challenge

We're in a new stage of life here in the Hall home: all my kids are in school full time.  (woo-hoo!)

It's been a week and I've accomplished a fair bit, though it's been very quiet - too quiet...However, we're all adjusting and I'm finding I have a bit more time to do some things that I've always enjoyed but don't always get uninterrupted time for.

Namely: listening to podcasts.

I love to listen and I subscribe to a few, but my favorite by far is Focus on the Family.  I'm pretty sure the program plays on the radio at specific times, but I like to download them so I can listen at my leisure!

Do you download them?  You should!

The other day, I was catching up on one that was played back in May or June where the speaker Cynthia Tobias was talking about her book, You Can't Make Me.  It's for parents of strong-willed children.

~This is where I step onto my soap-box....

I've always disliked the label of "strong-willed."

I've always disliked the implication that it means you have disobedient children.

I generally don't approve of any label that has a negative connotation.



What I came to learn through listening to this speaker is that I probably AM strong-willed, and that's what makes me resist the title so vehemently.

well, isn't that nice.

Regardless, there was more for me to learn in this 2-part series.

The Lord had a word for me, and I had to decide if it would reach all the way to my heart.

Let me testify: it did.

Tobias described a conversation she had with the mother of a 16 year old son whose messy bedroom was driving her crazy.  (That caught my attention.  I've been really hassling my kids about their rooms.)  His clothes were all over the floor (MY kids clothes are all over the floor) and every time she picked them up, her frustration and bitterness would resurface and grow. (oh how I wish I didn't understand that part!) God spoke to this woman and challenged her to pray for her son every time she picked up after him or cleaned up his messes.  (Oh Lord, I hear You.  I'll do that too.)  The woman followed through for the next 6 months and was blessed by an improved relationship with her son.

When, 6 months after she started praying her son was killed in a car accident, she was so thankful she had heard from the Lord and obeyed.

I stopped in my tracks, just then, and prayed that the Lord would cause me to remember this example; to remember this call on my own heart; to remember to pray.