My teenage daughter came to me for advice a couple of nights ago. That, in itself, is no small miracle. She came, because one particular girl in her small private school had been slandering her to many of her friends. Sitting around the kitchen table over a late night snack, she poured out her troubled-heart.

She went on to tell me what she planned on saying to the girl. Something along the lines of, “If you keep on talking bad about me, I won’t be your friend any more.”

I advised that she be careful with what state her heart is in, when she says anything. “If you talk to her with the wrong motivation, you might end up with more heartache.”

“Then what do I do? What do I say?” with exasperation she entreated my counsel.

I searched my mind quickly for an answer. I thought about what I would do — go before the Lord and seek wisdom. So all I could reply is, “I don’t have the answer to that, but I do know how you can find the answer.”

It’s no secret to her that the Word of God is the lens through which I view all of life. I told her the story of when it first became real to me. God used my pain, actual high school drama, to draw me to search the scriptures.

I was the object of scorn the only year I ever went to youth camp. I sat at a concrete table everyday of that week scouring over the pages in my Bible, searching for any bit of comfort my own crushed-heart could find. I read David’s words in Psalms over and over again, and before long, I found true, almost tangible comfort. God’s Word came to life and became a life-line to my teenage-self, and has remained.

With my daughter’s own heart in pain, her faith weak, yet the desire to ease the ache of her brokenness, for the first time ever I saw her hungry for God’s Word.

So I gave her verses right from my heart, ones planted long ago. “Submit your ways to God. Invite Him into every detail of your life and He will show you which path to take. Don’t rely on what you know, trust that God knows all” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

I faced her to the wall where our Biblically based affirming words hang, and had her recite them aloud. She was doing it because I asked, but as I heard the inflection of her voice change, I knew these truth-words were entering her heart.

“My steps have been ordered, established, and directed by the Lord” (Psalm 37:23).

“I have not been given the spirit of this world. Rather, I have the Spirit of God that I might know the mind and will of God for me” (1 Corinthians 2:12).

“I receive Godʼs wisdom when I ask in faith, and He gives it generously without finding fault” (James 1:5).

You see, knowing God’s Word isn’t just something to add to the list of should-dos. Knowing God’s Word is vital for your life, and for the generation of followers of Christ you are raising.

Seeds of God’s truth can be planted deeply in our children’s hearts. It is our job to plant and water those, and it’s God’s job to cause the growth. Throughout their life, it will be an anchor to their soul, and a sword for their fight of faith.

So mama, you don’t have to have all the answers when your children come asking. Just show them where they can find them so they may have a light to their path — a light they so desperately need to navigate the future world they are walking into.

Michele-Lyn Ault

Michele-Lyn is a wife and mama to four. She blogs about making a home, motherhood, missions, and embracing beautiful messes, while learning to live a life surrendered. She opens up about her messy, imperfect life so it would, somehow, help you open yours even more fully to God. She has a heart for the nations, poor and bound, and deeply desires to live her life in a way that it might set another free. She’s also an advocate for World Help.

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