Love, Pray, Listen

Mary DeMuth

Description

"Love, Pray, Listen offers empathy and grounded biblical wisdom to help parents thrive, no matter what path their adult kids take."--PASTOR STEVE STROOPEWisdom and Hope for Parents of Grown-Ups As a parent, your role changes drastically after your kids grow up. You fear heartache and strained relationships when your children choose difficult--even seemingly wrong--paths. Love, Pray, Listen is the gracious, practical resource you need for navigating the rocky terrain of parenting grown-ups. In this book, mom and author Mary DeMuth answers questions like:· What do I do when my kids make choices that don't align with my values?· How do I keep communication lines open with my grown children?· When do I speak, and when do I listen?· Is it possible to hold on to my joy when parenting is so hard?· How do I avoid the temptation of meddling in my kids' lives?Love, Pray, Listen offers a robust theology for long-term parenting gleaned from the discipleship model Jesus exemplified, one that carefully and thoughtfully applies his way of expressing love. This is your invitation for spiritual growth and a path toward fulfilling relationships with your adult children.

Sujets

• Dating

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 06 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493439201
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Endorsements
“Mary DeMuth gives moms and dads a gift in Love, Pray, Listen . Using 1 Corinthians 13 as a frame, she offers parents with prodigals an honest way forward that allows space for grief, room for hope, and joy untethered from our kids’ choices.”
Rebecca Ashbrook Carrell, Bible teacher, author, veteran radio host, host of the Honestly, Though podcast, founder of the HeartStrong Faith Women’s Bible Conference
“As a pastor for over forty years, I have walked a lot of families through crises, and I’ve watched how the hearts of parents break when their kids stray. I wish I’d had a resource like this to encourage parents through that bewildering journey. Mary DeMuth offers empathy and grounded biblical wisdom to help parents of adult kids thrive, no matter what path they take.”
Pastor Steve Stroope, founding pastor, Lakepointe Church, Rockwall, Texas
“As a parent of adult children, I know firsthand the joy, pain, and confusion that can come from these complex relationships. Mary’s book is an incredible resource I will keep nearby. It’s full of biblical encouragement and practical tools that help me love, pray, and listen more effectively.”
Jodie Niznik, host of the So Much More podcast
“After reading Love, Pray , Listen , I experienced conviction leading to repentance, which birthed inner peace. In the pages of this groundbreaking treatise, Mary unearths parenting from the deep waters of God’s unconditional love. Most of all, she delivers to those of us parenting adult prodigals wise counsel and hope!”
Rick Howerton, author
“In Love, Pray , Listen , Mary DeMuth has given a beautiful book and an exquisite and powerful gift. Jesus said to love as he loved, but that seems impossible. Mary walks, word by word, through the 1 Corinthians 13 love chapter. She opens up every phrase for our understanding, revealing how God makes it possible for us to love our adult children as Jesus does.”
Judy Douglass, author and podcast host of When You Love a Prodigal
“I love the way Mary DeMuth walks us through 1 Corinthians 13 to help us process any guilt, regret, or ongoing parental doubts. Being in a relationship with our kids now that they are adults is tough, and her book helps to make things a little easier.”
Susan Seay, podcast host of Mentor for Moms
“Mary gives authentic voice to the myriad of emotions that parents experience when adult kids wander wayward. Instead of ultimatums, Mary equips parents with godly wisdom wrapped in a scriptural framework that allows parents to unconditionally love their adult kids, even if they aren’t traveling in the same theological lane.”
Barb Roose, speaker and author of Surrendered: Letting Go and Living Like Jesus and other books and Bible studies
“With 1 Corinthians 13 as a framework, DeMuth shepherds us through the challenges of loving our adolescent and adult children. But don’t be fooled. DeMuth hasn’t merely written a book about parenting. She’s written a book about learning to trust a loving God in a cosmos where our sense of control is an illusion, but where joy remains available even amid struggle. She’s written a book about the gospel and applied it to our most formative and intimate relationships. There is profound truth here that every parent, and every Christians, needs.”
Skye Jethani, co-host of The Holy Post podcast and author of What If Jesus Was Serious?
