Beyond Childhood: How to Raise Kids Who Keep Their Faith ( Featuring Dr Sharon Ohara)Air Date: Jul. 01, 2025

Beth Barlet (00:01)
As a Christian mom, our greatest desire is that our children grow up to follow Jesus. However, research shows that up to 75 % of young people leave their faith behind after leaving home. So how can parents help ensure their children stay connected to God long after they’ve gone? Well, today, we’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Sharon O’Hara, an expert in family ministry who will share practical insights on nurturing faith that endures.

So stay tuned, it’s a conversation every parent does not want to miss. Salty begins right now.

Beth Barlet (01:03)
Welcome to Salted, where I help you uncover the transformative power to know and love Jesus in His fullness and stir up revival within your heart. Join me, Beth Barlett, as I come alongside you every week on the narrow path that draws us into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Get ready to be encouraged, empowered, ignited and equipped as we pursue authentic discipleship to influence the world for the Kingdom of God.

Beth Barlet (01:35)
Hey family, hope everyone is having an amazing week this week. I cannot believe that it is already June and that it is summertime. Half the year is over already. We’re already into the teens of our episodes and I have such a treat for you guys today, especially my listeners who are future moms, current moms, or grandmoms.

because this episode is all about stewarding the eternal destiny of our children. And I know as a mom that one of the main prayers that I pray every day is for the Lord to just pursue my children’s hearts, that they would know him and love him and serve him and follow him all the days of their life. And I know moms that you guys are just working so hard,

talking about Jesus, reading the Bible, praying, praying, praying, praying for your children, and that it’s not easy, that it is a hard thing that we have to be diligent with. And to be honest, it’s a war out there. Satan is looking for whoever he can devour to steal, kill, and destroy, and that does not exclude our children. And so I wanted to bring a special guest.

on the podcast today, Dr. Sharon O’Hara. Hi, Sharon.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (03:04)
Hey, thank you for having me on your show.

Beth Barlet (03:08)
Sharon is amazing. She is such an expert on this topic. I want to give you a little bit of bio about who she is and then we can really dive into our topic today. But Dr. Sharon is an award-winning Christian podcaster, speaker, and former police detective who’s passionate about helping the next generation know why they believe and keep on believing. Her award-winning podcast, Be The 25, encourages

equips teens and young adults in their faith journey. Her mission is to empower them to embrace the faith and engage the culture. She holds a master’s in religion from Liberty University and a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University and has taught for both universities. She is a lover of adventure. She has hiked the entire 2200 mile Appalachian Trail, what? Representing Jesus.

and chronicled her journey in a blog that has reached over 320,000 readers worldwide. So wow, Sharon, what an honor to have you here today.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (04:17)
Great to be here. Great to be here. Let’s go.

Beth Barlet (04:20)
So you guys, one of the main things I want to talk about is that believe it or not, studies have proven that after our children leave our household, that only 25 % stay on the narrow road that leads to life. That that is a crazy statistic that 75 % of children after they leave the home are falling away to the wayside and succumbing to Satan and the ways of this world. And so,

I really am concerned because, you know, I’m a mom and all I want is my children to love Jesus and prepare them and teach them and train them as the Bible says. But I’m sure there are many things that we need to remember and really focus on to increase our odds that our children are marked for eternity. Now I know that God is sovereign and that he is in control of all things. However, we must be equipped and prepared so that we know what we can do

to help better steward our children toward eternity. So Sharon, I want you to talk about your passion behind your ministry and why this is the case with that 75 % leaving the faith and as moms, what can we do to help prevent that?

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (05:37)
Well, you know, it all started where, I teach apologetics, came really from my own journey where I was having some doubts on why I believed what I believed. And that resulted in me investigating the claims of Christianity, finding out that the claims are true. And then I realized that from a Barna research study, 75 % of Christian teens who are active in local church youth groups,

are walking away from the church when they graduate high school. And there have been four other studies, Lifeway has been one of them, that are showing anywhere, basically the stats are all basically the same. They’re anywhere from 60 to 88 % of these kids are walking away from the church and many are walking away from the faith. And I just couldn’t sit idly aside and do nothing about it. I was teaching apologetics to seniors in high school. I was doing,

seminars for parents on how to help your kids hold on to your faith, but I realized I can do more and that was to start a podcast. So I started Be the 25 and it of course is a call to be the 25 % who walk on with Jesus on their faith journeys. And I basically do three things on the podcast. I do short teachings like on what do you do if you have a doubt?

or how do you find a church community to belong to? I also do peer related interviews. had a young man on there who the social media was really affecting his faith, things that he was seeing on the internet. So we talked about how we process through that and how he became a strong believer. And of course, not believing everything that you see and read on the internet. I had a girl who walked away from the faith.

