“I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread” (Psalm 37:25 ESV).

Sometimes, we mothers have great difficulty trusting the Lord as we watch our children going through difficult trials. Perhaps we bear up well through our own tough times, but watching our children face them requires an altogether different degree of trust!

It can be a temptation for us as parents to step in and play the part of God by overprotecting or attempting to rescue them from all trouble. We pray, “Oh Lord, spare my child from all trial, pain, and difficulty.” But as I reflect back on my own experience, it has been precisely through these times that I have learned the most about the character of God.

The blessing of firsthand experience of the faithfulness of God can’t be picked up simply as if by osmosis. We must remember that God will prove Himself faithful to them even as He has to us. Our God is able to teach them what we sometimes cannot. Remember, they need to learn that they not only have parents on earth, but a Father in heaven who is far better.

So we need to pray for our children, whatever their age, and then hopefully model a good example of a heart that trusts in God’s goodness, promises, and faithfulness.

The verses from this passage in Daily Light are just the right prescription for our anxious hearts:

“I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.—His bread will be given him; his water will be sure.—The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.—My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.—Be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’

“He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna . . . that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”—Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ ”

(Psalm 37:25, Isaiah 33:16, 1 Kings 17:6, Philippians 4:19, Hebrews 13:5, Deuteronomy 8:3, John 6:32–34)