has been watching our youngest daughter, now an adult, suffer from a rare genetic disease. For reasons unknown and inexplicable, her chromosomal spelling got scrambled at conception. The symptoms were not obvious at first, but in her 30-plus years of life, she has suffered more pain than most people I know. Both of her hips have been replaced with artificial balls and sockets, her back has been fused from pelvis to shoulders, and her wrist and ankle are partially fused. Her bones break easily, and she takes multiple medications to alleviate her daily discomfort. Her internal thermostat is out of whack, so she doesn’t sweat—which means hot weather exposes her to the risk of heatstroke. Her emotional margin is razor thin as she lives in fear that something else will break down soon. Despite her best intentions and our best efforts, our daughter finds herself disabled.

My wife and I have often struggled to know what and how to pray for her. At times we’ve wondered, “God, do you hear our prayers? Will we ever see her get better? Should we stop praying if the dice have been cast and her condition is irreversible?” One day I found myself being unusually blunt with the Lord in prayer.

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