Merry Ukrainian Christmas

Merry Christmas from Ukraine. Today is the Russian Orthodox calendar Christmas. So everyone here in Ukraine is celebrating. We asked the director of the orphange what we could buy all the kids for Christmas and she said Lemons and Kiwi because the don't get them very often at all.  What a Christmas. We also bought some toys for the rooms as well.

Well anyways, since becoming a parent of 2, I have been doing a lot of thinking about parenting and I have come up with something profound. No one is a perfect parent.  You would think that God would give us a perfect parent in the Bible right, well not exactly, just look at these examples.

• Noah had a drinking problem
• Abraham offered his wife to another man and slept with another woman to have a child.
• Rebekah schemed with her son to deceive her husband, Isaac.
• Jacob's sons sold their brother into slavery.
• David had an affair, and his son started a rebellion.
• Eli lost total control of his how his boys behaved in the temple.
• You would even think that the parents of Jesus would have been perfect right, well they left Jesus in the temple for 3 days before finding him.

So if there are no perfect examples in the Bible, why do we expect ourselves to be perfect parents?  I want to encourage you not to try to be the perfect parent that you see in movies and pictures, because the don't really exist.

I do however want to encourage you with a few words of wisdom about what can make a great parent. If you aspire to have your kids learn these 3 things, then I believe you will be the parent God wants you to be.  I pray that as I journey through parenting that my kids would learn these above all else.

1. My children would KNOW and HEAR God's voice, discerning it from all others.
2. They would DESIRE to obey Him when they heard His voice.
3. They would OBEY Him not in their own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we imagine the end of our child's life, what will be important.....THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.  So everything wee do and teach should point them towards having a loving relationship with him!

However before we can get our children's relationship with Christ right, ours as parents has to be right as well.  That is just what this month's Parent Link is all about.  Please find some time this month to listen to it and get some helpful tips on getting your relationship right with Christ so you can help your kids grow in him too! You can listen by going to www.wentzvillecc.org/parentlink.

Have a Merry Ukrainian Christmas!