By India McCarty
Author Melanie Shankle reminds us that God’s plan for our children is “a better story” than the one we might be writing.
“It’s so interesting because I think we want to raise — we want to wrap our kids in bubble wrap and we don’t want anything to ever happen to them and we want to keep them in this little cocoon,” she said during an appearance on “The Matthew West Podcast.” “But I think what God is looking at is like, ‘I can’t raise a warrior who’s never faced a battle.’”
Shankle shared that, when her daughter Caroline was beginning high school, she had lots of aspirations and hopes for what her experience would be like.
“And God was like ‘No, I’m writing this better story,’” she explained. “And He sees things in our kids that we don’t even see as parents and He knows what’s going to need to happen in their life to bring those things out in them.”
Shankle has previously spoken about how her faith influences her parenting on the “Jesus Calling” podcast.
“Having a daughter of my own made me realize I want to do what I need to do to be spiritually and emotionally healthy, to be able to raise her to be everything that God created her to be,” she said.
Shankle continued, “I’m a very flawed person trying to raise a flawed person. That’s just life. What I realized was I’ve got to depend on God if I’m going to do this in a healthy way. And He’s going to give me the wisdom and discernment I need to know how to be the best mom.”
Related: This Tip Could Reframe Your Parenting Perspective
Touching on the same topic she discussed on “The Matthew West Podcast,” Shankle explained, “The things that we want to protect our kids from as parents are the very things that God is putting in their lives to give them that grit and that resilience and that strength that they’re going to need.”
The New York Times-bestselling author recently celebrated her daughter’s graduation from college, writing in an Instagram post, “I cannot wait to see the next chapter God writes in your life. Psalm 46:5 So proud of you, my sweet Caroline.”
“What a gift these years at Texas A&M have been in her life,” Shankle wrote in another post. “It hasn’t all been perfect or easy, but I’ve seen the hand of God use every bit of it for good and I can’t wait to see what He writes in the next chapter.”
Shankle’s comments are a reminder that, no matter what we might have envisioned for our children, God has a bigger and better plan for them than we could ever imagine.
Read Next: Jim Gaffigan Opens Up About Parenting: ‘Wonderful And Really, Really Hard’
- Content: +2Share:
- Content: +1