Parents of a prodigal child often suffer much pain and heartache through their experience and long for hope. My friend, Judy Slegh, learned how to treat her prodigal child so that she could rediscover the jewel in him. Her efforts were successful. She shares the life-changing process the Holy Spirit led her through in today’s post.
On a recent episode of Your Hope-Filled Perspective podcast, I chatted with Judy about how to gain hope and healing when your loved one has gone astray. If you missed that episode, you can click to listen here: Prodigal Child: Hope and Healing When Your Loved One Has Gone Astray – Episode 110. Judy shares about having a prodigal child and all she learned through that experience.
How to Treat A Prodigal Child: Rediscover the Jewel
By Judy Slegh
When we focus on our prodigal, we often see the garbage in their life. We become frustrated with them as they willfully waste their time, energy, and aptitudes. We wish we could change them back to what they were.
We can try to change them by controlling the situation, but often it is fruitless. They have free will and are using it well.
How to treat your prodigal child
What is another solution?
We can call out their potential. God created them to be a jewel with unique talents, traits, and gifts.
As my children grew up, each displayed unique characteristics and talents. I wrote these down as a design log for each child after reading the book called, Discovering Your Child’s Design by Ralph Mattson. Little did I know how helpful this would be as I experienced my prodigal situation.
Dustin, my prodigal son, at an early age, noticed the needs of people and wanted to love people as Jesus did. In his design journal, I had recorded an instance where he expressed care and concern for an older man eating alone at the age of 4. He felt the man was lonely and he wanted to be his friend. This happened many times when we were out. Later, in middle school, he packed extra food for a classmate that didn’t have a nourishing lunch. Later, he reached out to help at a youth ranch through volunteer activities in college.
When Dustin doubted himself or his abilities, I would say, “Dustin, God created you to be a people person. You don’t need to compare yourself with others.”
When he chose to walk away from a vibrant and active faith after college, I didn’t see the God-given potential anymore. He was no longer a jewel in my eyes. Instead, I saw him covered with mud. I saw his actions, which made me sad. I saw the deceit he was living under and speaking. I saw the lure of sin that seemed attractive and benign to him. I would gently point these issues, but he would dispel my concerns. Then the reality hit when he was picked up for driving under the influence. I started praying fervently for a change.
Rediscover the jewel in your prodigal child
Nothing changed until someone, whom I didn’t know, stated, “God is encouraging you to speak His declarations over a lost loved one. They will come true.”
After spending time in prayer, I created a list and spoke declarations on how I wanted God to change Dustin. Then God corrected me.
“Judy, those are your desires, not mine. Rediscover the jewel in Dustin. Speak this as a declaration,” God gently chided me.
I was busted. I asked God to clean my heart of offense, hurt and judgment. As I forgave Dustin, I broke all judgments I had made in my mind against him. I released disappointment and many other emotions. I requested Holy Spirit to fill me up and to renew my mind with correct thinking. I prayed for God to give me His perspective of truth regarding my son.
This was a process, and in the end, God gave me two declarations to speak, “Dustin will operate out of Jesus’s heart and the DWI will not be on his record long term.” I wasn’t given the plan or the method of how this would happen. I was reminded to recall the jewel in my prodigal.
As I spoke these declarations out loud, I discovered I became convinced of their truth. It gave me peace and a sense of partnering with God. After another difficulty, Dustin rediscovered the Heavenly Father that knew and loved him. He is now living as God’s gem.
I encourage you to rediscover the jewel by removing the mud and the muck through forgiveness. It will allow you to think hope and to speak hope from God’s perspective.
A prayer you can pray
Father, come and guide me in the process of rediscovering the jewel in my prodigal. Help me to identify the areas I need to address so I can have a renewal of the mind. Amen.
Do you have a prodigal child? We’d love to hear your insights or concerns in the comments below.
About Judy R. Slegh
Judy R. Slegh is passionate in helping others get free of emotional baggage through healing prayer. Writing her first book, Help! I Have a Prodigal, she combined her personal experiences with a prodigal son with the healing prayer tools she uses as leader of Nephros Ministries. She found it a joy to speak into her biology student’s lives for seventeen years and now brings hope to the imprisoned through leading a birthday card ministry called Affirming You. Being a Minnesotan, she enjoys kayaking on lakes and rivers as well bird watching and biking with her husband Daryl.
Stay connected with Judy: Website / Instagram / Facebook / Facebook Group / LinkedIn
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Thank you for this timely message. I am dealing with this very thing today. My son overheard me talking through some stuff with a trusted friend. He overheard some hard truths, but they were spoken from a heart of frustration, but, and disappointment. He recently went through a divorce, while living with us, and is still reeling from it. So I feel I may have caused more damage than good. How do I talk this through with him?
Dena, We often wonder how to heal the wounds of hearing what we say to others. The best way is to ask what has offended them and ask them to forgive us. I sense both of you are feeling the same emotions, the same frustration and the same pain. The book I wrote, “Help! I have a prodigal” is an excellent way to release the pain individually. This creates a great opportunity to check in with each other and say, “What is your take away from this section?” It creates a common goal and a common healing process to support one another.
Judy, I do love what the Lord taught you abut declaring your son’s potential and his heart that had been revealed to you as he grew into a man. I am learning to speak some declarations the Lord has given me for my son and daughter as well as other members of my family. They seek to live healthy lives and I pray for holy lives too. They received salvation as children. I love speaking LIFE and HEALTH over all my family. God’s perspective and His potential over them all. Thank you, Dr. Michelle, for all you shared and for having Judy share with us. So Loved the podcast and this blog.
This continues to resonate with me. I’ve read it several times today and am again tonight. It’s so hard not to get stuck in the “mess” of the prodigal. I say I trust the Lord, but I wallow in worry… I wallow in why…even 9 years in I feel shocked by it because his walk was so strong. I am praying asking God for the declarations He would have me pray over my son and seek forgiveness for my attitudes.
Kimberly, I too went through the process of working through the worry and wondering what I could do to fix the situation. I realized I needed to process and release the emotions that had welled up in me. In prayer, I released each one by forgiving my son and asked God for His truth I should think instead. This process released my burdens and handed them to God. I wrote the book, “Help! I Have a Prodigal.” to help others to release their emotional baggage and learn what God wants to have them think and pray instead. What you are experiencing is very much like my experience with my son. A new perspective from God helped me in the waiting. God bless!
I wrote about prodigals today also!