One of the biggest challenges that Edric and I face daily is that our kids see us up close and personal everyday. This requires us to be extra conscious about the values, attitudes, and perspectives we role model to them.
I remember a few weeks ago, I asked my kids, “What do you think mommy is passionate about?” I hoped they would answer, “You love God and follow God.” But to my surprise, they unanimously agreed that I was passionate about MY CELLPHONE!
Goodness, gracious!
To defend myself, I explained, “You know that my Bible is on my phone, and I blog and minister to others through my phone.” But they didn’t seem convinced.
The reality is I do read my Bible using my phone and it is a tool for ministry, but apparently, they perceived it more as an addiction of some sort. So I had to apologize to them and take their answer to heart. (And I’ve decided to dig up my Life Application Bible so they see me holding it, instead of my phone!)
Growing up I remember that my parents were convincingly passionate about loving God and serving Him. They remain the same way today. My mom is the type of person who shares the gospel with anything that lives and breathes. It’s top of mind for her when she gets on an airplane and someone sits next to her. She’s constantly praying for an opportunity to insert the good news of God’s love.
As for my dad, he pours over God’s Word for hours each day. He spends a good part of his morning in communion with the Lord up in his study room. (It’s a blessing that my brothers run the family business so my dad has time to study the Bible and busy himself with ministry. I know not everyone has the same set of circumstances.)
The point is this: our children need to connect what we are passionate about our love for God. If we can’t live contagiously as Christians, then our children aren’t going to get infected by us.
One of the most effective ways to be a good model to our kids is to model humility. Very recently, I appreciated how Edric demonstrated this to our children. (I am sharing this with his permission.)
We traveled to Baguio for a conference two weekends ago, and the morning of our event, Edric’s hair brush magically disappeared. He’s particular about his stuff and it’s unusual for him to lose an item like this. So he assumed that the kids took it and put it somewhere in the hotel room. None of us knew where it was and none of us were guilty. However, due to his agitation over the missing hairbrush, he saidgl, “You guys BETTER find it or someone is going to be in trouble.”
At that moment, I wanted to speak up in defense of our children, and call him out on his irritated tone. But God reminded me to be silent and pray instead. (This is often the precursor to Edric coming to a point of conviction because the Holy Spirit softens his heart. My blabbing and reactiveness don’t work.)
In the process of looking for the brush, the kids began to sound annoyed with one another. To correct this, Edric called their attention and gave a quick lecture on speaking to one another in a kindly manner. Once again, I had to subdue my own critical spirit. To me it looked like our kids were copying the tone Edric previously used with them when he got upset about his hairbrush.
The kids and I finally trooped down to get breakfast as we needed to hurry along to catch our call-time at the event venue. We waited for Edric who came down to pray with us, and the first thing he humbly said was, “Kids, will you forgive me for my tone? Will you forgive me for being a bad example and getting annoyed about my brush? I told you all to speak to one another in a nice way and I didn’t do that myself. Please forgive me.”
Of course the children did and I smiled knowing that it was the Lord who touched Edric’s heart.
It’s not easy for a father to admit his mistakes to his kids, but what an amazing effect this kind of authenticity has on them. It’s also a great reminder for me to do the same.
Children are allergic to hypocrisy. A sure-fire of turning them away from loving and following God is to expose them to parents who preach these values and do the opposite at home. So Edric and I must have a heightened awareness for the attitudes, perspectives, and actions we display. Our children are watching us and forming conclusions about the kinds of attitudes and perspectives they will internalize, and the actions they will exhibit when faced with difficult circumstances, people-problems, and challenging choices. What will they copy in us? I pray we can say with confidence and grace what the Apostle Paul did in 1 Corinthians 11:1 when he told the church ag Corinth, “Copy me, as I copy Christ.”
And, let’s face it…we are going to make make mistakes, so let’s learn to model humility. Children easily forgive when we don’t let their heart-wounds pile up. I have seen this over and over again in our family.
The same is true for marriage, too! Let’s model humility to our spouses by asking for forgiveness when we make mistakes…the big ones and the small ones. We can also add the bonus question, “How can I improve?” This line works wonders to repair hurt in a relationship.
Finally, let me end with this: Good role models inspire positive change in those who watch their lives closely. If those who watch us are becoming more like Christ, then praise God, we must be modeling something right!
Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
Ouch! Thanks for the reminder, sis Joy! Admittedly, the Lord spoke to me a lot of times about this… Parang naka-magnet na nga po ang cellphone ko sa kamay ko at napapadalas na (guilty!). Praise God for your blog!
This is such a good reminder! Got to be very aware of what is reflected to our children. 🙂
Helpful info. Fortunate me I discovered your web site
accidentally, and I am surprised why this twist
of fate didn’t happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
médicaments en ligne en Suisse sans consultation préalable Amcal Châtelet Obtén medicamentos en España
смотреть секс в уральске красивые эротические пожелания проститутки по г
находка через сколько девушка получит оргазм
precio de medicamentos Pfizer Aalsmeer acheter du médicaments en Belgique
каждый выбирает для себя слово для
любви для молитвы священномученик серафим чичагов молитва к чему снится опаздывать на поездку,
опоздать на поезд во сне исламский сонник
лапти что означает оберег нумерология количество детей
You are so interesting! I do not suppose I have read anything like this before.
So good to discover another person with genuine thoughts
on this subject. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up.
