Train up a Child...

Tomorrow it is back to work for me, but not before I post about a few things that have happened in the last couple of days that I don't want to forget.

I was raised in church and raised to love God and serve him, but so were a lot of other people who have since chosen different paths.  And honestly, I don't know what made the difference. Besides God.  So this whole parenting thing and raising my kids to love God has been a bit of a struggle.  All I know to do is to be real with them and show and explain to them how we are choosing God first for our family. We talk about God at our home a lot and we are trying to teach our kids that loving God is the most important thing they will ever do.  We do nightly Bible time and family prayer time in an attempt to show them it is important. But sometimes it feels like we are speaking to deaf ears.  And I wonder if it is making any difference. So I've done a lot of praying, begging God that something we have said or a choice we have made has impacted our kids in some way.  Praying that some day the Holy Spirit will make it all clear to them.  That a light bulb will go off and they will have an "aha" moment. This week we had a couple of those moments.

Monday, January 2nd, we were on the way to the Psychiatrist and H started asking questions about one of the worship songs we were listening to in the car.  She then asked how to ask Jesus in her heart.  I went through the ABC's of salvation (thank you Missionettes) and tried to explain it as best as I could to her what it meant and what she needed to do. She said, "Mommy, can you help me." And as simple as that, I lead her in a prayer and she asked Jesus to come into her heart.  It was so awesome! So awesome! So we talked a little more about having a relationship with Jesus every day and talking to him and reading his word. I am so glad I had the opportunity to do this with her.  I have really not tried to push the issue with any of my kids because I don't want them to do what they think will make us happy or what is the "cool" thing to do, but I want them to make a decision on their own.  Because then I pray it will stick and not just be a fleeting thing. I prayed this day would come, although honestly, I didn't think H would be the first, or that this day would come so quickly. We made a big deal of it and have told her how proud we are.  She told her grandparents and teachers from church, and I'm pretty sure she understands how excited and proud we are of her decision and that this was a big deal and very important. I am determined to remember the date for her and celebrate her "spiritual birthday" with her every year as my mom has done with me. It is such a special thing for us as my mom was the one to lead me to Jesus also.

My second moment  was sometime this week when they were all listening and singing to a kids worship dvd.  I love when they do it.  K always follows the movements and has such a fun time with it, probably more than the others.  She is definitely my worshipper.  Not that the others aren't, but she is always making up songs to Jesus about her day or whatever else is going on and I can just sense her love for Jesus when she is singing.  It is just so sweet.  A song came on and the kids on the video were singing with their eyes closed and hands raised, and K copied them.  You should have seen the emotion on her face as she was worshiping Jesus.  I loved it. Every. Second. So innocent and so pure and making momma and God so happy.

Tonight during our family prayer time, H asked if she could sing a song to Jesus for her prayer tonight.  I said sure as long as she was being serious and was really singing to Jesus.  She chose Jesus loves me. And I know God was pleased with her heart. 

D is really into hurting the devil lately.  I've shared before, I believe, that he can get pretty angry and upset when he feels he is being treated unfairly.  Well today, he just about had it with the devil and was telling him off.  There are several words that aren't allowed in our house that I let him use (hate, stupid, shut up) because he was giving the devil the what for and I just smiled.  When he was done he told me everything was gonna be okay now because he took care of the devil and he won't bother us for a while.  I loved it. A spiritual warrior already. He is also very compassionate and every night he will pray that God will help each of the kids by name with whatever they were dealing with that day.  Not to be rude or point fingers, but just because he believes God can help and he wants them all to be at their best.  I love his sweet heart. And I am believing right there with him for God to help them with their daily struggles.

So I really think we are getting there.  

Tomorrow, the kids go back to school, so we are praying for a fresh start to finish off the year.  They have really been very good over the holidays and are mostly looking forward to seeing their friends again.  We've adjusted some of their meds and are all praying (D included) that this will help them to be able to control themselves better and be better listeners and students. We are expecting a good report tomorrow!