“The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9
I want nothing more in my life than for my two boys to know and be passionately in love with Jesus Christ.
I pray every day that they will be filled with wisdom beyond their years and that they will have a true fear of the Lord that will grow into knowledge and understanding of His word. In knowing without a doubt that the Lord will do His part and that He is already growing in the life of them both, I also know Garrett and I must do our part.
We must give our boys to the Lord-I mean they are His to begin with anyway.
We must intercede in prayer every day for them and with them.
Garrett and I must grow in the word of God ourselves and together as a family.
We must teach them His word.
We must live out God’s word- I believe that our boys need to see Garrett and I not just talk the talk but they must see us walk the walk. They need to see God’s word come to life every day through our actions, words, attitudes, everything! As Brother Collins put it we are God’s advertisement, and every day we are alive we must advertise God’s word, and be living proof that God does do all that His word says.
Not only do I pray that they will be in love with the Lord, but I pray that one day they will desire to have a marriage like Garrett and I, that they will desire to be like their dad and have a wife that posses’ the same qualities of Jesus in me. I will never forget hearing what my dad told Garrett when he asked him for my hand in marriage. My dad said, “Garrett you can marry my daughter as long as you promise to love God more than you love her.” I want my boys to love God more than they love Garrett, me, and their wives.
If I want that for them, than I have to be clothed in the word of God and advertise the qualities of Christ through my every day walk with Him. I want them to learn what it means to be respected and to respect their spouse through my words, actions and attitude towards Garrett. I want them to see kindness, unconditional love, consistency, and more consistency, patience, willingness to serve, and to yield to Garrett and others. I want them to see a mom whose tongue is controlled, encouraging, and always kind, and most of all they need to see a mom whose first love is Jesus Christ.
I want them to see a marriage that is built on the word of God and that keeps God in the middle not on the outside. I want them to see what love is and how love should be expressed towards one another. I want them to see a marriage that is so tightly knit that nothing can undo it. I want them to see a marriage that turns to God no matter the situation and that worships God as one at home, church, in public, on vacation, etc.
I use to always ask my mom and dad what their goal was in life and it never failed they always said, “That you and your sisters get to heaven.” I am so thankful that my salvation was the most important thing. Are we showing our children what the most important goal in life is?
Jesus You have given us the amazing blessing of being parents. Help us to groom and raise them as You have called us to. Amen
