Not Just Going to Happen

So I’ve recently come to a realization and the other day, for some reason, it hit me.  See, as a mom and especially as a mom who loves Jesus, I have this desire.  And that is, that my children will grow up to be amazing and godly people who love Jesus and ultimately contribute good to the greater communities that they live in.

But this is not just going to happen.

Growing up, I remember my Mom telling people that she didn’t really care what me or my sisters did in life as far as our jobs or professions.  She only cared that we grew up to love and serve Jesus.  When I had children, I realized that my deepest desires for them were the same.  More importantly than what jobs our kids would do, was my prayer that they would most of all love Jesus and that their hearts would be right and good.  But as our kids are getting older and their lives more challenging, I’m realizing that this desire that I have for their hearts to be good and for them to do the best and right things, well, it’s not just going to happen.  It’s something that is going to take sweat and tears and work, and apparently lots of it.

If you were to generally ask me about our kids, I’d say that they are mostly amazing.

Except for when they’re not.  We are very much a normal family with a normal life of trying to raise kids that is basically an up and down rollercoaster.  When things are up, we’re thrilled and excited, but when those drops come, we’re scared and holding on for dear life and also kind of just nauseous times.  Parenting is not for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure.

We’ve definitely needed help and support on this parenting journey.  And I thought I’d share about two incredibly helpful ways that we’ve gotten this.

First off, have you ever heard of the saying, “Don’t climb alone”?  Or that there’s “Safety in numbers”?  Well I think that they basically mean that life is better accomplished together.  This morning, from 11:00am-12:00noon, I met with a group of about 20 other parents for a parenting class that Eastport Bible Church is doing.  We talked and we shared and we listened to each others joys and struggles in parenting.  Nathan and Brenda Tuttle, two well seasoned parents who are leading the class gave us encouragement and hope and tools to use.  It was just what I needed.

(We weren’t meant to do this life alone.  If you’re looking for community, check out the many groups that our church offers on our website: www.eastportbiblechurch.com or feel free to contact me (lauraherr8@gmail.com) and I’ll do my best to help get you connected.)

Oh, and also, if you’re local and you’re looking for mom connections, my Moms Group meets this Tuesday from 9:30am-10:30am at our home.  We are fairly informal and don’t have official child care, but kids are welcome and we would love to have you join us.  You can check out this post for more information.

The second thing that has really helped us as we are working to teach and train our children is getting them involved in our church’s various kids and teen groups.  We have seven different groups that meet each week through Eastport Bible Church for kids and teens.  Again, you can check out our website for more details, but each of these groups aims to love and support and help and teach kids and teens and we’ve seen the many ways they’ve helped our kids.

Raising great and awesome kids is a high and hard calling.  But it’s one that is so needed and so worthwhile.  It doesn’t take searching too far to realize that our world is filled with negativity and pain and hurting.  But we can do our best to raise our kids to be better and more loving and more gracious and more amazing.  This takes support for us as parents and support for our kids with groups to meet them where they are at.  And these are two small ways to help accomplish the great goals we have for our children.