Quote:
Originally Posted by pelathais
I used to "teach them how to pray" by dangling them out over the edge of hotel balconies with a Blanket on their heads. Then, some other guy did that with his kid and it wasn't cool anymore.
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Well, In my opinion, children are a product of nature verses nurture. Influences in a child's life are many but for Apostolics there are major ones: the community of family/parents, grandparents, the community of church, and the community of school peers and educators.
God puts life and basic personality into children and parents either nurture the image of God in them, or they destroy the image of God in them. The church either abuses and controls or it affirms and grows them up into mature christians.
Parents have the formative years to instill honor for God, country, & family, or not. the church influence should have a backseat to the teachings of the home especially when parents are of the household of faith. If parents and church do the job God intended then the world/school/peers will have little to no lasting influence.
Since no parent gets a trial run, and some have no godly example of how to be a good and effective parent...many have to rely on the mercy and grace of God to override destructive parenting, spiritual abuse, and societal influence.
If you ask me how I helped my children personally: I prayed with them and for them, fasted with them & for them, taught them the word of God at home after what was taught at church and referred them to scripture and not traditions of man. I taught them kindness, sharing, manners, hygiene, and how to be the best they could be. I let them make decisions for themselves when they were old enough whether I agreed with them or not. I have always been supportive and wanted better for them than they want for themselves.
My daughter thinks I am not proud of her because she chose a road that I would never have chosen for her, but she is full of promise and purpose and God will honor her for doing the best she could with what she has to work with. She is a good mother and friend to many. She loves God and that will see her through.
My son likes to think he is most like his father but he is only like his father in height. He is industrious, intelligent, and a good provider for his family. He thinks he will do a better job in his marriage than his parents did...and he may but only if God is who He is following and not just to prove a point.
I raised them the best I could in the wisdom and knowledge I had. I wasn't the best Mom, but I was a good one. I trust God that He cannot lie and he has to do as He promised:
1. He promised if
I trained them up in the way they should go - when they are old they will not depart from it.
2. He promised that
He would restore to me the years the moth & cankerworm have eaten up.
From my youth I have loved and lived for God. I was not always faithful, but God has been. There is no one who loves my children and grandchildren more than I do. They know this deep in their heart and one day they will do as God has told them to do...honor their parents. This is the
ONLY commandment with a built in
PROMISE. The promise is a long life to those who honor their parents.
The difficult thing is this: Whatever they sow - they will reap in their own children no matter how much time, energy, & money they put into them.
Blessings, Rhoni
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