Friendships with History

Tonight, Nathan and I were able to enjoy an evening of dinner and chatting with an old friend. It reminded me that there is something to be said about friends that know your history. I am so thankful for so many of these friends in my life.

I am thankful for those friends that know where I have been, for those that have walked through the good times and bad with me, for those that have prayed for me and with me, for those with whom I can reminisce and for all that these friendships have taught me along my journey. I am certain that God orchestrated these friendships in my life to keep me grounded. Some of them keep me laughing, some of them remind me that I need to shut my mouth more and listen, and others keep me accountable in my walk with God without even knowing it.

My girlfriends and I often talk about the “opposite peer pressure” we faced within our group, and man oh man, I am very thankful for that peer pressure even to this day. I am so humbled by these special friendships. I’m not sure why God chose this path of friendship for me, perhaps because He knew that I need them in my life to keep me serving Him, but it is one of those gifts from Him that I truly treasure.

It is also one of those gifts that I pray He shares with my children as He also gives me discernment to know which friendships to support and which ones to shield them from along their journeys. I truly believe that in many situations, friendships make or break your relationship with God. For me, my friendships through my girlfriends and my youth group were friendships that kept me longing to serve my Heavenly Father. Without those relationships, I don’t know that my journey would have been about serving the Lord.

All of this rambling to say, cherish your friendships and invest in them. I read somewhere recently that a friendship will last forever if it makes it 7 years – I don’t know if that has any truth in it, but it reigns true in my life to date. While some of my friendships have far surpassed that mark, I have others in my life now that I know will go beyond that seven year mark and flourish. I always know a good friendship has evolved in my life when I can say dumb things and not have to apologize because she already knows my heart. I know a good friendship for me is not talking for 6 months and being able to pick right up where we left off. I know a good friendship for me is a friend that will set me straight and love me through my craziness. A good friend for me is one that forgives me over and over again, one that prays with me and for me, one that loves me for me.

 

Instilling a Love Relationship

The thing that I want more than anything else in life is for my children to have a love relationship with our Heavenly Father. I pray daily for my children to receive salvation at a young age and live a life serving God. I pray for them, pray with them, we attend church, we listen to K Love (please don’t be dismayed, I don’t pray enough, we miss services here and there and we enjoy our share of secular music – we totally do not have it together) and we talk about God’s love often, but are these the things that will lead my children into a personal relationship with Christ? Maybe, maybe not. I do believe that building a love relationship with anyone takes intentional and consistent effort. We must be intentional with our spouses. We must be intentional in serving God. We must be intentional in raising our children to love God. We can’t make them love God, but we can create an environment that makes them want to love God.

I look at our family. Nate, our youngest child and only son, will more than likely grow up to be a University of Louisville Cardinals fan because my husband is a Cardinal fan. He will even be content to receive ridicule as he cheers for the team that many Kentuckians cheer against. He will live in this manner because he will desire to follow in the footsteps of his dad.

In this same way, our children will seek a relationship with God that is modeled after that of their parents. Our children will want to follow in our footsteps – are we leaving good footprints? This doesn’t mean we have to be perfect. Praise God!! This means we need to be real with our children. We need to serve God. We need to spend time in His Word. We need to ask for forgiveness when we lose it with them or our spouses. We need to have a true love relationship with God that includes us digging into the Word, praying, praising and serving. If we don’t have a personal love relationship with Christ, our children will not be compelled to love God in our homes. Yes, they may come into a saving relationship with God through church, friends or youth group, but our homes need to be that place in which they learn how to make that relationship grow by watching their parents love God with a fervor that is desirable. If they don’t find that in our homes, they will seek mentors outside of our homes. And, I don’t know about you, but I’m a little selfish, I want to hold that role for my children and let others simply enhance my role.

What Matters Most from Kelly’s Korner Blog

My best friend, Monique, shared an encouraging blog entry with me this morning . . . right after she called to ask me if we could get together one night this week to pray. (Wow, I have truly been blessed with the greatest friend in the world!)

You should definitely read Kelly’s Blog entry because what truly matters most is that our children love God with “all of their hearts, their souls, their strength and their minds” (Luke 10:27). Because of this love relationship with our Heavenly Father, our children will also “love their neighbors.”

Nathan & I always talk about the fact that we truly do not have any desire to see our children reach genius status, and I hope and pray that my friends do not see my as a bragging mother because I work hard to share our craziness and expose our faults of raising 3 kids in 3 years. For some reason, God has blessed us with 3 tremendously bright children, though!

