God's Gift, A Baby Series

Kids start getting on social media and start comparing themselves to each other. And there’s a horrible moment when they realize that they can’t keep up with their peers. Their tempted to take their own life. The suicide rate for teens is very high, and the age of this keeps getting younger, cause our world would rather destroy them. This is war! And it’s hard!

There are only some things about your child’s formative years that you can control, but a ton of things that you can’t control. This can range from bad behavior, bad language, bad influences, and bad idols that your kids see and hear when you’re not around to use those examples as a teachable moment. These days you can’t even trust your public schools to teach proper subjects to your children. If your kids attend public schools, it’s important that you ask them what they’re being taught and investigate even further. You can’t control everything your child sees or does, but there has to be discipline, no matter.

You can’t give up! Assign the spiritual teaching of your children to spiritual professionals. Just because you take them to church doesn’t mean that they are really getting what they need. The most influential person in my spiritual life was my mother. The most influential person in my faith was also my mother. So, parents, pay attention. Don’t just assume that they’re getting what they need in life by just going to church. Don’t just take anything for granted. It’s about your kids. It’s about God’s great gift to you. The soundtrack of my life is all in the hymnal at church because that’s how my mother showed me it should be, through example. More than 18 years of example it took to develop my spiritual life and my faith. She never stopped. She never gave up. She never took me for granted. She never assumed when it came to her kids. It was chiseled into each one of us. To me, that’s the greatest gift she could ever have given to me. And believe me, I was not easy, either. Like most kids, I thought I knew it all. I thought I knew better than her. So, for her to have any success with me…it was HARD! 3 John 1:4 says, “I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

Do you know what it takes to make a diamond? A lot of time, and a lot of pressure. Joseph told his brothers that time, when they realized who he was in Egypt, that “When you meant to destroy me, God made for good. The pressure you put on me to destroy my life is the pressure that God used to make me the diamond that I am.” The pressure that the world puts on our families, the pressure that the world puts on our children, and the pressure that the world puts on you and me is the same pressure that God uses to make diamonds. And…it’s worth it. If you look back on your life and say that you had done everything possible, then you’ll be alright. What you can’t live with are regrets, by then it’s too late. It’s hard in the discipline to become the diamond that you’re called to be.

I pray to all you parents that you raise your children in honor of God. Amen!