I’ve heard the story so many times lately that it seems hardly a week passes by without my hearing about this grief: believing loved ones praying for family members who’ve never followed Christ or who have abandoned the faith of their upbringing. Sometimes it’s parents praying for teen and adult children; at other times, it’s teen and adult children still praying for older parents and grandparents.
I know this anguish because I prayed for 36 years for my dad and 47 years for my mom before they both became Christ-followers. I would be lying if I said that I never once lost faith or doubted God in the decades that I prayed. I was a pastor for a number of those years, but even I wondered if God were ever going to answer my prayers. It felt like the more I prayed, the worse the situation seemed.
My wife, Pam,
