Parenting Is Your Highest Calling........

 Hello.....today's pictures brought to you by the day after Memorial Day fun with one of our bosses- Deb OKane with Mother Goose Adoptions.  Some of you may already know this, but I have worked doing home studies, and meeting with birth moms locally as and when for Mother Goose.  Now my hubby is also doing some work for Mother Goose- doing online things for them. 

We have actually never met before.  Mother Goose is also the agency that we brought home our Joanna through:). 

**Now just to confuse you more?  We also both work for Christian Adoption Consultants- which uses many agencies to help match families with children and children with families :).  There are also many other services provided by Chrsitian Adoption Consultants- want to know more?  Please FB or email me!!  I have had most of my families recently match....so I am looking for more families that want to do domestic adoption! 

 OK so on with today's topic- Parenting is Your Highest Calling and 8 Other Myths That Trap Us In Worry and Guilt by Leslie Leyland Fields. 

You read that title right!  Do you often feel like you don't measure up?  Like you yell and therefore your children will be messed up forever?  Do you think I am supposed to be Jesus to my children?  I am supposed to have it all figured out and when I don't and my children "mess up" it is all my fault.  I am supposed to love my child unconditionally all the time.  I have to find the right "formula" to help fix my parenting probelms.  I am not making enough home made muffins and breads, not eating healthy enough, and I am a horrible cook. 

WE ARE ALL DOOMED!!! 

 Do you look around your community or church and think- everyone has it together, but me?  Or well there is at least one family whose children act out more than mine so I am not that bad?  :) 

 THIS BOOK IS FOR EVERY PARENT ON THE PLANET!!!  NOT JOKING!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We are reading it as a part of the many books, DVD's, and articles we are reviewing as a part of our Empowered To Connect's Train the Trainer course.  BUT IT IS FOR EVERY PARENT! 

 WHY? 

 Because we are all humans!  Because we will all make mistakes- many, many, many, many mistakes in our parenting. 

Because we are not all June Cleaver, Martha Stewart, or even Michelle Duggar.  IT'S OK!!!  WHEW!!! 

 I have heard people say I feel so overwhelmed, I don't know why my Tommy acts this way, I feel like my marriage is falling apart because we are both struggling so much with our kids, I adopted thinking this was going to be the answer to our prayers, and instead it was sooo hard, I don't understand why Sally acts this way- this is not how we do things in our home, why do I wake up everyday with the best intentions and yet fail????????????

 I really want this 5 step program to WORK and magically I will never have any problems with my children again.  Ummmm......just so you know THAT PROGRAM DOESN'T EXIST- ANYWHERE!!!!!! 

 Parenting is TOUGH!  It can drive you to your knees!  Especially when you add in the extra pressures of what your family and friends - and that is inside the church say about you or your family. 

 I myself have had tons of people say - your children are soo sweet!  I would love to respond yes they are angels on Earth ;)......but I know better.  There are times when I feel like I must be insane because I see all the different sides to our children's lives.  Those comments above- yep I have made them MYSELF! 

 So why is it wrong to say Parenting is Your Highest Calling?  BECAUSE FOLLOWING JESUS IS YOUR HIGHEST CALLING!!!!  Everything else comes after that!  May I also say that your relationship to your husband is more important than your children- oooohhhhh, GASP ;). 

 If you are racking your brains figuring things out and feel like you are not cutting it- RELY ON HIM!!  Don't go looking to the next fad please.  Don't go thinking that parents here on Earth are perfect or in the Bible are perfect- because you won't find them!  Parents who prayed for years for a miracle and received that miracle struggled - ask Samson's parents.  Yet Samson with all of his faults still accomplished a great deal for the Lord.  People who were total mess ups had children that were used in powerful ways by the Lord as well! 
 Let's look at God's parental love- and yet his children defy Him constantly throughout scriptures!  Still do. 

 So what do you think is your most important aspects of parenting?  I challenge you to rethink your norms that you learned from your parents or even from the church.  Step outside that box and listen to the One Who Created You!  What does HE desire most from you?  What are His desires for YOU.  Then allow yourself to be real.  To fail and to get it right sometimes.   

I encourage you to read this book, but most of all I encourage you to let yourself off the hook of the world's standards, of the picture perfect family, of what you percieve to be your job as a parent.  To think more about your relationship with your Lord and Savior!  To concentrate on love, consistency, grace, and how you can draw closer to God!