Category Archives: Parenting

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Breaking BOSSY

Style: "disabled"I was not the first born in my family, but I was the first girl, and needless to say, I had a great affection for running the household. One of my special skills was making chores fun so my siblings would agree to do them with me (Or for me? Maybe. Sometimes.)

I adored my little sisters and loved planning outfits for them. One day, when I was twelve, my precious little six-year-old sister looked up at me and said “I don’t have to wear that. YOU’RE NOT MY MOM.” and that was the end of fashion-plates for me!

*Sigh* I might have had control issues.

As a mom who has one daughter and three sons, I discovered very early that she was quite capable of leading and they were happy to let her…unless they weren’t and then there was trouble. Been there?

I was very sick for a number of years when my kids were little. It seems like I relied on them quite a bit to help me keep the household going while daddy was working. Training them to cooperate became a necessity, but there were was a lot of selfishness, manipulating, arguing, and that sort of thing.  I really wanted my kids to love each other. I wanted them to be able to lead each other. I know that to lead you must understand authority, where it comes from and how to handle it properly. I decided I needed my kids to have a deeper understanding and respect for it, and not just use it without permission.

Authority belongs to God and it is simply on loan to us. Hmmm…makes me wonder if I’m representing.

With this in mind, I came up with an idea we call “Temporary Limited Authority” and by God’s grace it has really helped our family. It goes something like this:

  1. I have been given the authority to tell my children what to do. I’m the mom.
  2. You (child) do not have the authority, because you are not the mom.
  3. I might lend you a little of my authority, but first I must see you obeying me. (see Obedient Virtue). A person is qualified to lead when they learn to follow.
  4. The authority I lend you is on a temporary basis (a certain amount of time, or a certain task) and it is limited (it only pertains to this time or task, not everything in their life that you want to dictate). This can increase or decrease depending on how you handle it.
  5. When you have Temporary Limited Authority you must say “Mom said” at the beginning of the instruction so your brothers and sisters KNOW it is coming from mom. Then they will obey you the same way they obey me (hopefully the children are growing in this skill!)
  6. I love my children very much and I show it by how I talk to them. You must use my authority the way I would. (see the Kind and Gentle Virtues)
  7. In order to lead, you must be willing to follow when I lend my authority to one of your siblings. This works both ways!

Here is a scenario that might help you picture how this could work in your home. Let’s say you need the kitchen cleaned and you give your son Temporary Limited Authority to get it done.

  1. He finds his siblings.
  2. He tells them that “Mom said” he is in charge of getting the kitchen cleaned.
  3. He doles out the jobs (Or you do, and then you reiterate that he is in charge)images (1)
  4. Everyone goes to work at it. (These are jobs they already know how to do, although, I have asked my older kids to teach my youngers how to do chores)
  5. He supervises and encourages them while he is helping get it done.
  6. When it is done, he asks for an inspection before any of the kids leave the kitchen.
  7. You come in and inspect the job (You can’t expect what you don’t inspect)
  8. If there was fighting, you talk to the kids about what went wrong and help them understand how to respond to the leadership of their brother. (Sometimes we have to obey even when the leadership isn’t perfectly executed!)
  9. You also inspect his leadership, encourage him and help him see what he could have done to reduce any conflicts. (There may be a sibling who is deliberately un-cooperative but if he wants to lead, he has to learn to win her over.)
  10. Tell them you are proud of their effort!

It takes time to go through each step until it is working smoothly, but it is so worth it! You get help, your children become great leaders, and there is peace in your home because BOSSY is gone.

Happy Dance!

 

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The Reason for Two Ears (Thoughts for parents about being Attentive)

I am one of those lovely people who like to talk. This was confirmed by both parents and every teacher I ever had. Many of them said “Heather, let’s give someone else a turn to talk.” One of them said…

“There is a reason you have two ears and only one mouth.”

I remember thinking “But my mouth is bigger than both my ears.” I didn’t want to give her an obvious invitation to call me a bigmouth, so I let it go.  I hope to think I am somewhat reformed now. I seriously make an effort to listen more and talk less! It is all about being “Attentive” and we define it this way:

“I watch and listen carefully. I am not forgetful, distracted or distracting and I don’t ignore or interrupt.”

