I have just finished reading Give Them Grace:Dazzling Your Kids with The Love of Jesus. Boy, I know that I rave about a lot of books but this one was basically like a huge relief to me. The reiterated that God is sovereign and in control. You WILL fail as a parent. You are not perfect. You are human. We need to strive to glorify God through obeidience, but even when something happens and you have a bad day, realize that God can and will use that failure as well. It is a great reminder that He is sovereign and that no matter how good or bad we do, He is in control. Here is the description of the book:
"All of us want to raise good kids. And we want to be good parents. But what exactly do we mean by “good?” And is “being good” really the point?
"All of us want to raise good kids. And we want to be good parents. But what exactly do we mean by “good?” And is “being good” really the point?
Mother-daughter team Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson contend that every way we try to make our kids “good” is simply an extension of Old Testament Law—a set of standards that is not only unable to save our children, but also powerless to change them.
No, rules are not the answer. What they need is GRACE.
We must tell our kids of the grace-giving God who freely adopts rebels and transforms them into loving sons and daughters. If this is not the message your children hear, if you are just telling them to “be good,” then the gospel needs to transform your parenting too.
Give Them Grace is a revolutionary perspective on parenting that shows us how to receive the gospel afresh and give grace in abundance, helping our children know the dazzling love of Jesus and respond with heartfelt obedience."
This book has just been such a huge sigh of relief for me. Knowing that I don't have to be the perfect parent. I can't be. Whew! If I don't pray often enough with my child, we don't memorize enough Bible verses, etc. no matter how we think we are failing as a parent, that isn't the point. We need to look to God. I think that sometimes God allows us to feel like bad parents to remind us that we need Him and can't do it without Him. There are so many examples in the Bible of amazing parents in the Bible that ended up having really bad and even considered evil kids. Then, there were some really awful parents who ended up having amazingly godly kids. How? Because God was ultimately in control.
Anyways, this book was so amazing for me. She continually brought me back to the cross and the gospel.
