I’d consider myself a worrier. It may have something to do with being a fixer as well. In my growing up years, I felt a responsibility for my baby sister. I took it on myself to tell her what to do and how to behave. I’m certain that she wasn’t crazy about my running interference in her life. In fact, she still recalls the mean things I did to her when we were growing up, but she loves me anyway. I don’t know why I felt it necessary to be her parent, because we had a mom and dad that wanted the best for both of us. I guess I’m just a natural born worrier.

That trait carried through to my life as a wife and mother. Again, I was always trying to fix things. When we become parents, our expectations change. We have been entrusted with this new life for a number of years and the last thing we want to do is mess it up. We are human beings so messing up seems to be common for most of us. When you become a mother, you also become a worrier. It seems totally natural to me. We take precautions to keep our kids safe – to teach them how to do things – demonstrate our love for them – guide them through the difficulties of life and give them a moral base for their own lives. This is the point when we become warriors.

In defending them like a mother bear protects her cubs, we are demonstrating a deeper love than worry can bring. We are showing our kids that we care about their safety, their relationships and their future social skills. However, we can’t take on all the giants that our children face. We must also teach them that they can defend themselves – not always physically, but through communication and understanding. Achieving that goal requires us to don the armor of God. It’s not an easy task to be a parent, but so worth it. There will be many battles along the way. There will be misunderstandings, words spoken in anger and things we can’t take back once they are said. There will be positive times when we applaud their accomplishments, praise their intelligence and show unconditional love. Even those times can be challenging if we don’t have a strong foundation to build on.

We become warriors rather than worriers when we place our cares on our Savior, Jesus. He can carry them and bury them with all the rest of our sins. The Bible gives so many examples of parenting – good and bad, so that can be a source for how to and how not to be one. No matter what you face as a parent, always remember that you have a partner in the process. God has promised to walk with us in every step of our lives. He will not let go of us when we turn things over to Him. He loves it when we come to Him as prayer warriors – parents – grandparents – brothers and sisters and all our relationships in life. He is the Father of all mankind and will love us with a far greater love than we can expect from anyone else.

Where will you start today? Are you going to become a worrier or a warrior? We have a champion already in Jesus. He battled the devil and won. Our salvation is assured. So why worry? Jesus is the answer to all our cares in this world. He even spoke to His disciples about this very thing.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27