Confident Hope

I sit here and think about how much my life has changed in the last year. How God has grown me tremendously and continues to grow me with each passing day! I think I am going to start blogging more now that I have the time. I am going to share a little lie that the enemy put in my head a while back and how God has changed that in me by knowing him, by knowing his character, by knowing his word and by giving me confident hope!

I was at the park for a play date with a friend. I don’t remember exactly the situation but I remember Jonah did something and my question to him was, “what does the Lord say about that?” My friend was listening and she said to me, “way to make him never listen.” This was so many years ago and I remember thinking about the statement A LOT! Would I turn my kids away from the Lord always correcting them with the Lord? Always using his word in every circumstance? My answer was “no”. But did I really believe that? I don’t know that in every situation, in every little thing in life that I was thinking of the Lord, presenting his word in all things or praying about everything in life.

Jonah has always been my struggle. I was talking to Kit this morning about if we were failing. Kit right away said, “We are not failing.” The word says to “raise up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Jonah is stubborn. He is strong-willed. He thinks the absolute highest of himself. He is nine and he thinks he is always right. When we do devotional he is usually interrupting or in his own thoughts. He goes non stop! He goes until his head lies down and he crashes. The enemy tries to use my parenting with Jonah a lot to make me feel defeated. Sometimes I feel secluded with the situation. Jonah can’t function in a school setting. He just falls behind, he doesn’t fit into the mold they are trying to teach to. I feel secluded that Jonah is so hard that no one ever invites him over. That he is so rambunctious that instead of people loving him and excepting the loud, proud child that he is they are wanting him to be an obedient rule-following child. I am super involved at church and sometimes I have felt that it is hard to be there all day because people are getting frustrated with him. Maybe you have felt like you have a child that doesn’t fit in? That you can’t leave his side. I have these emotions too but let us take our thoughts captive(2 Corinthians 10:5). Let us pray for our kids. Let us train up our kids in the way they should go so when they are older they will not depart from it. Pray for families like yours that have kids that have the same traits that want to share in life together. God provides everything we need. These kids are hard to raise but God knew we could do it. Pray that their strong will is only for God. That their attitude that they can do anything is that they can do anything for God! Pray for kids that can connect with the kid you struggle with at home. Anoint your kid at night and speak over their life. Give God all you struggle with. If you have a child that you don’t understand, God understands them. I didn’t know how to write this? Is it okay to feel like you have a child that you have no idea what you are doing? I have three kids and though each one is different I don’t struggle with the other two not listening at all. I don’t struggle like I do with my son.

Last week Jonah was fighting back and forth with me. He was saying that he didn’t do something that I said he did. He fights with me non stop like this. He is always on defense. It ended with him swearing to God that he was telling the truth. In which I told him he may not do!

Today Jonah came into the house from outside where he was playing with his friend. I asked him why he was inside. He said his friend keeps saying he did something that he didn’t do. He said really his friend was the one that did it. I kept cleaning the bathroom as I thought about what he was saying. I struggled with what he was saying. It seems like we just keep going through this. Jonah, I said, “you don’t need to say who is right or who is wrong. Go tell him you are sorry and you want to play with him.” I already told him, I am sorry and want to play with him even though I didn’t do it. Again, Jonah, you don’t have to tell him you didn’t do it. I know mom, turn my other cheek. Yes, I have used that a lot! Okay, I thought, “it is time to sit with my son and talk about this.” So, we sat and had a conversation. I wasn’t going to say that Jonah. I want to talk to you about this whole situation. We had just gone over this Kit and I with him yesterday. He and his friend fight back and forth every day about who is right and who isn’t which usually leads to them taking a break from each other and then playing again after a break. That doesn’t get to the heart of the issue though. I had just read in Mathew 5 about oaths and I wanted to go back to the other day when you swore to God that you didn’t do it. I read Mathew 5 to him. I will only put here Mathew 5: 37; All you need to say is ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. He was not happy to sit and listen. He kept saying, “fine I will go back outside.” No, Jonah, you will sit here with me and listen. You feel the need to defend yourself a lot. The word says that we don’t need to do that. The other day you swore to God. That is taking this to a new level of defense. I hope that you wouldn’t ever swear to God with a lie. The word says to say your yes or no and that is all. God knows the truth, he knows and sees all. God knows if you did or didn’t do something. So, say your yes or no and then stop. God came not in his glory and splendor of being King. He came here as a servant. He came here as an example of how we are to be. Of how to live. Jonah, you have told me that you have given your life to the Lord. So, that means your life is not your own. That the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and you are lead by God. God has a plan for your life. You don’t have to defend yourself because it doesn’t matter. You are to show your friend Jesus’ love. God came to serve. He came to love. He came so we would know how to be towards others. We are to be patient, to be kind, to be joyful, to share love, to share goodness, to share gratefulness, to show self-control and live out faithfulness and to be peaceful. He came in humility. Jonah, you are to think of others above yourself. So, I ask you to follow God’s word. If you tell him you didn’t do it, then leave it at that. Don’t fight. I can promise you when you get married, you and your wife will not agree on everything. There are times when your dad and I do not agree. If I think something is right that he does not, I have learned to say it to him. To say it, then to leave it at that. To pray about it and to allow God to speak to him. We can’t control things. God is in complete control. We can’t control our lives for our lives are God’s. This makes me think about the story we learned in kids church about Joseph. How he was sold into slavery and because he was a faithful servant of God he became the number one servant in Potiphar’s house. Then Potiphar’s wife wanted to sleep with Joseph.(Genesis 39) He was a God-fearing man and even though this woman was rich and beautiful and he was just a servant he didn’t think of the situation as someone important wanting him, he knew it was wrong and he said no. He was faithful to God. She was not happy that he wouldn’t be with her and she threw herself at him. When Joseph ran away she ripped a piece of his shirt. She then turned him in for rape. She lied and Joseph went to jail. He went to jail for something he didn’t do. Joseph didn’t try to prove his innocence. Don’t you think things seemed bad to Joseph? He was sold into slavery, worked his way up because of his faithfulness and then even though he was faithful he was thrown in jail for something he did not do. Joseph prayed and he trusted God’s plan. I am amazed by Joseph’s faithfulness. He interpreted two men’s dreams. Jonah chimed in that one man died. You are correct Jonah one man did die. He interpreted that one would die and one would live and he told them not to forget him. To tell Pharaoh about him. They forgot. Joseph was in jail for 10 years altogether. Then Pharaoh had a dream and the cupbearer who lived remembered his promise to Joseph. When no one could interpret Pharoah’s dreams the cupbearer told him that Joseph who is in prison can interpret dreams. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and he was placed as his right-hand man. He was next in line after Pharoah of important people. Joseph never lost hope in God’s plan. He never lost his faithfulness. Your life is God’s and he has a plan for your life. You don’t have to fight those battles in defense of you being right. Say it once and be done, God knows the truth.  Jonah’s whole attitude changed. He sat looking at me and listening fully. I hugged him and told him that I love him so very much and that he is an amazing man of God. Who shows how amazing Jesus is by the way he lives his life. And it’s moments like this that I know God has my kids in his hands.

I do not think I am right in everything. Quite honestly I think that I make so many mistakes it is ridiculous! But God is made known in my weakness(2 Corinthians 12:9). When I think I am failing God shows me, he is working! I am learning to not only know God’s word but to fully live it out. I know that I am to answer all things in my life, in my husband’s life, and in my children’s life by God’s words. I am only to live out God’s word. When I gave my whole life to God, my life was no longer mine. I live in God’s confident hope ❤

I am amazed by God every second of every single day ❤

Cheers,

Blake