When Sophia Huang went to check on her children before bedtime one night—as she always did—she found them doing something that surprised her.
“I found my eldest daughter leading my second son in prayer,” she says. Not only that, the mother of three discovered that this was not an isolated occurrence. “She had been leading him in prayer every night, and also encouraging him to lead as well.”
The discovery was a great encouragement for Sophia: it was a sign that the gospel of Christ was taking root in her children’s life. And, she knew, it was not a result of her own efforts to share the gospel with her children.
“Realistically, all I can do is to go down on my knees in prayer for my children,” she says. “I can only do so much; God is ultimately the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).”
Give Us This Day 22
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Passing on a Spiritual Legacy
A firm believer in the common adage that “God has no grandchildren”, Sophia is determined to ensure that her children should make the Christian faith their own and not “their parents’ God”.
This is why, she says, “Jesus should be the very first name whispered to a child.”
“Taylor Swift, Superman—none of them compares to Jesus, the Saviour of the world. That’s the person whose presence I want my children to be in.”
Children, she believes, are never too young to receive the Word of God. And parents are responsible for facilitating their children’s exposure to and encounters with God. Just as a parent might whisper endearingly to a newborn baby to familiarise him with her voice, Sophia believes that Jesus’ name should be whispered to children from the very start.
“If I were good friends with Taylor Swift, a successful and famous celebrity, wouldn’t I want my children to meet and know them as I have?” she says jokingly. “Taylor Swift, Superman—none of them compares to Jesus, the Saviour of the world. That’s the person whose presence I want my children to be in.”
Being Faithful with Family Devotions
It is because of this fervent belief, that no matter how busy her family is, the one activity that Sophia tries to maintain is family devotion time. From singing songs to short Bible readings, she and her husband try (though they often fail) to make sure the family gathers around weekly to spend time together in worship—and to hear more about the gospel, the good news of Christ.
However, she also takes pains to try to make it more enjoyable for everyone.
“I learnt from a young age that worship could be fun,” she said. “My parents used to modify song lyrics that would make me giggle. Worship was never too serious and rigid, and we could be silly and fun before God.” As she points out, if King David could dance with all his might before the Lord (2 Samuel 6:14–22), why can’t we?
At the same time, Sophia remains realistic about the challenges of capturing—and retaining—the attention of young children for an extended period of time. Despite her and her husband’s efforts to uphold the habit of family devotion, they are always struggling for consistency. There are many days when their work and home duties wear out both father and mother—as well as the rowdiness of three energetic children.
But, she also adds, any amount of time spent in family worship is valuable.
“Worship was never too serious and rigid, and we could be silly and fun before God.”
Sophia has seen the fruits of this approach to devotion. Her youngest son often pesters her for more family worship sessions. “He’s the family’s worship leader,” she says with a laugh. “He’s always asking for more.”
Helping Others Share the Gospel
Sophia’s passion for sharing the gospel with her children has spurred her to inspire other families to do the same. God is preparing the next generation to be His ambassadors to reach out to the lost, she says, so parents play a pivotal role in raising their children to be fervent followers—and hopefully, future proclaimers—of the faith.
Yet, she knows Christian parents can find it challenging to share the gospel with their own children. Feelings of inadequacy, struggling to retain children’s attention, struggling for consistency—Sophia has personal experience of all these.
So, the established author of several picture books for children, including the children’s picture books Nature Playtime and Let’s Upcycle series, has drawn from her experience—and knack for telling a good story—to write, in partnership with Our Daily Bread Ministries, a series of gospel picture books to pique the interests of young readers.
The first book in the series, Zoey and Robey’s Big Fix, tells the story of a little robot who gets into trouble when he decides to go his own way instead of living as he was made to. This leaves a big challenge for his friend, Zoey, and her father, Robey’s maker, and raises questions like: What can they do to fix him? Will a sacrifice be needed?
“I tried to make this story about artificial intelligence to keep up with the times,” Sophia explains. “It’s basically a creative analogy for the gospel story and how God saves us from our sins.” She hopes that the story will lead readers and their families to read the Bible and talk about the good news of Jesus.
God Will Help Us Tell Our Kids about His Son
Sophia is all too well aware that the task of sharing the gospel with children and raising them in the ways of God is daunting. Often, she questions her ability to do it well.
“Sometimes I wonder if I am even fit to teach my children about God,” she says. “I have my imperfections. I lose my temper now and again, and juggling the demands of three children with their unique needs and temperaments takes a toll.”
In such times of doubt, Sophia turns to Jesus’ words. John 3:6—“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit”—for example, reassures her that, in the end, it’s the Holy Spirit who will transform her children’s lives. She is encouraged by the truth that parents do not need to be perfect or have the answers all the time; rather, all they need to do is follow and trust God like a child, and partner Him in transforming their children’s lives.
“There’s no way we can live an authentic life for Christ unless we as parents sit at His feet, spend time in the Word and prayer, and learn what it means to be a child of God and be dependent on Him.”
At the same time, she takes heart in the truth that God is also parenting her.
“Every day is a lesson. I am constantly unlearning old habits and relearning how to be a child of God,” she says. “Observing my children and their approach to the faith reminds me to grow in childlikeness. After all, the kingdom of God belongs to children (Luke 18:15–17). I am learning daily to rest in my identity as a child of God, to trust and be in a relationship with Him. Everything else flows from that relationship.”
She adds: “There’s no way we can live an authentic life for Christ unless we as parents sit at His feet, spend time in the Word and prayer, and learn what it means to be a child of God and be dependent on Him. Unless we ourselves receive love, mercy, forgiveness, salvation and grace from the Father, we cannot be His channels and messengers of His gospel.”
Equally important, she says, is living out the Word of God, as “the face and hands of Jesus to our children”. Children, she notes, don’t just do what parents say, but also do what their parents do, so parents need to set a good example. “This, to me, means showing them grace even as we discipline them and reflecting the sacrificial love and character of Christ,” she shares.
She is quick to add, however, that all this is something “we cannot do on our own strength”. Encouraging fellow parents to persevere in their responsibilities and to lean on God for strength, she says: “God, our loving Father, longs to meet with us and is calling us to himself. It is from Him that we can draw strength, love and empowerment, and provision for our every need.”
Find out more about Zoey and Robey’s Big Fix here.
