Good Parenting

Sunday school class was about Ruth and how she left her kids behind so they can take care of themselves and she can go home and glean what she can at home. Because she made such a sacrifice, the Lord provided for her by giving her Boaz to take care of her for the rest of her life. The morning sermon was about Peter preaching to the crowd at the temple after healing the cripple. He spoke of the Jesus of the Past, the Jesus of the Promise, and the Jesus of the Present. The evening sermon was about Jonah's 3D's-Distress, Decisions, and Deliverance.

Ruth was said to be one of those women that everyone loved to be around. That kind of person that has an inner glow, that has love to give. Her husband died, her daughter's husbands died. Instead of cursing God, she tells her girls that she was going to go home and try to take care of herself there and leave them where they were in hopes they would find a husband to care for them.

In those days, there wasn't a Wal-Mart for the girls to work as cashiers, and Ruth (presumed to be fairly old) couldn't be a door greeter. The men were the breadwinners and the women were the care givers. It wasn't until the social revolutions in recent history has this changed. Our generation was probably the first complete generation that was raised to believe that women are complete equals. I was raised this way. My father taught us four girls how to take care of ourselves to the point of how to change the oil in our cars, how to change a flat, how to do simple repairs on the home. Part of this was because he wanted to make sure we didn't have to rely on him to do it for us, but also so that we could stand on our own. Two of us daughters were also his tom-boys so we were also his little grease monkeys.

But as we discussed in class, I think that part of the digression of society is that we no longer have the male role as the dominant voice in the house. The female isn't the supporter and encourager, but is now quite often the bread-winner. It is very rare that both parents aren't working outside the home, but it isn't just the financial leadership that is lacking from the men, but the spiritual leadership as well. I know how much trouble I used to have with the idea of this with a man having any "control" over me and even suspecting he was going to tell me what to do. After years of an overly strict father and abusive ex-husband, the last thing I was going to tolerate was a man telling ME anything. The difference is simply that the man is leading a God loving and God fearing family with God's will and not his own.

Another point that brought me to a gut wrenching epiphany is that we do teach our children to be self-sufficient, specifically our daughters. We teach them they do not have to have a man to be happy. They do not have to have a man to change their oil! There is not a single thing a man can do that a woman can't do. Just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be. I can stand on my head but I probably shouldn't because I end up with a headache. I need to revamp how I teach my girl. She needs to know how to be supportive without being a doormat. She needs to know how to be an encourager without being saccharine. She needs to know how to be a good wife, mother, and daughter of the Lord. This is going to be added to my prayers.

Acts 3:11-18  

11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. 17 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.

Brother Terry is pretty funny. He asked us what we thought a Baptist preacher would do if he saw a bunch of people together...preach a sermon of course! It helps if there's a miracle present. We are in the presence of miracles every day. Our sins being washed away by the blood of the Lamb is a miracle. If something happened that can't be explained, it was God. 

I have one of those instances recently. As some of you may know, my son and I were estranged this summer. His father poisoned him against me for years, but this past summer was the culmination of years of accusations and anger. I had to let my son go. I told him that I would pray for him and good luck in life; he was going to need it. This wasn't God's will, this was the words of a hurt and wounded mother. I was doing what I thought was best for everyone by letting him go, and at that time it probably was the right thing. All I know is that it has gnawed at me for months that he didn't talk or even try. So I started praying for God to show me his will. I had glimpses of what I thought I should do. Every time I thought of something to do, a voice in my head said, "your son won't learn anything if you cave in now. Let him come to you." So I kept praying for God to show me his will. I waited. Then the voice was silenced; the Devil had to shut up. I came home from shopping last Friday and my computer was logged in as my son's user name. He hasn't been at my house in three months. He doesn't have a way to get into the house. There is no explanation other than God stopped being subtle and spoke clearly. My opportunity came later that day when he posted that his phone was no longer operational and Facebook was his only means of communication. "If you need me, message me on here and I'll try to get back to you." My comment was I had been praying for him. He didn't answer, so I sent him a message. This opened up the line of communication that we haven't had for the last three months. We haven't talked yet since, but I am still praying. God's grace has blessed me and I will pray without ceasing that it will touch his heart as well.