It is good to be here again.
I’m sorry I have been away from this space for a while. Life got full, and I needed to step back for a season. I do not have a long explanation, but I do want you to know this: I’m still here, and I’m grateful to be sharing with you again.
As I have reflected on the past several weeks, I keep returning to one word: seasons.
There are seasons when life feels full of energy, ideas and progress. There are also seasons when everything feels loud, stretched and unfinished. Some seasons are full of visible fruit. Others seem hidden, quiet or even unproductive.
But God has been reminding me that a quiet season is not a wasted season.
It is not a sign that He is disappointed in me. It is not proof that I am falling behind. And it certainly does not mean that He has stopped working in my family.
God is present in every season.
Not every season requires the same assignment
One of the most freeing things I have been learning is that every season carries its own assignment.
The assignment in one season may be to build. In another, it may be to rest. Sometimes God calls us to speak, lead and act. At other times, He invites us to listen, heal and be still.
This is true in parenting too.
We can easily assume that intentional parenting always means adding something else to our days. Another routine. Another activity. Another book. Another family devotion. Another parenting goal.
Of course, there are times when God gives us a new idea or asks us to start a new habit. But I am learning that faithful parenting is not always about doing more.
Sometimes the faithful thing is to do less.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us to simplify the family schedule, release an unnecessary expectation or focus on one child who needs our attention. Sometimes He reminds us that our children need our presence more than they need a perfect plan.
This is part of what it means to practise parenting with faith. We do not have to parent from pressure. We can listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit and trust Him to show us what matters most in this particular season.
God’s love for our children does not depend on our productivity
I am naturally drawn to plans and progress. I like to know what I am working towards. I like to feel that I have accomplished something by the end of the day.
But parenting can quickly challenge that way of thinking.
There are days when we prepare a meaningful family activity, and the children are not interested. There are days when we plan to pray together, but everyone is tired. There are days when we intend to have a calm conversation, yet someone becomes upset before we have even finished breakfast.
There are also seasons when we simply do not have the capacity to do everything we would like to do.
In those moments, God has been teaching me that His love for my children does not depend on my productivity.
He is not waiting for me to complete every parenting task before He cares for them. He is not measuring my faithfulness by the number of devotionals we finish or the number of prayers I manage to pray perfectly.
My children belong to Him before they belong to me.
That does not make my role unimportant. It makes it possible for me to carry it with grace.
I can be intentional without being anxious. I can guide my children without believing that everything depends on me. I can show up faithfully without trying to control every outcome.
Rest and hidden seasons can still be obedience
We often celebrate the visible things: the new project, the answered prayer, the milestone, the growth we can measure.
But some of God’s deepest work happens quietly.
A seed grows beneath the soil before anything can be seen. A child’s character is formed through hundreds of ordinary moments. Our own trust in God often develops slowly, through seasons when we are simply choosing to keep going.
Rest can be obedience when God is asking us to receive rather than produce.
A hidden season can be obedience when He is asking us to be faithful in places that no one else sees.
This has changed the way I think about Christian parenting. I no longer want to measure every season by how much we have achieved. I want to ask better questions:
- What is God teaching me about my children right now?
- What does my family truly need in this season?
- What might I need to release?
- What is one faithful step the Holy Spirit is inviting me to take?
Sometimes the answer is a new routine. Sometimes it is an apology. Sometimes it is a boundary. Sometimes it is a slower morning. Sometimes it is simply the grace to begin again.
The pressure to do it all is not from God
There is so much pressure on parents today.
We are told to create meaningful memories, raise emotionally healthy children, teach them the Bible, protect them from harmful influences, support their education, feed them well, keep the home organised and remain spiritually strong through it all.
The list can feel endless.
But the pressure to do everything, all the time, is not the voice of God.
God is not a harsh taskmaster standing over us with a list of everything we have missed. He is a loving Father who leads us with wisdom and kindness.
This does not mean that we ignore our responsibilities. It means that we stop allowing fear to direct them.
Intentional parenting is not about creating an impressive family life. It is about faithfully responding to what God is asking of us today.
Maybe today He is asking you to listen to your child instead of correcting them quickly.
Maybe He is asking you to rest instead of adding another task to your schedule.
Maybe He is asking you to return to prayer after a season of neglect.
Maybe He is asking you to seek help and stop pretending that you can carry everything alone.
Grace gives us room to obey without striving.
Return to the small, ordinary rhythms
When life has been loud, I have found it helpful to return to the small and ordinary rhythms of discipleship.
We do not have to restart with a complicated family programme. We can begin with what is already in front of us.
We can pray at bedtime.
We can share one verse at breakfast.
We can ask a meaningful question in the car.
We can thank God together when something good happens.
We can talk about forgiveness after an argument.
We can let our children hear us pray when we are worried.
We can open the Bible for a few minutes and allow one truth to guide the day.
These moments may not look impressive, but they matter. Faith is often formed in the spaces between school runs, meals, chores and conversations.
As I wrote in Faithfulness in the Small Things, our children are watching how we live. They notice whether prayer is only something we teach or also something we practise. They notice how we respond when we are tired. They see whether we make room for grace when someone gets it wrong.
This is how we begin raising children in the Lord: not through perfection, but through faithful, everyday examples.
One small faithful habit is enough for today
If you are currently in a full, loud or messy season, please hear this: you do not have to rebuild everything at once.
Choose one small habit.
It might be:
-
A two-minute prayer before bed
Ask each child for one thing they are thankful for and one thing they would like you to pray about. -
A verse for the week
Write one short verse on a piece of paper and place it somewhere everyone can see it. -
A question in the car
Ask, “Where did you see God’s kindness today?” or “Is there anything you would like us to pray about?” -
A weekly check-in
Spend ten quiet minutes with each child, without your phone, simply listening. -
A simple journal for yourself
Write down what you sense the Holy Spirit is highlighting about your child and your family. As I shared in The Role of the Holy Spirit in My Parenting Journey, ask, listen, write it down and obey one step at a time.
Do not despise the small beginning.
A short prayer prayed consistently can become a foundation. A verse repeated during a difficult week can become an anchor. A calm conversation can open a door that has been closed for a long time.
God is still working in your family
Coming back to this blog has reminded me that there is no perfect time to begin again.
We begin with the grace available today.
If you have been away from your routines, you can return gently. If family life has felt chaotic, you can start with one small rhythm. If you feel that you have not done enough, you can release that burden to God.
He is not finished with you.
He is not finished with your children.
He is not finished with your family.
The quiet season may have looked like a pause, but God was still present. He was teaching me that rest is not failure, hiddenness is not irrelevance and a slower pace is not always a lack of progress.
Every season has an assignment.
For this season, perhaps the assignment is simply to listen more closely, receive God’s grace and be faithful with what is already in your hands.
No season is wasted in His hands.
With love,
Oluwapelumi Boluwaji
Founder/Director, Intentional Godly Parenting