Our children are amazing, crazy, funny, and at times a little insane, but look who their parents are. Okay raising our 4 munchkins was not easy, in fact most days were quite challenging. Thank God I had Jerry to help me. Each one of our 4 children are unique, special, and a one of a kind. When they were growing up, life seemed like a constant chaos. Trying to get them to behave, especially out in public, was not always easy. To say I wish I knew then what I know now would be an understatement. I would have been much more relaxed. Well maybe I would have been at least a little more relaxed.
Would I have changed anything in raising them? Yes! I would have encouraged them more. I would have built up their confidence more. i would have read them Bible stories like David and Goliath, how a small, tiny shepherd boy killed a Giant with just a sling and a stone. Or how about Joseph who forgave his brothers for selling him into slavery because they were jealous of him. I would tell them the story of a stuttering young man who led the Israelites out of Egypt. I would have told them about how Jesus used a murderer, Saul who became Paul, to write some of the most beautiful books of the Bible.
As parents we are often so quick to point out our children's faults, we forget to let their uniqueness shine. Instead of letting their light shine, we bury it under a bushel basket of proper behavior, (adult behavior). Yes we need to train them to behave a certain way, but sometimes the spunk and tenacity God has given some of our children, we try to beat it out of them.
Sit still! Stop moving! Shut up! Behave! These are just a small portion of the phrases we use to curtail a child's uniqueness. I wish I fully understood many years ago. how to trust God in being our partner in raising our children.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
To have confidence that if i do my best, God will handle the rest, may have changed the way I parented. Yes, children will go off course. Yes, children will disobey and try our patience. But if we take time to remind them that God loves them. If we take the time to tell them they can fight the devil with God's Word. If we tell them that even when they fail and go astray, we and God will forgive them. If we tell them that they are loved and accepted for who God created them to be. If we instill in them the faith and confidence we have in God and them, that they will do what is right. If we let them be the people God created them to be, then our children will not depart from what we have taught them.
I can hear you now, "yea, right". Well even though I did not parent the way I could have and should have. Even though my children wandered off course, they have always come back to God and Jesus.
I truly believe that raising children is the most important job in the world because these children hold the future in their hands and it is our responsibility to raise them properly. Not only with manners and respect, but with knowledge of who they are through Jesus Christ.
Lord, please help me to instill in my children and grandchildren your love, your strength and your power. May our children always come back to you and not depart from your ways, in Jesus name I pray, amen.
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