Mother Comforting Son

This is what my teachers and parents were looking for in me when I was growing up. This is what we ask of our children because it is how they show honor. In the same way, we honor our children and earn their trust by being attentive to them. Without attentiveness we cannot steward this amazing gift that God has entrusted to us.

To be attentive sometimes we have to get creative. We have to make opportunities to get to know our kids as they are changing and growing through adolescence. We have to become a student of our own children even when they aren’t talking. We must learn by watching as much as by listening. Here are some tips:

  • Prepare yourself first. Set boundaries on your phone and computer time. Relax. Breathe. Give the cares and pressures of your day to the Lord so that you can focus on what is going on around you. Take time to look your kids in the eye when they talk to you, and really listen. Don’t be easily distracted when they ramble on and on with a story. This is VERY important to your kids especially when they are in those tweener years. You communicate that they are important by being attentive.
  • Take them on dates. They don’t have to be expensive, just personal. If you have ever watched the movie “Courageous” you will see an excellent example of this. It is amazing what one-on-one time will do for a relationship!
  • Get to know your kids’ friends. Invite them over to your house…especially at dinner time. Watch them! Ask them embarrassing questions like “What sports do you like? Who’s your favorite team? Why do you like hanging around with my kid? What kind of fun things do you do together? Stuff like that.
  •  Father and Son Playing Video Games --- Image by © Royalty-Free/CorbisMy husband has done a great job with this genius way of getting our kids to talk to him. He plays video games, he jams on the guitar, shoots hoops, and they wash the car together.

There isn’t much talking, but there is a connection in case something needs to be said. I love that.

  •  I like to ask questions and encourage my kids to ask me questions (I have to keep the answer short and to the point or our conversation quickly turns into a monologue). If you do this and it doesn’t work, that’s ok, just do it again the next day and the next. After a while, they will realize that you aren’t going away and they will start to open up. My personal favorite place is in the car. They are captives! My youngest son has hopped in the backseat and said
“Mom, do you have any questions for me?”
  • You might have a child who never stops talking one minute, and seems to have lost their first language and adopted a grunting dialect the next. This is normal apparently. A lady once told me that parents should take most grunts as a “Yes”

Mom:   Did you have a good day?
Son:     Grunt
Mom:   Well, I’m glad to hear it! Is there anything you want to add?

Just because they say less, doesn’t mean they have less to say.

  •  One good way to be more attentive is to limit “screen time”. Even when our kids are teens, it is easy to let the TV (or some equivalent) babysit them. Screens contribute to lazy parenting!  We need to see our kids interacting with their siblings, talking to their friends, helping around the house, playing actual games, and riding in the car “unplugged”. Relating with our kids in scenarios like these give us the opportunity as parents to parent. It might be quieter in the house when they are focused on a screen, but this is false peace. Real peace comes when we are attentive to the true condition of our children’s hearts and we partner with God to see them transformed.

Raising our children to reflect the character of Christ is the goal. Without conflict and pressure, we will never have it.

  • Coach Consoling Dejected Football PlayerAnother great (though sometimes a little vulnerable) way to be attentive it to ask another adult “How is my son doing in your class? I mean, really. I want to know your thoughts”. Children have a way of camouflaging themselves in an environment and adapting to the authority in any given situation, so you don’t have the full perspective on your own child. In a different situation, with different pressures or relationships, your child may react differently.  You need the eyes and ears of other adults who relate to your child in a way you do not.  I have had opportunities to learn some pretty amazing things about my kids from their coaches, teachers, pastors, and the parents of my kids’ friends. Sometimes it is wonderful news, sometimes hard, sometimes just simply eye-opening. No matter how it makes us feel, we must choose to welcome it.

We thank them for caring enough to share with us a side of our kids we can’t see.

  • Being attentive means we can’t let what society says get in our heads. They say our kids need their privacy, their personal space. Kids know that you have the authority to give them house rules, homework rules, and moral boundaries, but at an earlier and earlier age children are encouraged by society to start keeping secrets from their parents and insist it is their right to say “Get out! That’s private! How dare you?” This is especially true with the most important things in their lives; their phone, their friends, and their choice of music and reading material. Don’t let anyone tell you that matters of your child’s heart are none of your business and you only need to know on a need-to-know basis. Trust me, you need to know!   Full BackpackAt our house, our kids know that we can go in their room and look around. We can open their backpacks or purse. We know their passwords and their friends’ parents. Nothing is off limits. That is what being a parent is! If we are “not allowed” to be attentive, we cannot parent!

