Day 65: Cherish Your Children

Scripture to Memorize:
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
Proverbs 31:28-29
Passage to Read:
Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127:3-5
Prayer:
Dear Lord, I thank you for my daughter, my grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I know they are a heritage, a reward from you. Forgive me for all the times that I did not cherish my daughter and care for her as you would have me do. I ask your forgiveness for my failings as a mother. I thank you Lord for the relationship I have with my daughter now. Holy Spirit give me wisdom to be the mother, grandmother, and great grandmother that God means for me to be. Thank you for empowering me to build a godly heritage that will last for generations to come. Amen.
Personal:
In today's lesson Donna talks about raising godly children. She states that "our children provide the greatest opportunity for us to impact the future. When we are dead and gone; when all our possessions are broken, obsolet, solda at yard sales, or thrown away. . . .what will remain? If we live our lives the way God is calling us to, our godly heritage will remain."
Donna then tells a little history of the family of an English woman who lived in the late 1700s in England. The woman's name was Susanna Wesley. She had nineteen children, eleven survived to adulthood, two of those were Charles ande John Wesley. They were key leaders in the Great Awakening in the eighteenth century. Further, many historians, according to Donna, believe that this was the primry reason England was spared a bloody revolution like the one that occurred in France. "Susanna WEsley's childrfen literally changed the courswe of a nation and impacted the eternal destiny of countless thousands."
Next Donna talks about one of the men John Wesley led to the Lord, John Taylor. John Taylor became a lay Methodist preacher, in his zeal for God he raised up several sons to be Lay Methodist preachers, and those sons had several sons who became lay Methodist preachers. One of those men had a son who prayed every day to be sent as a missionary to China because his father prayed everyday for God to send missionaries to China. That son's name was J. Hudson Taylor and he did grow up to become the founder of the China Inland Mission and the father of the modern faith mission movement.
Donna quoted Ruth Tucker as saying in her history of Christian missions "No other missionary in the nineteen centuries since the apostle Paul has had a wider vision and has carried out a more systematic plan of evangelism across a broader geographic area than Hudson Taylor."
Donna also shared about Johnathan Edwards. Donna says that the state of New York did a study on fivfe generations of the Edwards family and found that of their 729 descendants, 300 were preachers, 65 became college professors, 13 were university presidents, 60 were authors, 3 were congressmen and 1 became vice president of the United States. "All were from one family who determined to raise godly children, one family who built a godly dynasty."
She then goes on to say that she would like for her great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren to thank God "that she invested time in attending to the small stuff that adds up over time. Thank God she poured her energy, creativity, and ambition into the lives of her children and, as a result, changed the course of her family history."
Unfortunately, I do not think I have had anywhere near that influence over my grandchildren. However, I hope that I have had enough influence, and continue to have, for my daughter to influence her children in such a way.
Affirmation: My children are my heritage; they are a gift from the Lord. My Affirmation: My daughter is my heritage; she is a gift from the Lord.
Practical:
I have spent time getting to know my daughter. We have a closer relationship now that we did when she was younger however we still are not as close as I wished we were. This is something I pray about regularly. I am also unable to have a really close relationship with my grandchildren. Some of that is distance and some if that for various reasons I did not get to become a part of their lives until they were in their teens. For those of you who still have children close to you cherish that relationship. Plan on spending 30 minutes of one-on-one time with each child every week.