To all the moms and dads, soon to be moms dads, and ladies and gents thinking of becoming parents, it is a gift, a privilege and a divine task being a mother and father. The book of Proverbs tells us: "train up a child in the way he should go...". There is a way we are to raise our children. In the same scripture it later says, " for when he is old, he will not depart from it."
We can see on the news, and maybe even in the families and people that surround us that things are getting worse, and I am sure generations past could say also that things are not as they once were.
A friend was reminding me today, that our children will be exposed to far more evil than we ever were. They will see things and hear things that may have, but at a much younger age. The book of Matthew says that the world will come to a point that brother will betray brother.
I don't mean to write this to inflict fear, but rather to remind us the impact we can have on our children. Recently, I have been gripped with the desire to instill in my children (and the spiritual children God is giving me), the tools to overcome the things of this world. Jesus said in this world we will experience trouble, but we don't have to be afraid!! Because Jesus has overcome the world, we have too!
This past Sunday David and I were invited to lead worship at a Verbo church in a place called Zacapa, Guatemala. I had never been there before, but as we sang I kept thinking that our singing and our worship to God in that place, was making an impact on the spiritual atmosphere of that place.
My dad is from Guatemala but I am not sure he has been to this part of Guatemala. As we sang I couldn't help but think that my dad's offspring (me) all these years after him, was given the opportunity to visit and bless the land of Zacapa. My dad's next generation made an impact on something that he never did.
My husband and I were discussing how we believe that our children and children's children were made to reach far more and accomplish far more than we ever could.
My grandmother with her 4th generation!
This is our legacy.
It is our task to raise the next generation to be men and women that fear God.
It takes us being selfless, walking by their side, and investing time, and energy.
One day our children will grow up to be presidents, teachers, business men, world travelers, missionaries, doctors, lawyers, people who will also impact the world and the next generations. So what we do today as parents, you can say, will have an impact in the years to come! How transcendent!
Yes evil may be growing, but so much more is the glory of God all over the earth! Be encouraged.
Andrea McCormick
P.S. Speak into your children truth; the truth about who they are in God. Sing it over them, speak over them, write it to them! We are doing something in the supernatural that we may see now, but it will shine in the future generations! (speaking over our children Ephesians 1 is a good place to start!)
