Category: Raising daughters

In Love with Love

“Even a beautiful God-scripted love story can never satisfy the way Jesus does. Even the most heroic and Christlike man on earth can never fulfill the longings of our heart like the true Prince and lover of our soul (Jesus Christ). And until we are able to truly make Him our first love, until we are willing to give up our dream of an earthly love story for His sake, […]

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Putting Off and Putting On

It’s easy to focus on the “don’ts” in our parenting. We invest a lot of time in disciplining our children for their misbehavior, for their bad attitudes, their sinful words, their disobedient and unloving actions. But teaching our children to get along with each other involves more than breaking up fights and taking away coveted toys. We know that they need to “take off” the impatience and pride that so often […]

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Training Our Children to Help with Household Chores

In the days when our children were little, I used to jokingly wish we could afford to hire a maid once in a while to help with routine household chores. Well, that maid never made her appearance. Instead, we decided to hire our own boys. Why not pay them to do work that we would be willing to pay someone else to do? Suddenly our live-in mess-makers became live-in maids […]

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Some of My Favorite People

I just spent almost four days with some of my very favorite people! All my daughters and daughters-in-law (along with their children) ran off to the beach for our annual girls’ weekend away (while the guys did their man thing in the woods). We had sunshine, beach walks, singing, way to much food, and lots of time to talk (when we weren’t trying to keep up with five grandchildren!) Rebekah […]

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Grumbling

“Do all things without murmurings and disputings” (Philippians 2:14). Children grumble. So did the Israelites. Children (and parents) who grumble are grumbling against the Lord. Sometimes, like the Israelites as they faced the Red Sea with the Egyptians at their backs, our children grumble because they are afraid. We can challenge them with our questions and instruction: “What are you afraid of?” “Is God strong enough to take care of […]

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Helping Our Children Confess

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Galatians 6:1, ESV). Yesterday, as I read the first chapters of Joshua, an account brought back memories of the “old days” — the days when it was obvious that one of the kids had done something naughty. The evidence was all […]

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Against Tolerance…

Those of you who have children online, children who follow blogs — do you know what they are reading? The internet and social networking make it much more difficult to know our children’s “friends” and the people who are influencing their thinking. People “come into” our homes through the internet that we may never “meet”. And just because a blog is written by someone who claims to be a Christian […]

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How to Use Plants Grown Up and Polished Cornerstones (video)

We decided to spice things up and deliver today’s post in video form! People often ask us, “Where do I start?” after they buy Plants Grown Up or Polished Cornerstones. If  you already have one of these books on your shelf, we hope this will help you get the most out of it! In this video, we show how to get started using Plants Grown Up and Polished Cornerstones, including […]

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Encouraging a Thankful Heart

A thankful heart is a heart that is ready to obey. It’s so easy for children to be unaware of the many ways their parents serve them. We need to help them learn to be thankful. Sit down with your children and make a list of all the ways their daddy serves your family. Talk together, ask them leading questions, and give them some suggestions. Assign one of the children […]

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Helping Our Children Run the Race – Setting Goals

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:15). We’re running a race. So are our children. The beginning of a new year is a good time to reevaluate our goals. Are we running in the right direction or are we distracted by lots of good and not-so-good things along the way? New Year’s has traditionally been the time […]

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