One of our five kids has always had a positive outlook on life. Everyone loves her – she brings light to their lives. Lately, though, she’s been struggling with thoughts.

“What if I become a bad person?”

“I’m going to be in despair like the women I see on Oprah.”

“People are going to think I’m a hypocrite.”

Because she’s never had these kinds of struggles, we’ve been caught off guard. “Where did this come from?” we ask.

Turns out as we counsel with her on this rainy Saturday morning, it’s just the flood of garbage that has overwhelmed her from every side since leaving our home. Her sensitive spirit was pummeled by lies. I knew it intellectually before, but now I’m seeing what a battle it is to launch our kids into a murky, chaotic, evil, heart-rending world.

So many forces are warring against our kids’ souls! Their friends, video games, media, books, unfair circumstances. The list goes on and on. As we talk with our daughter, we’re aghast at the stuff that she’s up against.

Some parents say, “Let them find their own way.” I think that’s giving up. It’s craziness to leave what you prize most for an enemy to plunder. You have to fight! Passivity or distraction is not an option. A go-with-the-flow strategy plays right into your enemy’s hands. When I came back from a week on the road and saw the havoc she was wrestling with, I went on the offensive and have been in that mode ever since. More about that in a later blog.