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Monday, May 18, 2009

Chapter Two/Releasing My Child Into God's Hands

Before I get into Chapter 2, I want to give a great big PRAISE THE LORD! On Tuesday, little 4 year old, Lesley Perez was abducted from Hidalgo, Texas. She was playing baseball with her 12 year old sister and other friends right across the street from her house. A man, which we now know to be a sex offender-carnival worker, circled the neighbor hood several times. On the last time, he jumped out of his truck, struck the 12 year old girl in the face and snatched little Lesley and drove away. Apparently, he had been targeting the little girl. The 12 year old sister helped the FBI in identifying the man and little Lesley was found!!! The headline of the local paper read, "There is a God!" Yes, there is and I want to say Praise the Lord one more time!!!

Is that not a parent's worst nightmare? As I watched the story unfold, I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach thinking about that little girl and her parents, but also my children as well. One of my best friends here in Texas learned several years ago that sexual offenders can and do target children. I am not going to get into the details, but because a neighbor was "aware of the surroundings" she called the police when she noticed someone unusual parked in the neighborhood and he was caught. He had hours of my friends daughter on video tape along with two other little girls. The worst thing....this man didn't even live in the same town.

As I think of the two stories above and my own children, I had to ask myself, "Do I release my children into God's hands? or Do I think I have everything under control?" I have to say because I am constantly afraid of all the bad things that might happen and I tend to be a control freak, I would have to go with the second! God doesn't want us to do this. I think when Stormie Omartain was writing this chapter, God knew I was going to read it one day. I felt like they both were speaking right to me!

I was also reminded of the story of Hannah in the bible. She prayed so long for a child and when God gave her one, after he was weaned, she took him to the church to live with the priest, Eli. (He was just a toddler!) Can you imagine that? Hannah did that to fulfill a vow she made to the Lord and Sammuel grew up to be a great prophet. Hannah had complete trust in the Lord and her child was blessed. What a great example of "Let go and let God."

Here are some of the things that I highlighted from Chapter 2. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me!

Do you have peace about your children or are you concerned with everything?

Our children are a gift from God and He cares even more about them than we do!

Don't strive to parent by yourself, enter into a full partnership with God.

Whenever you have a fear about anything, take it as as sign to pray. If you don't have peace right away, call a prayer partner and pray together.

Release your child to God and ask Him to be in charge of their life.

No matter what stage of life your child is in, when we release them to God, they are in good hands! (What a great comfort!)

We don't want to limit what God can do in our children by clutching them to ourselves and trying to parent them alone.

You will be ruled by fear if you are not positive that God is in control of your children's life. SURRENDER your hold on your child and allow God full access.

When we release our children into the Father's hands and acknowledge that He is in control of their lives and ours, both we and our children will have greater peace.

God is everywhere. God can see everything. God can know everything. We can't.

Prayer for our children begins with releasing them into God's hands!

**Read the prayer on page 36. It is powerful.

"Whatever we ask and receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." 1 John 3:22

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What you wrote reminds me of what Jerry Royal preached about on Sunday about not worrying. He said not to worry because it doesn't do any good and God has a plan for your life. Worrying is doubting that he does have that plan all figured out for you. It was such a great sermond for Brady to hear. I was so proud because he even copied my paper and took notes. It's like the sermon was written just for him. Luckily, I think it made him realize that all of his "worries" (as he likes to call them) need to be handed over to God. He's in charge.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't that sermon great?!?! I need to think about what he said EVERYDAY!!! I am constantly worried about everything!!!