Loving Your Wayward Child

You haven't failed. You're in the fight of your life.

A book for the mom who has tried everything and is still watching her child walk away.

Published by B&H Publishing Group | Available October 2026

For the Mom Who's Been Up Since 3 a.m.

You’ve read the books.

You’ve listened to the podcasts.

You’ve prayed until you ran out of words.

And your child is still walking away.

You’re terrified of saying the wrong thing—so you say nothing.

You feel like a failure, but you can’t admit that to anyone.

Other Christians assume you must have done something wrong.

You haven’t. And you’re not alone.

Not Another Parenting Book

Written from the middle — not the mountaintop.

Most books about wayward children are written after the happy ending. This one isn’t. Erica Wiggenhorn wrote Loving Your Wayward Child while still in the trenches—not knowing how her own story would turn out.

This is not a parenting advice book. You’ve already poured out every last drop of your parenting heart. This is a lifeline for your heart—biblical perspective, emotional tools, and practical strategies to help you stay spiritually grounded, emotionally healthy, and relationally connected to your child when both connections feel impossible.

This book will help you:

Stay anchored in faith when hope feels foolish
Recognize the four default reactions that keep you stuck
Receive courage to make bids for connection– even if you’re afraid your child won’t respond
Process grief, fear, and shame without drowning in them
Build practical daily habits that sustain you for the long haul

Practical Tools. Not Platitudes.

What you'll find in these pages

The Four Default Reactions

When your child pulls away, you default to one of four patterns: isolating, fixating, manipulating, or vacating. This book helps you name yours—and interrupt it.

Release Prayers

For the nights when you can’t sleep and can’t pray. A simple, repeatable prayer framework that gives your fear somewhere to go.

Bids for Connection

Based on proven research — small, intentional gestures that keep the relational door open even when your child seems determined to shut it.

The Ebenezer Practice

A daily habit of marking where God showed up—building a trail of evidence that He is still at work, even when you can’t see it.

Reality Testing

A tool for the mom with the “spiritual gift” of worst-case scenarios. Learn to separate what’s actually happening from what your fear says is happening.

The 4T's Framework

A shared language to build a circle of support—Test, Trial, Triumph, Truth—so you never have to carry this alone.

God does not simply send His people into exile. God goes with them into exile—in order to bring them back out again.

—Dr. Joel Muddamalle, Head of Theology Proverbs 31 Ministries

Your child may be far from you. They are never far from God.

About the Author

A fellow traveler—not an expert.

Erica Wiggenhorn is a Bible teacher, author, and Proverbs 31 Ministries writer who has spent years helping women encounter God through Scripture. Her Unexplainable Jesus & An Unexplainable Life Bible Studies have been read by thousands of women all over the world in churches, small groups and military installations.

But this book isn’t about her expertise. It’s about her experience.

Erica is a mom whose son’s choices have taken her to places she never imagined—emergency rooms at midnight, months of silence, and the kind of grief that doesn’t have a casserole ministry. She wrote Loving Your Wayward Child not from the other side of a victory lap, but from the middle of the story—because she believes the moms who are in it right now can’t wait for a happy ending to find hope.

When she isn’t traveling the country connecting with women at retreats, conferences or church groups, Erica makes her home in Arizona with her husband Jonathan.

What Others Are Saying

I could relate to the struggle with self-blame. Rehearsing all of the things I did wrong. Realizing there is no such thing as a perfect mom was such a good reminder. I was and still am a good mom. Your honesty really gave me permission to look at myself differently and turn to God when I blame myself for all of my child’s choices.

— Tina

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when you wrote, “The fruit of the Spirit basket toppled over and Ms. Cheerful Mom tapped out.” I think we have all been there and I felt like you really understood my struggles.

— Kristen

Thank you so much for your honesty and transparency. In the fact that you are not a perfect mother, it gives all the rest of us that have made mistakes with our kids permission to be human and go on this journey with you as a friend and sister in Christ.

— Christina

What Others Are Saying

Prayers Moms Pray When Parenting Is Hard

A free downloadable prayer guide for the moments when you can’t find the words. Plus Scripture cards and a curated worship playlist to carry you through the hardest days.