Cathleen made a profession of faith in
high school and was baptized, but her
life quickly started to veer away from
faith around the time she dropped out of
college. It was then that Cathleen traded
the pursuit of God to chase after the
pleasures of the world. She separated
herself from all appeals to God and
wisdom and got her own place to do what
she wanted. When she announced that
she was leaving the area with her live-in
boyfriend to return to his home city, the
news crushed Jim and Barb. It seemed as
though all their past parenting efforts had
failed them. Now all they could do was
trust the Lord for their daughter.
Somehow, with Cathleen far away, Jim
felt more helpless. He lay on his pillow
at night, not knowing where she was or
what she was doing. The story of the
prodigal son often came to mind as he
wrestled with the fact that the daughter
he had prayed for all her life was gone.
The prodigal who came to his senses and
repented while feeding the pigs helped
Jim keep his head above water and hold
18 • Solutions
fast to hope. He prayed that God would
grant the same repentance to Cathleen.
I had first met Cathleen when she served
on our children’s ministry drama team.
She was a talented actress and gave
herself to the gospel skits we performed
for the grade school kids. I lost regular
contact with her family after they were
sent out with a church plant. So I was
sad to later learn she had left home and
wasn’t following the Lord. It wasn’t until a
few years later when Cathleen returned to
share her testimony that I discovered the
details of her rescue.
Cathleen, like so many children who stray,
felt judged by the church. It was, in fact,
God’s law that judged her. So, to escape
the rules and the scrutiny she felt were
keeping her from being fulfilled and happy,
she left home. “I entered a season of
purposeful rebellion against the church,
my parents, and God himself,” she said of
those early days of her turning from God.
Distraught, Jim and Barb met with