The Ups and Downs of Parenting

Anyone that has been a parent for any length of time knows that there are good times and bad times.  There are times that you are so proud of your kids, and you get a small glimpse of the person they are becoming.  Well today we experienced both the good and bad with the kids.  I know everyone is completely shocked that we have bad days with our kids.  Missionaries all have perfect kids and know how to deal with each situation in the perfect way.  Newsflash- So NOT true!

Anyway, about our day.  You'll notice the picture.  This was taken with Tim's phone when we went to get the kids after classes today.  They were dressed in authentic African garb.  Andrew was dressed as a man from Ghana and Bekah as a girl from Zimbabwe.  I was so impressed with all that they had learned and so proud of their heart for the people of the countries they've been learning about.  Well, that was earlier this afternoon. 

A couple hours later we headed for dinner.  The kids are becoming a little too confident and ran ahead of us.  WAY ahead of us.  Bekah was scared silly when she realized she couldn't find us.  Andrew was a little too confident and knew we'd show up.  Well, on the way back after dinner, Andrew took off.  We couldn't find him.  Knowing we were in a fairly safe environment, we headed back to our apartment. Bekah was crying hysterically the entire walk back to the apartment because she was so concerned about her brother.  Of course this Mama & Daddy's hearts were just breaking trying to console her.  It was so hard because she hadn't done anything wrong, and she was suffering from her brother's disobedience.  Andrew made it back safely.

As I reflected upon this incident tonight with Andrew, I've begun to think that is the way we are with God.  How many times do I get a Word from God- just some partial instructions maybe- but I just run ahead with my plans?  I know I'm not the only one who does this.  You get a Word that God wants you to be in a certain ministry or serve or talk with someone.  You don't bother waiting on God to provide the timing or the further instruction.  Instead, you bulldoze on and take it as your project- not God's.  You get to the end and realize you didn't get the results you expected.  You are lost, all alone, and in some trouble.  Hopefully, you now realize you left God and didn't wait on His instruction.  You have people that know that you are not following His Will and are crying and weeping over you.  We get so excited that we don't wait.  We don't pray and seek His direction.  Praise God that He gives us second, third, etc chances.  He loves us and welcomes us back.  That doesn't mean there aren't consequences to the actions.  There usually are. 

Tomorrow Andrew will be learning a lesson on waiting on his mom and dad.  Everywhere we walk, he will be holding our hand.  It's not going to be fun for him, or for us, but we pray he learns this lesson on waiting at a young age.  When he is older, we want him to know how to wait on God.  Our goal as parents is to teach our kids how to love and obey our Father.