Tuesday Devotional

This weekend was a whirlwind. Without getting into too many details, my husband and I had to exercise our parental rights and discipline his child that was in no way acting God-honoring. I am so very thankful that God gave us the wisdom to handle the situation and hopefully time will tell if the situation has been corrected and we can slowly rebuild the trust again. I can't help but think how many other Christian families are struggling raising their teenage children when God has been absent for a majority of their lives. I was never raised with God in my home and my step-child has been 13 years without it.

Here's the silver lining: We didn't have to do much but stand our ground, listen to God, and work as a team. Despite the negative situation, God was moving so much that weekend. I saw it, my husband saw it, and most of all his child saw it. God definitely convicted her of her bad decisions and I'm so thankful to have witnessed it. Believe it or not, it has made our marriage stronger and my husband has really stepped up being the spiritual leader in our house. I can only praise God for that and I'm so proud of my husband for doing so.

I plan on making a copy of this and taping it her room so she can be reminded that we may not be there to always push her to make right decisions, you have to ability to choose for yourself and when in doubt, ask God.

A Heart of Flesh

"I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 11:19

God puts a sense of right and wrong deep within your conscience, but if you rebel too many times, you can become hard-hearted. If that happens, you need to let Him soften your heart so you can be sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

The only way to develop a heart of flesh is to spend time with God. You must be in His presence on a regular basis to hear what He is saying. God often speak gently, and those who are busy doing their own thing will not hear His still, small voice. Tonight as you spend time in the Lord's presence, ask Him to soften your heart so you can receive His direction at all times.