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I am struggling with my children - specifically my teenager. He has no respect for me and I can see satan getting a foothold in his life. He recently had electronics/internet taken away from him for adding people he didn't know as "friends" on skype. I did this because of the DANGER it posed to him. He pretended to understand. For two weeks, I trusted him and thought I was taking care of the situation...only this morning to find that each day, he was getting up very early (before me) and sneaking upstairs to play these games on the internet for hours before school! And to make it worse, his little brother knew and did not tell me. Now all internet access in this house has been restricted. I am devastated that my sons would do this! I know children lie and do things sometimes behind their parent's backs. God knows I did as a teenager. But I feel so betrayed. My children are being raised much differently than I ever was. They know the Lord. My oldest son recently went to a youth trip and came home telling me that he had rededicated his life to the Lord. Today, we had a serious talk about what it meant to live for God...and sadly, he is not doing it.

If you could just lift us up in prayer today, I would greatly appreciate it. I know the Lord is in control here, but I am feeling so defeated. The thought to send my oldest back to school has even crossed my mind. I am just heartbroken.

I will be praying for you and for your sons. My heart goes out to you. I pray that the Lord will grant you strength, a calm and peaceful heart, and that wisdom will be upon your lips. I pray for your sons that the word of the Lord will convict them and lead them to repentance.

Agreeing with Alicia in her prayer. I am praying for God's strength to walk through this. For His wisdom to guide you. For His arms to hold you!

Sending your son to school probably won't help things, but only further hurt this situation. Anytime we make serious decisions and commitments to the Lord, Satan is very ready to persecute us for it. Your son is not immune to falling into sin, just as we could very well fall into these things, too. We need to fervently pray for our children, especially during these times, and be there to gently guide them the way we'd want someone to come alongside us, if we were struggling. Be encouraged Rebecca, God is working in your son's life. Just keep on being the spiritual strength he needs right now and stay on your knees to the Lord. He is there and is definitely working! I'll be praying for your son, and strength and wisdom for you as you deal with this.

Blessings. . . . . .

Praying for you-I have posted here many times about issues with one of my teens-we who love the Lord are not immune to these things. We do have to pray fervently for our children, as the enemy seeks to steal, kill and destroy. I also agree, don't even mention sending him back to school, at least not to him. My dd fought me a long while about homeschooling and with other issues, and it was only my being determined to follow the path God laid before me that helped to hang on-she has since changed her attitude. It wasn't easy, and I am not letting my guard down for one minute-still praying and asking God for His direction, protection, and strength daily.

((((hugs)))) Praying for your son, and also for you and your dh to have wisdom to know how best to deal with all this. The computer thing is so hard, because it can be such a blessing or such a curse, but it's also such a huge part of our modern world that it's hard to get away from it.

Praying for you and your husband to have wisdom in this situation. As others have said loving the Lord doesn't mean he won't sin. He will be tempted to sin, just as we all are. Both my kids have at times surprised me with things they have done that I really didn't think they would do. It is one of the many hard things about being a parent. I will say putting him in school will only make it worse. There is so much more temptation to defy your parents when they are in school. My dd was in school up thru 9th grade so I am not just speaking hypothetically. She pulled more and more away from us when she was in ps. She is much closer to us now. Things aren't perfect, but much, much better than when she was in school.

Thank you all for your kind words, prayers, and words of wisdom. After a prayer with the boys, my youngest son was overcome with guilt and grief when he started to realize how he had lived, momentarily, for self (and therefore, not God). He cried and came to me with a sincere apology. He then told me he needed time to ask for God's forgiveness. I am very proud of the depth he seems to have sometimes. My older son has yet to seem remorseful, and he has not apologized. He did, however, get up and make lunch for his brother and himself and then clean it up. I am not sure if this was because he felt the need to get back in my "good graces" or if it was a way of apologizing for him. I want to see more depth in him. I know the Lord is working in our lives - if He wasn't, the persecution wouldn't be so great at times!

In my heart, I know that public school (especially not where I live) is NOT the answer. I just feel like a failure at times.

May the Lord give you and your husband wisdom in dealing with this situation and may He touch your children's hearts to see their sin and to walk in His ways!
Much strength during this time of training with your children and may the respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit!

Rebecca,

You are NOT a failure, this is something any one of us might experience. I know it probably feels like a major set-back as a parent but in reality it is yet another learning experience and opportunity to grow in Christ.
Hang in there Mama, you will get through this as will your sons, and we are praying for you

Love,
Candice

13 is HARD. Stay consistent in love, pray at all times, and trust Him.

((hugs)) and prayers!

Rebecca, just lifted you and your family up in prayer, trusting the Lord to convict your son of his sin and lead him to repentance. May He grant you wisdom, peace, courage and love in the midst of this current challenge. ((HUGS))

Keep doing what you've been doing. We all feel like we have failed when our children choose to do something that we know is not pleasing to God. We have three adult dc, two married and one at home yet. Although the 23 yo has some things to work through(one of them is spending too much time on computer and gaming), I know she loves the Lord and is willing to serve. We had our times with the two oldest, but they ended up going to Bible college and are now both married and living for the Lord. The oldest is a pastor. It sounds like you are handling the situation well. One question I would often ask my kids is "Do you want to please Satan or please God?" I knew what the answer would be, so I could say, "Well, by doing ........, you are pleasing Satan." I would tell them that every decision they make in our life is going to please God or please Satan. The devil is not going after the ones who are already living in sin. He is working hardest on those who want to do right. He is going to fight you for your children, and you just need to keep fighting back. It sounds like the Holy Spirit is dealing with your boys. Don't give up. HOD is helping you in that training. I agree that ps would only make things worse. Keep praying and keep training the Bible way.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

prying for you and your family

I can so relate to you...have struggles with mine at home too. My younger son who is 9 got in my desk last week and used my calculator for 2 problems he didn't understand. He confessed it to me and broke down in tears over it. I was happy about that but really hurt that he would hide it from me and do that, but again, it is temptation, and we all have them. This was the first time something like this had happened with him, so I just told him to write several verses about cheating from the Bible and he did that, then he confessed it to his Dad when he got home. He hated to see his Dad disappointed, but my husband just hugged him, in tears. This particular son is very sensitive to the Spirit, so I don't think he will be able to get away with too much before Holy Spirit gets him, but the oldest..he's a different story! Strong-headed and stubborn, hard-core as they come. But he's awesome and does eventually break down after being "disciplined" under the severity of the law! He's 11, by the way. I don't mean the law of the land, I mean the law of the Lord! LOL

Hang in there, friend. We are all in the same boat...All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Some of the greatest Christian men in history were some of the most rebellious as young men. Just reading biographies of missionaries and other mighty men can show you this. It's encouraging!

Bless you!
Tina