Trusting God with Our Kids

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6.

This is a familiar passage to most parents, especially to those seeking to raise their kids to know Christ and follow after Him. But sometimes we wonder if by what we see in the day to day, will we ever see this played out in our home?

At the beginning of the year, Jay and I sat down to evaluate our family and set some goals for things we wanted to change in the new year.  Because of the move and stress of a church plant, we felt that we needed to create more family fun, more times where we laughed, and more times where we enjoyed being together. What's the point of planting a church to encourage people to love and follow Christ if we aren't loving the people we live with? We wanted the love of Christ to be displayed in our home more than anywhere, because we are passionate about our kids knowing and following Christ. Honestly, there have been more days than not that we wonder if the kids are catching anything we say.

But we know Gods Word is true.

This weekend we took our 4th and youngest son and dropped him off at summer camp for 2 weeks. He's 9 years old. The most common response I get from moms when I share that he is going to camp for 2 weeks is, "I could never do that, 2 weeks is a long time, I would miss them too much."

Our son is with his buddy from Somerset. They are filling their days with all kinds of fun activities, making memories that will last a lifetime. And I'm sure they are dropping into their bunks at night completely exhausted.  

The most important thing for us in sending him to camp is knowing that he is surrounded by people who love Jesus and are speaking His Truth into our son's life. Part of us raising our children is learning to slowly let them do things without us so they learn independence and are ready to face life when its time for them to fly the coup.  We believe in doing that a little at a time.

Do I think he may get a little homesick? Yes, at some point I'm sure he will be. Does that make me sad? Yes! Of course I would like to make his life as easy and painless as possible. But my long term goal is for him to be independent of me and his dad and to always know that Christ is with him all the time. We want him to experience opportunities to test his faith and to see that God is faithful while he is still in our home. Yes, I miss my son but more than anything I want him to have a faith apart from me and if that means doing things that are a little painful now, then I'm willing to do that.

The day after dropping our son off at camp, our oldest son, who is 17 said something that made me realize that our work and prayers will and are paying off.  He said, "Hey mom, we should go get Asher a bunch of stuff and send him a care package cuz he would love that and that was my favorite thing when I was at camp."

Now, that may not seem like a big deal to you but Logan and Asher generally have little in common, being 17 and 9, and the two having completely different personalities. Our conversations in the house often revolve around choosing to love each other because God commands us to. Its not always easy but we want Gods love to be displayed in all that we do.

When I heard Logan's suggestion, I felt a sense of joy and a small reminder in my spirit of Proverbs 22:6 and the importance of training a child, and of course, God's faithfulness.

Hang on parents, you will see the fruit of your labors as you diligently train your children to love the Lord.

- the higham family

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Hi we're Jay & Amy, and we've been married for 19 years and are super blessed to be busy raising our 5 kids; 4 boys and 1 girl. We juggle the adventures of life and ministry and share what we are learning as it relates to marriage, family, raising kids, serving in the church, and chasing afer Jesus. Raising a family is hard work, especially in today's culture. But our hope is to encourage you and your family, as we live for the glory of God.

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