A Praise Report on What God Has Done With This Mom’s Bad Case of Apathy
Perhaps you are familiar with the story in Luke 17 where ten lepers, desiring to be healed, called out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” (vs. 13) All ten were healed but only one came back to say thank you. Today’s post is me stating to Jesus and all: THANK YOU FOR HEALING ME OF MY APATHY. I AM SO GRATEFUL TO BE ABLE TO ENJOY THIS NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH MY SON! Today is a follow up to my “What’s a Mom to do When She Experiences Apathy? series I posted on July 10, 17 and 31 of this year. I’m excited to share!
The Problem
I experienced an extended season of woe-is-me indifference towards a child who has long been a challenge. I had thrown in the towel and had given up. It was not a healthy place for either one of us to be in. As a mom I felt I was falling short of the mark. I knew my son deserved better than a mom bellyaching about her apathy but I couldn’t seem to move past it.
The Remedy
Here is what worked for me. If you have grown weary of a difficult situation or person in your life:
Keep asking God to give you the “want to” to not only persevere in your situation but also to equip you to work towards making things better. Ask others to pray alongside you. Lord, make my heart passionate about those things you want me to feel passion about. Help me to stay in the fight if I’m supposed to.
Release this struggle to the Lord and keep praying with an eager anticipation for good to come.
Forgive the person you feel resentment towards.
Keep your eyes fixed on God and not on your situation.
Remember that God's power works best in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9). The remedy to your apathy does not rest in your abilities.
Be diligent to find the blessings in the person or situation God has allowed in your life. This one was key for me in order to experience a breakthrough in my apathy. For the past 7-8 years I have been keeping a running list of my “Blessings” in the back pages of my prayer journals - a list of big and small things I am grateful to God for. This week I am up to 6225. One reason showing gratitude is helpful can be found in a powerful book by Christian author and physician, Dr. Caroline Leaf, Switch on your Brain - The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health. Dr. Leaf shows us the science and the Scripture behind what happens inside our brains when we work to take every thought captive to Christ. Check it out, it’s amazing to see just how detailed our Creator is! God is teaching me to see the great qualities in my son. He has overcome so many obstacles already in order to be where he is today. What a beautiful change of perspective. Thank you, Lord!
The Results
I should be freaking out right now because COVID has my first-year-in-highschool teenager at home doing school on his own 3 days out of 5 each week. The adjustment from middle to highschool is a big one. The workload is demanding and sometimes more than my son can handle. But something wonderful has happened in our home and inside of me over the last two months.
My attitude of apathy is gone and Scott and I are working together as a team. Shaming and blaming him are being replaced with encouraging and helping him. Reacting in anger to each other is being replaced with responding with a listening ear. I have become Scott’s cheerleader, learning to advocate for my child rather than just trying to tolerate behaviors. And he appreciates my efforts. With God’ help I’m working on praising Scott for his good efforts and bragging on him in front of his siblings. It’s making a difference!
I cannot tell you the exact 1, 2, 3’s of overcoming your apathy. I can tell you that God is able and He longs to come alongside you and intervene. I’ll leave you with an acronym for Bless I came across this week. Unfortunately the author is unknown to me but this is worth sharing to help us love on others well:
Be committed (I will never give up on you!)
Loving touch
Express Value
Say it
See potential - “special future”
You and I have a choice if we want to reclaim hope for what seems to be a dire situation. God is here to help us and His grace is indeed sufficient to meet our every need.
What might you need to do today to move out of your season of indifference? I’m praying for you!