It is written in the Prophets: “They will all be taught by God.”

John 6:45a  

I was desperate. Except it was really more like, “DESPERATE!!!!” My precious treasures were just toddlers.

In my desperation, I had been asking the Lord to be real specific in showing me how to teach my children…how to train them, how to grow their character, and mostly…how to nurture in them a deep love for Jesus. But I was clueless. There was nothing in me that was adequate for the task…and the task was huge, and I felt my children’s very lives hung in the balance! And right there, hearing the cry of my heart, God began to do exactly what our verse says: He taught me.

Here’s what the Lord put in bold print on my heart: Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him (Isaiah 30:18). Hope! He followed that with Isaiah 41:13, For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Isn’t that exactly what I’d asked for…His divine, supernatural help? And then, most preciously, he said to me, This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go” (Isaiah 48:17).

And with those assurances, he began to show me ways to train my children. He did not give me a 3-step plan to be copyrighted and published as THE RIGHT way to train children. He gave me day-by-day instructions for the upbringing of my precious ones, doable by this flawed Mama. Even now, as I see the spiritual maturing of my treasures, I am awestruck that the Lord of Hosts would do such a work for me.

One last promise:  …those who hope in me will not be disappointed (Isaiah 49:23).

Jill Hardin