Today I have the privilege of introducing you to an online friend who has just released a book that should be a must read for parents. Gina Smith is a wife, mother to two young adult children, and author. Her writing overflows with wisdom and grace. Het new book, entitled Grace Gifts: Celebrating Your Children Every Day, is an e-book for those who want to learn how to live life with their children, and create a more relaxed, grace filled atmosphere in their home!
Gina has shared a post today about Grace Gifts. I hope you will read it, visit Gina’s website, and purchase Grace Gifts for yourself or someone else who has children in their life. Please welcome Gina to The Point.
Grace Gifts: Celebrating Your Children Every Day
Are you being a help or a hindrance in your child’s personal faith journey? I can’t image that any parent would purposely be a hindrance. We all want what is best for our children, and have in mind what we think is the best way to accomplish all we want for them.
Unfortunately, if we aren’t careful, we can actually be a hindrance and not even realize it. I don’t want that, I know you don’t either!
So what’s a mom to do?
Take the time to reflect on how God parents you and then turn around and do the same for your children! That’s how! And how does God parent you? By lavishing you with grace. From the moment you are conceived to the very end of your life, you are showered with grace from your heavenly Father. He draws you to Himself, makes you His child, and carries you through each day. As a parent, we can purpose to stay connected to our Source of grace, and then we can be a channel by which God’s grace is shown. We have the amazing privilege of being the very first people who will live out and introduce the gospel of Grace to our children!
Of course we love this concept, but what do you do when you find yourself in the middle of the daily grind of fussy babies, piles of diapers, willful two year old, sibling battles, loads of laundry, and all that comes with the daily in and out of raising children? At times you can find yourself stuck in survival mode.
You must prepare yourself to live a life of grace with your children.
The first, and most important thing is to be connected to the Source of grace! You must fight for time to be in the Word and prayer.
Nurture your relationship with God. As we press in, and depend upon the Source, we are given what we need to face the daily stuff of life, and we also are provided with the ability to pour that same grace out onto our precious children.
Second, evaluate how you are viewing those precious people God has entrusted you with! Do you view them as kids you need to raise, or as precious, unique individuals that have been entrusted to your care for a few short years? People that we can celebrate and shower with the same grace that we have been shown, creating a platform for God to be seen.
This is something that I am very passionate about! So passionate, in fact, that I wrote a book about it! Let me introduce to you: Grace Gifts: Celebrating Your Children Every Day
Grace Gifts is not meant to be another book of standards for you to try and measure up to. It is not just another “to do” list for you to follow. My goal in sharing the things that God is so graciously teaching my husband and me is to encourage you away from rules and lists–and the striving and fear that go with them–and instead free you up to be encouraged to relax, to enjoy your children, and learn how to see them as the amazing individuals God made them to be. To encourage you to parent your children with grace.
We, as parents, have an amazing privilege and opportunity to teach our children what the meaning of grace is by putting it into action as we interact with them through every season of their lives, as we respond to them in the challenges of daily life–even when they resist authority, even when they make mistakes. As they navigate the battles of life, they need us to extend grace to them daily and celebrate with them in times of victory.
We can choose to have a rigid, rule-oriented, performance-driven environment, or we can choose to have a flexibly structured, grace-filled home. It will likely require a bit more sacrifice on our part temporarily, but it will ultimately help our children to understand the grace that God showers on us every day.
We give them a priceless gift when we choose to become their biggest cheerleader and support system. Celebrating our children and showing them the same grace we have experienced from our God helps us to view our kids as more than just our children who need to be raised, but as precious people who need to be pointed to Christ.
So why do we celebrate our children? Because our Heavenly Father celebrates us, every day. And, like our children, we need His gentle reminders of grace that point us back to the cross. We see in our opening scripture passage, Zephaniah 3:17, that God celebrates His children! We also see in Isaiah 62:5 that He rejoices over us “…as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” In the same way God rejoices over and celebrates us, we can rejoice over and celebrate our own children, showing them a picture of the Father!
Would you like to learn how to connect with your children and how to be their biggest cheerleader no matter what stage of parenthood you find yourself in? I would love to share with you a few ideas that I have gleaned and put into action over many years of parenting and life as a family. No matter your child’s age, I believe there is something here you can do today to draw closer to your kids and to help draw your kids closer to God. My prayer is that God will use these suggestions to help you celebrate your children every day!
Join me as I share practical ways in which we can celebrate our children, at any age, by lavishing them with grace, helping them to gain an understanding of what God does for each of us on a daily basis.
You can purchase Grace Gifts: Celebrating Your Children Every Day HERE! And please let me know if it is an encouragement to you!
Amazon:http://http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K7KKUSA
My author blog: http://www.gracegifts.org/
My main Blog: http://www.gracegifts.org/
