The Bible says if you train up a child in the way they should go, they will not depart from it when they are older.
I thought I had done the right thing by taking my children to church when they were young. Their dad didn’t see the need to take them to church. I had been raised in the church though and I knew the importance of spiritual guidance.
When they became teenagers they all went through a period when they refused to go to church with me.
My oldest son was the one who refused first, then my daughter and when my youngest son came back to live in Texas he refused also.
My mother who is a control freak and a bit of a narcissist was adamant that I continue to preach to them about God.
I talk about God a lot but I don’t preach. I did not force my children to go to church with me because that needed to be their decision, not mine.
I just kept going to church and would testify to them of God’s work in my life. I tried not to push them.
It was on a Sunday morning, not long ago, when my youngest son came down the stairs and asked to go to church with me. It was too late on that Sunday and soon after I had made the decision to change churches. As soon as I found the church that I feel God wanted me to attend we started going together.
This evening my daughter said that her Prince Charming was taking her to a young adult service at my church tomorrow night.
I know my oldest son’s girlfriend is a Christian and I imagine she has encouraged him to attend church with her also.
It is amazing to me how God’s word always fulfills it’s purpose.
If I would have played God and gone all hysterical on my children when they said they didn’t want to go to church God may have lost them.
It was my responsibility to train them it was His responsibility to make sure they did not depart from the training that they received in His house.
Very nice post Gracie
Jesus said ‘ I stand at the door and knock” We can’t open the door for our children but we can say “there it is”
We can make a point of letting our children know what Jesus has meant to us in our lives and that we know him and we need him. We can let them know that he is the Rock we depend on in our lives. We can let them know that we are broken and we are nothing without his Strength. We should share our stories about when we first came to know Him and how that happened.
We should never beat our kids over the head with the Bible or God’s Word.
So true because of my mother’s control issue I turned my back on church for many years. I didn’t want to go for her I wanted to go for God. Now church is the highlight of my week and I am thrilled that my son is going with me and my daughter and her Prince Charming are going to a young adult meeting tonight.