I just wanted to add something here regarding encouragement for our our quite times and behaviour inside and outside the house in front of our children. I mean children of all ages.
Children are watching us all the time, studying how we respond to situations much more than we realise. How we react to different situations. They can smell hypocrisy straight away . Do we turn to prayer and thanks giving or do we loose it, panic or get angry, frustrated?
Do we speak about following Jesus and then do our own thing? Do we have addictive habits to take our mind off problems?
I found myself alone after a breakup. I was in my early thirties. I had no where else to go but back home with my parents. I had an eating disorder. My Mum had to work hard to get me eating again. I can safely say that that time with my parents was amazing. It was a healing time. I slept in a sitting room below their bedroom. In the early morning when the house was quiet, I could hear their voices every single morning. I couldn't hear what they were saying, just muffles but I knew them so well I could tell by their tones that they were reading the bible, they were discussing and they were praying. This had such a profound effect on me as a hurt, damaged lady laying there and listening. It felt so safe.
I soon recovered. I moved out and started going to church myself. My family joined too.
My own children are teenagers now and I realise just how much they watch me. I have been through some stuff in the last four years. I didn't forget Jesus, in fact I reached out for Him to help me. He was my only hope but I was trying to manage things, surviving. Slowly, before I realised things were slipping. I picked up a bit of depression and anxiety and wasn't coping well. House work began to slip, quiet times slipped. I stopped going to church. I couldn't cope with the people there. I seem to get taken up with worldly things.
Suddenly I decided to try out a different church. It was like someone opened up a huge wide window into my life and the fresh air with apple blossom and the smell of running water just filled my heart. I recognised the holy Spirit and started having quiet times again, I could not get enough of Jesus. I just wanted that beautiful feeling of The Holy Spirit filling my dry bones. Immediately my life changed.
My children have watched all this. They have seen the change. They are watching what I do and how long it will last. I am happy. I am reminded of the time when I would lay on my sofa listening to my parents through the floor boards as they prayed. I think now the children are doing the same with me, my daughter's room situated right next door to my room. I don't hold back. I have Christian music on in the house, (Matt Redman or Shane and Shane usually) and I worship openly , I used to have the news on all the time in the house , which I now realise was so unhealthy, being told about fearful things all the time. I can't remember the last time I could be bothered to watch tv and I attend growth groups and have Christian friends. I pray for my children as I drive them to work. They thank me.
I just wanted to encourage other parents out there to not stop living your Christian life around your children, let them hear you praying, singing, praising. Let them see how you turn to Jesus in pray.
In church one day we had guest speakers who are missionaries in an East Europe country in need. It got me thinking that I would love to serve in some way like that. Then I realised I have my own mission field. It is my home. It is my children .
Children are watching us all the time, studying how we respond to situations much more than we realise. How we react to different situations. They can smell hypocrisy straight away . Do we turn to prayer and thanks giving or do we loose it, panic or get angry, frustrated?
Do we speak about following Jesus and then do our own thing? Do we have addictive habits to take our mind off problems?
I found myself alone after a breakup. I was in my early thirties. I had no where else to go but back home with my parents. I had an eating disorder. My Mum had to work hard to get me eating again. I can safely say that that time with my parents was amazing. It was a healing time. I slept in a sitting room below their bedroom. In the early morning when the house was quiet, I could hear their voices every single morning. I couldn't hear what they were saying, just muffles but I knew them so well I could tell by their tones that they were reading the bible, they were discussing and they were praying. This had such a profound effect on me as a hurt, damaged lady laying there and listening. It felt so safe.
I soon recovered. I moved out and started going to church myself. My family joined too.
My own children are teenagers now and I realise just how much they watch me. I have been through some stuff in the last four years. I didn't forget Jesus, in fact I reached out for Him to help me. He was my only hope but I was trying to manage things, surviving. Slowly, before I realised things were slipping. I picked up a bit of depression and anxiety and wasn't coping well. House work began to slip, quiet times slipped. I stopped going to church. I couldn't cope with the people there. I seem to get taken up with worldly things.
Suddenly I decided to try out a different church. It was like someone opened up a huge wide window into my life and the fresh air with apple blossom and the smell of running water just filled my heart. I recognised the holy Spirit and started having quiet times again, I could not get enough of Jesus. I just wanted that beautiful feeling of The Holy Spirit filling my dry bones. Immediately my life changed.
My children have watched all this. They have seen the change. They are watching what I do and how long it will last. I am happy. I am reminded of the time when I would lay on my sofa listening to my parents through the floor boards as they prayed. I think now the children are doing the same with me, my daughter's room situated right next door to my room. I don't hold back. I have Christian music on in the house, (Matt Redman or Shane and Shane usually) and I worship openly , I used to have the news on all the time in the house , which I now realise was so unhealthy, being told about fearful things all the time. I can't remember the last time I could be bothered to watch tv and I attend growth groups and have Christian friends. I pray for my children as I drive them to work. They thank me.
I just wanted to encourage other parents out there to not stop living your Christian life around your children, let them hear you praying, singing, praising. Let them see how you turn to Jesus in pray.
In church one day we had guest speakers who are missionaries in an East Europe country in need. It got me thinking that I would love to serve in some way like that. Then I realised I have my own mission field. It is my home. It is my children .
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