Parenting with a Vision

I had an awesome time at the Leading and Loving it Retreat in Nashville this past week. It is for Pastors wives and Women in Ministry. It was just a great time of refreshing and being with like hearted people. It was amazing. 

We had a time of breakout sessions where we got to choose who we heard speak. I chose to go to a parenting one by Julie Richard. She and her husband are lead pastors at a church in Texas. 

I grew up in Ministry, as my parents were pastors. I grew up serving the church and love the local church. But how my parents raised me to then want to invest my life into the local church, i just don't know. And Julie's talk gave me such insight in how to raise my kids in a way that

1. They Love the Lord

2. They Love his Church

3. They Love his ways

Now my kids may grow up and never work for anything church related. No problem. That is not the goal. The goal is for Jason and i to raise kids that love his church and see value in serving, beyond dads paycheck.

So how does one raise kids to love the Lord, Love his church, and love his ways?

1. We start with a vision for our family and our children. When we have a vision, we then parent off that vision.

I have specific visions for my children. They are unique to each child because each child is gifted with different personalities. 

When we have a vision for our child, we then parent and discipline toward that vision. 

If your child is acting out, if your child is talking back to you, if your child throws a tantrum, if your child yells at you, you parent them with the vision in mind and where you see them in 20 years and you discipline off of that. You don't want a 27 year old throwing a tantrum because his mom and dad didn't give him what he wanted. No my VISION for my child should dictate how i discipline my children. Not the people around me watching.

The second big thing was a smack in the face.

2. My Children are drinking the overflow of my fountain.

Meaning what comes out of my mouth is what seeps and fills my children's heart. Do I talk negative about God's church? Do my children hear me whine about serving or getting up to go to church? Do my children see me read my Bible? Do my children know that Jesus is in every decision we make?

How i live my life and the things that fill my heart are the very things that seep into my children's life.

If i model that it is important to serve in the church, my children will love to serve the church. If i model that Jesus is my everything in speech and love then my children will drink that from my overflow.

Now to some you may shake your head and think i've gone all bible belt and crazy, but this is truth and Godly wisdom i just had to share!

We don't have to live in a world where we fear if our children will love the Lord or if our children will listen to His ways. We can sew Godly seeds into the lives of the precious beings God has entrusted to our care. Children don't naturally bend toward wanting to serve, give their time, and listen to authority. No these are taught behaviors and it starts with a Model, which is us.

Proverbs 29:8

Where there is no vision the people perish