3 More Keys

Last month we ended off with the first key which was to position yourself in the Throne Room of God so as to pursue His heart for you and your child. As we end off this series, here are the remaining 3 keys that I have found helpful on my parenting and teaching journey…

Delight in Their Design

See the treasure in your children and celebrate their unique design and destiny. Find people who know you, and who love and connect with your child and hear what they see.

Find out what God says about them. He made them and for purpose!  Ask God for a prophetic picture of how he sees your children and keep that in your mind on the journey.

Connect to a community and surround yourself with people who have the same values as you do, who see greatness in your child and help you see it when you are battling to see if for yourself.

Understand How You and Your Child Tick

Knowing and understanding how we are uniquely designed, and how to respond to that with our hearts and not our minds. Ensure that your needs and their needs are being met in a healthy way.

Connect, Connect, Connect

This is the “heart” of the matter

Be intentional!

Connect with your children. Be intentional about pursuing their hearts! Fight for that connection and don’t allow anything to get in the way of it. Find ways in which they receive love. Read Love Languages for Children  and find out what their love language is, then use it.

Connect them and yourself to their Heavenly Father

Connect with your spouse

Connect with other like-minded people. It does take a village to raise a child.

Connect to resources like Loving Our Kids on Purpose” by Danny Silk, Keep Your  Love On by Danny Silk,  Win + win parenting by Seth and Lauren Dahl, Love and Logic, Boundaries etc. There’s a lot available. (Refer to our parent resources page on the Little Heroes website for more suggestions) 

I celebrate progress today. There are still rocks in the road, and it’s never all sorted. It’s dynamic, the seasons change, so celebrate the moment and celebrate the progress! We are not in the place we once were.

The bottom line is that we can try do this on our own but what is it going to look like at the end? Or we can take our Heavenly Father’s hand and partner with him as we parent or teach and “immeasurably more than we can think about or imagine” can be the fruit of your journey.

Remember the goal of your parenting, teaching, or counselling is to plant in your children the principles of the Kingdom of God and a heart for the Lord; to raise them in the joy and fullness of the Lord. It’s about modelling our Heavenly Father who gives us freedom, teaches us to manage that freedom and  to then prioritise important heart-to-heart relationships. As these things become our reality and we intentionally reduce fear and anxiety in ourselves, it will show up in our parenting.  We are setting our children up for what God has planned and designed. We want them to go beyond us. Our ceiling becoming their floor.

Bill Johnson says “ When my children were growing up, I put them to bed by repeating these two charges night after night: Remember you are part of a team that is here to change the world, and when you go to sleep tonight, ask God if there is anything that is impossible that He wants you to do. It was my effort to raise children who have no limits. “

Bill obviously didn’t have limits either and as I mentioned earlier, we need to have it to give it!