Beth Barlet (07:22)
work.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (07:26)
and came back to the faith. had another one on bullying and a young girl that in my church actually, who tried attempted suicide and how she processed that through. That’s been our number one episode so far. So I do these,

I do these teachings, I do these interviews, and I also do Q and A’s. So I have a Dr. Sharon button on my webpage, kids can send in their questions, or if I go speak to youth groups, I hand out index cards, and basically I get their questions, and I answer many of them on the podcast.

As you mentioned, we just won the SAIL Award, which is excellence for In Christian Publishing. We just won that just, what, a week, 10 days ago. And so we’re making a difference with the website, beethetwentyfive.com, as well as Be The 25 podcast.

Beth Barlet (08:04)
Congrats.

Wonderful. guys, actually will in my show notes have all the links to Dr. Sharon’s podcast page, her web page, ⁓ all the links to the resources that she has for anyone who is interested in diving deeper into what she has to offer because she is amazing. She is a wealth of knowledge and encouragement and edification. It can also be used for anyone who you know has a prodigal son or daughter and how to kind of bring them back over or just

things

you can use to equip yourself better as you’re raising your children to walk in line and in the ways of the Lord. So Sharon, tell me why 75 % of these teens after they leave home are leaving the church and walking away from their faith.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (09:13)
Well, I’m going to give you six reasons. The number one reason is intellectual skepticism, which is basically doubting. These kids have questions. And it’s a little bit different from when we grew up because they have an earlier exposure to other worldviews, not like any other generation before them. The millennials, the Gen Zers, these Gen Alphas, they’re the first ones who have immediate

access to information and other worldviews like never before. And so now they’re getting early exposure to these worldviews. And because there’s so much information on social media and on the internet, and because there’s a lot of misinformation, we can understand why they may question what to believe and who to believe.

Beth Barlet (09:47)
Mm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (10:06)
And so it was causing some conflicting information and confusion in their own minds. I think it was Lifeway that said that the biggest factor in whether they decide, will I stay or will I go, is whether they have a safe haven to express their doubts and their concerns before they leave home. And the number one place where they get

that safe haven is the home. The second place is the church youth group. And now the third place is the Be the 25, Ask Dr. Sharon button. These are all safe havens. And that’s why I put the button on the website because some kids are maybe Christians, but their parents aren’t, right? Some parents maybe are.

Beth Barlet (10:38)
Hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (10:55)
or, yeah, yeah, another time, the kid comes up, asks them a question, like, you you just gotta believe, or you just gotta have more faith, or they just are dismissive with their question. And sometimes kids don’t feel comfortable in their youth group sharing their questions, or they’re embarrassed about it, so this is a way for them to share their question with me, and where I can address it and get their questions answered. So those are usually…

the three groups, three safe havens where kids can go. The second reason why they’re walking away are just negative church experiences. They don’t fit into the youth group. Maybe they were hurt by somebody at the church. Maybe the leadership at the church they attend is toxic. Maybe mom and dad aren’t taking them consistently, which is a big problem I’m seeing.

Beth Barlet (11:29)
short.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (11:45)
you know, well, we’ll just watch it online. Well, it’s kind of, kind of hard to have church community when you’re online. or shallow or irrelevant teaching in the youth group itself. They’re being entertained instead of being trained. You know, these kids, they’ll come back from, and I’m not knocking the loud music or the lights or, or any of that. But when they come out of youth group and they’re saying, wow, wasn’t the music great instead of

isn’t the Lord great? There’s a big difference between the two and they get caught in the sensory feelings and experiences instead of their relationship with the Lord. Recently, I have a good friend of mine, she’s a grandmother. She brought her son up in the church. He doesn’t attend church. So now she has this grandchild. So her and her husband are taking

Beth Barlet (12:16)
you ⁓

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (12:40)
this child to church. They went to, you know, vacation Bible school. And she was saying, the little girl was saying it was so much fun. Well, at elementary age, you can kind of expect that, right? And even with youth camp, you can kind of expect them, it was a lot of fun. But what we want to probe is what did they learn in, in that youth session? What did they learn at that youth camp or vacation Bible school and focus it, bring the focus back on Jesus where it’s supposed to be.

