why changes in your family life are important.
(^) Your focus must be on what it means for you to honor God in your
family life, not how to get your kids in line. Getting your kids in line
is a by-product of honoring God.
(^) Sue and Neal came to Christ when their daughters were five and
nine. Their lives had been filled with chaos—living in the world
without standards or truth. Sue spent most of her lucid hours on a
psychiatrist’s couch. Neal worked too many hours, taking frequent
comfort in alcohol and drugs. Their daughters grew up without
direction—living in a world without walls or any fixed points of
reference.
(^) Sue and Neal came to Christ in a large evangelical church where
there was no clear biblical teaching about children. They began
reading books written by Christian men who accepted many
psychological ideas that are not Scriptural. While they wanted to help
their girls, things only got worse.
(^) In God’s providence, they began to learn some of the principles in
this book. They were taught about the heart as the source of behavior
and about shaping influences. They started shepherding their girls.
They confessed their failure to raise the girls properly. They talked
about what God’s standards were. They agreed on ways in which their
correction and discipline should take new focus. They prayed with
their girls. They started having family worship that was oriented
toward knowing God, not just reading the Bible together. They
showed the love of Christ in their family life.
(^) By God’s grace, in the several years that have transpired, their
daughters have changed. The girls have begun to understand life in
terms of knowing God. They have grown in love for their parents.
They have been rescued! It has not been an easy road for Neal and
Sue. It is far easier to put in the foundation before you build the
house. But, thank God, we are never painted into a corner from which
there is no path of obedience.