Good afternoon, as I sit here this Thursday afternoon, trying to stay warm I am reminded of my resistance to the Lord, and His will for my daily life. So, I thought I would share some tidbits of that with you this afternoon-
When my children were young chose to resit my prompting, leading, and guidance, they know they can always return to my arms and be accepted with grace. I always tried to be a compassionate mother full of grace and truth, but you better believe that when the situation called for it, I ask my children the question, “If you had obeyed me, would that have happened?” I know, I know. “I told you so” doesn’t seem like expert-level parenting. Yet when they choose to move in opposition to the clear directions I have given only to find themselves suddenly overwhelmed with the consequences of their choices, I believe it is important for them to reflect on how they arrived there. I have been gently reminded of the importance of reflection on how I came into messy situations myself, and have learned some of my greatest lessons there. I’ll be honest, there have been many times when the Spirit of God had warned me to listen and obey, and I simply ignored, resisted, or flat-out said, “Don’t wanna.” By God’s grace, I’ve lived to see the consequences.
I hope you enjoy this Thursday!
Boy, I made mistakes. I had 2 children who were 15 1/2 months apart. I think we all made mistakes as we tried to do the best we could. We went to church as a family. I’m so thankful that we made it through!!
I can look back and see decisions I made were not the right ones. I think we all can. Especially at parenting! I am thankful God knows the future and He makes no mistakes and never leaves us. Thanks for the reminder, Debbie.
Debbie, while I was driving to get my groceries today, I was thinking about some of the messes I have got myself into. Some were actually dangerous situations, I kind of laughed to myself and then I thought about what could have happened to me. Thank God He saved me from that life, I owe Him so much.
Thanks for posting. Enter me in the drawing.
Ii am amazed at my stubbornness and stupidity regarding decisions I made while wanting to do life my own way. I am so grateful God never gave up on me and carried me through so many hard times in my life.
I do believe most, if not all of us, have many regrets in our parenting days, and life in general. As I often said, and verbalized… “There are no instruction books “, (but there may have been some besides Dr. Spock!) lol
Marriage and Parenting are two different jobs, but BOTH hard. I was lucky not to be a single parent, but it still was a hard job, as 2 parents don’t always agree!!!
Back in the teen years, I heard many times…
“But why not, so & so gets to do that or go there!” AND, just as many times our kids heard “But so & so doesn’t have us for parents”. Many times they also were told “If I feel it is not right, but let you do thus & such… then if something happens to you, I would never forgive myself”… (a TRUE statement.)
I was probably way overprotective, & we made LOTS of mistakes, but through it all the kids knew we made choices because we loved them! Many times I wished I could go back and do it over, but in spite of our many bad choices and mistakes ~ by the Grace of God, we are Blessed with adult children and grandchildren that are good people, that we apprecuate and enjoy.
Not one of us is perfect & can walk on water, BUT, ….God is Good!
I do believe most, if not all of us, have many regrets in our parenting days, and life in general. As I often said, and verbalized… “There are no instruction books “, (but there may have been some besides Dr. Spock!) lol
Marriage and Parenting are two different jobs, but BOTH hard. I was lucky not to be a single parent, but it still was a hard job, as 2 parents don’t always agree!!!
Back in the teen years, I heard many times…
“But why not, so & so gets to do that or go there!” AND, just as many times our kids heard “But so & so doesn’t have us for parents”. Many times they also were told “If I feel it is not right, but let you do thus & such… then if something happens to you, I would never forgive myself”… (a TRUE statement.)
I was probably way overprotective, & we made LOTS of mistakes, but through it all the kids knew we made choices because we loved them! Many times I wished I could go back and do it over, but in spite of our many bad choices and mistakes ~ by the Grace of God, we are Blessed with adult children and grandchildren that are good people, that we apprecuate and enjoy.
Not one of us is perfect & can walk on water, BUT, ….God is Good!
Well said
I would not want to try and count those times
Huge hug
I hear you 🩵
Wow ~ This speaks such a truth to me! I dropped the ball so many times in my parenting for fear of being to harsh to the precious humans I was blessed with! I tried to explain to a fault the reasoning behind all my decisions.
When looking back, I always believed if, they had a roof over their head, clothes on their backs and food to eat, then I had them covered. All being a single parents, choosing to always keep them updated with Dr appts and mostly having them live life to the fullest, and to be happy. Looking back there’s so many other things I should have taught them I should have disciplined, and held firm to it!
The foundation was sturdy, but the test of the 80’s 90’s etc was challenging. I’d like to think I did my best, however, not always by example.
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Oh my! I’m am certainly stubborn and at times I have told God Don’t wanna! Grateful that God is merciful and gracious and loves me still!
May I say this, none of us knew exactly what to do all the time. I have no doubts you did your best. I too fell short more often than not as a single parent myself. We live and by God Grace, we too learn even in our senior years we are still
learning. God, bless you dear.
No matter what I did, Mama was always there. Sometimes she said I told you so other times she just hugged me & said it’ll be alright. God loves us and welcomes us back when we go astray and what a blessing it is to know that when we have no one here, He’s always there. Prayers & hug’s sweet lady.
Have a blessed day Lori.
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