Your Encouraging 5 Minute Podcast
A weekly dose of encouragement to start your week off right! Join your favorite WPER hosts every week for uplifting thoughts to keep your eyes focused on Christ and His promises.
Your Encouraging 5 Minute Podcast
Encouraging You When Your Children Leave the Nest - Thankfully, God Stays
Letting go of our children as they embark on their own journeys might be one of life's most bittersweet transitions.
Whether they're heading to college, moving into their first apartment, or joining the military, that moment of watching them step forward independently stirs a complex emotional mix of pride, grief, fear, and perhaps even a profound sense of loss.
Ache comes with change - especially the disorienting quiet that follows years of beautiful chaos.
Your feelings don't make you weak; they make you human. And it's in that very humanness where divine compassion meets us.
The transition you're experiencing isn't just an ending; it's making space for something new.
Isaiah 43:19's promise reminds us that God is "doing a new thing" and "making a way in the wilderness." The prayers you've whispered, the values you've instilled, and the faithful examples you've set haven't disappeared - they've become the foundation supporting your child as they build their independent life.
God walks before them in ways even your deepest parental love cannot.
This season may offer unexpected gifts amid the challenges - a chance for rediscovery, new rhythms, and fresh purpose. Your identity has never been limited to your parenting role, though that role has profoundly shaped you. Now, as the shape of your days changes, God invites you into new expressions of your calling and purpose.
If you're struggling with this transition, we'd love to continue walking alongside you. Share this podcast with other parents in similar seasons, and connect with us at WPER, Virginia's Home for Encouragement, for daily inspiration that meets you right where you are.
Glad you found us. This is it. You're encouraging five-minute podcast over the next few minutes going to encourage you, try to lift your day, inspire you in some way and if you need more encouragement by the end of the five-minute podcast or after, you can always listen to Virginia's Home for Encouragement WPER. If you're out of that Virginia area and you want to listen anytime, you can download the app. Just search WPER. If you're out of that Virginia area and you want to listen anytime, you can download the app. Just search WPER.
Speaker 2:So if you're in a season of transition, especially one that's either unfamiliar or just plain hard, you are not alone. So whether your kids are leaving for college, moving into their own place, headed to basic training or just stepping into a whole new chapter, we want you to know God sees you right where you are.
Speaker 1:And let them go out on their own. Hey, that's not easy.
Speaker 2:I'm in that stage of my life right now.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, wow, especially when the ones that we're letting go of are the people who are a part of you. It does. It makes it the ones we've prayed for, poured into, watch grow up.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so hard, and whether it's your first time sending a child off or the last one leaving the nest, this moment can really stir up a ton of emotions, like all of them right Pride, grief, fear, maybe even a sense of loss.
Speaker 1:No, and that's okay. I mean, you're allowed to feel the ache of this change, no matter what you're feeling.
Speaker 2:And what you're feeling doesn't make you weak, it makes you human, and it's that very humanness, where God meets us with his compassion and his love.
Speaker 1:You know, in the Bible, in Ecclesiastes, chapter three, verse one, it says there's a time for everything, a season for every activity under the heavens, and this particular season that you're in may feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar or even lonely, but it's just a season, not the end of the story.
Speaker 2:No, because transitions are God's way of making space for something new. Now, that does not mean that transitions are painless, but it does mean that it's all purposeful.
Speaker 1:And maybe you're wondering I know I have. Who am I now that my child doesn't need?
Speaker 2:me as much. Yes.
Speaker 1:Or how will relationships change? Or even, what do I do with all this?
Speaker 2:quiet, right? Well, god hears your questions, but he doesn't leave you all of this in the unknown. He doesn't leave you in the unknown.
Speaker 1:Let me go back to the Bible, in Isaiah 43, 19, where he says see, I'm doing a new thing, now it springs up, do you not sense it? Doing a new thing, now it springs up, do you not sense it? I'm making a way in the wilderness, in the quiet and streams in the wasteland Yep.
Speaker 2:That's his promise. Even in the hard, in the unfamiliar, in the silence, he is making a way. He's speaking into your wilderness, into your unknown.
Speaker 1:The transition may honestly be one of the most challenging seasons of your life, Not because you're doing something wrong, but because letting go of someone you love so deeply, that's hard oh.
Speaker 2:I can't. We're not there yet. I don't want to imagine. But here's one thing you can hold on to in all the hard that the same God who walked you through all of those sleepless newborn nights and all those science projects right, all the scrape knees, all the college applications, all the what's next, he is still with you now.
Speaker 1:And he is with your child in this transition too.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, the prayers you've whispered over them as they slept, those are the seeds of the faith that you've planted in small little everyday moments. Those things matter, and know that all of that goes with your children.
Speaker 1:Here's the best part God goes ahead of your children, no matter what next step that they are taking.
Speaker 2:It's okay to grieve this change. You know to walk past their empty room and feel that lump in your throat. But remember, look for God and his grace in this shift.
Speaker 1:You know, it could also be a time for rediscovery for you, a time to remember that you are still deeply loved, still called, still needed, even as the shape of the days begin to change.
Speaker 2:Let God use this season to breathe new life into you. It's not just a new adventure for your children. This is new, an adventure for you too New dreams, new rhythms, new joys.
Speaker 1:And in those quiet moments and yeah, they're very quiet we're trying to encourage you. In those quiet moments, you know, when the ache creeps in, lean into this truth God has not changed, never will. He's still faithful. He will carry you, just like he carries your children.
Speaker 2:Oh, man, that's a good thing to remember. Let me just pray a blessing over you right now. Lord, help this one to feel your presence in the stillness, fill their heart with your peace, guard their heart when fear knocks. Lord, help them to release their children into your mighty hands with confidence, knowing that your love is even greater than their love for their children. And, lord, please walk with them into this next chapter. Walk with them and give them grace. And Lord, please walk with them into this next chapter. Walk with them and give them grace, strength and hope. Help them to see that the best is not behind them. Help them to see that you have so much more for them, and it's in your precious name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing these minutes with us. Whatever this season looks like for you, hold on to the truth that God goes before you, walks beside you and carries you when you need it most.
Speaker 2:And also for your children, yes, and your children.
Speaker 1:His grace will meet us, you, your children, us, all of us, right where we are.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for letting us hang out with you for a few minutes. If you've gotten some encouragement from this today, thank you for listening. If you know somebody that could use a little encouragement in a big transition, send this to them. If you know somebody that could use a little encouragement in a big transition, send this to them. But if you'd like some more encouragement, like on a daily basis, tune in to WPER, virginia's Home for Encouragement and, if you'd like to, you can listen online at WPERorg and you can head there too to also safely download the WPER app.