Yes. You need to know.

  •   It is rarely convenient; the moment when the flood gates open. I think the best times we ever have talking to our teens are at night when Elton and I are almost asleep and they stop by to say goodnight. They end up pouring out their hearts well past my bedtime and it is priceless. I stay awake for every precious word. Half way through I might get up and make popcorn for everybody and sit back against my pillow for scene two. My husband and I both learn so much! We grow as parents. I just sit there fiercely suppressing my yawns and praying that I will answer with wisdom.

While I listen to my child with one ear, I listen to God with the other. 

 There. The reason for two ears!

PS. No joking, my 15 year-old just asked me to watch him play soccer in the back yard, and when I complained that it would be too cold (the sun has gone down and it is still winter in Oregon!) he offered to build me a fire. He is standing behind me waiting for me to complete this post. I enjoyed writing about being attentive, now it’s time to go do it!

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I F.E.E.D my Kids

Have you ever noticed that it never ends? I mean once you bring that itty-bitty one into the world, the responsibility just rolls along from one day to the next without a thought of letting you rest? I feel that way, too! Give them some maturity and it starts getting easier…but it still never ends.

For instance, I’m always appalled when it’s time to eat again. The preparation for the meal takes longer than the eating of it, and no sooner are you cleaned-up that it’s time to start again. Most meals aren’t even memorable, but that has no bearing on their importance. Feeding kids at my house is really about finding some healthy recipes and then making them over and over…and over. Then WAH-LA! They become big and strong and try to carry you around the kitchen on their back and make you take your shoes off so they can measure you on the wall against their own height-mark. I suddenly wonder what I did to make this happen. All I did was feed my kids…everyday… and they passed me up!

 

Training children is a lot like feeding children. It is not about being memorable as  much as it is about using a healthy recipe (see mine below) and being consistent. They may not like it at first, but keep it up and they will develop a taste for the new way things are being done at home.

 One day, you will realize that they are strong, mature, gracious people with integrity and you will shy up to them and measure your own character and realize that they have surpassed you.   You will cry! But don’t worry. They still need a hot meal from mama now and again and you’ll be SO glad it never ends!

I  F.E.E.D. My Kids so They Can Grow

InsIFEEDquotePinterestwebpire with your example. Your children will follow your ways. (Proverbs 23:26, 20:7)

Fast and pray…for a heart change that only God can make (Proverbs 20:9, 27, 21:2)

Explain the right attitudes and actions (Proverbs 7:24, 40:20)

Encourage when you see improvement (Proverbs 23:15, 24-25)

Discipline when you see digression (Proverbs 13:24, 29:15)

Proverbs 31:28-29
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
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We didn’t always do what was best for our kids. Pt 3

Sometimes when we obey the voice of God, blessing and favor don’t seem to follow immediately, but hardship and heartache instead. That is a reality I have faced many times and I’m sure you have too! Do we have the courage to walk through these things with our children by our side or do we pull out and go into protection mode? Oh, that is so easy to do!

Matthew 5:10

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It doesn’t say here “blessed are those who might be persecuted”. People who put the will of God first and walk in faith sooner or later will be persecuted. The blessings of the righteous don’t come without cost. When our children watch us go through trials that were brought on by our obedience, it is important that they not see the polished version, but the reality of our struggle. This will build their faith when they see that God has WALKED YOU THROUGH and that the only things you lost were temporal.

 

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Jim Elliott

What do we gain? We gain a deeper, living, vibrant faith that we then PASS ON to our children. The rich heritage of faith and trust is passed down from generation to generation when we choose this walk of integrity with our children lined up and following God together!

 

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

When we put God before our children, they will learn to do the same. Here is a booklist of 37 men and women who choose to follow God’s plan for their lives. They are still reaping the rewards of the righteous to this very day!

