Trusting God during estrangement is essential to your mental health. However, it’s one of the hardest things to do.

This child whom you’ve reared, nourished, protected and loved has chosen to walk away from you and your heart is broken. How could this happen? Every mother makes mistakes parenting her children. I made them. My mother made them. You will too.

Prayer is the cry of your heart as you plead with God to soften hearts and reconcile the hurtful words and actions that have created the distance between you. What do you do when God doesn’t answer? When He seems distant too? That’s what today’s episode is all about. Thanks for joining me today.

When Praying Seems to Fall on Deaf Ears

How many times have you prayed for God to heal that broken relationship? To restore what you once had with your child and his or her family? If you’re like me, they are too numerous to count. Estrangement lingers and you wonder if there is any hope or whether prayer even works.

Oh, my dear friend, don’t give up hope. The enemy is whispering in your ear as you doubt reconciliation. Furthermore, you are beginning to believe that you must be a terrible mother and that you are doomed to live this life of brokenness forever.

The first step to trusting God during estrangement is to get clear on the truth of God’s word because it is your offensive weapon to use in the estrangement battle.

Trusting God During Estrangement Requires the Truth of God’s Word

Do you find it easy to avoid reading your Bible during the estrangement and prolonged waiting for any hope of reconciliation? I did. Why bother I thought. Praying has obviously not brought about even an inkling of any sign of restoration.

That’s the start of a downward spiral of false arrows that pierce the heart. Satan comes into the Christian’s life to steal, kill and destroy according to John 10:10. He wants to steal your hope and replace it with fear and doubt.

He will kill your desire to read scripture and pray, and he will destroy relationships if you allow it. Alternatively, you can use the weapon God has given you to fight the battle.

2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us the weapons of are warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. Moreover, Ephesians 6 tells us exactly what armor we must use to fight and defeat this enemy.

You may feel the enemy of your heart is the broken relationship with your loved one, but the real enemy of your heart is Satan who wants to defeat you. You have weapons and the power of God in you to win this war on your soul.

Read Ephesians 6 and ask God to open your mind to the truth as you read about both the defensive and offensive weapons he provides when you actively put on the armor he has supplied.

The Word of Truth

God’ delay is not always denial. That is a principle I learned many years ago. Praying does not always produce instant answers, but it doesn’t mean God doesn’t hear. He is actively working behind the scenes, and it may take years before you see tangible results of your prayers.

Isaiah 65:24 tells us God hears our prayers. He is attentive to the prayers of his children. As a Christian woman you’ve given your life to the Lord. You are his child. God cares more about your heart than anything else you could ask of him.

As you kneel before him, ask him to reveal what’s in your heart. When you seek him with all your heart, you will find him. He will reveal your heart when you ask in earnest. I prayed for a long time that God would soften the hearts of my family and bring healing. That’s when he revealed that it was my heart that he wanted to soften.

That inward look revealed anger, resentment and bitterness deeply embedded in my own heart. God wanted to soften me to prepare me for eventual reconciliation and restoration.

Trusting God during estrangement begins when we get before him seeking the condition of our own heart. Could there be something hidden that may be hindering your prayers? Only God can tell you the answer.

Hope Abounds

Trusting God brings hope to the heart. Don’t ever give up hope even though Satan wants desperately for you to abandon it forever. Scripture says he is the father of lies and you know he can be trusted. Still, we listened to his lies and eventually began to believe them.

There is no hope for reconciliation. You are a terrible mother. You deserve to be alone. You’ll never be forgiven. And the lies continue. My dear friend, it’s time to fight this enemy of your heart and you can’t do it alone.

The Holy Spirit lives in you. After you’ve asked God to reveal what’s in your heart and you’ve reconciled whatever he has shown you, it’s time to redress. Put on that full armor God has supplied and fight the real enemy.

Trusting God During Estrangement Requires Redress

Going back to Ephesians 6 metaphorically illustrates the soldier preparing for battle. This armor requires you to rely on God’s strength. God is asking you to trust him even when you are not seeing movement in your estranged relationship.

I know that you want to trust God and oh how I know the hope that reconciliation will occur and the difficulty waiting and wondering if it will ever end.

Don’t let the enemy of your heart deceive you. Get before God, refuel, redress, and remember that He is fighting this battle with you. It’s his strength, his strategies, and his security that you seek in the waiting.

You can Trust God. Will You?

It’s hard to let go of an outcome for which you’ve prayed so fervently, but that’s what God is asking. He knows your heart and your longings. What he seeks is your heart.

Will you get before him and ask him to reveal what’s there?

Will you surrender when he shows you what he wants to remove?

Will you armor up and fight the battle with His strength and His weapons?

God can be trusted and when you begin to doubt, it’s Satan’s voice – not God’s. You have the ability with God’s help to silence that enemy. Trusting God during estrangement is essential to your wellbeing and mental health.

Until next time, I’m praying for you as you change your strategy to fight the real enemy and trust God in estrangement with your loved one.

TOPIC: Podcast