Half Title Page
Books by Mary DeMuth
F ROM B AKER P UBLISHING G ROUP
The Day I Met Jesus*
Worth Living
Love, Pray, Listen
O THER B OOKS BY M ARY D E M UTH
Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God
Building the Christian Family You Never Had
You Can Raise Courageous and Confident Kids
150 Quick Questions to Get Your Kids Talking
Beautiful Battle
Thin Places
Everything
The Wall Around Your Heart
Not Marked
Jesus Every Day
The Seven Deadly Friendships
Healing Every Day
We Too
Outrageous Grace Every Day
Pray Every Day
* with Frank Viola
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2022 by Mary DeMuth
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-3920-1
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified AMPC are from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
Scripture quotations identified MESSAGE are from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Scripture quotations identified MOFFATT are from The Bible: James Moffatt Translation, copyright © 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1935 by Harper Collins San Francisco. Copyright 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954 by James A. R. Moffatt.
Scripture quotations identified NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zon dervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Scripture quotations identified PHILLIPS are from The New Testament in Modern English by J. B. Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.
Scripture quotations identified TLB are from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified VOICE are from The Voice Bible, copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified WEYMOUTH are from the Weymouth New Testament.
Some names and recognizable details have been changed to protect the privacy of those who have shared their stories for this book.
Cover design by Faceout Studio
Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.
Dedication
To Jeff and D’Ann Mateer and Bret and Leslie Wilson, parents I’ve had the privilege to parent alongside—thank you for your hearts for your adult kids.
Epigraph
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
1 Corinthians 13:4–7
Contents
Cover
Endorsements 1
Half Title Page 3
Books by Mary DeMuth 4
Title Page 5
Copyright Page 6
Dedication 7
Epigraph 8
Introduction 11
1. Love Is Patient 27
2. Love Is Kind 37
3. Love Is Not Jealous 47
4. Love Is Not Boastful 59
5. Love Is Not Proud 75
6. Love Is Not Rude 89
7. Love Does Not Demand Its Own Way 103
8. Love Is Not Irritable 115
9. Love Keeps No Record of Being Wronged 125
10. Love Does Not Rejoice about Injustice 139
11. Love Rejoices When Truth Wins Out 151
12. Love Never Gives Up 161
13. Love Never Loses Faith 173
14. Love Is Always Hopeful 183
15. Love Endures through Every Circumstance 193
Conclusion: Love, Pray, Listen 203
Acknowledgments 211
Notes 213
Back Ad 219
Back Cover 220
Introduction
Confession: I did not want to write Love, Pray , Listen . One of my greatest insecurities rests in my motherhood, having grown up in a home I didn’t want to duplicate, with few positive examples to fall back on. I constantly felt inept, untrained, and an utter mess when my children were young. My basic parenting strategy was to get on my knees and pray as tears slipped to the carpet one by one. I even wrote a book called Building the Christian Family You Never Had , detailing the pain and bewilderment of being what I called a pioneer parent .
My childhood of parental neglect, sexual abuse at the hands of neighborhood bullies, my biological father’s death when I was ten, my mom’s multiple divorces, and a constant feeling that I was unloved and unnoticed meant that I had mountains to overcome later in life. Nearly every year of my childhood involved complex trauma. I had hoped to be magically set free when I met Jesus at fifteen, but Jesus continues the healing process even now, and I am still working through my past. Perhaps because of all that childhood pain, I had a fierce need to do things utterly differently. When Patrick and I married young, I put a stake in the ground, determining to parent in a life-giving, loving way. Because I had a hard time finding or experiencing love, and because my immediate family did not pray and chose not to listen to the trauma cries of my life, I wanted better for my kids.
I feared, though, that I would repeat the pattern of my childhood with my children. Because I did not feel wanted or loved, I worried that they wouldn’t know they were wanted and loved. That worry haunted me, though I could not articulate it. The fear rested like a boulder on my chest, keeping me up at night. During the day,