When It All Comes Back to Bite You... PART 3

(Continued from HERE)

The Plan of Attack!

There were so many areas that needed my immediate attention that it was a bit overwhelming at first. I had never been taught how to manage a home, much less children, so I had to come up with a plan and just wing it. I was able to sort things into generalized categories of areas needing attention:

1 - The children
2 - The homefront
3 - My own heart

The first one is the simplest, so I will begin with that one.

First, I started to look at my children from a whole new perspective.

"Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."
~Psalm 127

The fruit of my womb, my children, God gives as a reward. God sees His heritage in godly children, which are given as gifts! Of course I knew this Psalm well already, but it was like I was looking at it for the first time. Whether a woman has one child or 20+ children, the Truth remains consistent, they are all gifts from God, His heritage!

I had two precious gifts once, both from my husband. Both were pendants given to me on special occasions. I treasured them, and I loved them. I even took them off when I didn't want to risk losing them. Then, they were stolen, and I was sad. Out of all the items in our truck when it was stolen, almost our entire household, these two small items were what sprang forth in my mind as the greatest loss. They were precious to me. They had sentiment behind them, and even if they weren't the most expensive metal or the most precious jewels, they were precious to me because my husband had given them to me...

How much more should we treasure our children, then? 

God's most precious gift to us apart from the gift of His only begotten Son, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again and ascended to Heaven to be our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), is the gift of children. Oh, how much more should I treasure my children! What if God gave me a precious jewel, and I lost it? how horrible would I feel? My children are my jewels, and I do not want to lose them to this world! 

My sweet children, how I love their smiles, their wit, and their silly laughter!

What if, what if in a fit of anger or frustration, I squelched one of these little lamps for Jesus?

These hearts that are so enthusiastic for God right now, what if I turned them away from Him by my actions?

What if they were to one day look at me and say, "If that is Christianity, then I want nothing to do with it!"

And, worse, what if I got to Heaven and stood before the Bema Seat of Christ and had to account for my actions? What if my Lord asked me why I had lost one or more of the precious gifts that He had entrusted to my care? I would have no excuses, not one....

My precious children, how many times had I offended you when I should have received you with joy?

"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!"
~Matthew 18: 3-7

My sweet babies, how long had you been calling for me and my mind been elsewhere? How long had I been so focused on the outside that I had forgotten that it is the inside that makes the person, that immortal soul, and forgotten to tend it as well? Had I come to the place where it would be better for me to be have a millstone hung around my neck and drowned in the sea because of my hot-headedness and selfishness?
I thank the Lord daily for grace, because I'd be lost without it.


Plan of attack, phase one: Tend to the hearts of my children as my Great Shepherd tends to mine, through His Word.


I must teach my children's hearts to plead the same as David did in Psalm 42:

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."

I must teach them to desire God, and to do that, I must desire God, and desire to serve Him by the way that I raise up and treasure His heritage.

*
To Be Continued
Next: The Homefront