Developing a Child’s Gifts – Page 20

The Only Christian Parenting Mission Statement You Will Ever Need

The Only Christian Parenting Mission Statement You Will Ever Need - Parenting Like Hannah If you read many business, parenting or leadership books, you will eventually encounter several authors who suggest you can’t really achieve your goals without a mission statement. Now I’m not one for all that formality, but the principle is not bad. If you don’t know where you are headed with your parenting, how will you know how to get there?

Google “creating a mission statement” and I am sure you will find a gazillion articles walking you through the process. I am going to save you a ton of time. This is the only mission statement you need as a Christian parent: “I want to parent in such a way that my children and my future descendants spend eternity in Heaven.”

I know some of you are wondering about raising them to be independent or happy or successful or a ton of other adjectives. I promise you every goal you have for your kids fits under the above mission statement in one of three ways:

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Tips for Discipling Your Child

Tips for Discipling Your Child - Parenting Like Hannah In Top Tip for Raising a Mature, Godly Child, I promised to share tips for how to disciple your child. A well discipled child has a much better chance of making more mature, godly choices. As we saw when Jesus discipled his Apostles, there were some mis-steps along the way. One (Judas) even decided to reject everything Jesus had tried to teach him.

There are no guarantees following these tips will make your children perfect or even that they will consistently make godly, mature decisions. Some mis-steps are likely, in part because of their lack of life experience. That is part of the discipling process – teaching, demonstrating and then giving opportunities for guided practice. Guided practice gives your kids a safe place to make those mistakes. A place where a Christian adult is standing by to mentor or offer help when needed. Practice that allows for feedback and correction.

Parents who don’t disciple their kids often find their children are involved in real life scenarios without that extra godly support. Suddenly, these young people are with peers and attempting to make potentially life-changing if not eternity changing decisions without having been prepared. Honestly, it’s surprising more kids and teens don’t end up in over their heads, making poor choices.

So how do you disciple your kids? There are a lot of things you can do, but if you follow the model Jesus set with his Apostles, you will be making a good start.

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Top Tip for Raising a Mature, Godly Child

Top Tip for Raising a Mature Fodly Child- Parenting Like Hannah John Quincy Adams is a little known American President. Other than being the son of President John Adams, most of us know nothing about him. It’s a shame, because I think the Adam’s knew the secret to raising a mature son. (I can’t speak to how godly he was as historians tend to have little interest in such matters.) Don’t believe me?

By the age of fourteen, John Quincy Adams was traveling around Europe helping a diplomat convince other countries to recognize the newly formed United States. This was after having graduated from college that January. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Greek and Latin. (Not to mention a passing knowledge of other languages.) After his European jaunt, he entered Harvard and graduated from there by the time he was twenty.

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Raising an Encourager

Raising an Encourager - Parenting Like Hannah If you want parenting advice, it’s pretty easy to find lots of experts who will help you guide your child away from bad habits. There is also a lot of advice on how to train on practical things like manners. When it comes to heart issues like speech though, it gets much tougher. The Bible tells us what comes out of our mouths reflects what is on our hearts. (Matthew 15:18) How do we mold the hearts of our children so what comes out of their mouths is positive, loving and uplifting?

In Kids, Speech and God, I shared some speech habits which may also reveal some heart issues in your child that need correcting. What if your child has conquered many of the negative speech habits, but isn’t necessarily replacing them with encouraging speech? How can you raise a child who is like Barnabas in the Bible? Barnabas was known for being godly and wise. He reflected God’s love by encouraging others. He regularly shared his faith and encouraged people like Paul to go out and use their gifts to serve and share their faith, too. How can you raise a modern Barnabas in today’s negative world?

There are probably many things you can do, but these will get you started:

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Teaching Kids to Focus on the “Paper” God Gave Them

Teaching Kids to Focus on the "Paper" God Gave Them - Parenting Like Hannah Have you ever wished you had some gift from God you don’t have? Personally, I would love to be able to compose music and have an awesome singing voice. God however, to this point, has not put a single original song in my brain and I am learning to be content with just a passable singing voice.

Now, I could get really obsessive about those musical gifts God didn’t give me. I could become envious of those who have those gifts and make them feel guilty about using their gifts instead of allowing me to show them I am almost as gifted as they are in those areas. I could whine and complain, beg God, force others to pretend I have those gifts or even convince myself I have gifts I clearly don’t have. Or, I could focus on the gifts God did give me. I could develop them to their fullest potential and find all kinds of creative and fun ways to use them in service to God.

Unfortunately, I think we are subtly teaching our children that instead of focusing on the “page” or gifts and opportunities God gave them, they should compete with others to have the “best” gifts. There are a couple of messages our children are learning, which frankly I think are lies satan is promoting to undermine the Church.

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