Needing Jesus for the Stressful Moments
11:24 Share

We've all had those overwhelming moments as a mom or a dad when we raise our hands up into the air or we drop our head into our hands and just say, God, please. Well, I'm John Fuller, along with Dr. Danny Huerta. He leads Focus on the Family's parenting department, and we have some hope for you today. But first, Danny, how about a situation where there was no hope? Oh, my goodness. There was no hope. Yeah. As a parent, I've had moments where I've had to think about,

where I felt completely overwhelmed. And I can relate to that. Just getting on my knees next to the bed and just saying, Lord, I need you. I need you right now. The first one was when our son had RSV and ended up in the hospital, had an IV on his head. I mean, that was a moment I said, God, please take care of him. I felt helpless. Had to get him over there. He was limp. He had been throwing up.

We were in the hospital for a few days there. And then challenges emotionally for my daughter, junior high years, moments that she had situations with friends and felt super discouraged at times. That was another moment that I prayed and said, God, help me. Help me to bring words that are meaningful to her.

And then my son in a time during basketball where he was discouraged with certain things. And again, going to my counselor, my heavenly father and asking him, Lord, help me. And those are moments on my knees. I had moments where I went in the hallway close to my kids' bedrooms and I would just get on my knees at night.

And I mean, I can think of more, several other moments, John, where I found myself on my knees. We've got to do that for our kids. If we're truly willing to die for them, we can be willing to pray for them all the time. And there are moments where we just come and say, yeah, I'm at the end here, Lord. It's up to you. And please help me with this.

Yeah, well, I think if you're identifying at all with what Danny was just sharing, you're going to appreciate the conversation from Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Jim spoke with Stephanie Thurling and Sarah Holstrom on dealing with stressful moments, and here's a clip from that conversation.

Steph and Sarah, welcome to Focus on the Family. Hi. It's so fun to see young moms here. I just love it. Oh, we are so honored. I'm so excited to be with you guys. Okay, so your kids are how old? This is the best part. So fun. Okay, so my oldest is 11 and a half. He'd want you to know. Almost 12. And then I've got almost 10.

These are descriptions that they gave you. Oh, yeah. Tell them I'm almost 10. Don't forget the half. Seven and five. So we are kind of out of that, you know, keeping them alive stage. Yeah, you're in the fun time. It's so fun. It is a great time. It's loud and wonderful.

And how about yours? Our kids are almost the same age. So mine are 12, 9, and 8. All right. That is awesome. That helps every mom listening to kind of know what you're living. And some are there, some are going to be there, and some are way past there. So, Steph, let's start with you. You have three and Sarah, four, as you said, and all in that preschool age to elementary school age.

You admit parenting young kids is intense. Do we have an amen to that? I mean, you're so hands-on. And Sarah, in fact, you have a story about a 911 call. I think you did. I do. We had a couple of those. But what's your 911 story? Yeah, you're not a failure. I thank you. I love that you asked me that because when this 911 call happened, I called my husband and I said, we're never telling anybody about this.

You're telling everybody. Let's just tell a couple of million people. Right? Let's tell them. Well, I was at home with my kids and this was five years ago. So the youngest was a baby. It's good you were there with your kids. I was there, right? My husband wasn't there. But my daughter, the two-year-old, she peed her pants again.

and we all know how that goes. So I'm kind of changing her. And my baby son, I just heard this horrible sound coming out of his mouth, this loud choking sound. And I didn't know then that my older daughter, the one who was four, she had gotten a ring at church and she pretended they were married, put it on his finger. And while he's laying on his baby mat, he dropped it into his mouth. And I just completely panicked. I just started screaming. I didn't think about how you

patting on the back. I found my phone. I called 911. And my son, Charlie, he was about six at the time. He's so tenderhearted, but he just started wailing, God, take me instead of Levi. Take me. What a tender heart. Yes, and he's wailing.

and I'm wailing and I'm crying. And so I actually left all my kids in the house to go out front so I could hear the 911 dispatcher while holding the baby. I didn't leave him, but the other kids. And he coughed up the ring right away. All the color came back to his face. But as I'm crying with this lady-

She still of course sent over this awesome team of first responders and when I went back into the house Which I wasn't expecting company so, you know, there's diapers on the floor and my daughter was half-naked She had also taken a black sharpie and drawn across her lips my other daughter the one who committed the crime She took off her shirt. I don't know if that's just what you do in these scenarios But so they're you know half-naked responders. Yeah, okay in the door

And one of them, he didn't even worry about the baby so much. He just said, are all these kids yours? I was like, yes, yes, they are. And, you know, they're packing up to leave. And he was so kind to me. He said, you did the good, you did the right thing calling us. The good mom thing. Yeah, it can be scary. And then my son goes, it's not her first time calling you. She called you when she locked us in the car.

car. Instead of explain, you know, the keys were accidentally locked in the car. I just, I just wanted Jesus to come back in that moment. And I just felt all the feelings, mortified, traumatized. And that was one of those moments where I thought, I really need Jesus, you know, not every hour, but every millisecond as I parent, I need him. Our thing was the emergency room. Troy just

He did everything to knock his head. Stitches and staples. I mean, they almost, it was first name basis. Oh, hey, Troy, how you been since last week? But we didn't call. We just rushed him to the hospital. You were on some file. Here we are again. We should have called. Yeah, we should have gotten frequent flyer miles for the emergency room.