 

Heroes of Faith, 37 Volumes

Barbour Publishing / Paperback

  1. Amy Carmichael: Abandoned to God
  2. Billy Graham: The Great Evangelist, Heroes of Faith Series
  3. Billy Sunday: Evangelist on the Sawdust Trail
  4. Charles Finney The Great Revivalist
  5. Charles Spurgeon: The Great Orator, Heroes of Faith Series
  6. Corrie ten Boom: Heroine of Haarlem, Heroes of Faith Series
  7. D.L. Moody: The American Evangelist, Heroes of Faith Series
  8. David Livingstone: Missionary and Explorer, Heroes of Faith Series
  9. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  10. Eric Liddell – Heroes of Faith
  11. Fanny Crosby: The Hymn Writer, Heroes of Faith Series
  12. For God and Country
  13. Francis and Edith Schaeffer: Defenders of the Faith
  14. Frederick Douglass
  15. Free Indeed
  16. George Washington Carver, Heroes of Faith Series
  17. Gladys Alward: Missionary to China
  18. Hudson Taylor: Founder, China Inland Mission
  19. Jim Elliot: Missionary to Ecuador, Heroes of Faith Series
  20. John Calvin
  21. John Newton: Amazing Grace, Heroes of Faith Series
  22. John Wesley: Founder of the Methodist Church, Heroes of Faith Series
  23. John Wycliffe
  24. Jonathan Edwards: The Great Awakener
  25. Luis Palau: Evangelist To the World
  26. Martin Luther: The Great Reformer, Heroes of Faith Series
  27. Mary Slessor: Queen of Calabar Heroes of Faith
  28. Mother Teresa: Missionary of Charity
  29. Saint Augustine
  30. Samuel Morris: The Apostle of Simple Faith, Heroes of Faith Series
  31. Sojourner Truth: American Abolitionist, Heroes of Faith Series
  32. Some Gave All
  33. Watchman Nee: Man of Suffering, Heroes of Faith Series
  34. Well With My Soul
  35. William and Catherine Booth: Founders of the Salvation Army
  36. William Tyndale
  37. William Wilberforce

 

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We didn’t always do what was best for our kids. Pt 2

When you prioritize God’s voice above all others and honor His word, He opens doors for your children you never knew were there and could not have opened by yourself.

This has happened so many times for our family! One example I can think of right now pertains to basketball, which we love and which our oldest son seemed to have a natural gift for.

You know how many parents push and shove and manipulate the system to get their kids a place to be positioned in sports? Whew! CRAZY folks! And its not just sports…

We started Elty (Elton McMillan III) on a team when he was five years old and he was so much fun to watch! He was on our local kid’s club teams and school teams. His daddy coached him some times and made some sweet memories. As our kids got older, God began asking us to do things that were time-consuming and lifestyle-changing. We started homeschooling, moved to Africa for a year, my husband had a major job change, I had a kidney transplant, we started running a private school; things like that. Just life! Our kids were right there with us serving and working hard and being understanding that there was just not enough left in us at the end of the day to pursue sports. We just pulled back.  There were times when Elty wanted to go to Basketball camps but we just couldn’t stretch our money to do it.

As a parent you feel like everyone else is putting their kids in the best position to succeed, and you want to be that parent!  We often talked about the fact that God was providing for his future in amazing ways that we couldn’t see at the time.
Elty Senior Photos-1114By the time he reached High-School it seemed like his training consisted of  a lot of one-on-one on the driveway, but we signed him up for try-outs on our local public High-school team.

It was amazing! He was chosen to be the starting point guard and he lead his team to State! (Oregon, 3A) He also went to state finals in triple-jump and high-jump with the track team. I just sat on the bench time after time and watched God be powerful on our behalf. I was one proud mama! The best part was the smile on his face when he ran down the court or flopped over the high bar. I know that his faith in his God was strengthened as he realized that God cares about his dreams!

As parents, there are things we just cannot or will not afford our children, and there are opportunities we can’t manipulate for them, but God is faithful!  When we put HIS will above our own, and teach our children to do the same, He opens doors we haven’t even considered. He treats our children royally for His name sake. This is yet another example of how God partners with us in our parenting, and how we can teach our children to partner with us in faith. It is amazing to watch them begin to reap the blessing of being a righteous man or woman themselves.

 

I encourage you to do this little Bible study from Psalms and Proverbs with your children and find out what some of those blessings are. Wisdom is speaking truth here!

Psalm 37:16

A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.

When the Bible says someone is wicked, it means anyone who is hostile toward God, the opposite of righteous. So, what DOES the righteous have that is better than the riches of many wicked?