Beth Barlet (12:45)
Hmm.

Right.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (13:10)
So, you know, the negative church experiences are real out there. I know of a couple of kids who just left, their kids pulled them out, the whole family left the church in search of new youth groups to get their kids plugged in because they don’t want them to be one of the statistics. Now, the third reason is hypocrisy. They’re…

you know, with people in the church, saying one thing and they’re doing another. And that causes a lot of disillusionment in their minds. And it’s for everyone, right? Adults too, right? We see a hypocrite, we’re like, it can kind of shake our faith a little bit. A fourth reason is parents are, and this is becoming more, a greater problem we’re seeing. Parents aren’t truly living out their faith at home.

Beth Barlet (13:44)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (13:58)
So I’m not saying that they’re being hypocrites, like they’re portraying one thing at church and they’re doing the exact opposite at home, but they’re not living their faith at home. There’s a disconnect between what they say they believe and what their behavior is. And the stats show kids are far more likely to walk away from the faith when it isn’t genuinely modeled at home. Now,

My dad, when I was growing up, he didn’t go to church with us for the longest time. He did later convert and become a believer, thank the Lord, right? But mom would drag us to church. And by dragging, don’t mean in the sense of we were forced to go. I mean in the sense of she had five children, one of which was special needs with cerebral palsy. She would drag us to church, bring us to church, because she saw the importance of it.

Beth Barlet (14:33)
Praise God.

and

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (14:54)
right? When we got home in the morning, I would see my mom reading her Bible. When we became teenagers, we know when mom came down in the morning to have breakfast, she would grab her cup of coffee and she would be going up back up the stairs and we would see that door closed. And what was she doing? She was having her morning devotions with the Lord privately.

Beth Barlet (14:54)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (15:17)
And she did this every day. I can’t remember a day when my mom didn’t do that. And it impacted us. You we went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Mom knew it was important. Even when she was dead tired, she was bringing us to church. So when I left home, it was instinct almost that I need to find a church to belong to while I’m at college.

And once I graduated college, was like, was the thing because it was modeled to me, right? So the prayers before meals, all these things had a profound impact on my life. And a lot of it was because of the example of my parents. So it’s so important to connect your beliefs with your behaviors, because there’s 1%, less than, I think it’s 1 % of adults have a biblical worldview.

Beth Barlet (15:43)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (16:11)
Now, what is that saying if we live in a country where it’s supposed to be allegedly majority of Christians, which that’s debatable. Let’s not get into that. But parents have to live out their faith at home. Another one is a lack of authentic relationships. More are likely to drift if they haven’t built meaningful relationships, especially intergenerational relationships. research shows that young people with at least

One adult mentor in the church are far more likely to stay connected to the church. I would vacation for 17 years at a condo at Cocoa Beach for the summer. And there were a few other families that would do the same. And I built relationships with these kids. I’m known at my church as Miss Sharon. I attend a mega church.

Beth Barlet (16:47)
Hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (17:07)
Everybody knows me as Ms. even after I got my doctorate, right? So, and these kids, over the years, if they feel like they can’t talk to their parent about an issue, I’ll get a phone call or I’ll be sitting on a surfboard in the Atlantic Ocean with one of these kids at Cocoa Beach and one will just say, Ms. Sharon, how do we really know there’s a heaven? Well, that’s…

Beth Barlet (17:19)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (17:32)
That’s my opportunity to pour into them, right? Kids gotta have good, godly role models other than their parents for them to go to. I can’t tell you the phone calls I get sometimes from the kids. They don’t wanna talk to their parents about something. Now, I never go against what the parents say. You if they say, well, you gotta do this. I never go against the parents. I’ll say, you know what? We need to pray about this. I mean, even simple things like, I want a puppy, but my parents don’t want me to have one. And I say, well,

Beth Barlet (17:35)
Mm-hmm. ⁓

Right.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (18:01)
Why don’t we pray about it? And we pray about it. And then mom comes along and starting to want a puppy. And so the kid calls me back or sees me at church and says, mom wants a puppy, but dad still doesn’t want one. Let’s pray. Let’s pray about it. And guess what? Dad came around and guess what? They have a puppy, right? But just something simple like that, where we can tell them, you know, even call going to college, my dad, know,

Beth Barlet (18:14)
Hi. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (18:29)
They don’t want me to go away to college. They want me to stay home. Well, who’s paying for it? Who’s paying for it? Dad. Dad’s paying for it. Well, but you know what? It’s the Lord’s will. Let’s pray, see what the Lord’s will is. And some of these kids have had to stay at home and it worked out fine. Others of them went on, God worked on the dad’s heart, worked on his heart, and he allowed them to have the experience at a Christian college or whatever away from home.

