“It takes a little time sometimes

To get your feet back on the ground

It takes a little time sometimes

To get the Titanic turned back around

It takes a little time sometimes

But baby, you’re not going down

It takes more than you’ve got right now

Give it, give it time”

(from “Takes a Little Time” on Behind the Eyes, © Amy Grant, 1997)

Time to Redeem

What if the situation with your children and grandchildren doesn’t make it as simple as praying and giving?

All of us have areas we tried and failed, or blew it badly, with our children and don’t know how to heal or rebuild that breach. This does affect relationships with (and access to) grandchildren.

It’s Not Too Late!

First, you need to hear that as long as you are alive on this earth, it is not too late.

“Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (NIV, Mark 10:27). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” (NIV, Hebrews 13:8).

Spiritual Solutions FIRST

Next, the solution comes first spiritually, and then you walk it out physically. Often, we try to solve a problem or breach in relationship physically first. This universally accepted method gets nowhere fast. You may not even remember when the breach happened, or the moment you blew it, but you recognize that there’s a problem in your relationship with your children, or in them, and you recognize you played a part, or that it’s connected to you.

Your Mighty Role

You actually have a mighty role to play in your children’s and grandchildren’s lives.

“Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord—with the first of them and with the last—I am he.” (NIV, Isaiah 41:4)

Heavenly Father placed you in your generation upstream of your children and grandchildren. What you release spiritually (and physically) directly affects them. The stream of inheritance flows downward, not upwards. No condemnation here! Father chose to place you upstream of the children and grandchildren He chose to entrust to you. All this is His kind intention and good will. This news is for grace. What you change now with the Lord, doing business with Him spiritually, at your prayer altar, directly affects your children and grandchildren.

Your Heavenly Father is merciful and kind to you, too, as He alone knows what you’ve had to deal with as you also have walked downstream.

The Grace of Giving it Prayer and Process

Many times along the way in this process and other rebuilding processes in my family, when I felt overwhelmed and that it may be too late, Holy Spirit played Amy Grant’s song in my heart:

“It takes a little time sometimes

To get the Titanic turned back around

It takes a little time sometimes

But baby, you’re not going down

It takes more than you’ve got right now

Give it, give it time”

Healing the Breach Starts with You –

and Heavenly Father!

It’s never too late with Heavenly Father! You are chosen by Heavenly Father to be upstream from your children and grandchildren, and no matter what it looks like or what has transpired, you have a mighty role to play. Your pressing in to do the “spiritual work” – such as: prayer, repentance, speaking blessing, breaking vows, disentangling from wrong alignments, righteous decrees, developing personal growth with Heavenly Father, etc. – is the catalyst that deals with the breach spiritually first. From there, come the good changes to the physical relationship.

. . .to be continued.

written by Crystal Wade, © 2025

image created by AI