New Book

Terrible twos are upon us and Mike and I, now more than ever, are seeking counsel on how best to deal with defiance, temper tantrums, not willing to eat, etc. We know these small trials pale in comparison to real challenges that come in parenting later on, but we so want to parent Brayden the right way and deal with these situations the way God wants us too. Something weighing on my heart lately is that Brayden is not ours, but God's, and it's our job to take care of him during the time that we have him. It makes me view parenting in a different light wanting to raise Brayden for eternal purposes and not of the world. It's our natural tendency to parent out of emotion, out of response, and even out of our own convenience but those ways of parenting aren't God's will for us in our parenting journey. All these thoughts and prayers led me to see some Godly counsel and to find a couple books to dive into to learn how to parent better. The first book I received (I also bought a book by John MacArthur) was the one pictured above. I have only had time to dive into the forward and the first chapter and am already loving what I am learning. I wasn't looking for a book to tell me what to do in specific situations but rather how to parent from the heart and be looking at the overall picture. This book, so far, is perfect for that, and I can see why it came so highly recommended. It's about not just raising your child and discipling them, but training them and helping them train and guide their hearts, hence the title, haha! I love this Bible verse that the book focuses on, Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." It talks about discipling kids in different ways and even for a different outcome. We're not supposed to just look for our kids to "behave" and "listen" to us like robots, but understand WHY they are called to behave, about God's commandments to listen to your parents, etc. I'm really looking forward to finishing the book, and probably re-reading it a couple thousand times during the coming years and just wanted to HIGHLY recommend it to you parents, and parents to be someday, I wish I had read this when I was pregnant with Brayden!!