So it’s always pointing them to Jesus, never going against what the parents say, but I’ll say, let’s see what the Lord’s will is. So those intergenerational relationships with these kids is so important. And then the last thing is the faith to that child, to that teenager, it never was personal in the sense of they just piggybacked on their parents’ faith. And when I was going through my

Beth Barlet (19:22)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (19:25)
My time, now I went to a Christian college, I went to Southeastern University, I went to Liberty University for my masters. I got my doctorate at Regent. Those are three top Christian universities in the country, right? After I got all those degrees, that’s when I started asking myself, well, wait a minute, how do I know I have it right with Christianity? I mean, I had a relationship with the Lord, but I’m like…

because the Mormons think they have it right. The Jehovah’s Witnesses think they have it. Even the atheists think they have it. How do I know I have it right? And it bothered me. And here I had all this education, all this Christian background, and I realized I knew what I believed. I just didn’t know why I believed it. I didn’t know why I, Dr. Sharon O’Hara, believed that Jesus really rose from the dead. I just was told it was true, and I believed it. And so,

Beth Barlet (20:00)
and

Please.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (20:19)
For me, going through that journey of really searching out the truths of Christianity, it strengthened my faith. for other kids, they haven’t gone through that investigative process and they’re just out there trying to figure things out on their own. That’s why they’re leaving. And they’re trying to find other things instead of really just seeing if Christianity truly is true.

So those are the six reasons.

Beth Barlet (20:47)
Yeah, and it’s so important too that they don’t just know about God but that they have experienced and had that one-on-one relationship with or encounter with his love and his presence and like you said like I think it’s all about modeling and Nothing crazy. I know it can sound as some moms overwhelming with the modeling well I need to do this I need to do Bible study today with them and I needed you teaching them the Ten Commandments and I need to pray for this and I feel like you know, it can get overwhelming but something that

The Lord brought me to was a book that was all about just planting seeds of faith even from the time that they’re young

you know, planting seeds about who God is, who we are in relation to him, how much he loves us, but also doing small little things like you said, like making sure that you’re reading God’s word together and making sure you’re always going to the Lord. What does God have to say about this in prayer or doing worship parties, something as simple as just, you know, worshiping and dancing around the house, worshiping and praising who God is. Like from the time that they’re small, obviously it’s different when they’re getting older as they’re getting into more apologetics and

of the questions that need to be answered. But I think it’s just little things and being diligent day after day, completely dependent, leaning on the Lord to lead us as moms the best way we know how in order to keep our kids where you’re saying. Because it’s overwhelming and intimidating, wouldn’t you say?

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (22:17)
Yeah, you know, I think parents, you know, and I hear this all the time, especially ones that have whose children have have walked away completely walked away or just wandering out there as prodigals. You know, they’re looking back on what they could have done differently. I had a parent just recently that I talked to Beth and I looked at her and I said, you and your husband did everything right. You’re not

perfect. Nobody is only Jesus is perfect. But you did all the right things and you let a good example and your child is just out there wandering and just trying to figure out life on its own on on his own. But I think parents can have guilt with the with these ones that have walked away or wandering because they

Beth Barlet (22:48)
Right.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (23:10)
You know, no parent is perfect, but if we train them up in the way they should go, they know what you stand for, right? They know what Christianity is about. It’s just a matter of modeling, which I know you do with your children. These kids have their own mind. Everybody has to make their own individual decision about who Jesus is and who Jesus means to them.

Beth Barlet (23:18)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (23:38)
for some of these kids, they’re piggybacking on their parents’ faith, and then they realize they really haven’t chosen Jesus at all. They were just choosing their parents’ faith. parents, parents, think, two degrees, right? Some aren’t living the life at home. Some aren’t being consistent in taking their, they’re dropping the ball and not taking their kids to church or they’re saying, we’re to watch online. You know, it’s okay if you’re on vacation. That’s okay if it’s COVID, right? But

Beth Barlet (23:47)
All right.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (24:08)
It’s not about going to church, it’s about being a part of a church community. That’s why the church is there, right? And then the other part is they’re not doing these things and then you have parents that are doing these things and yet their kids are walking away. so what’s the issue? It could be the kid’s heart.

