I enjoyed chapter seven of Nancy Leigh DeMoss’  Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets them Free.  Gregg and I are raising our children to be conformed to the Word rather than to the world, and we get a lot of confused reactions to that.

“You don’t watch Glee!?”

“What could possibly be wrong with letting your preschooler see the movie Rio?”

“Mothers who have problems with the Monster High dolls are seriously too judgmental for their own good.”

“What do you mean, your boys don’t have video games?”

Our children are going to be involved in a spiritual battle their entire lives.  The only way to arm them is to prepare them, and one of the ways to prepare them is to keep from filling their minds with worldly thoughts and ideas and concepts.  The more young minds are exposed to the condonement of sinful behavior, the more young minds will accept sinful behavior as “normal” and “acceptable.”

Beyond the lie of the “need” to expose our children to the world in order for them to fit into the world, Nancy talked about  not trusting God with the timing and size of our families, accepting teenager rebellion as “normal”, children who are saved as young children still being covered for their sins as adults when they are not living a Godly life, and parents either accepting the “blame” or deflecting the “blame” of how their children turn out.

One thing that I found missing in this chapter, and one that I see all the time, is mothers making their children their entire world.  I can only guess that because Miss DeMoss is not married with children, she must not have it on her radar the way I do.  But, I see it constantly in parenting message boards and in social media – children are number one in their mothers’ lives, and their husbands are just this entity who is either unimportant or simply doesn’t do enough to help.  As the children age, mothers’ lives revolve around the children who are in the center with their schools, schedules, and activities.  I believe this is very dangerous to marriages, though it seems largely “normal” and acceptable in the world.  As important as our children are, as amazing and thrilling and wonderful as it is to be a mom, as much as I adore and love my children, they aren’t number one in my life, and they never will be.  And while I might be number one to my preschool-aged boys, I know I’ve fallen well below those ranks to my teenaged daughter and will likely never regain that number one position again.  One day she’ll have a husband, and he’ll be second only to God to her as well.

I have the companion guide for this book, and out of the dozens of study questions for chapter 7, I have chosen just a few of the questions.  However, these are meaty, deep thinking questions.  This guide is designed for you to work a chapter a week, and work through several self-searching questions every day. You may find it beneficial in our study of this book to have your own guide and be able to go through every question. But, for our purposes here, following are just a few questions:

1. The issue of trusting God with the timing and size of our families is probably the most controversial issue in the Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free.  Why do you think the subject evokes such a strong reaction from so many women?

2.  Read Psalm 101.  In your own words, summarize what it says about the environment parents should seek to create in their homes.

3. In what ways can you give each of your children a vision of the purpose and plans God has for his or her life?

4.  The Bible makes it clear that those who call upon the Lord are saved — and that applies to small children as well (Luke 18:16, Romans 10:13).  How can parents encourage their children to place their trust in Christ without pushing them into a “decision” apart from the true conviction of sin and the drawing of the Spirit?

5.  One study indicated that eight out of ten young people who grow up in the church leave the church after high school, never to return.  Why do you think so many children grow up in Christian homes, schools, and churches without ever developing a real heart for God?

I’m blogging at Seeds of Faith today.  Click here to read this post there.

Hallee

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