God's Love in Dark Seasons | Parenting by the Book Ep 1

Some parenting days feel more than hard, they feel spiritually exhausting. When the house is loud, patience is thin, and your child’s needs keep piling up, it is easy to wonder if God still sees you.

In this episode, Dr. Hokehe Eko, shares a powerful reminder from 1 John 4:7–19: God’s love does not depend on your performance. Your hardest parenting days do not reduce His love for you.

We discuss faith-based parenting for families navigating ADHD and autism, how to hold boundaries with love, and practical ways to reset when overwhelm sets in.

You will learn:

• Why God’s love remains steady in hard seasons
• How to parent with grace and boundaries
• Ways to reconnect through scripture, worship, and reflection
• A simple prayer practice for stressful moments

If this episode encourages you, share it with another parent and leave a review.

📖 Get the book here: https://amzn.to/4mi2o47

Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform and check out the video version on our YouTube channel!

CONNECT WITH ME!
If you want to schedule an ADHD/Autism appointment for your child, you may contact Glow Pediatrics:

• Phone: 405-871-5807
• Fax: 949-695-2681
•  info@glowpediatrics.com

🌐 Website: www.glowpediatrics.com
📱 Instagram: @drhokeheeko / @glowpediatrics
📧 dreko@glowpediatrics.com
👍 Facebook: Dr.HokeheEko / glowpediatrics 
💼 LinkedIn: hokeheeffiongmd 

Transcript

When Parenting Feels Invisible

SPEAKER_00 0:08

So there's a moment every parent reaches where we silently wonder if God still sees us, if God still hears us, if God sees what's happening in our families. And in today's video, we're gonna explore God's love in dark seasons. Welcome to Parenting by the Book. My name is Dr. Hoke Echo, uh, founder of Glow Pediatrics, and a mommy of three amazing kiddos. And I just had this on my heart, I've had it for a while, of just sharing with my fellow parents the journey I'm going through in my parenting, my three kids, and just working with families

Welcome And Why This Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:50

every day. Families, especially that have children diagnosed with ADHD and autism. And so I started, and this is episode one. Welcome. So we're gonna be going through what does God say about finding him in our dark seasons, especially as parents. Right, so it's important to note that God's love is definitely not performance-based. And I wanted to share scripture with you. It's 1 John chapter 4, from verses 7 to 19. That's a long passage, and I'm not gonna read all of it, but I'll read some parts of it. So verse 7 says, Dear friends, let us continue to love one another,

God’s Love Is Not Earned

SPEAKER_00 1:34

for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. And God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. Not that we loved God, but he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. I just wanted to highlight that. You see, not that we loved God, but he loved us. That could be said as of us as parents, right? It's not that our children loved us first, we love them, right? They came from us and we love them. And I just wanted to make this point, it's a really important point. God's love is not performance-based, it's not based on if you jump through the hoops depending on where you are or what um sects and all like what you believe about the Bible, right? God's love isn't does isn't predicated on if you read your Bible for an hour, if you pray for an hour, if you do the right things. You know, there are principles throughout the Bible that we're we are encouraged to follow, we are even commanded to follow, right? Love one another, treat each other the way you'd want to be treated, are some of some of the ones that come to mind. And it's interesting, I was having a conversation with my eight-year-old this morning and reminding her what God says. I was telling her, hmm, your teacher said you've been getting into little what the teacher called drama at school, like running around with little girls who are calling other kids' names sometimes. And I said, if these girls, you're you go, if you're playing with them and they start doing that, you might want to

Loving Kids Without Performance Pressure

SPEAKER_00 3:15

step away and go do something else. Because remember, and I said this, and I just taught her that yesterday, and I reminded her that God says we should treat each other the way we want to be treated. And so, if these little girls are calling other kids' names, guess what? It's you're going to be treated the same way. You definitely don't want to join in that. And so that also applies to us as parents, right? When we have the opportunity to look at our kids and to treat our kids the way we want to treat what want to be treated, or even bigger than that, not looking at our kids in a performance-based way and not loving them or providing for them based on their performance, right? But simply because there are children. But of course, with as with everything, there are boundaries that we have to put in place. But I just wanted to remind every parent listening that God's love is not performance-based. Yes, he says, Come on to me and I will answer you. He says, Bring your burdens, bring your yoke and take mine because it's light and it's easier, and he just wants us to know that he's our father and that he loves us, not based on our performance, right? And the other thing that stood out to me as well is that our difficulties that we go through doesn't define or reduce God's love for us. When we're when we feel dysregulated and we're raising our voices with our kids, which I've done, when things just seem to be overwhelming, when life

