Mary DeMuth - Love, Pray, Listen: Parenting Your Wayward Adult Kids with Joy

Mary DeMuth gives moms and dads a gift in Love, Pray, Listen . Using 1 Corinthians 13 as a frame, she offers parents with prodigals an honest way forward that allows space for grief, room for hope, and joy untethered from our kids choices.

Rebecca Ashbrook Carrell, Bible teacher, author, veteran radio host, host of the Honestly, Though podcast, founder of the HeartStrong Faith Womens Bible Conference

As a pastor for over forty years, I have walked a lot of families through crises, and Ive watched how the hearts of parents break when their kids stray. I wish Id had a resource like this to encourage parents through that bewildering journey. Mary DeMuth offers empathy and grounded biblical wisdom to help parents of adult kids thrive, no matter what path they take.

Pastor Steve Stroope, founding pastor, Lakepointe Church, Rockwall, Texas

As a parent of adult children, I know firsthand the joy, pain, and confusion that can come from these complex relationships. Marys book is an incredible resource I will keep nearby. Its full of biblical encouragement and practical tools that help me love, pray, and listen more effectively.

Jodie Niznik, host of the So Much More podcast

After reading Love, Pray , Listen , I experienced conviction leading to repentance, which birthed inner peace. In the pages of this groundbreaking treatise, Mary unearths parenting from the deep waters of Gods unconditional love. Most of all, she delivers to those of us parenting adult prodigals wise counsel and hope!

Rick Howerton, author

In Love, Pray , Listen , Mary DeMuth has given a beautiful book and an exquisite and powerful gift. Jesus said to love as he loved, but that seems impossible. Mary walks, word by word, through the 1 Corinthians 13 love chapter. She opens up every phrase for our understanding, revealing how God makes it possible for us to love our adult children as Jesus does.

Judy Douglass, author and podcast host of When You Love a Prodigal

I love the way Mary DeMuth walks us through 1 Corinthians 13 to help us process any guilt, regret, or ongoing parental doubts. Being in a relationship with our kids now that they are adults is tough, and her book helps to make things a little easier.

Susan Seay, podcast host of Mentor for Moms

Mary gives authentic voice to the myriad of emotions that parents experience when adult kids wander wayward. Instead of ultimatums, Mary equips parents with godly wisdom wrapped in a scriptural framework that allows parents to unconditionally love their adult kids, even if they arent traveling in the same theological lane.

Barb Roose, speaker and author of Surrendered: Letting Go and Living Like Jesus and other books and Bible studies

With 1 Corinthians 13 as a framework, DeMuth shepherds us through the challenges of loving our adolescent and adult children. But dont be fooled. DeMuth hasnt merely written a book about parenting. Shes written a book about learning to trust a loving God in a cosmos where our sense of control is an illusion, but where joy remains available even amid struggle. Shes written a book about the gospel and applied it to our most formative and intimate relationships. There is profound truth here that every parent, and every Christians, needs.

Skye Jethani, co-host of The Holy Post podcast and author of What If Jesus Was Serious?