Guest post by Jeanette Andrade
Just You and God October 25
Scripture Selection: Psalm 142:4-5; Proverbs 25:19; Matthew 28:20
Food for Thought: Mat. 28:20b
I know of a widow woman who is so desperate to keep her twenty-six- year-old son in her home, that she is driving him away. All her hope is in him. When he’s home, she’s happy. When he’s away, she literally worries herself sick. To top it all off, he has a life-threatening illness that causes her great anguish as the very thought of living without him constantly harries her. While her son should be mindful of honoring her in every way possible, and we do pray for his complete healing, it is to her benefit and his that she be free from the anxiety of depending solely on him.
We pray that she learn that all her life, her hope, and her very being, need to be in the Lord and not in any man. There is a relationship with God that no man can replace. When all confidence is in Him, everything else falls into place. With that understanding, the widow would be in a position of faith, not fear, to stand for her son’s healing.
Let’s take account of just where we place our hope for our well-being. Is it in a doctor? A pastor? A friend? A boss? A parent? A son? No one can take the place of our Lord. He is our refuge and only source of life.
Digging Deeper: ________________________________________________________________
Getting Personal: ________________________________________________________________
Confession of Faith: ________________________________________________________________
Important Events on This Day (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.): ________________________________________________________________
suyts space 
Thank you
That is a tough one. How do you help anyone like that? Christians are just as prone to this sort of thing as anyone, I have had friends and family like this and we all have our own issues ourselves, but when it is irrational it is very hard to overcome that with the Word. I know from other analogous situations all you can do is be supportive and coax gently and relentlessly. When things quiet down there’s more chance for sense to penetrate, but when someone is wound up with anxiety they tend not to hear. Time and peace may work where logic does not, or not immediately anyway.
I recently had a choice myself where I wasn’t certain whether one action was honouring my parents or the opposite action was in fact the honouring one. All I could do was quietly say this to them and leave it to them. And pray about it. I still don’t know which, but God did provide a prayerful answer to the underlying issue from a quite different direction, so sometimes the answer is not what you expect, and the dilemma is not really a dilemma.
Yes, it is a tough one, and I understand how difficult decisions like the one you referred to are. However, this devotional really was meant for the reader to check his/her own heart so as not to place excessive hope and expectations in any one person other than God. The devotional was intended to cause us to reflect on our own hearts. Of course we should be available to assist our parents and honor them in every way possible. But as for US, our hope is in the Lord. And, yes, we should pray for our parents if they just don’t have the revelation of God being their source who does, indeed, work through people for their good. (I apologize for the delay in my response, and I certainly sympathize with you for the very difficult position you find yourself in. The Lord is your source through all this, too.)