A moment of thankfulness

Do any of you moms ever feel like nothing you say or do or any amount of discipline and instruction gets through the sinful minds of your kids? I mean think about us grown ups, daily does my sin nature reveal itself--daily I neglect to give Christ the supreme position over me and in turn allow me to reign and rule over me. It's a constant giving of myself over to Him and asking the Holy Spirit to consume me like a fire. I am convicted about giving/showing my kids a powerless Gospel. A Gospel that we give lots of lip service to, but are very lax to live w/the same fervor and passion that we allow our lips to utter.

I very often talk about 'my' kids and 'my' reponsiblity of raising them ect...but today afresh I was reminded--they are NOT my kids. They are totally and completely Gods--from the moment He knew them, long before time began, to the womb, through birth and growth...they are not mine. All belongs to Him who is all power.

Hebrews 1:3 says : "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven"

That is ALL power! How mighty is our Great High Priest!

Today I was refreshed and delighted to see God working in my youngest son. I had a busy morning...met a friend at 9a.m. to help her design her kitchen at HD, then off to another friends house for a haircolor and cut. So I had the boys pack some things to keep them busy. In the bag was coloring book, crayons, 20 Questions game, and the dreaded Gameboys. (I do HATE these little mindwasters)

During the hair experience, the boys entertained my friends little 7 month old baby. Well, the baby went to bed after about an hour...and my hair was being cut...and yup...out come the 'mindwasters' One has a hand-me-down 'old version' and the other a 'new' style. Well, there was a little sinful discussion (complaining) about who was going to play which one. After a minute my older son says,

"Hey you know what mom said....if we fight about them, she will just take them
away"

To which my youngest son says,

"yeah, you're right we shouldn't fight over them. We need to build
eachother up, not tear eachother down"

I Thessolonians 5:11 says "Therefore encourage one another and build each
other up, just as in fact you are doing"

Anyway, for his Biblical reply, I can take no credit, they've learned many memory verses , including this one, from Scripture from the Steve Green 'Hide Em' in your Heart' CDs. But his little reply is what I think powerfull Christ-centered parenting is all about. When he recognized that fighting w/his brother is contrary to what God wants for us, God doesn't want us to tear eachother down, he wants us to build eachother up. It says so right there in His Word! How shamed I am that I do not spend more time studying and soaking the very heart of God into my life, which will in turn, soak into my precious kiddos.

Anyway, just wanted to share that tidbit...it's been lightyears since I've posted I know, but we've had some major things going on the past month. Things are starting to mellow to a dull roar and am hoping to be more frequent again! God is good and always faithful and for that I am so thankful.