Giving Grace to Grow

Yep, we are jumping around on topics, and we will continue to do so! We just wanna get people thinking, examining, reevaluating.

I love what Alex Coffman and my husband posted about dating.  I love it because younger people are talking to older people.  I love that communication is happening.  I love that people are SEEKING to understand other points of view!

That is why we blog.  That is why we put ourselves out on the chopping block!

You may not agree with us and that is OKAY!  If it gets you thinking about why you don't agree and what you DO believe, as well as why you believe it, then we have been successful with the mandate God put on us!

Our words are never meant to tear anyone down, only build others up and cause hearts and mindsets to be examined thoroughly!

Praise the Lord that we each have a brain to think with and voice to speak with!  (And, at least for now, have the freedom to do so in America!)

I wish every person could pull down their walls of pride and insecurity and just listen and hear others.  We don't have to pretend to have it all right or have all the answers.  There is NOTHING wrong with saying, "I don't know." or "Maybe I was wrong or too quick to judge and rule."  We aren't really hiding anything from our kids!  They know we are learning as we go.  They know they are guinea pigs!

Let's face it...as parents, we don't know how to raise kids perfectly.  No matter how many children we have and how many times we have done it...no matter how many youth we have worked with, they are all different!  What works for one may push another away from you!

We have to really seek understanding of God's principles and be black and white on those, but be flexible in how we teach with them, guide with them, and instill them.  One individual receives differently than another.  We need God's guidance for EACH child.  I think it's His way of keeping us humble!

God says to train up a child in the way HE should go.  He doesn't say THEY.

My heart's desire is to have enough relationship with each of my sons that they can speak up and be heard, considered, and understood and that they allow me the same grace.  Then hopefully, together we can come to some agreements we can all thrive in.

We talk with our boys about dating NOW before they are even close to it!  We ask them to tell us what they see in the Word...what they feel God wants from them and for them.

See, we believe what God says...only the Word convicts a sinner of his sin.  So if we can get them to examine and speak out what truth they see now, their own hearts will be convicted when they start to deviate.  Their argument won't be with us...it will be with the God they have come to know.

I am so thankful for being able to hear the voices of teens I know.  I pray earnestly that God will speak through them and take all they are saying and put it together so that when my sons do get there, I will have some idea on how to instruct them and not lose them.  I do not want to try to control them.  I want them to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

I pray for the parents of teens.  I ask God to rebuke me ANY and EVERY time I start to judge.  I don't even pretend to have all the answers, and I desperately don't want to see these parental/child relationships severed.

The cry of my heart is that we all give each other the grace to grow!  I really believe it is possible.

(Posted by Mindy)