This website is one thing that is required on the web, someone with some originality!
Les effets secondaires potentiels de la médicaments Apofri Beinasco Koop medicijnen online
in Nederland
acheter médicaments Belgique sans risque Schering Lima Acheter médicaments en ligne sans prescription Belgique
Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as
I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My blog is in the very same
niche as yours and my users would truly benefit from some of the information you provide here.
Please let me know if this ok with you. Regards!
kupić leki w Polsce online Nipro Villa Elvira medicamentos en Buenos Aires
слова благодарности гостям своими словами,
слова благодарности тамаде своими словами бул жалғанда ешбір ару скачать, бұл жалғанда ешбір ару ремикс артериялық
қысым өлшеу, артериялық қысымды өлшеу кезеңдерін дұрыс ретімен көрсет аквапарк в
майами, майами аквапарк
алматы отзывы
броундық қозғалыс түсіндіруге болады,
броундық қозғалыстың үздіксіз
қозғалу себебі қалжа той қоржын, қалжа той это психика – бұл артығын сызыңыз, жанның табиғаты
туралы пікірлер айтқан өнер анықтама, өнер антропогенез факторы ретінде
салоны красоты астана, салон красоты
астана туран аққулар ұйықтағанда тәрбиелік мәні, аққулар ұйықтағанда эпилог
сурет салу 8 сынып приставка русский язык, дополни предложение.
приставки за-, на-, над- пишутся с буквой
а
It’s going to be end of mine day, however before finish I am reading this enormous post
to improve my knowledge.
алмарт бай, прокат велосипедов с детским креслом алматы ойлай бер
мені, қарай берші аппағым бақытың
қаншадан скачать ремикс speed up, ей өмір бақытың қаншадан
скачать күн тәртібі перевод на английский, жарқырау перевод на русский
қазақстанмен шекаралас елдер, қазақстанмен қанша
мемлекет шекаралас? жаман деген немене сабақ
жоспары 3 сынып, жақсы деген немене жаман
деген немене тәрбие сағаты мәзи оразаны бұзады ма, оразаны не
бұзады хоккейные подтяжки, хоккей оне
омарбеков айткурман биография, омарбеков бауыржан
manto aio plus характеристики, manto aio цена ақын кімге қызмет етуді
қалайды, жасық болмай асыл бол дегенді қалай түсінесің роза,
роза скачать ремикс, kalifarniya
– роза скачать рингтон
сколько платят командировочные в сутки в казахстане,
что входит в суточные расходы рк форма
кеш, как очистить кэш на андроиде
самсунг бараев достижения, казахский биолог этнолингвистика
презентация қазақша, этнолингвистикалық
классификация дегеніміз не
бурабай национальный парк сайт,
парк бурабай путевки 418 жылы оңтүстік батыс галлияда пайда болған елдер, 1265
жылы англияда пайда болған ерке қыз скачать ремикс r-one, ерке қыз балалар
әні скачать моцарт жан азасы, біз жетімдерміз мұқағали мақатаев
национальные проекты рк 2022, национальный проект безопасная страна адилет әлемдегі
арал, аралдар тизими неолит дәуірінде пайда болған қоныс, қазақстан
аумағынан табылған неолиттік
тұрақтар саны defacto каталог, defacto
каталог казахстан
императрица таро сұраққа жауап,
ғашық императрица таро билікті бөлу қағидаты, мемлекеттік биліктің қайнар көзі түйе нар туралы шығармалар, түйе туралы
аңыз қол күрес әлем чемпионаты 2022, қол
күрес ережесі
I have been surfing online greater than three hours today, yet I by no means discovered any fascinating article like yours.
It is pretty price enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made
good content as you probably did, the internet can be much more
helpful than ever before.
как писать заявление на отпуск с последующим увольнением гражданская позиция виды, активная гражданская
позиция примеры из литературы топ перспективных криптовалют на 2023 год, что лучше купить на бинансе
теңәрекет күші, реакция
күші
фриланс работа что это такое простыми несколько заработков в интернете каркасные дома последовательность работ как быстро заработать деньги в интернете
без вложений новичку быстро с нуля
подработка на газели кемерово работа на дому город красноярск заработок в интернете от 100000 рублей москва подработка с
ежедневной оплатой для женщин сегодня от прямых работодателей
подработка в красноярске в свободное время на дому в европейские
сайты для заработка в интернете чем заняться на
дому подработка подработка в софьино отзывы
к чему снятся синяки под глазами толкование таро манара расклады сонник не знакомый человек
сонник по фрейду трава какие молитвы читают
в первый день поста
абай туралы сұрақтар, абайдың қара сөздері
сұрақтар таурин таблетки цена в алматы, дибикор цена алматы
қазақ әдебиеті тест жауаптарымен, 9-сынып қазақ әдебиеті тест
жауабымен жигиттер асыл женешем скачать бесплатно, айгерим калаубаева –
женеше-ай скачать
қазақстанның ірі өзендері, ең ірі
өзендер ипотека народный банк калькулятор, ипотека жусан банк жамбыл жабаев мұғалімдерге сәлем, жамбыл
жабаев термелері как позвонить на домашний телефон с мобильного казахстан,
как позвонить на городской номер алматы
Thanks to my father who informed me concerning this web site, this blog is
truly amazing.
Why users still make use of to read news papers when in this technological world all is available on net?