Beth Barlet (24:15)
Right, right.

Right. Right. And honestly, the only thing we can do about a child’s heart is pray, right? Because we can’t control them. And no matter how much we feel, I know myself, I have to step back trying to control all the time and surrender my children to the Lord, you know, that he would pursue their hearts, that he would soften them to receive him, that he would open their eyes so that they would know that he is the Lord and our savior, that he would constantly do what he needs to do in their heart.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (24:35)
Yes, yes, absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

Beth Barlet (25:00)
I think we can teach and train our children and steward them toward eternity, but ultimately, like you said, they’re their own person and it’s praying to the Lord to draw him to himself. It’s releasing that control and trusting his goodness and trusting his faithfulness and that he loves our children way more than we could even imagine or think, more than we could ever. And it’s hard. It’s hard.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (25:12)
That’s right.

Yeah.

Beth Barlet (25:29)
But Sharon, tell us then what are some things that we can do as parents additionally to really keep them in line as the 25?

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (25:38)
Well, here’s one thing. I would treat doubt as a normal part of the faith journey. We need to let them know that doubts and the specific things that people doubt about are normal and just part of the journey. A lot of times people will throw out, well, you just got to believe, right? We’ll hear that. Or you just got to have more faith. No, no, no.

Christianity is an evidence-based faith. We have very good reasons for believing that Christianity is true. And when these kids, the majority of these kids leaving are leaving because they have intellectual doubts. How do I really know the Bible’s really reliable? How do I know it was written correctly and preserved all these thousands of years? How do I know Jesus really rose from the dead?

How do I know the biblical stories in the Bible are actually historically true and not myths? And there are answers to these questions. It’s just a matter of finding the answers. You know, I tell parents, share with them a time when you had a doubt and how you processed through that doubt. And don’t just, like I said before, dismiss the doubt, but…

address it and just treat it as part of the normal, hey, we all have doubts. The majority of people, even in other religions, have doubts about what they believe. And so that’s the first thing. The second thing is, to create an environment within the home where questions are welcomed. Remember, these kids need a safe haven to ask their questions.

I remember mom would read us Bible stories with a little book called Little Visits with God. And we would sit on the bed as elementary kids, me and my sister and brothers. And after we did the devotional, we would ask mom questions. Now, of course, she didn’t know the answers to all the questions we asked, but she went and found out those answers. Or, you know, she…

gave us a source or whatever to read regarding it, of course, as we got older. But we have to treat or create an environment in the home where they are welcome to ask anything. know, Christianity, as I mentioned, is an evidence-based faith. have good reasons for believing that it’s true. We have archaeology, we have astronomy, we have eyewitness testimony, we have fulfilled prophecy.

geography, history, literary criticism, logic and reason, personal experience, and even science. I mean, these are all tools to use to combat those doubts and the questions that these kids have. And don’t teach them just what to believe. Teach them why to believe it. We need to teach them the why behind it. Teach them to think.

Beth Barlet (28:32)
Hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (28:36)
Biblically, what does the Bible say about sexual identity? What does the Bible say about injustice? We go to the Bible first to look these questions up and encourage questions. I used to be a DARE officer when I was a police officer and that that stood for drug abuse resistance education. And what we did was we placed a box in each classroom when we went in and taught fifth graders,

Beth Barlet (28:48)
Amen.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (29:04)
and they can put in a question. And then when I would come in to teach the lesson as a police officer, would, here’s a question about a particular drug. It could be a question about anything. But I would encourage parents, especially elementary, middle school, have a box in your kitchen with a slit in it where they can, and you can, both of you, parents and children,

Put your questions about God, about faith related issues in this box. And then once a week at a family dinner or whatever, open up the box and just take one or two of those questions and discuss it as a family. What is this doing? It’s creating an atmosphere where you are encouraging questions and that they’re not afraid to come to you with their questions. One of the best places to look for some of these answers is God.

questions.org. And you may want to put that in the show notes. Got questions? Yeah, it’s a trusted Bible based resource that they can go to. And another suggestion would be regarding questions is talk about the hard topics before the world does, right? So these kids are on their devices, hours at a time. So are parents.

Beth Barlet (30:03)
That is the best website. Yeah, that’s great. Love that.