All of my rambling to say, read Kelly’s Blog. I believe it will encourage you and comfort you on this journey of parenthood. There is no need for us to compare our children. In those times that we feel like we need to keep up with the kid down the street, let us drop to our knees in prayer that God will mold the hearts of our children to imitate His way. I also spend many moments praying for the friends that my children will have along the way and for their future spouses. As the girls begin to be in awe of being a bride one day, we have spent time in the car praying together for the men that God is preparing for them.

A Mighty Work in Marriage

God wants to do a mighty work in our marriages! Check out this couple’s story:

Whether we are in a great marriage and need a reminder to keep God as the center, or perhaps there are some of you listening to this story that know it’s time to make a change to put God as the center, this is a heartwarming story of God’s love and the blessing of love within the marriage relationship.

(Special thanks to Bellevue Baptist Church for doing the work of God and sharing this special couple’s story.)

Proverbs 31 Wife – 31 Days of Praying for our Children

20 coMpAssIon:

“Lord, please clothe my
children with the virtue of compassion” (Colossians 3:12)

I really long for Evylee, Kenzlee and Nate to realize that they have been chosen by God to serve as His ambassadors on this earth, and as His ambassadors, it is our role to be compassionate with every person that God has created. This is another day that I pray this prayer for my life, as well. Lord, remind me to be compassionate even when I don’t understand situations before me.

Proverbs 31 Wife – 31 Days of Praying for our Children

19 HuMIlIty:

“God, please cultivate in my children
the ability to show true humility toward all” (Titus 3:2)

Cultivate. I know this word well. My full-time paying job (that I am so thankful to have) is all about cultivation, and cultivation takes a lot of effort, a lot of investment, a lot of thought, a lot of time, a lot of taking notes, a lot of paying attention. That is my prayer to God, and we serve a faithful God who does all of these things for His children. Let us give our children to God in faith that they will show humility to ALL of those that surround them. 

Proverbs 31 Wife – 31 Days of Praying for our Children

18 perseverAnce:

“Lord, teach my children perseverance in all they do, and help them
especially to run their race with
perseverance” (Hebrews 12:1)

Let us pray specifically that our children will run the race without allowing obstructions in their paths, without giving up or giving in to sin and the ways of the world. Let us pray that our children will be surrounded with people that will run the race with them . . . boldly. 

Proverbs 31 Wife – 31 Days of Praying for our Children

17 Joy:

“May my children be filled with the joy
given by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians
1:6)

Doesn’t it just melt your heart when your children are happy? And, doesn’t it bless your heart to know that their happiness comes from their joy in the Lord?

Proverbs 31 Wife – 31 Days of Praying for our Children

16peAce:

“Father, let my children make every effort
to do what leads to peace’” (Romans
14:19)

As I pray for Evylee, Kenzlee and Nate this morning, I must also pray for myself, that I be willing to deny myself to serve God and others because truly serving God and others leads to peace. 

Some versions say “let us pursue” in place of “make every effort”. “Let us pursue” means to constantly go after something. So, this is going to be a daily decision, a daily effort, a daily act to seek peace in our actions and our interactions with others.

And in some versions, in place of “peace”, Paul wrote “edify” which means to constantly build up. That is my desire, the prayer of heart for my children and myself to be those lights that are constantly building up one another. I am surrounded by so many amazing people who constantly do this for me, and I want to be that blessing, as well.

As we walk into the weekend, let’s have a moment of application:

We see that a close walk with our God is largely a matter of where our focus is. If we are focused on ourselves and seeking to satisfy our own desires, we will stray from God because we aren’t watching where we’re going. But if our focus is on Him, then we will be following in His footsteps, and serving God and fellow Christians becomes our constant objective. Is it time for another focus check?

As I pray for my children to grow in peace, to be encouragers in their spheres of influence . . . DAILY, I also pray that they will stay focused on their Father all the days of their lives.

Proverbs 31 Wife – 31 Days of Praying for our Children

15 GenerosIty:

“Grant that my children
may be generous and willing to share, laying up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for eternity”
(1 Timothy 6:18-19)

My husband really has a gift of generosity. I am so thankful that he has taught me over the years how to be more generous with a willing spirit. There were times in my life that I would be generous because that was the Christ-like thing to do, but it wasn’t Christ-like when my heart wasn’t being generous. Since we have been married, though, I have learned from him to have a heart for generosity. I am so thankful that our children have an amazing Daddy to teach them about generosity daily.