Week 7: Raising Your Children

This chapter, Raising Your Children, has been one of the most near and dear to my heart of this entire book. For a moment this week we take a small focus away from our marriages and focus in on the fruit of our marriages...our children. At the very beginning of this chapter, Elizabeth discusses the verse Deuteronomy 6:6-7. It says, "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children."

In mediating this week over this verse, I realized that these words should not be taken lightly. In fact, teaching our children diligently is a commandment from God that He, Himself, said "shall be in our heart[s]." This verse indicates that training our children in the ways of the Christian faith is not a mere afterthought that we have at the end of a hard day. It is not something that we hope to do better at implementing...one day. It is not something that we think our children will just "get" because we take them to church and Bible School. Deut. 6:6-7 affirms from God that teaching our children about Him should be as constant as our hearts' beating. It means constantly and diligently teaching our little (and not so little) ones about His character. It means teaching them what the Bible has to say about living the life that Christ has called us into...a life of servitude! It means equipping our children with the spiritual armor necessary for this life of servitude so that they may face with strength and wisdom this culture of selfishness that surrounds us.

As parents, the knowledge of God must be so ingrained in our hearts so that the intentional teaching of His Character to our children can be wisely carried out! A few weeks ago, Bro. Scott preached a sermon about a child needing 10,000 hours of training in order for him/her to become an expert in the life of Christianity. He cited research documenting the training that professional athletes, musicians, scholars, etc. go though so that they are able to become experts their areas of concentration. At the minimum, these professionals trained for least 10,000 hours. Bro. Scott then compared this research to raising our children as Christians, asking us, as parents, if our children will be experts in the teachings of Christianity when they leave our homes! Pretty scary, isn't it...especially when most children in this society have hour upon hour of ungodly media influence penetrating into their little hearts!

So how as parents are we going to get these 10,000 hours of Biblical training into our children's lives?

One more thing before I close. The 10,000 hours of Biblical instruction are extremely important and should not be taken lightly; however, if we only train our children with facts and stories about the Bible without their seeing a real, daily relationship that we, as parents, have with our Heavenly Father, it will lead them to confusion and questioning. We want to help them create a faith and understanding that is like concrete in their hearts! We want to be able to show them the fruit of God blessings through the daily living of our lives. Bible stories, understanding the Trinity, and the road to salvation are all vital in our heartbeats as Christians, but knowledge without a relationship with Jesus is in vein. So let's, as Christian parents, build as many of these 10,000 hours sharing with our children about our own personal faith! Let our daily lives be the breathing testimony that our little ones see, showing them why Jesus is the most precious relationship they can ever possibly have!

For this week's blog assignment...what intentional things can we implement in our homes that will help our children get the 10,000 hours needed to become experts in Christianity?

Week 6: Taking Care of Your Home

Sorry that I am so late getting this post out. Jeff and I decided last minute to go to Gulf Shores, so I was busy packing to leave...and once we got down here, I have been on my computer as little as possible.

So this week's chapter...taking care of your home was good to read but difficult at the same time! It seems that right now in our home, everything that I take care of and put back in order instantly gets taken out and placed into chaos. I wanted Elizabeth to give me some advice for what to do when a one-year-old is following behind me undoing everything...plus some!!! Hence, I still do my best to keep a clean house, despite how difficult it is at most times. Also, I have had to learn that patience and love is more important at times than everything being in perfect order. Right now, the condo is in disarray...Tiny Mack has pulled everything out of 3 trash cans and distributed it randomly throughout each room...dirty diapers have been her favorites on this trip! What does the Bible say about this? I'm serious about that...I need help!!! For this perfectionist, having a little one follow behind me and make my home less than perfect has been a SIGNIFICANT challenge. I would say this is one of the most stressful points of my day is trying to clean, and it immediately becoming UNCLEAN!!! So through the constant cleaning, God is sifting me of so much! Everything is a sifting process if we allow it to be, even cleaning a house!

