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FAMILY 100-- When Children Leave the Covenant Path


Hey everyone!  I wanted to talk a little bit about the heartache experienced by many families when children leave the covenant path.  This is so hard on so many people and they seek for something or someone to blame, often choosing themselves to blame.  This can be extremely harmful and dangerous to any parent when they begin to feel guilty for the choices their children have made. 
In successful marriages and family, they share that:

Elder Orson F. Whitney taught: The Shepherd will find his sheep. They were his before they were yours—long before he entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as he loves them….Our Heavenly Father knows, far better than any mortal, the pain and sorrow associated with having children who exercise their moral agency to their condemnation rather than exaltation. Can there be any better parent than God? Children’s decisions may bring us sorrow, no matter how faithfully we have taught our children.

I found a lot of comfort is this quote because God understands exactly what we feel in these heart-wrenching and devastating moments.  He understands our pain.  We have to remember that our children are first and foremost God’s children.  He feels the heartache right along side of us.  It is also comforting to note that even the most perfect set of parents in our world lost 1/3 of their children, out of no fault for their own.  God knows the feeling of loss that we are experiencing, and it is important that we understand that.

Image result for children leaving the covenant path

As I was reading in class about this topic, I came across the most comforting paragraph,

The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught a more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God” (Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1929, 110). (Hawkins, 2012, p. 173)

As long as we as parents love our children, stay worthy of our temple covenants, and keep praying, the covenants we have made will help our children.  They will be saved.  There is so much power in that and that is something we must hold on to.  I would like to finish this post with this quote from Henry B. Eyring as well as my testimony affirming the truths that I have shared with you today,

The story of the prodigal son gives us all hope. The prodigal remembered home, as will your children. They will feel your love drawing them back to you. Elder Orson F. Whitney, in a general conference of 1929, gave a remarkable promise, which I know is true, to the faithful parents who honor the temple sealing to their children: “Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold” (Hawkins, 2012, p. 175)

References:

Hawkins, A. J., Dollahite, D. C., & Draper, T. (2012). Successful marriages and families: proclamation principles and research perspectives. Provo, UT: BYU Studies and School of Family Life, Brigham Young University.

Hope for Parents of Wayward Children. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/09/hope-for-parents-of-wayward-children?lang=eng.

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