Favourite quote from devotional time:
God never wastes parents. He doesn't inadvertently "dump" kids haphazardly into homes. Nor does He deliver "accidents" into our lives. It is exceedingly important that families place the same significance on children that God does...It is axiomatic. Healthy, well-disciplined, loving homes produce people who make a nation peaceful and strong. As the family goes, so goes the nation. When you boil it down to the basics, the pulse of an entire civilization is determined by the heartbeat of its homes.
Taken from WISDOM for the way, Charles Swindoll, 2001, p196
My contributing thoughts: Think you aren't significant, Momma? Think again. You were uniquely chosen, whether you gave birth, or whether you lovingly welcomed a child into your home. You were chosen.
"The pulse of an entire civilization is determined by the heartbeat of its homes."
What makes the "heartbeat" life-giving?
Do you think you're failing because you can't stop yelling about the shoes and coats and toys not put away? Or because the clutter you can't stay on top of steals the peace you've worked so hard to steady?
Think again. It isn't unfailing patience that makes you useful to God. It is your desire for Him, your hunger for Him, that gives your children sustenance. Let them see you sing to the Lord, pray to the Lord, repent before the Lord, rejoice in the Lord.
Yes, repent in front of them. Don't keep this part of your life a secret. Let them see the joy that comes from releasing your guilt, your sin burden. Let them see your joyful, forgiven self, not your perfect self.
Holding on to sin through guilt or depression--over failing yet again--further steals our peace. It's the worst thing we can do. Release it as fast as you can, as though it were poison. It is poison. The longer you keep the guilt, the more power you give the enemy.
Our children aren't going to stop sinning. Sometimes we get fixated on their sinfulness, even more so than our own. Discipline as appropriate, but also show them what to do with their failures. Show them how to sit at the foot of the Cross, trading shame for joy. Stop what you're doing and show them, right then.
There's nothing more important than leading them to the foot of the cross, over and over again.
When you give them that, you give them life.
It doesn't matter what they become, so long as they do it for the Lord. Your worth as a parent isn't measured by how successful the world deems your children, though it's easy to fall prey to that thinking.
Your worth comes from this:
Did you give them life?
God never wastes parents. He doesn't inadvertently "dump" kids haphazardly into homes. Nor does He deliver "accidents" into our lives. It is exceedingly important that families place the same significance on children that God does...It is axiomatic. Healthy, well-disciplined, loving homes produce people who make a nation peaceful and strong. As the family goes, so goes the nation. When you boil it down to the basics, the pulse of an entire civilization is determined by the heartbeat of its homes.
Taken from WISDOM for the way, Charles Swindoll, 2001, p196
My contributing thoughts: Think you aren't significant, Momma? Think again. You were uniquely chosen, whether you gave birth, or whether you lovingly welcomed a child into your home. You were chosen.
"The pulse of an entire civilization is determined by the heartbeat of its homes."
What makes the "heartbeat" life-giving?
Do you think you're failing because you can't stop yelling about the shoes and coats and toys not put away? Or because the clutter you can't stay on top of steals the peace you've worked so hard to steady?
Think again. It isn't unfailing patience that makes you useful to God. It is your desire for Him, your hunger for Him, that gives your children sustenance. Let them see you sing to the Lord, pray to the Lord, repent before the Lord, rejoice in the Lord.
Yes, repent in front of them. Don't keep this part of your life a secret. Let them see the joy that comes from releasing your guilt, your sin burden. Let them see your joyful, forgiven self, not your perfect self.
Holding on to sin through guilt or depression--over failing yet again--further steals our peace. It's the worst thing we can do. Release it as fast as you can, as though it were poison. It is poison. The longer you keep the guilt, the more power you give the enemy.
Our children aren't going to stop sinning. Sometimes we get fixated on their sinfulness, even more so than our own. Discipline as appropriate, but also show them what to do with their failures. Show them how to sit at the foot of the Cross, trading shame for joy. Stop what you're doing and show them, right then.
There's nothing more important than leading them to the foot of the cross, over and over again.
When you give them that, you give them life.
It doesn't matter what they become, so long as they do it for the Lord. Your worth as a parent isn't measured by how successful the world deems your children, though it's easy to fall prey to that thinking.
Your worth comes from this:
Did you give them life?
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