So what are your thoughts on this week's chapter? What are your best suggestions for taking care of your home and creating a Godly as well as peaceful atmosphere for your family?

Love y'all,

Macki

Week 5: Managing Your Money

Money Management...I feel that over the past year with the recession hitting all of us hard, it has required us to take a closer look as to where our money is going. This chapter is a fresh reminder that even though we may earn our money through what jobs we have, it is not our's to have and use as we want. God has a very strict plan on what we should do with our money to use it to His glory!

There were three points that I highlighted this week that I thought would be good blog discussing points...here they are:

1) "90 percent of all marital arguments can be traced back to the issue of money." (George, 77)

~ Because money is the number 1 source of arguments in marriage, as wives, we must be on guard of how Satan will use finances to come between us and our husbands. Satan will use anything thing that he can to unbind a union that was bound by God Himself! Be mindful that Satan is wanting us to fail in our marriages (and look at statistics...he is having much success)! He will use money as a way to create distance...only, though, if we give him the power to do so!

2) "As our Lord Jesus taught, instead of laying up 'treasures on earth,' you are to 'lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also' (Matthew 6:19-21)". (George, 80)

~ How are we using our money? Are we using it as a source to gain more "stuff" for our comfort and luxury here on earth? Matthew 6 says that we should be building our treasures for heaven! How many mornings do we really wake up and ask, "How am I going to build a treasure for Heaven today?"

3) "Doing without - because a host of spiritual disciplines are birthed and enhanced as you do so." (George, 83)

~ Do we feel like we are entitled to have the things we have? I know that I struggled with this for many years. What I have learned through a number of circumstances that God has allowed me to walk through is that I am entitled to nothing! It is by His grace that He freely and mercifully gives!! I know that I have joked with many of you about not having a dishwasher and having a peewee hot water tank (this is what I call our hot water heater because it is about half the size a normal one), but the truth is that God has blessed me abundantly by requiring me to do without for the time being! When I would fuss and complain to Him about having to wash all of my dishes by hand, He would answer my heart "at least you have dirty dishes, Macki. That means that you had food to eat off of them!" When I would fuss about not being able to soak in a hot tub because my hot water ran out before it was a quarter full, God would answer my heart, "Macki at least you have hot water...some hot water is better than none!" As Americans living in such a prosperity, we get focused on all of the wrong things. I still have a long way to go with this one, but at least I am farther than I used to be! I can now have a heart that is grateful for dirty dishes...at least that is a start!!!

For our comments this week, chose 1 of the three points above to discuss! I can't wait to hear what you have to say!

Love y'all,

Macki

Chapter 4: Enjoying Intimacy

Ok...um...well...we aren't gonna blog about our chapter this week! So...just read it...and we will get back to blogging next week. I just think this chapter would be...um....way....way...way...TMI (too much information) to comment about!!! If you really want to blog, go back to last week's blog...we only had 1 response...let's use this week to play catch-up for last week!

:), Macki

Chapter 3: Learning to Communicate

Sorry about not posting yesterday like I had promised! I couldn't find a spare second to write...and today's is gonna be super short as well cause my man is off work! I want to actually put into practice this info that we are reading about!

So...communication! I think we can all relate to how hard it is wearing so many different hats all the time...and how mentally draining it can be as well. At the end of the day, I am exhausted, have limited brain capacity to create an intelligible sentence, and need to eat! According to biology, it goes against all things "natural" to be able to have the kindness in communication that we need to maintain healthy relationships with our husbands at the end of any day! But thank God that He is in the "SUPERnatural" business, and He will give us that supernatural wisdom and grace if we just ask. We just must personally commit to practicing this gift of sweet speech, and He will grow it within us.

This weeks blog assignment is to pray seriously about implementing this form of positive communication with your husband. "Say what you mean...but say it sweetly!" I am anxious to hear your comments on this chapter...comment about the concepts that were both challenging but also convicting in Chapter 3.