Count it all joy, my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  And if any of you lacks wisdom, Let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

James 1:2-5

When your child tests your parenting skills…

Tests in school reveal what you have learned. Tests in life reveal what you believe.

I always believed myself to be a patient person. Until I had my first son.

Testing proved I was not. Testing proved I was not prepared to raise a child (Joel) who would eventually be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. I don’t know who came up with that title, but they haven’t lived with a kid like that. Kids like him don’t have a deficit of attention. They attend to everything. It should be called Attention To Everything Deficit. That is until they get hyper focused on something. That hyper focusing is like how a hungry lion attends with an injured baby gazelle in it’s sights.

Example of this hyper focusing from my son I mentioned above:

The Devil lived at our house on Sunday mornings. Just getting Joel up and ready to leave for church on time was a weekly challenge.

And yes, we decided what he would wear and laid out the clothes the night before. Yes, he went to bed on time. Yes, we went to church every Sunday. It’s wasn’t like I decided we would go to church on a whim. We did this every Sunday.

He was in elementary school and was fully capable of dressing himself. But would he? No.

The Legos under the bed for who know how long needed to be collected that day, that moment. Who knew tiny little pieces of plastic wield more power? They were more persuasive than the sound of my voice yelling for him to get dressed. After multiple warnings and threats, he was still undressed at the time to go. I told him to get in the car and bring his clothes. He finally got in the car buck naked with clothes and Legos in hand.

What little patience I had that morning quickly dried up. I had just about had it having to go this every stinking Sunday.

So on this particular Sunday, I thought to myself: “Two can play this game.”

He was attempting to dress in the front seat of the car. Many stop signs were between my house and the church. I used them to vent my frustration with him. I slammed on the brakes when approaching a stop sign. That threw him ahead out of the seat disrupting his attempts to don underwear, pants, shirt or shoes. (No, he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. One can’t wear a seat belt when trying to put on underwear.) Complaints about the hard stops and difficulty that made it for him to get dressed fell on deaf ears. Making him struggle was my intent.

By the time we got to church he was dressed. As we pulled into the parking spot at church, he saw someone he wanted to talk to. He jumped out, forgetting the whole getting dressed in the car episode. Me, I was ready to spit fire. I’m pretty sure I “quiched the Holy Spirit” that day at church.

I didn’t pass the pass test. Again.

I searched the scriptures for answers to this dilemma, I didn’t know to pray for wisdom.

Praying for Wisdom…

But you say, I have prayed and haven’t gotten any wisdom! No solutions have come forth.

Our Ladies Bible study offered opportunities to wrestle with prating for help during trials in child rearing . Our little group was a mixed bag of ages and stages of life. Ladies ranged in age from the child-bearing with unwrinkled skin to the long-past using wrinkle cream. One young mom was struggling with what she perceived as unheard prayers. She asked an older lady in our group, “When do you quit praying for your problem?” This seasoned veteran of hardship replied with all confidence, “You keep praying until you get your answer.”

None of us wanted to admit it. Yet some of us secretly doubted the granting of wisdom. Yet, the Bible offers two choices. Believe it. Or not believe it.

Anxiety and confusion are the products of disbelieve.

Wisdom is the result of believing.

It’s as simple as that.

It was years later that I learned that God had given me these children and the wisdom to raise them in light of my weakness and their unique needs,

Maps show us how to get from where we are to where we want to be. God’s Word maps out our way to wisdom as well. In the next blog post we will mine the gold of God’s Word to replace anxiety with wisdom! God is so crystal clear on this! This wisdom is practical! Can’t wait to share the facets of wisdom Jesus, The Wonderful Counselor taught me!

Have your prayers for wisdom be answered?

Feel free to share answered prayer in the comment space below, I will celebrate with you.

If your still waiting on an answer, and you need a word of encouragement, leave a comment. I will reply.