When it came to honoring and obeying my parents, I remember thinking, surely that doesn't mean I have to obey everything they tell me to do. After all, I was in my late thirties and a grown adult. I wasn't sure how this teaching would unfold in my life. Nonetheless, I was ready to conquer this teaching and move on to the next one.

I love my parents, but we have had some pretty difficult times getting on the same page. I didn't like being told how to live my life. And they were notorious for giving me their opinion on everything. Still, I agreed I would honor and obey them.

It didn't take long for me to realize that I hadn't healed from the past. Listening to them tell me what to do brought feelings I wasn't ready to deal with to the surface. I realized quickly I wasn't capable of living out this teaching on my own.

I started spending more time with the Lord. I cried a lot about the past hurts I had experienced and how I wasn't sure I would ever get to a place of true forgiveness.

That's when I learned it wasn't about me. The big picture was and still is the same. If I wanted to get out of darkness, I had to implement this teaching. As I searched for a way to look at the situation, I skimmed through my life back to my childhood. I realized I was the cause of all my suffering over the years. All stemmed from my failure to honor and obey my parents. Something I should have done as a child but refused to do. I also learned I had the victim mentality and was living in the past. That they were only trying to keep me safe. My life choices had strained our relationship. Now, I was in my late thirties, trying to go back and undo the damage.

So, I switched things up. I told God I was going to honor and obey my parents to prove to Him I was serious and could do it. I knew I couldn't do it for myself, but I knew God was watching, and I took that teaching as a challenge accepted. After all, it was a lot easier to do something for God than to do it for me.

One by one, whenever my parents told me to do something, I did it. I didn't like it one bit, but I was determined to prove that I could be obedient to God's ways. I did everything they told me to do. I bought the car they said I should get, and I put the kind of gas my dad said to use. Whatever they suggested, I did it.

Then, something miraculous happened. Over time, they went from telling me what to do to saying how proud they were of me. They were impressed by how put together my life was. Never in all my years did I ever hear those words from them. Love and respect had been restored.

God taught me so much throughout that season. Not only did my family and I heal from past traumas, but the Lord's teachings also brought so many beautiful truths to the surface.

Breakthrough and restoration occur when we are obedient to God's ways. He can't fix a situation unless we are willing to do things His way.

I learned that my parents wanted to feel loved and respected. And that I wanted to feel seen and heard. We both got what we wanted, and today our relationship has healed in ways I never knew were possible.

I encourage you to give God's ways a chance. If you can't do it for yourself, do it for Him. After all, it's about the walk home and getting back into the light. You will never experience true healing until you surrender to the one who loves you.