I once had a fellow pastor’s wife ask me “How do we divorce proof our children?” (eg. that we can raise them so they will never need to experience such.)

I don’t think we can or should tell them our marriages are unbreakable. As long as two sinful humans are joined, they are indeed breakable. Obviously we need not have them fear every bump, ever tense moment etc, thinking “we’re next” and we need to emphasis the strength of our commitment to Godly covenant marriage, but even with that marriages can and do end even with two professing believers. Not all who profess are truly faithful, and some like the seed that gets strangled by the world, dies off.

We crucially need to teach them that Providence, is over ALL. Full stop. Be we walking through trials brought on by Sin or things we don’t prefer happen to us. God’s wisdom is perfect, his strength sure, his love constant, his aid, unwavering. Even IF our marriages fail, or our children die, or we die unexpectedly young, or from a dread disease, or a criminal violates our world or what have you. GOD is Lord of all.

There are ways to show them this that are not frightening, that do not fill their heads with worst case scenario’s. We show them this when we respond to a “scare” we have, or a worrisome doctors appointment, or the breakup of a dear relationship with others, or family tensions, or the death of a pet. We show them the worst thing we think can happen, can happen and we are still by God’s persevering us, able to say “This may be hard, it may hurt, it may not be fun, but God is still God, He is good, and I will trust him.