"Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children.

Those who love their children care enough to discipline them."

Proverbs 13:24 NLT

Today I am alive and well, first, I am the result of many prayers, my mother never stopped praying for me and teaching me the importance of the Word of God. Second, I was very well educated. My parents never once stopped teaching and correcting me.

When I was little, she always took me to church, where I learned about the Bible and she taught me to pray every day at least before going to sleep.

I obeyed normally until I entered adolescence and became "rebellious", in fact I didn't even know what I was doing. I just acted on my feelings which were, for the most part, out of control.

For me, it was a time when I started having a crisis - I didn't know who I was, what I wanted to do with my life, I didn't have a clue and I was terrified of it.

I lived in anguish with the pressure I put on myself to find out as quickly as possible in order to have something to answer for so many people who asked the same thing."What do you want to be? Are you going to work or go to college after you finish high school?"

Even confused and hurting, I never told my parents how I felt. Don't be surprised if your children keep quiet and you only hear about these things years later when there's no longer anything you can do.

This is my flaw, hiding problems and pretending I'm fine. But I think that nowadays, it has become very common to mask reality to impress or for fear of being judged by others.

So even if you insist on asking how they are... they might not say anything. So please pray for them.

Here's an model, you don't need to pray exactly like this, it's just an example:

"God please protect

my children from evil. 

I trust you

that's why I'll put them

in Thy mighty hand,

let your Will be done

in their life. 

In the name of Jesus,

thank you for listening to me

and always answering my prayers."

Sometimes, at the end of my prayers, I make sure to thank God for listening to me and answering me because we have the impression that we are not being heard. This is a lie to discourage us from praying, God loves us and not only hears but answers us - never forget that.

The Lord knows our hearts, He can comfort and heal us better than anyone else. Put them into capable God's hands, He is also a Father and takes good care of all of us.