Raising Little Christ Followers

I’m a first-time mom and I often sit and ponder how I am leading my little girl in God’s truth and righteousness. She’s just shy of four months, but she is growing fast. Even though she doesn’t understand what we do right now, we are setting the foundation for her life. She doesn’t understand what’s going on in the mornings when we read her Bible story and pray for our day, giving thanks and asking blessings and protection over her daddy. She just thinks I’m talking to her. When we dance to Jesus Bible songs she just loves the music and moving.  When we go to bed at night and read another Bible story… she doesn’t understand the words. But someday she will. It is setting the stage for when she is a little bit older and it gets me in the routine of getting in the word and praying with my daughter. My childhood mom and myself were never very close... but growing up one of the fondest memories I have with her is when I was about five or six years old and we would gather in our tiny little RV living room and we would read out of Psalms and sing Bible songs. I knew that someday I wanted to grow up and do that with my own kids. Now I have that chance, and I am blessed with an amazing husband who works very hard, so I can be a stay at home mom. He encourages, leads and pours into me so that I can do the same with our daughter.

When I mentioned to somebody about having Bible time with my baby girl they kind of laughed and said, “Who has time for that with a baby?” Yeah who am I kidding… when do I have time? The response I have come up with for myself is this… How can I not have time? Can I really go through life and be too busy to sit down and get in the word with my child? If I’m too busy now am I really going to have time as she gets older? I don’t want this to just be a phase. I don’t want it to only be something we do for a little while. I want to make the time as my child gets older, starts to understand. I want to be there when she has questions, heartaches, joys and struggles. I don’t want to be the mom who was too busy with work, dishes, housework, TV shows, washing laundry, friends, lists, shopping, whatever the case may be. I will have that to do the rest of my life. I only have a small window of time to lead my girl in truth and righteousness. There will be cleaning and housework to do until the day I die… but the light of Jesus that I invest in my child is something that will change lives. I already anticipate the day that she will see her sin for what it is, see Jesus for what He has done for her and ask him to be her Lord and Savior.

Is this post about somebody else? No. It’s only about me. Because sometimes I get so busy and caught up in my life and busyness that I am tempted to think that Bible time with my baby girl doesn’t matter all that much because after all she doesn’t understand. But I think Jesus has a soft spot for children. I think that Jesus would want little, itty bitty children to hear the stories of him and to be raised to know him. I realize every day how incredibly important and crucial my job as a mom is. If I do nothing else in life but lead my child towards Christ raising her with morals, values and knowing the great love of Jesus, I have lived a life well lived.

So, parents out there… I challenge you. No matter the age of your child, dig into the word with them, read Bible stories, pray with them. Lead them. And perhaps even more importantly is to find time to spend time with God yourself. Because that time with just you and God is what will help make you a good leader and good example to them. Children watch what we do with our lives, what we read, what we say, what we watch, what we do, even when we think they don’t see or aren’t paying attention. Raising our children to walk in the light of Christ, turning away from the darkness of worldly desires and attractions will be the single most important job we will have in life. We will never be perfect, but we can give it our all. Be encouraged and go raise Christ Followers.

~KrissElise

Tiny little feet that will someday follow in my footsteps.

Label or Love?

I promised that as I was able to, I would blog about my time in Uganda. Tonight I want to tell you about Addad, one of the many precious ones I had the pleasure to meet with during my time there. His story broke my heart. He is eight years old. He is very bright and smart. He plays "big brother" well to the younger kids and he is a very kind young man. When He was born, his mother was unable to care for him and handed him off to one of the men she had been with who was thought to be his father and that man raised Addad. He was a fairly wealthy man and put his child in a really good school. He took him places, and was a father to the young boy. As Addad grew older though it became apparent that the man may not actually be the biological father. So he took it upon himself to get DNA tests done. He was not the boy's blood father. So after raising this sweet boy for eight years he took him to the police station. He was abandoning the child. He proceeded to tell Addad that he was not his father and showed him pictures to make his point. The social workers and staff who got involved begged and pleaded for this man to continue to raise Addad as a son, as he had done so since his birth. But in the man's eyes, he was not the father. So he walked away. He rejected his son merely because they were not flesh and blood.

Sweet Addad

When I heard his story I was speechless. What do you say to that? How does a person process that? It really broke me. In many ways I could relate to that. I have dealt with rejection over and over, which included my birth parents. But there was no way I could even imagine myself in his shoes. To be an eight-year-old, completely abandoned in the world and the one person who you loved and trusted... he just walked away. He told you that you weren't worth it. Standing there hearing your father tell you that he wants nothing to do with you, and watching him turning around... walking away. Leaving you completely alone in the world. 

On the outside I never saw him cry. I never saw him break. But I'm sure inside he does everyday. I'm sure he has lain awake in the middle of the night with all the questions running through his mind. On school break, a lot of the kids go and spend a week or two with relatives. Addad has none that will claim him. He stayed at the home with some of the younger kids, and I could see the longing in his eyes. I could see the hurt there and I could feel it in my heart. I could feel the hurt so strong I felt like I would physically break. 

The sad thing is.... this happens all the time. In Uganda, in America, in countries around the world. So much is based on biological parent, step-parent, adoptive parent, foster parent, and then you have the other parents. Honestly it's one of the things I hate the most. I don't care what you are, if you are a mom or dad to a child (or adult) you are the mom or dad. I don't care what label you want to attach. That label does not mean anything more than how you came to know your child. But we use labels to separate, labels to divide. It doesn't mean you are a good parent, doesn't mean you are a bad parent. It doesn't say anything about the child or their worth in this world. 

My parents... they have ten kids. If you watched the life of this family you would never be able to guess how they came to know each of their kids. But if you asked, you'd find out... two of them are their biological children, six of them were adopted (some from birth and some after being foster children) two of them were never legally adopted but belong to them just the same. (I am one of those two.) But in this family, in this house, that doesn't matter. The labels don't make a difference. But to some people it does. To a lot of people in this world, most of us don't belong. Because we aren't "real kids". How screwed up is that? How messed up is society when people look down upon people or think that they are less than worth it if there isn't a biological connection?

Here is my final thought. If biological connection is so incredibly important. If it is the determining factor of who somebody is, or who we are related to then what about God? I am a child of God's. He is my Father. What does that say? Let's take a look at some scripture that says for itself.

"Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God's children. And we are!" ~1 John 3:1

"But all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God." ~John 1:12

"For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." ~Galatians 3:26

"For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children, and if children, also heirs- heirs of God and coheirs with Christ- seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." ~Romans 8:15-17

This world has come up with labels that hurt, separate and destroy. If you are a Mom or Dad... I don't care what people label you, if you love your child and treat them as your own, they are yours. For all the kids (and adults) out there, I don't care what people label you. You are a beloved son or daughter.. the label doesn't matter. It's the love that matters. Let's drop the labels and show people that it's the love that makes the difference. After all, I believe it is the love of God that made me His daughter. It's the love of my mama and daddy who made me their daughter. And I am blessed. <3 ~KrissElise