  • Blessing and favor that protects and beautifies (Psalm 5:12)
  • Salvation, strength in trouble (Psalm 37:39)
  • He will never be shaken, he will be remembered (Psalm 112:6)
  • Blessings crown his head (Proverbs 10:6)
  • He is given a good name (Proverbs 10:7)
  • An everlasting foundation (Proverbs 10:25)
  • He is established and cannot be moved (Proverbs 12:3)
  • He leaves his children an inheritance (Proverbs 13:22)
  • A refuge when he dies (Proverbs 14:32)
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We didn’t always do what was best for our kids. Pt.1

…That isn’t to say that we didn’t want to, but sometimes we just couldn’t. A good example of this is when our kids were age 1, 2, 6 and 7 we moved to Liberia. They were uprooted from their friends and their grandparents, we lived in third-world country and a war-torn city with very little security and we drank un-sanitized water, just to name a few hazards. If all our decisions were made by “doing what was best for our children” we would have never gone. But we made this decision based on obedience to the voice of God.

He told us to move there, and then He told us to move home 9 months later. It was a challenging time, but as it turns out, it was the gift that keeps on giving. We learned so much about obeying God and trusting Him and we have been able to pass that on to our children. We have all been broadened, deepened and grown immeasurably from this one experience of walking by faith as a family.

So, the big worry might be that if I’m not looking out for my kids first, who is going to? God will! Think about it this way, there is peace and security in the family when God is in control and the parents and children line up and follow God together; and it doesn’t end there! God is an attentive God. He watches us closely to see our response of faith and obedience to Him and He strategizes to bless our children.

Here is a little discussion you can have with your kids while you talk about following God. This is a great verse to memorize as a family. It will help your kids remember how you make decisions at your house as you get everyone lined up and follow God together!

Proverbs 20:7

 The righteous man walks in his integrity;
His children are blessed after him.

  1. Who is this righteous man? Those whom God has justified because of their faith (Genesis 15:6)
  2. What does it mean to walk in integrity? To follow God in conduct and character.
  3. Who is the blessing secured for? His children
  4. What are the children doing in this verse? Following the righteous man.
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Destroying F.E.A.R.

Nope. Not a fan.

First of all, I hate fear. It is an irrational tormentor that debilitates the soul and paralyzes dreams. Fear makes you live with the effects of a trauma that may have NEVER happened. It does this by attaching the little word “Yet” to everything. “You haven’t failed…YET”. “You have not been forgotten…YET!” Yeah. Slipping in that little doubt that God cannot keep His word and cannot be trusted. Fear is a liar and a cheat, robbing us of our security in God.

God hates it too. While He is speaking words of provision, promise and protection, fear offers people dread instead. When they drink it, they get death where life should be. This is not what God had in mind when He talked about faith being the evidence of things not yet seen! Fear is faith; faith in the enemy’s lies. Getting rid of fear starts with repentance for drinking the Kool-Aid!

Fear is opportunistic. If you have a trauma, fear moves in to capitalize like an infection in a wound. Those who have lived with this know how real it is. Forgiving those who hurt us is a good start…but fear even finds a way to affect little children who have never had a bad thing happen to them in their entire lives! How does he manage that? The same way he gets the rest of us. He lies! No big surprise there!

Too close to home…

My son Avery (number three out of four kids in our family) was happy and easy going for the first two years of his life. He had some minor things happen to him that I believe the enemy really exploited. We were living in a missionary apartment on the third floor of our church while we were waiting for travel visas to go to Liberia, West Africa. I had put Avery down for a nap and ran down to the first floor to put a load of laundry in the dryer. When I returned to the stairwell I could hear him crying. He sounded pitiful. I climbed the stairs and found him sitting on the top step. He said “You went to Africa!” I said “No! No! We didn’t go to Africa without you! We would never ever do that! We are not going to leave you! NEVER! Mommy is so sorry!”

Unbeknownst to me, fear had just found a little victim and sank its teeth in. Avery began to suffer from anxiety. He became clingy. Nap times were HORIBLE. Night time was worse. We didn’t notice anything else right away, but gradually over the years he became fearful of leaving us, being introduced to people, the dark, trying new things, going new places, being forgotten, failing in school, and the list goes on. He acted like he had been abused and neglected…and he had never been. Never. It was not fun.

