A Spiritual Relay Race

Claire Coggan came to speak to our mums prayer group this morning.  It was a really interesting and helpful talk with plenty of advice and wisdom for us mums.

Claire referred to a talk given by Tracy Law two weeks ago which I unfortunately missed.  Tracy had talked about how we each have our own race to run and our own lane to run in and that we should therefore not be comparing ourselves to other runners in the race or where they are on their journey.

Claire shared that she had been given a picture of a relay race and explained that it is our jobs as mothers to not only run our own race to the best of our ability but also to ensure that the baton gets safely passed from one generation to the next.  As mums we have an important role to play in ensuring that spiritual truths and a spritual legacy are passed to our children - particularly if we want them to grow up to love Jesus and to be part of his kingdom.

Claire warned us that what defines and shapes us will affect how well we can disciple our children and that it is important for us to create a kingdom culture in our homes.

Sometimes our own experiences and relationships with our natural parents will affect and impact on how we can relate to our heavenly father.  Therefore if we grew up feeling we had to earn our parents love or were not worthy of it then it is possible we can believe the same things in our relationship with God.  Whereas God loves us unconditionally.  It is hard for us to truly conceive of what unconditional love really is and we risk bringing all kinds of misconceptions and untruths into our relationship with God and if we aren't careful we will pass those same misconceptions onto our children.

So how do we create a kingdom culture?  We reap what we sow.

We should:

*   Have intention - if we don't intend there to be a kingdom culture in our home, there won't be one
*   Talk of God's ways
*   Ensure God is part of our daily conversations with our children
*   Chat about God, remind our children how great he is and encourage them to trust in him to do the impossible
*   Teach our children to give and to reach out to others with the love of God
*   Demonstrate forgivenes to our children and teach them to do the same
*   Carve out time to spend with God but not to feel under law about it
*   Say sorry to our children when we fall short
*   Expect to hear from God through our children
*   Teach our children to hear God and to sense his presence
*    Pray together with our children and ask them what they see
*    Have good spiritual resources in our homes - bibles, music and books to share
*   Expose our children to where God is moving by sharing stories and testimonies from around the world with them
*   Build a culture of expectation
*  Use games to enhance their understanding of God and what he is like e.g. for each letter of the alphabet decribe a different facet of what God is like.  God is Amazing, God is Beautiful, God is Caring etc.
*  Listen to our childrens' dreams and help them to interpret them
*  Build a lasting friendship with our children
*  Fast together as a family - if not from food then from something like the TV
*  Find running partners who can help mentor and disciple us through the different stages and seasons of motherhood.

Christmas Bunting that I made at the weekend.

Quite a challenging but inspiring morning!!