Mm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (30:24)
but hours at a time, they’re getting all these worldviews hitting them. You know, revealing of the Newsboys and one of the lead singer who just, I’m about to do an episode on that. He had some allegations of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and sexual assault. This is when you wanna bring that up into your child’s life.

Beth Barlet (30:25)
Yeah.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (30:46)
even some of the things that are going on in our country right now and bringing things to their attention, giving them the biblical worldview. But again, it’s hard when parents don’t have a biblical worldview because only 1 % does. So.

Beth Barlet (30:58)
And did

you know that only 37 % of pastors have a biblical worldview? Yeah, it’s scary. Very scary.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (31:03)
I would believe that. That’s pretty sad and very scary. ⁓

The third thing I want to say is to be a good, godly example. Most of us are familiar with Proverbs 22, 6, which says, train up a child in a way he should go, and in the end, he will not depart from it. But here’s the question I would like to pose to your listeners. How can you train your child up

in the way he or she should go if you don’t train yourself up in the way you should go? Are you going to church consistently? Are you reading your Bible daily? Are you praying? Are you serving others in the church? Are you part of a church community? Are you training yourself up in the way you should go? Because how can you train your child up if you are not trained up?

And so that’s a challenge I like to bring to your listeners. Another thing is, number four is this, get them to a positive church experience. A new church where they feel seen, where they are heard, where they are spiritually challenged. I mentioned two young people, their families are concerned. They weren’t fitting in with this particular youth group.

So they, both families left our church. They have been there for decades, two, three decades. I know them since the singles group, right? They have teenage kids, two separate families. They just weren’t fitting in. And they tried to address it. They tried different things. They had people over their house, just wasn’t clicking. So what do they do? They uprooted their entire family. They’re both going to different churches where

Beth Barlet (32:32)
Wow.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (32:51)
their child feels more accepted, more invited into, know, some of these church youth groups have cliques, you know, if they are not plugged in, it’s a problem. So get them to have positive church experiences. Number five is encourage intergenerational relationships. Teens need more than their peers. They need more than their parents. They need older Christians.

who are on the faith journey just up ahead of them on the path who can encourage them, who will pray with them, who will invest in them and walk the faith journey with them. Because like I said, sometimes they won’t go to their parent, they’re scared or whatever, but there is someone who they can trust. The girl who just came on my podcast to share her story, she was bullied in high school, she got involved in self-harm.

Beth Barlet (33:29)
them.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (33:47)
She also attempted suicide. She wanted to share her story. She decided, I asked her, I heard about her story. Her parents kept the whole thing under wraps at church. The church people didn’t even know that this had happened, including myself. When her mom kind of relayed something to me about it, I got with this young adult. We went and had, I think it was breakfast, and, or actually she came over to my house.

And we talked about what had happened, what her journey has been. And she felt it was time to share her story. It was time to go public with it. And she trusted me because of the years of relationship we had built over the years. And so she came on my podcast and shared her story. And so it’s building these kids need other relationships other than their parents. And then the last one is this, and you alluded to it.

It’s praying for these kids. The effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much the scripture tells us. We have to pray that God places a hedge of protection on our children, on these children. We have to pray that Satan would not blind them. We need to pray that God would send them Christians in their sphere of influence, that that can be friends, that can befriend them, whether it’s at school, whether it’s at work, whether it’s at church.

We need to be praying that Satan would not blind their eyes, that they wouldn’t get caught in sins that are besetting to them. We need to be praying that God keeps their hearts tender and soft toward him so that they respond to the Lord and have a personal, a strong personal relationship with them. We need to pray that they would have a desire in their hearts

to read scripture even if they can’t understand everything. Man, I’ve got a doctorate. I don’t understand everything I read. But I’ll tell you, that doesn’t excuse me from not reading the Bible. I still read, I still seek to understand it. And we just need to pray these things over these children and these teenagers and young adults. These young adults, they’re so faced. They’re now trying to earn their independence.

and they’re faced, know, right now, you know, they’re in church, their faith is associated with familiar faces and places. But once they leave home, they’re gonna be hitting other worldviews, other than even what they’re seeing online, that are going to question their and mock their Christian beliefs. The best thing parents can do is prepare those kids for that, that they are gonna be challenged. And those are the six things I’d…

Beth Barlet (36:23)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (36:37)
Highly recommend for parents to do.

