I was walking my seventy-pound puppy this afternoon as the sun was setting. I had worship music playing on my ipod, and I contemplated what I should write about in this blog. I picked a dandelion from my neighbors yard.

I used to make wishes on dandelions growing up. I loved the challenge of trying to blow all the seeds off the flower; I used to blow until my lungs gave out because I had so much hope that if I could just get that last seed off the flower, my wish would come true and my life would change.

Just before I was about to rock this little flower with a miniature hurricane I stopped. I couldn’t think of anything to wish for. I thought about the kids of Fuse High School. I thought about their struggles and their prayer requests. I didn’t think about my own life, not out of modesty, but out of faith that everything in my life is part of an intricate plan that God has for me {Jeremiah 29:11}. I wouldn’t change a thing in my life, and as I thought of the Fuse kids (your kids) I realized that I would not change a thing for them either. Don’t get me wrong, I will always be lifting them up in prayer, but I know that every single struggle I faced as a kid, as a teenager, and now as a young adult has shaped me, molded me. Sure, I screamed and cried and rebelled along the way (just ask my own parents), but God brought me out of that to the other side where the grass is greener, and I know that I have been changed.

As much as it hurts to watch, I know that I would never rob a child of the chance to grow, and as a parent I know that someday you would want your child to mature and develop a strong relationship full of faith in God. But as we know, “…suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. {Rom 5:3-5 NIV}

So my message is this: hope. To every parent watching his or her child stumble through a difficult time, you are not alone and God has not forgot your child’s struggle. Solomon said that there is “nothing new under the sun”{Ecclesiastes 1:9}. God has been working in the hearts of children for a long time; He is well practiced. You can trust Him with your child, and have hope because someday your “baby” will grow up to be stronger in their faith because of their struggle.

Lastly, you as a parent are not alone in this hope. Every staff member and volunteer in our ministry is right there with you. Together we can pray, hope, and watch God perform miracles.

-Nikki (Fuse High School)