By “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6.
Not only does the above bible verse give us the promise of our children not turning away on their Christian walk, it demands us to train them in the Word for this promise to produce its fruit.
Our children are not really ours, because one day they will stand before the judgement throne and have to give an account of their own lives. They belong to the Lord, just as we all do, and just as God originally planned for us in eternity with Him.
Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Children are a gift from the Lord. Make no mistake, our babies are special, amazing blessings from the Lord. Before our babies were even born, they were appointed as prophets. God is no favor of persons, so what He says to one person in the Bible, goes for all. If we let them, children can teach us an endless number of things. They automatically love with no boundaries or stereotypes. They forgive quickly and don’t hold grudges. They wake up each day excited for what’s to come and don’t stress about if they have everything they need. They see the joy and fun in every situation they encounter, and recognize the best in people. They are confident and don’t let others’ opinions affect them in any way.
In fact, God told us to become like little children if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (ref. Matthew 18:1-3). We have to love like children. Not only that, He also told us that if we become a stumbling block to them learning about Jesus, it would be worse for us to be thrown into a lake with a boulder around our necks (ref. Matthew 18:5-6).
Our children are our assignment on this earth. We are to discipline them, teach them, be an example for them, and love them just as Jesus loves us. To everything there is a season, just as there is a time to be your child’s friend and a time to be their parent. The Lord corrects us out of love and protection but HE is also the best teacher and confidant we could ever ask for and we are to do the same for our children.
A Jesus-filled world starts at home with our families. Broken families produce broken children and adults. We are fighting generational curses and bondages, but our God is able to heal exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever ask or think. We are to impress God’s commandments on our children’s hearts. God instructs us to talk about them when we sit at home, when we walk, lie down, and get up (ref. Deuteronomy 6:6-7).
Proverbs 29:17 tells us to discipline our children, and they will give us peace of mind and will make our hearts glad. We can surrender our obsessive need to protect them over to God because He cares for them even more than we do. His love is perfect and blameless. God is ready to help us parent anytime we ask because He knows just how important raising our children truly is. God gave you your babies for a reason. There will be difficult seasons, but in those times you can let God shine through the storms. You got this! You are equipped and enough! Just keep going.
Hannah Smith, author of the Moving Mountains blog, is a woman who feels she has experienced a lot of life in her 30 years.
At 19 years old, Hannah joined the Army. After moving around the country, getting a divorce and losing what seemed like everything, she landed back where God wanted her in Ohio, even though she fought the whole way. She is now in charge of the prayer team at her church and seeks the Lord with all she’s got.
Hannah is married and a RN, but works as a stay-at-home mom to her daughter, Isabella, and her son, Grayson.
She loves to hike, travel, drink coffee, and talk about Jesus. Hannah also has a heart to create a home and life in which she can be a safe place for the hurting and the broken.
To her readers, Hannah says, “I believe that God set every single one of you reading this apart, for such a time as this. It is my hope and prayer that God would use the words I say to change your life in a way you and I never thought possible!”
by leaps and bounds 