A Daughter’s Journey

As a parent of teens, I have had some difficult conversations with my kids. Especially my daughter when it comes to her spiritual beliefs. She is on the fence right now about what she believes, if anything, and I have learned to be comfortable with where she currently stands. You can imagine it is a difficult place to be based on my current calling, but it is where we are as a father and daughter.

I love her no less. I understand where she is coming from, as I took a similar path when I was a late teen. She has a lot of questions, I had a lot of questions. She has a lot of hurt from well-intentioned, misguided people. It was the same for me. I pray for her daily that her heart will soften towards God and His Church.

As we grow together, I have learned there is no formula, though many have tried to traffic them to us. There is no Roman Road, Apologetic scheme, or 5 Steps To A Believing Teen. This is her journey, and God has allowed her mother and me to be her guides through this.

Through prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we have been given some wisdom and helped her through some hard questions. We are far from done, and we may never see the fruition of our efforts. I pray that we do, but it is not about me but about her belief in God.

Instead of a scheme or formula, we talk about what God intended His creation to be from Genesis 1 and 2 and that His Creation will be renewed someday, as we see in Revelation 20-22. For her to see that there is a Creator who loves His creation so much that he wants it to be renewed to its original intent. It is not about scaring her about our theories on heaven and hell, but about a God that is good and God that is love.

So we follow the Shema and the extension of the Shema that Jesus taught in Mark 12:29-31. To love. To love God. To love her. To love all people. To love God’s creation.

Matthew Dillingham
Executive Pastor