In a recent interview with God TV, Mary Hudson, mother of pop superstar Katy Perry, speaks about how difficult it is to watch her daughter drifting further and further away from the values she once taught her.
The superstar’s religious upbringing has been widely publicized. While accepting a prize at an LGBT rights advocacy, she told the audience how she used to “pray the gay away at Jesus Camps”. In an interview with Vogue, she spoke about how she would hand out tracts at rock concerts: “We knew about Madonna and Marilyn Manson in my family because we picketed their concerts.” Her interpretation of growing up in a Christian home was being carefully sheltered from worldly influences in a “bubble beyond the bubble”.
When Katy shot to fame with her song, ‘I Kissed a Girl’, Mary describes feeling devastated and “flattened to the wall” when she heard the lyrics. Katy’s latest single, ‘Bon Appetit’, has been described as “soft porn created for the Food Network”. As Katy’s life is splashed across every tabloid and social media platform for the world to see, her parents, who have their own ministry together, continue to preach the gospel and pour out their lives to help others. To “fight depression”, Mary turns to God’s Word which she says has been an anchor for her soul in very hard times.
It can be easy to pass judgment on a life as public as Katy’s, and to look to her parents and wonder where they went wrong. In fact people often do, and Mary speaks about the negative vibes she feels from people and hurtful things they say about her daughter. But rather than play judge, I believe this should be a warning to all Christian parents. As a mother to a 3 year old girl, I can only imagine what the Hudson’s must be going through, watching their ‘little girl’ living her life apart from God.
There is certainly no guarantee that our children will serve the Lord, simply because we are Christians. But God’s Word tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6).
We live in a world overflowing with iniquity, where approximately 45% of marriages end in divorce, and families are in tatters. How much do our children need us to be pillars, spiritual parents, rooted and grounded in God’s Word, living in the light of the gospel? On this foundation we will be able to love, teach and discipline our children with God’s heart, and give them the freedom to be who He intends them to be.
It’s time to look inward. If our lives are not right with God, we will not be able to impart anything to our children. As parents we have a great responsibility, but not an overwhelming one, because Jesus accomplished everything for us on the cross. If we follow Him and obey His Word, we will have victory!
When Mary was asked what counsel she would give parents carrying the burden of a child who has turned their back on God, she said, “It’s only the love of God that will bring them back. Don’t cut them off. You have to rise above your feelings. You must stay in communication.”
Image: Flickr/CC – Nadine Miller
Article by Louise Carter
