Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Parenting God's way!! :)

"Behold, Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." -Psalms 127: 3

When I became a mommy 7 1/2 years ago, I never knew that it was part of Gods plan for my life. I just figured I had become pregnant because I was being irresponsible. However, the birth of my daughter changed my perspective on my life and made me realize the LOVE that God has for me. Being a parent was much more than giving birth and taking care of every minute needs of a infant. It was much more. I was to nurture her tiny spirit. Raise her up in Gods instruction. But what did that mean? It was like as soon as she was born God spoke to me and said " I love you just as you love her and more!"

So, now whenever I have a question on how I should raise my children I go to the Man who created parenting and ALWAYS does it PERFECTLY....Father God.

In my quest to become a better parent, mother, friend and role model for our children I have started really searching the Bible, my heart and through prayer, our Father. I learned a few things and I am still learning but the biggest thing I have learned that applies not only to parenting but to life is that we WILL make mistakes. NO parent is perfect.

Whew! That was a huge relief. :) My biggest fear of being a parent was "messing" my kids up by doing it wrong. Thankfully God knew we would make mistakes and he created children to be very forgiving of us as long as we ask for it.

So here are some other things I have learned:

  1. Discipline is mandatory. Not in the way that the child is ALWAYS in "trouble" but in the way that you are training their heart to make the right choices. Easier said then done. check out this book for Creative correction ideas! Its a GREAT book for training the heart! http://family.christianbook.com/creative-correction-extraordinary-ideas-everyday-discipline/lisa-whelchel/9781589971288/pd/971280?p=1143702&event=ORC
  2. Teaching them Gods Word daily. We have decided that we would teach the kids one Bible verse a week and have them "live it out". This has been FUN!! It also gives us a chance to do the same. We started with John 3:16 and even though we taught them this verse 3 weeks ago I still hear Rylie teaching it to her babies. Sweet rewards! :) You can find where God commands this in Deuteronomy 6:5-9! We have fun with this! We make up songs, color pictures of what they think the bible verse means and at dinner we talk about how they can show somebody or teach one of their friends about God! :)
  3. Teach them to pray. I always thought you kinda just learned that on your own....nope. So, we are still working on this with Danielle and Rylie. We also have been praying as a family. Children learn what they live. If they see us doing it not just for ourselves but for others they too will do it. There is nothing sweeter then seeing my girls pray for people in accident on the side of the road. Or for a friend in her class that has ADHD and gets in trouble all day. Or for animals, family members and other little children. (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

These are just a few of the things we have learned so we thought we would share. We know that we were chosen by God to be the parents of these precious children on earth {even when we are up at 2 am with screaming teething babies, in the middle of taming a tantrum, or explaining why stealing is not ok while totally embarrassed in the middle of a grocery store} and prepare them for eternity with HIM! So join us on our journey to be the parents God intended us to be! Not perfect, just real!

Have a blessed day!!


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love that you are not just memorizing verses, but living them out. What a great idea! Stopping from Mama's Little Nestwork!

Kevin & Jacki Smith said...

Thanks and WELCOME!! I LOVE hearingfrom new readers! Just a mommy trying to do something new! Thanks again!