Grace For Messy Moments

SPEAKER_00 4:52

seems to be taking its left turn, right? Even though we think it should be going right, when things don't seem to be working out the way we we envisioned, or do, or when we have a diagnosis for our child that we weren't envisioning when we were carrying our precious babies, you know, all of those things can feel like heavy, heavy weights. And and I just want you to know, dear parents, as you're listening to this, that that does not reduce God's love. And he sees you right where you are, right in the mess of and the thick of things. He sees you. And so many times in my journey as a parent, I've had to run into my closet and just go in there and just say, Lord, please help me and ask for forgiveness for something I've done that I think um it doesn't seem right to the kids or even to me. And I've struggled sometimes with the whole raising the voice thing, and it's like, oh, I wish I could just talk to my kids without having to raise my voice. But you know, I'm a human being. And last time I checked, parenting doesn't come with a manual. So I'm here to remind you to give yourself grace and to just remind yourself that God loves you, God sees you, he's right there next to you as you go through this difficult period. And he says, whatever period you go through, he's gonna give you grace to go through it and to walk through it, right? And it's important to know what the truth is. So I want to encourage you. The verse I the verses I shared, 1 John 4, 7 to 19. Please read them, read them in multiple, read them in multiple translations. What I read to you was from the NLT translation. I like the message translation and the amplified version as well, because

Refocusing On God In Darkness

SPEAKER_00 6:45

it does just make us realize that God is all encompassing, He made, He created all things, right? In his own, He created us in His image, He created our kids in His image. He hasn't left us alone, even though lots of times we feel alone. And yes, there are seasons where I felt like I was completely by myself. And the truth of the matter is God was orchestrating things and working things out, even in the background when I couldn't see it, and when I was so focused on the thing, on the difficulties, which brings me to another point is when we lift our eyes up from the difficulties and we can turn back to the source, who is God, then it makes things work so much easier, and it feels easier. The physical environment may not change immediately, right? But what happens is our minds have turned back towards what his promises are. So things I found that help me when it's a really dark time, I'm not getting through to my kids. I feel dysregulated, our kids feel dysregulated, things are not going well, is to put on some music that just talks about his love for me or reminds me of who he is and all the amazing ways he cares for me, right? Or going outside and taking a walk, just nature reminds me like if God could make take make the birds take care of them and they're flying around and they and all of that, and they are they are fed and they're clothed and they uh they have they can go to warm environments when it's winter and all of that. There is no way God will not take care of us. So I want to um I have little homework for you, right? I want you to ask yourselves, where have I questioned God's presence? Or where have I thought to myself, God is not present? What lie have I believed about my worth as a parent? Because it's so easy for us to feel like failures, to feel like, oh my goodness, we're not good enough, we have lost

Reflection Homework And Simple Prayer

SPEAKER_00 8:56

it, and we're not taking good care of our kids, and nothing is further from the truth, right? There's so many verses in the Bible, and as we go along this um series, we're gonna talk about it where God says He's He will teach our kids, right? And it's about just you know, even when you can't pray and you feel like you have no way out, and you just just say God's name, just say Jesus over and over. And there are so many times in my life I've I've gotten to that place where that's all I'm saying. It's just the name of Jesus, just Jesus, Jesus, over and over, and that's enough, right? God sees you, God hears you, and I just want to encourage you to know that I'm praying for you and to know that God will restore your awareness of his love and ask God to strengthen you where you feel down and you feel like you're broken and you feel like you're not enough because you are you're made in God's image, and God loves you so much and made your child in his image and loves your child as well. And there's a verse that promises that God won't let us go through what we can't handle or what we can't bear, and he gives us grace to bear it, right? So be encouraged, parents. God's grace is sufficient for you, more than sufficient, and he will never leave you or forsake you. So, Lord, I pray for your children listening. I pray that you will bless them and you will surround them with your peace and your love and your joy, and that you help them to know that they are nothing without you. But in you, they have everything that they need. You are our source, so we have all we need. Lord, please just strengthen them in the weak places and help them to look to you as their source for love

Blessing Prayer And Final Encouragement

SPEAKER_00 10:47

and for everything and for wisdom to guide the angels and the gifts you've placed in our lives that we call children. I pray that you please just strengthen my brothers and sisters and help them to know that they can do all things through you who strengthen them. Amen. So I hope this blessed you and I and please share this with someone that needs to hear it. And until next time, be blessed and remember God loves you. Take care.