1. Lean on Your Church

This should be the easiest thing to do for many of us, but it can be the absolute hardest. Leaning on your church requires letting your church leaders and fellow church members know what’s going on in your life. It requires trusting and being vulnerable. 

But this is exactly what we are supposed to do. Being a Christian isn’t about faking it. It’s about believing in Jesus Christ, repenting of our sins, and following Him. 

To do this well, we must be authentic and real when it comes to loving each other. And Christians around us can’t possibly love us well if they have no idea what’s going on. 

So reach out to your church and let them know your family is having a struggle. Ask for prayer. Invite support. You might not know how to articulate what you need, but leaning on your church is something we are called to do. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ, our heavenly family, and this is their job. Don’t deprive them — or yourself — of it.

As the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. … If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12, 26).

2. Pray for and over Your Teen

Speaking of prayer, prayer isn’t the least you can do — it is the absolute best thing you can do. Even if you don’t know what to pray, lift up your teen to the Lord who knows all things, sees the whole picture, and has the almighty power to do something about it. 

Every day, multiple times a day, pray fervently and with faith. Pray with your teen, also. Let them know you see what they’re going through and you just want to pray with them. Ask if you can pray together. Ask them to lead the prayer if they will. Even if you just ask them to pray for leadership in a tough season in their lives, God knows the real request, the heart, behind all of this. God knows how to solve the problem. 

But we must go to God and ask. We must humble ourselves before God, give Him our requests and our burdens, and show him that He is sovereign in our lives.

Also, you can quite literally pray over your teen. Put your hands on them, on their head or on their shoulders, and invite God to work His power in their life.

As Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

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