Tell it to Your Children

There have been many stories of the damage severe weather, flooding, and tornadoes have caused lately. We stand in prayer with each and every person affected. The Lord is with you!

While watching a recent news story about the devastation, I was reminded of a story a young father once shared with us.

He told us the story of how God gave him revelation in regard to his children. He said a few years back, during a tornado warning that was issued very close to their home, he hurried his wife, children and the family dog into an interior bathroom and settled in to wait out the warning. Within minutes he could see the fear sweeping across their faces. His five-year-old son looked up at him and asked, ”Dad, is Jesus going to let us die?”

He told us he and his wife reassured their little ones and then he began to pray. He needed God to grant them peace as well as protection.

The Power of Testimony

Midway through the prayer he said he started thanking God for all the times He had saved one or all of us them from an uncertain fate; illnesses, near-miss car accidents, wild fires, and other things their family had miraculously survived. Through her tears, his wife began to pray with him as well.

Here is where God intervened. He told us that when he said the final amen, he looked up to see confusion in the eyes of his children. That’s when the questions began. They wanted to know about all the events he and his wife had mentioned in their prayer. He couldn't believe they had never shared some of their own testimonies with them.

He and his wife sat in that hallway with storms surrounding them and told their children stories of all the times they knew God had intervened in some way. The kids were intrigued and before they knew it, they had spent nearly two hours in that bathroom and the storm was long gone.

God’s Faithfulness

Since then, he has seen a change in not only his and his wife’s faith and prayer life, but also in their children’s. They now come together often as a family to recount their testimonies and even share new ones. In fact, they now include the day in the bathroom as a testimony of God's faithfulness!

Wherever and whenever you and your child are together is God’s opportunity for you to teach your child about Him. So take advantage and be purposeful with the gift of such times. But, if they are too few and far between, plan, schedule, and determine to make them happen as if it were your most important job on earth—for it is!

RESPOND

Dear Lord, help me represent You, our heavenly Father, to my children. I desire to always remind them of the good you have done. I want to display Your love, devotion, discipline, and caring well. Amen.

RENEWING RESOURCES

In the A Man After God’s Own Heart-Devotional, Jim George provides quick devotions that will spur the dads in your life on to be men after God’s own heart!

REFLECT

What stories of God’s love, mercy and grace can you share with your children?

REMEMBER

Wherever and whenever you and your child are together is God’s opportunity for you to teach your child about Him.