Monday, July 7, 2008

Intentional Parenting


We have started new Community Groups at TCAL for the summer. Brian and I are leading one called "Intentional Parenting". I'm going to share the last 2 weeks with you for those who haven't been able to attend yet to catch up or for those of you who can't attend at all. It is our prayer that God could use something to help you or another friend become a little more sharpened as you parent the children God has placed within your care.

The first week we basically did introductions and tried to get to know each other better. We talked about the expectations each had for the group. We took a journey into our past to remember the good times from our past and then recalled the memorable moments we have currently in our families today. We then looked at God's word to see what has been set before us by God. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God the Lord is one Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road when you lie down and when you get up." This is a foundational passage for us as parents as it is our responsibility to "disciple" train, teach our children.

Last week our topic was "Success". Brian posed the question, "What does success look like for your child today?" and then he had each of us write down 5 things that describe what we each saw as success for our child at age 30?

Go ahead, think about it yourself....................

We shared some of the things and then I read a story about a family and their dreams for their son and baseball from "Parenting with Kingdom Purpose". The story displayed the heartache of the parents as they pursued a dream for their son that was not based on God's view of success and purpose for their son.

Next we looked to God's word to see what he had to say about success. Brian asked us as we read the scripture to read them in light of success for your children. The scriptures are: Matt. 22:37-38, Jer. 29:11, 1Cor. 16:13, Ro. 12:1-2, Matt.6:33 and 2Chron. 16.9a. I would challenge you to take a look at these scriptures yourself and see what God might view success to be in the life of you and your child(ren). We find that sometimes our view of success and God's view are not always the same. If this is true for you then you might want to reevaluate and ask that God would help your view line up with his.

The night was ended with an encouragement to pray for God's measure of success for our children and to be a revolutionary parent, be intentional about building the right things in our children and to think with a Kingdom Purpose focus for our families. We gave a handout entitled "10 Building Blocks for Helping Your Kids Become Champions in Life" by Jim Burns & Pat Williams. You can obtain a copy of this article at www.HomeWord.com

For those of you who would like to come to the Community Group it is not too late. We start at 7pm on Tues. Hopefully I will be able to get the next session posted for those of you who are not able to attend and you can again GLEAN from what God has taught Brian and I.

Helping to Build more Authentic Families,
Darla

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