Beth Barlet (36:39)
Amen. think they are all very, very powerful. And I’m so thankful that you came on today to share just a little bit of what we can do to help steward our children toward eternity. But I feel led as well just to talk about.

or just to talk to the moms whose children have left the faith, who have prodigal sons and daughters, to keep standing firm in faith, and that God is good and God is faithful, and that he can do all things and nothing is too hard for him, and that he is just standing with his arms wide open, just waiting for your son and daughter to come back. And it’s so apparent that he is pursuing them and going after them and how much he loves them.

not

the end story. I know so many prodigals that have just, it seemed like they were forever, forever lost and God just brings them back.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (37:27)
Mm-hmm.

Beth Barlet (37:34)
Just standing firm in our convictions and standing firm in faith that God’s got them. And I feel led to pray over you moms today, just to help you on your journey, just to bless you because it is a hard journey that we have to be diligent with every single day. But to stand firm in the faith, to ignore and rebuke the lies of the enemy, and to just bless you. So I feel led, Sharon, if you would join me in prayer.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (37:42)
Mm-hmm.

Sure,

sure.

Beth Barlet (38:02)
over

these women. So Father God, in Jesus name, I pray that you would bless each and every mother that is listening, Lord God. Those who have little children, those who have older children, those who are in the faith, those who have walked away from the faith, that you are a good God. You are all powerful, all knowing, and sovereign. And we put our full trust in you, God.

We surrender our children fully to you, knowing that you are faithful, knowing that you bless those who fear you according to generation after generation, and that you, Lord, can do all things. I pray, Lord, that you would give the moms that are listening renewed strength to continue to walk the walk, to continue to persevere when days are hard and long, Lord God, that they would keep their eyes fixed on you.

that they would keep their hearts fixed on your word, believing in your faith, believing in your promises, believing in the power of your word, and that you would give them revelation of how much you love them, how much you love their children, and that they can trust you. That they can trust you not only with their lives, but they can trust you with their sons and their daughters’ lives, and that this is not the end of the story, and that you are all powerful and greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world.

So I pray Lord God that you would just bless these women, that you would guide these women, that you would lead these women, and that you would safeguard a hedge of protection around all their children from the time that they are itty bitty to the time that they are 40, 50, 60 years old. But we thank you God for your faithfulness, for your goodness. We thank you God for Dr. Sharon and her wisdom.

and all that you’ve gifted her to share with this community and all the people that she’s pouring out to you. Would you continue to bless her ministry? We praise you God in Jesus name. Amen.

Dr. Sharon O’Hara (39:55)
Amen. Listen, I’d like to share a quick story just to encourage your listeners. When I hiked that 2200 mile Appalachian Trail, I encountered a lot of young people. One, 50 % of them that hiked the trail are college, high school graduates, college students. The other half are senior adults. I cannot tell you how many people I encountered on that trail who were just, you know, they had church

backgrounds, they had just fallen away. And one particular young man I met on the trail, here we are in the Hundred Mile Wilderness, the most remote section of the entire trail up in Maine, we got into a discussion and I told him that if you seek God with all your heart, he promises that you will find him. This is what he said, that’s what my uncle told me. And so,

Here I was and I said, well, did you do that? And he says, well, not yet. Well, why haven’t you done that? So here this young man was on the trail specifically to see if God actually exists. He comes across my path as well as other Christians. And I was blown away at how God went out of his way to reach these protocols or these

these kids who are just trying to find out whether or not God exists. God is active. He is behind the scenes and he is behind every scene he moves. So I just want to encourage your listening audience that if you have a prodigal or someone who has completely walked away or maybe has never truly become a Christian because that happens too, God is faithful. And as you said, he cares more about that little soul.

than you do. He goes after them. That’s why we gotta pray their hearts are soft.

Beth Barlet (41:51)
Amen. Well, thank you Sharon for being on today. It was such an honor having you. Like I said, family, I’m going to leave all her links in my show notes so you can continue to follow with her all the goodness that she has to offer. ⁓ but be blessed you guys. I look forward to see you guys next week. Take care.

Beth Barlet (42:12)
I pray this episode has blessed you today. I appreciate our time together and I hope our conversation has deepened your faith. Don’t forget to check out today’s show notes for episode links and additional information. Be sure to share this podcast with a friend, review it, and hit subscribe so you don’t miss one episode. Go to my website www.thesaltedpodcast.com and subscribe to my newsletter to be part of our Salted community. Remember,

Being salted takes intentionality. See you here next time.