What Important Lessons of Life are Your Grandchildren learning from you?

By Lillian Penner

Recently a friend asked me, “What is the most important lesson you hope to teach your grandchildren?” After thinking about this question, I would like to share one of the lessons I hope my grandchildren will learn from my husband and me.

As my grandchildren walk through their life journey, they will face many challenges and disappointments. God will allow challenging situations in their lives for a purpose—to develop character and spiritual growth. The trials and challenges are inevitable; they must learn to expect them, acknowledge them, and learn from them. 

 The challenges they face are not meant to destroy them but are designed to make them capable of fulfilling their God-given assignments. Their trials and challenges create an environment where they will see the true nature of their dependency on God. They will learn to rely on God through their problems, failures, weaknesses, and neediness. Their challenges, trials, and disappointments can be blessings in disguise.

As grandparents, we can model for our grandchildren from our experience that “Life is hard, but God is good.” We have a wonderful intercessor sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting for us to call on him. We can come to Him with boldness and confidence at any time. When we call him, He will never put us on hold, His line is never busy, and we do not have to press a number for our language or leave a voice mail. He is always available. In I Peter 5:7, we read, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.”

My goal is for our grandchildren to see how my husband and I have faced our challenges and trust they have observed how they can place their faith in God and allow Him to walk with them on their life journey.

According to Paul in Philippians 4:6-7 my grandchildren will only find fulfillment if they don’t get anxious or worry about anything but pray about everything, telling God about their needs and thanking Him for all He has done for them. Then they will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything they can understand. His peace will guard their hearts and minds as they live in Christ Jesus.

Remember, a beautiful rose has thorns.

Lillian Penner is the author of Grandparenting with a Purpose: Effective Ways to Pray for Your Grandchildren in English and Spanish. It will challenge you and give you more creative ideas to pray intentionally for your grandchildren. She is on staff with the Christian Grandparenting Network prayer ministry, developing prayer cards, grandparents@Prayer groups, and the Grandparenting Day of Prayer. She has a passion for praying intentionally for her grandchildren and desires to share that passion with other grandparents. An avid blogger, Lillian breaks into smiles if you ask about her thirteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She and her husband, John, live in Portland, Oregon, where they are active in church ministries. They were both raised in Christian homes and desire to pass their godly heritage to their future generations. She and her husband enjoy traveling, Southern Gospel music but most of all, enjoy spending time with their family.

Feature Photo Courtesy of pingpao – stock.adobe.com