Parenting is such a hard job. I just ordered a new book yesterday - Parenting Teens in a Confusing Culture by Mark Gregston. I am really excited to dig into this. Our last book that went around our Rock Group really went over big time. Have a New Kid by Friday. So many of our kids thought they were being traded in on Friday for an upgrade! Too funny.......

One of the things I want to share this morning is the fact that over the last week as you know I have not been sleeping that well. Carol has been suffering with her tooth since November and honestly - it has taken a toll. Today was the first morning in a long time, she got up and I met her at the breakfast table and she was smiling - without pain. I have regained some of my sleep back after working things out and handing things over to the Lord. So things are looking up! This reminds me back when Kyle was little. We would have a great day playing or doing something fun and that particular day he would miss his nap. He loved his naps even though it was tough to wind him down to the point where he could nap. If he missed it though, talk about a cranky kid. Talk about a suffering parent! Talk about someone on the verge of meltdown even at the smallest of things. Parents, we are the same way. If we are not taking care of ourselves with eating right, exercise and SLEEP - we are that cranky child. We snap at the kids, we yell when we shouldn't be and we take things out on the ones around us - those we love. We often get out of focus in life and do the wrong things and focus on the negative things that are all around us. I got to see this first hand at school yesterday with a teacher in the face of a child - He has some stress these days and it is getting the best of him. The child took the result of it. Our lives may reflect working at the office 90 hours a week, stress that comes from someone sick, trying to pay the bills or just not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
When this happens our parenting becomes weak when our kids need us to be STRONG.
Why do weak parents produce weak children? Often it's because they operate out of their feelings instead of their responsibilities. They want to do what they want to do more than they want to do what is right. Our responsibilities are to our children. Those teen years go fast and you only have a small window to raise them and not let culture raise them. Yes its hard ... I can't tell you how much it means to have a small group of families around us (Carol and I) that really care for us. They are in the trenches with Carol and I. We are in it with them.
Letting feelings lead your live is a course that will for sure crash along the way....... God has a better plan if you let Him lead you. If you are struggling hard today - look at it as Gods way of correcting you with loving discipline.
I want to share Hebrews 12:11 this morning:
Hebrews 12:11 (The Message)
4-11In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don't feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either. It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

Loved ones, embrace what God is doing in your life. If its hard right now - follow Him so that you can move on to better things. Let God lead your feet and pour yourself into His words. Your children will benefit more from that than anything else in the world. The world has little to offer us and VERY little to offer them. As we discipline our children and teach them right from wrong - so is our heavenly Father giving us loving discipline so that we too may know the right way.

Happy Friday everyone - love you all,
Lonnie