As I shared in my last post, It’s Another Giveaway, Dr Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller are offering another special on their book, The Christian Parenting Handbook. In the introduction of this book they share that “Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard, because that’s where things get complicated.”
We are flooded today with books and seminars of ideas and opinions on how to raise our children. Teachers at our children’s school or day care, our friends (or maybe not friends) at church, our extended family, all have their own ideas and methods to share on how we could best raise our children.
So I have to share a quote from a study that I am currently in, Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World. In the video lesson for this study Ken Ham asks:
Do you know what God’s Word says about raising children? If not, whose methods are you using to raise yours?
The bottom line is, you are using someone’s methods. So whose is it? Stop for a moment and think and ask yourself…
Why do you make the rules you do?
Why do you allow what you allow?
Why do you discipline the way you discipline?
Why do you discipline what you discipline?
Whose model do you use to form the relationship that you have with your children?
Whose words do you use in a moment of frustration with your child?
Whose words do you use in a moment of praise over your child?
What are you teaching your children through the way you interact with them?
What direction are you leading them?
Have you ever sat down and even asked yourself these questions, or are you just trying to survive until bedtime? Do you even like your children? If not… why not? How much time do you spend comparing your child to others and evaluating your success or failure as a parent on what you think you see in someone else’s family? If you do, how does this effect the way you see yourself and your children?
Do you know what I love about this book?
This book, this study, is designed to help you implement! It is designed to help your individual family implement. Dr .Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller recognize that every child is different and every parent is different and the circumstances in every home are different. However, God’s Word does not change. He does not change. Therefore, He is the only One who can be the solid foundation on which any family can build. In this book we as parents are taught how to take God’s truth, His opinion, and His methods on how to raise our children and implement them in our own individual and unique homes.
This book teaches us how to not just focus on the behavior of our children, but to focus on their hearts… because as our Lord says:
…the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…
Matthew 15:18
One thing I have realized in our world today is that we spend a lot of time covering our kids mouths, hanging our heads in shame when something comes out that is quite embarrassing, or rushing to apologize for what our child just said and telling them that we better never, ever, ever, hear that come out of their mouths again… but in our embarrassment and rush to just get out of the situation, do we ignore what this moment has just revealed about the condition of our child’s heart and the content of their character?
Have we just missed an amazing opportunity given to us by God through the revealing of our child’s heart that we cannot see with our human eyes? Is this a moment gifted to us by the grace and mercy of God for us to take hold of and not let pass by?
A moment when we can clearly see into the heart, mind, and soul of our child.
A moment, an open door, to teach them the things and thoughts and ways of God…
The bottom line is every single one of our kids is born with a sick and deceitful heart (Jeremiah 17:9), not a one our kids escaped this heart condition. Not a one. They all need Christ. They all need teaching, training, reproof, correction, encouragement, love, and grace…
I remember once in Children’s Church I had a young man upset and in tears because he felt someone had lied to him and not kept their word to him. In his tears he was plotting his revenge on what he was going to do to get back at them. I then remembered some of the tools I had learned from this book, and I remained calm, and took the young man’s face in my hands. I looked him in the eyes and told him that I understood that he was hurt and upset, but God tells us that we should not return evil with evil, but we should return evil with good. I shared with him, that he may not have all the information, and maybe this was not that this person had lied, but maybe they just had made plans before they knew what their family was doing that day. He shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand and walked out the door to head to the sanctuary. After I had gathered all the other children and got them seated I sat down beside this young man. He then turned to me and said, Mrs Nicole, I am going to take their things that are in the tree house and clean them all up for them, so when they are able to come everything will be ready.
I was so proud of him!
So moms and dads, let’s not shake our heads and say, I can’t…
Let us instead fix our eyes on the One who says, YOU CAN!, and get up and fight for the hearts of our children. I believe that the Word of God can work! Do you?
*** If you are in the North Alabama area my church will begin studying through this book in January on Sunday nights at 5pm. You are welcome to join us!