I remember that even as a 5th grader he would come into our room in the middle of the night just to see us for a minute. He was always tired from not getting enough sleep. He was really good at athletics and other things, but he just wanted to stay home. I prodded, I begged, I prayed, I counseled, I explained, I supported, I insisted …nothing. “Why don’t you want to?” “I don’t know!” was his only answer. Fear was louder and more convincing. Avery wouldn’t budge. Grrrrr.

Somehow we have to get the upper hand.

Then one day when I was pulling weeds in the yard and I got a phone call that Avery needed to come home from school early. He had a stomach ache. He probably had a test that day…they usually made him feel sick. I started getting ticked off.

This kid needs to stay in school! This is a huge annoyance and inconvenience to our lives! Avery is supposed to have opportunity and influence as a child of God and he won’t even leave the house! This is INSANE! I started crying out to the Lord. “This is not Your will! You have not given us a spirit of fear!”

Wait. A Spirit? “HOW DARE YOU????”

I immediately began turning my wrath on this enemy and accusing the Spirit of Fear “You are robbing my son of opportunities that the LORD has given him! I rebuke you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! Fear, you leave my son right now! I don’t care how you got your foot in the door; I am closing it with authority that was given us by God…I bind Fear in Jesus’ name and I loose the peace of God over my son!” 

I called it out by every name I could think of. “Fear of people, GO! Fear of death, GO! Fear of darkness, GO! Fear of sleeping, GO! Fear of rejection, GO! Fear of sickness, GO! Fear of failure, GO! Fear of the unknown, GO! Fear of change, Go! Fear of abandonment, GO! Every evil manifestation of Fear, GO! And that is when God reminded me of the incident on the steps. “I don’t care if you think you have a right! You have NO RIGHT! What you told Avery was a lie. We didn’t leave him. You planted that idea in his head! You are a liar and a thought caster.” By now I was seething because I felt so ripped-off. “I command you to go in Jesus name.”…and I started all over again. I remember asking the Lord to help Avery to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I would need to teach him that for sure.

My flower beds were weeded in record time. I raked those old thorns and weeds up and crammed them into a bucket. Don’t mess with a mother!

My husband dropped our son off with me. I asked Avery to stay in the yard and help me get the weeds into the chicken coop. He was surprised because coming home from school early usually buys you a trip to your bed! By this time I was feeling the peace of God and I just started thanking Jesus for the power we have in His name. Avery had no idea I had just been fighting for his life.

Out of the clear blue?

Suddenly Avery said, “Mom, I’m not going to come into your room at night any more. I don’t have to. I’m not trying to get away from anything anymore. I don’t even know why I was doing that. I really just wanted to sleep. Now I’m going to.” Shaking with amazement, I was speechless. I just asked “Why?” “Something left me in the car on the way home from school. I thought I threw-up but I didn’t see anything and then I just knew I was safe.” We stood out in the front yard and hugged.

When he went around the corner with a bucket of yard debris I watched him until he was out of sight. Then I sat down and cried. Dread is dead. Love wins again. Wow, I love You, Jesus!

Epilogue

Avery Bruce, whose name means “fearless” and “secure”, has never been tormented with fear or anxiety again. He is bold and courageous and is an upright influence on his peers. He loves school and adventure. He is a soft spoken, but very confident young man of 15 and Elton and I are so proud of him.

Avery has often told me that he wants to build me a house in his back yard when he grows up…I know what you are thinking! It is NOT so we never leave him. He said it is so Elton and I have a place to live in between our mission’s trips to Africa, India and other lands. He also wants to be the Chief Financial Officer of We Choose Virtues someday…so he can fund all these trips. Watch out for him! Good things are yet to come!

 

In conclusion, we don’t have to let the Devil walk all over us and steal, kill and destroy. We were given life…and sometimes we have to fight for it with the weapons of our warfare that are not carnal, but mighty to the tearing down of strongholds. Amen!

 

Destroy….F.E.A.R.

Forgive anyone who has hurt you with the help of the Holy Spirit!

Engage the enemy with the truth of the word of God (see italicized verses in the post above)

Ask God to show you the open doors that fear is coming in though. Get rid of Fear’s opportunity!

Repent for doubting God’s provision, promise and protection.