I am a new believer of Christianity after being into more alternative, what some might call “new age” spirituality for most of my adult life. During 2020, I followed psychics and astrologers on YouTube, looking for some hope and reassurance in this tumultuous year.
However, my beliefs shifted when I started to doubt the truth of what they were sharing. It felt like a spiritual weather forecast with constant updates to keep me hooked, but lacked real substance. I found the movie “A Case For Christ” and realised there was real evidence for the existence of Jesus and his resurrection.
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As I’ve embraced my newfound Christian faith, one challenge for me has been how to introduce the concept of the existence of God to my 10-year-old daughter. I am envious of friends who have parented with God in their family life from day one, how God is a constant presence in their family life, in conversation and in prayer.
My daughter grew up with me talking about the universe and suggesting white bubbles of protection. These were concepts shared with me by other spiritual-but-not-religious friends and read about in books like “The Secret.”
It felt like a leap to suddenly introduce the idea of a God she can talk to and get to know. I’m also well aware that at my daughter’s age, if I drag her to church, or force her to read the Bible, she will just rebel. Yet it’s very hard to relax and just let it go when salvation is at stake.
I still feel quite self-conscious about praying with others and wouldn’t have felt comfortable suggesting we pray together as a family – until one day, a few weeks ago.
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Our family cat had disappeared and hadn’t been seen for 20 hours. It was the longest stretch of time she’d ever been away from home. My daughter was worried.
I said a few prayers on my own that day, asking God to please bring her back. I also realised I wanted to involve my daughter in the prayers but wasn’t sure how. So I asked God for help in bringing prayer into our family life.
By evening, my daughter was becoming more and more concerned, unable to think about anything else. At bedtime, I spontaneously found myself suggesting to my daughter that we pray. I thanked God for our lovely cats, saying that I knew he could do miracles and to please bring our cat back. Ten minutes later, my husband called upstairs to say that the cat was back, munching food! My daughter ran downstairs to greet her.
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As parents we don’t have to do it alone. As a parent educator, I tell other parents that all the time, offering support and coaching for their challenging work. However now, I’m awed by this new relationship with an almighty loving father, who knows what we need. Though not all our prayers are answered exactly as we might desire, a missing cat was no big deal for God.
I was reminded of a line from Matthew. “If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?” Of course, how could I doubt God’s power to answer a prayer for a little girl and mother who wanted their cat back?
It was interesting to me that my solo prayers didn’t result in the instant return of the cat. It was when we prayed together that she returned. It was such a relief to be able to share my faith with my daughter, and to see how she naturally agreed. Since then, the area where we live has been in a drought, and my daughter recently said, ‘“Mom, I think we need to pray for rain.’’ So we’ve been praying together again, and slowly but surely it’s becoming part of our life.
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Jesus said that “if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 18:20.
This experience taught me that we don’t need to have it all figured out in terms of sharing our faith with family members. All we need to do is ask God for help. He will put opportunities in our path where the power of his glory is visible and speaks for itself. Like a good storyteller knows to “show not tell,” God too can show himself in our daily lives. No lectures necessary!
Moving forward, I just keep praying every day, and watching out for little moments in which faith can come to life. My daughter and I have been to church together, and talked about the existence of God. I’m taking it slow, and watching out for the opportunities the Holy Spirit puts in my path.