Encouraging Scripture for Parents

Are your kids almost out of school for Christmas break? Do you need some parenting encouragement today?

Here are three verses I have been reflecting on recently. Sometimes my brain only wants to hold onto one passage at a time and I reflect on that all day. Other times, the Holy Spirit seems to creatively weave multiple Scriptures together at the same time and present a bigger-picture perspective.

I don’t know how God individually works in your life, but I want to share a few of His words from the Bible. I hope these are a balm for you and a starting point for your conversation with God as you chat with Him throughout your day today.

“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” Isaiah 40:11 (NIV)

The first time I read this after I became a parent, my mouth dropped open! He gently leads those that have young?! That’s amazing! As a new mom with a traumatic delivery experience and a physically challenging recovery, I was desperate for some gentle leading from my Heavenly Father. He was faithful to provide it.

I now have this verse printed on a card that is displayed in our kitchen and this visual reminder helps me remember He is gently leading me and I can ask for His gentleness to overflow in my approach towards my children. I certainly need His help with this!

This next verse is not only helpful for my children, but it is also helpful for me:

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)

Here’s my secret: I can’t stand disciplining! It is my least favorite part of parenting. I wish I could just nurture and listen and encourage and reward and completely abandon disciplining. However, I cannot imagine how awful that long-term outcome would be for our entire family because we all are worse off without discipline!

I have to remind myself that just because something is really hard does not mean it is bad.

Disciplining our children is hard for me, and I have to acknowledge God instead of leaning on my own understanding. He teaches that it is actually a gift to those who have been trained by it!

Sometimes I will even say this verse out loud to myself in the moment when I am disciplining our kids and they have been known to groan and say, “Mooooom. Why do you always say that?” I say it more for myself. I need the reminder that this is the wise choice, even though it is not pleasant. I also hope by saying it out loud, it is planting a good seed for why this is important, even though it is painful for all of us in the moment.

Taking something away from our daughters and dealing with the whining is painful. Seeing our girls heartbroken over a privilege being taken away is painful. Denying our children from having permission to overindulge is painful when I know it would make them happy in the moment and I love to make people happy! Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

We are not yet living in the “later on” so it requires faith for today. It requires faith in God to follow through on His promises, but that’s the comforting part: He always follows through on His promises! (See 2 TImothy 2:13)

This is my most recent parenting Scripture. Just this week I was reading 2 Timothy 2:24-26 (AMP) over and over. It says,

“The servant of the Lord must not participate in quarrels, but must be kind to everyone [even-tempered, preserving peace, and he must be], skilled in teaching, patient and tolerant when wronged. He must correct those who are in opposition with courtesy and gentleness in the hope that God may grant that they will repent and be led to the knowledge of the truth [accurately understanding and welcoming it], and that they may come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

Goodness! This is helpful in those tense moments when children are escalating and quarreling with their siblings and this verse reminds me not to participate. It even gives me a replacement action: Be kind to everyone.

Then it goes on to define how I can be kind to my children: be even-tempered, preserving peace, skilled in teaching, patient and tolerant when wronged. I definitely need the Lord’s help in living this way.

How many times are we wronged by our children? Instead of harboring a root of bitterness that leads to resentment, I can be patient and tolerant to then forgive them. In the same way, how many times have we wronged our children? Maybe our model can inspire them to be patient and tolerant with us when we mishandle ourselves.

I’m struck that this passage lays out a way for us to get our desired end result, which is repentance and knowledge of the truth. . . It doesn’t say we need to harshly correct our children, but we still do need to correct them. Specifically, He encourages us to correct them with courtesy and gentleness.

Now that sounds familiar with the way our gracious Heavenly Father deals with us! Romans 2:4 teaches us it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.

This is so refreshing because we can ask Him to fill us with a courteous and gentle response and we can rest in Him, trusting He is the only One capable of actually leading our children to repentance. I get this all wrong when I put pressure on myself to ensure my children are led to repentance. I am so glad Scripture has such encouraging things to say about parenting. I need these reminders more than daily.

I am writing this today for myself. I have not mastered this yet, but I find these words to be encouraging every time I return to them. I hope you find comfort in God’s words today too. This is a worthy calling that we get to be parents and I am so grateful for this stewardship opportunity. I pray that God will empower each one of us to apply this today, in His strength. Amen!

And for more parenting encouragement, make sure you listen to these podcast episodes:

Practical Parenting Tools

Enjoying Parenting

Intentional Family Life

Parenting Toddlers Through Teens

Parenting the Prodigal Child

Visionary Parenting and Grand-Parenting

Technology and Parenting

Discipline That Disciples

Applying Personality Training to Parenting

Making Family Memories

Enjoy Summer with Your Family