For the Child Who Walked Away

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

I know about the empty chair at the table, the phone that doesn't ring like it used to, the messages that go unanswered. You raised, taught, prayed, and wept on your knees for this child, and now you watch them walking far away, and your heart tightens every day with the same question: will they ever come back?

I know this pain up close — because I am a Father too, and I know what it's like to watch a child choose to walk away. But the seed you planted hasn't disappeared. It's still there, kept safe, even if buried under wrong choices or silence. I'm still working on their heart, even on the days you don't see a single sign of it.

Don't give up praying for their return. Keep loving from a distance, without forcing, without demanding. I know the way back better than any map you could draw, and I will not stop calling your child by name.