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Heart issues is what has been on my heart here of late. My heart issues, our children's heart issues, and heart issues of those around us, as well as heart issues of the America society in general. Whew, a heavy topic! We have a vision for our children. This is a vision that has evolved over time, and will continue to do so as the Lord leads. Our vision for our children is a lot different now than it was even six years ago. Praise God! Parts of our vision are still a bit hazy, especially when it comes to the fine details. One area that the Lord has made very clear is that what it boils down to is having our children's hearts. It is not enough for us to take our children to church, to read the Bible to them, to homeschool them, to pray with them. While all of these are essential, it is NOT enough. I firmly believe that all of these things are not enough for any Christian family! It is easy for us and many if not most Christain parents to get lax in this area. Infact I believe many Christian parents don't even realize the need. Getting our children's hearts and keeping them are hard work, no doubt about it! One of the ways the Lord has brought this to our attention is through one of our friends. You see this family has three children with the youngest now being 20. We have known this family for 10 years. This family homeschooled their children, they taught them to have daily devotions, the read the bible to them each day, and they took them to church with them twice a week. But, they didn't capture their children's hearts, as is evident now as these children are leaving home. What a heart ache for these parent's! Oh, the cry of this mother. You see, one of their daughters met a "Christian" man, and they began dating. He spent lot's of time with the family and treated her like a princess. But, there was one issue that put question marks into the parent's minds. Because of the way he treated her and interacted with their family, the parent's spoke to there child and shared their concern in this one area. But, she pleaded her case, the situation was made out to be a very light thing, and ultimately she married him. Two weeks after their marriage union he began verbally and emotionaly abusing her! They have been married a few months now and are in counsuling which is good, but they have a long road ahead and she has suffered such heartache! Our hearts are so saddened for this girl we think of as a neice. Oh, the heartache of this young girl, this young wife. I cried thinking of her and how that could be one of our daughters. You see, in the eyes of the Christian community, the parent's did everything right while parenting these children. They did all the things the Christian parenting books tell us to do. But in the end, it was not enough. Speaking with these friends, they see where they went wrong. But they didn't have the vision when their children were young. They didn't even know what captuing their children's hearts was or what it would look like. They didn't have others in their lives to share these important concepts with. Oh, how the church at large has become watered down. You see, if these parent's had their daughters heart when they had any question at all about this man, she would have fleed from him. Her Daddy would have been the love of her life and if her Daddy had questions she would have dropped everything and clinged to him. Dear Mother's do you have your children's hearts? Are you working every day to capture their hearts? And, how do we do this? What does capturing our children's hearts mean? I must go for now, and I need to be capturing my children's hearts at this moment. But I will write a part two, soon. In the meantime, pray about your children's hearts, pray about your heart. Listen and obey Him! |
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