Show Us How to Be a Family

Dear fathers and mothers in Christ, I am grateful for the experience and wisdom given to you from God for raising godly families. As you know, many of us are just beginning to start our own families. How desperately we need your encouragement in this time.

Statistically speaking, homes with a married father and mother are becoming less common. Recent Pew research states that since 1968, there has been a fourfold increase in the number of unmarried parents in the United States. While this reality has affected all races and ethnicities, the prevalence of unmarried parents strikes particularly close to home for me as someone from a Hispanic background. Almost a quarter of Hispanic children are now being raised by single mothers. I was one of those children, raised by a hardworking single mother. For many of us, there was no such thing as a “normal” family upbringing. We didn’t get to see husbands who loved their wives as Jesus loves the church or wives who modeled the grace and holy submission described in Scripture ( Eph. 5:22–33 ). Now, we’re trying to lead our own homes, but it isn’t easy. It’s like entering a dark, furnished room for the first time. You inch about, but you can’t help but run into the couch or the coffee table. The ultimate hope is that we’ll learn the landscape of marriage and family before—to continue the metaphor—knocking over an expensive vase and doing serious damage. Your guidance is critical, and I’d like to share just a few ways I think you can provide it.

We need to be reminded that changing diapers today is a part of long-term discipleship lest we lose heart.