Family is a gift...

Family is a gift, a treasure from heaven, and we should treat it as so. We are to pray for our family, to invest in each other and our relationships, to encourage each other, and to love each other well. It is easy to flippantly say we will, but another thing to put our ideas into action. Here are a few suggestions for you to process through, change to make your own, and add to. Through it all, through every phase and challenge and accomplishment, remember the purpose of everything, the calling and the destiny, is Jesus. 

God, bless your family.

• Create a family vision statement. Hang it up, learn it, and live it. This will give you a resting place for the purpose of your family. Here's an example, but work together and make your own....
      -Our family is a team, created to encourage each other and work in unity to bring glory to God through the way that we live. 

• Have a focused family time where you draw together, work through struggles, pray together, and study the Bible. For younger years, this is a great time to train as a family through games and acting out how we should or shouldn't behave in different situations. Expectations need to be verbalized and understood. 

• Write out goals for your parenting, work towards them, and reevaluate where you really are. Note struggles, apologize, and change. It is never too late to change your relationship with your family, but the longer you put it off, the more ground you will have to cover. Confess quickly! 

                  Ideas for goals and considerations:

     -What I don't want to be as a mother/father.....

     -What I want to be as a mother/father....

     -What I want my family to be focused on...

     -What verses shape my idea of what a good husband/wife and father/mother are

     -How do we plan to remember the progress of our family? 

• Pray for your family often. We suggest writing out in a journal the Bible verses you are reading over your family, and your prayers. This is a privilege, a way of investing in your generational family line! 

• Bless your family. Make prayer and blessing a normal part of your family life. Simply looking your child in their eyes and praying, I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is powerful! 

• Study the hearts of your children and invest in them. The five love languages is a fun place to start.

• Spend quality time together. Life is quick, and changes often. 

• Live by example, looking always to Jesus.