Danny, when the kids are little, it's sometimes impossible because of the interruptions and the lack of sleep to find any time alone with God. So how do we make time for Jesus, even though we're, or maybe especially because we're serving our families so effectively and so often and so frequently and so exhaustingly? John, I really think it has to be with creativity.

and intentionality, that before you go to bed, those points when you're stopping things. Almost kind of like Deuteronomy 6, the Old Testament. Yes. You're walking around and standing up and sitting down. I mean, you have to carve it out. You have to decide, where can I do this? And it can be while you're driving. You can spend time. You can turn the radio off or whatever you're listening to or even this podcast and spend some time just alone, one-on-one with God. Yeah.

Time together as a couple at night right before bed, even maybe you feel tired or maybe you feel overwhelmed with certain things. It's a great time to just spend time with God and say, hey, honey, can we pray together? Can we read God's word together? Just five minutes, 10 minutes. It doesn't have to be an elaborate 30 minute or one hour devotional or prayer time. You can start small and continue to just be consistent. Once you're consistent, you're

You can grow from there. In the morning when you wake up, you can say, hey, Lord, thank you for this brand new day that I get to unwrap today and spend just maybe a minute or two minutes with God right there. And you've made a little moment. Then while you're driving, then in the evening when you get home, when you walk through the door and say, thank you for this family you've given me.

And I'm going to pour into them. And then at night before you go to bed, hey, thanks for the day. I just got to enjoy. Help me tomorrow. And it's an ongoing conversation where it's truly short bursts with God. And then it can grow from there. Yeah. And what I love about what you're talking about is it's kind of an inoculation, if you will.

for those moments of stress because we heard about hospital visits and 911 calls, and we've had those. And those are times when you just cannot take time to speak meaningfully with the Lord, to hear His voice, because you're in action mode. You're in solve-the-problem mode. You're answering questions at the office mode.

So take the time to be proactively seeking God in the quiet moments that he offers you. And John, you know, something that was fascinating to me, just during the teen years, my kids' teen years, I realized that when I opened up God's word and made time for it, even though maybe I didn't have time, and thinking, you know, today I'm going, maybe I don't have time for this, but I'll do it anyway. Right.

Every single time I would find that time was fine. That actually opened up more time for me. The day went in a way that unexpectedly opened up some margin of time for me when I did that. Now, days weren't perfect, but it wasn't a time issue.

So it's almost like God was honoring your desire to spend time with Him.

And so as we're faithful in that, God will respond. Just be faithful in opening up God's word when you can. And an amen on that because related to the book that Stephanie and Sarah wrote, that models for your children what's important to you, where you spend your time. They see, they know. And as you show, I'm seeking God, I'm reading his word, I'm praying, they're going to see that modeling and at some point,

That seed that's being planted, that visual of seeing you might actually start to sprout and bear fruit in their lives. That's the point of the book I mentioned, Raising Prayerful Kids, Fun and Easy Activities for Building Lifelong Habits of Prayer. This is a phenomenal little resource on teaching your kids to recognize their own need for God and

and to learn how to lean into him throughout all of life. You can learn more about the book and get a copy of it when you click the links in the show notes.

We also are going to link over to our Age and Stage e-newsletter. It's free and it's going to bring a regular dose of encouragement to you, whatever your child's age, whether they're in diapers, whether they're adolescents, or they're, frankly, starting to leave the home. Find the link in the show notes, sign up, and you'll have a lot of great information and encouragement coming to you on an ongoing basis.

We'll hear more from Stephanie and Sarah next time. And for now, on behalf of Dr. Danny Huerta and the entire team, I'm John Fuller. And thanks for listening to the Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast. Your marriage can be redeemed, even if the fights seem constant, even if there's been an affair, even if you haven't felt close in years. No matter how deep the wounds are, you can take a step toward healing them with a Hope Restored Marriage Intensive.

Our biblically-based counseling will help you find the root of your problems and face challenges together. We'll talk with you, pray with you, and help you find out which program will work best. Call us at 1-866-875-2915.