FEELING LOST

[Penny]

My son is 17. And today we had one of out MANY talks.

Mom why do you make me do things that are wrong to me?

LIKE?

Going to church you are forcing what you like on me, you want me to serve your God, and all that-

I CAN NOT MAKE YOU SERVE THE LORD- that is a choice only you can make. You need to know and understand one thing, Mt values, what i believe will not be changed by you. Only the Lord can show me something I believe is wrong.

Jude2- I do make him go to church with me each time I go. I will not make him help with events I help in like VBS, children church.

I know one thing I have done nothing wrong for him to feel this way. I know I have did my best in raising my kids. They both are so different.

My daughter Loves church, she loves working with the kids in church at camp, kids church, vbs. and she LOVES Mission work.

Today has totally over whelmed me. Today I feel a bit lost-

Am I wrong for making him go with me- should I ease up a bit on how much church he should/should not go to..

Today talk was hard on me... Nothing was new it the same talk he brings up time to time, today the feel was different.

I do pray for him, when I fix our meals I pray over that, when I clean the house I pray, when I wash his stuff I pray. I talk to the Lord more than I talk to anyone else, these days.. which is a good thing-

Right Now I feel lost-

[RamboPreacher]

been there. prayer happening. my "kids" (30 and 26) are very similar situation. Because I am not there, there is no way to give any kind of advice (because I am a man, of course I want to help "fix" it). However, I can say that prayer is not the "least" I can do, since prayer is real and avails much, it is a lot that can be done.

I can say that his feelings and thoughts are very real and should not be offhandedly dismissed (I am not saying you are). What has helped with me is two-fold (remember, this is what helped with my situation, it may not even apply to yours):
1. at this age, Forget what I thought I knew about my son and try to get to know him as best as I could in conversation, play and discussion. This may be a very large challenge, because his current worldview and understanding of life and the way things are, may be dramatically different than my own. Remembering that tolerance does not equate approval.
2. Remember "tough love". in my case, my son needed a sit-down talk to remind him that this home is my home and that as long as he is here, he will abide by my rules (the few that there are), and that includes chores and even rent (though with your sons age, rent may not really be an option yet - when it comes to their money, usually, this helps them make some worldview changes)

again, I am praying for you and your family.