There are two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self. Have you ever heard that said before? It was something repeated often as I was going through elementary and high school. As sing song and rhyming as it is, it packs a huge punch. There are literally only two options in this life. I can choose to do what I want to do, or I can choose to follow what God wants me to do.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been doing a book study over “Triggers- Exchanging Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses” by Amber Lia and Wendy Speake. If you are like me, being cooped up at home with your kids literally every minute of every day, while really enjoyable in a lot of ways, also has a down side. And that is, tensions can run high, and words can be said hastily, without thought, in anger, from me, not just them. And oh, how I hate that! I went into motherhood determined I was going to be a sweet, gentle, kind mother who whispered in her child’s ear when they made a mistake and never raised her voice. Reality hit very quickly in my parenting journey and I found that I need help with being a gentle parent.

I also just finished reading a book called “Dangerous Prayers” by Craig Groeschel. It spoke about deepening our prayer lives and praying the hard prayers, or even scary prayers of Lord search me, break me, and send me. One section really stood out to me as I was finishing the book. He mentioned that daily he must pray and ask God to send him on a journey of faith, so he prays over his whole body that he would use it for the Lord. His prayer for his mouth is that he would speak life to those around him.

When I considered those words, I was deeply convicted. How can I as an angry mom be speaking life and God’s love into the hearts of my children? How can my words spoken in the moment in haste show them the way to true repentance first towards their Heavenly Farher and then towards the person they have wronged? How can I show them that I will be here if and when they mess up to help them navigate the waters they must walk through that come as natural consequences for their actions, all a part of growing up? If I don’t speak life now, I don’t think they will come to me before they decide to take that pill from someone, or be pressured into shoplifting that item. But if right now. I work diligently at speaking life into them, they will know that while their behavior may have consequences, they are loved unconditionally and will be heard and met with mercy and grace.

Our Heavenly Father does this for each person who knows Him as Savior every day. I sin multiple times a day. He doesn’t yell at me and berate ne. He softly reminds me of my disobedience and leads me to repentance and immediate restoration. There may still be consequences for my actions, but all will be done in love. For the Lord loves those He chastens it says in Hebrews.

We have so many more opportunities right now to be with our children than we normally do, almost 8 extra hours every day. Imagine at the end of the summer, how radically our lives would be changed if we made a conscious effort to speak life into our children instead of reacting in anger.

Triggers: Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692620753/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_41OSEb11MH1W0

Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310343127/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_J2OSEbE8ESV44