Day 21!!! Wisdom in raising Tate

Ok so its the last day!!!! I am going to write a longer blog about the differences I have seen in myself along with how else this fast has effected me tomorrow. Today, I will write on wisdom in raising Tate. As Chris wrote in his blog yesterday it is hard to not to just have him along for the ride, but he deserves just as much time as the other kids so here it goes.

Oh my little Taterman, I love that kid. I went to a women's retreat last night and for most of the day today and God had some really amazing things to reveal to me. It was a great way to end the fast. One of the things was putting the scripture together in raising our kids. I discussed in an earlier blog about Proverbs 22:6 which states:

Train up a child in the way he should go,And when he is old he will not depart from it.

We talked earlier how this means raising up the child in the way that God intended for that child to be. This can lead to the conclusion that if we raise a child up in the way that we think they should go (like making them play soccer when they really want to play piano, or trying to make them an extrovert when God has clearly made them an introvert, etc.), we are saying that our way is better than God's.   Therefore, his authority means nothing to us as we can't trust him to make our children in a the way that is best. When we try and raise our children up in the way that we think is best we exasperate them and then go against Ephesians 6:4:

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

If we don't trust God in making our child the way that he intended, then how can we teach them how much they are valued by us and God? And how can we raise them to be what God intended if we aren't using God's guidance in making decisions about how they are raised?

Now I have to be careful because people could easily take this out of context and can make excuses for not raising them up in the Lord. God's word does not contradict itself. Sinful nature is part of all of us, so we cannot make excuses for our children's sinful nature, saying that God made them like that. We have to take the way that God made our kids and use that for good.

For example, if you have a super aggressive kid with lots of energy, you will just exasperate them by asking them to sit still and then you will get mad when they are unable to do that, and then disobey your instructions or hurt other people. However, if you are able to see that God made them with a strong will and lots of energy, you can use that to his/her benefit by having them play a sport or exercising in order to take good care of their body. This can also be a tool that God uses to teach about self control and how He is able to help them in times that they are struggling. If you are constantly yelling and trying to make them into something that they are not, that is exasperating them and not raising them up in the way that they should go.

Sorry it's a lot today, but God really has showed me what he has made me for during this fast, and that is to teach children their immense value. I feel that in society today, children are not valued in the slightest, they are killed in utero if they are an inconvenience or if they are not the way that we want them to be, they are banned from restaurants for being who they are, they are seen as a burden and a nuisance in so many areas that it hurts my heart. Of course there are kids shooting each other at schools, they are not held in high regard or as a gift from God, and if that is how you think of yourself, where else do you go?

I know I kind of went on a rant and not everything I said will be popular with all the people who read it, but that is how I feel. Last day, and this has seriously been one of the best experiences of my life. I will type more on that tomorrow :)