11 Notable Quotes from Parenting
This article is part of the Notable Quotes series.
Grace and Guidance
As caregivers, parents act as ambassadors of God’s love and care to their children. The task of shepherding young hearts is a big one, but we can lean on the wisdom, guidance, and grace of our heavenly Father, recognizing our own need for his leading in our own lives. The following quotes are excerpted from Parenting: 12 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family.
“The reality is that God simply does not give you children in order for you to feel that your life is worthwhile.”
“Parents who really do understand that they are never anything more than representatives of someone greater, wiser, more powerful, and more gracious than they are know that their daily work is not to turn their children into anything. They have come to understand that they have no power whatsoever to change their children and that without God’s wisdom they wouldn’t even know what is best for their children. They know that what they have been called to be are instruments in the hands of One who is gloriously wise and is the giver of the grace that has the power to rescue and transform the children who have been entrusted to their care.”
“God hasn’t just sent you to do his work in the lives of your children; he will use the lives of your children to advance his work in you.”
“Your work as a parent is a thing of extreme value because God has designed that you would be a principal, consistent, and faithful tool in his hands for the purpose of creating God-consciousness and God-submission in your children. You can’t create this yourself, only God can, but you have been appointed to be an irreplaceable tool in his powerful hands.”
“Like everything else God calls people to, God doesn’t call people to be parents because they are able.”
“Without the intervention of God’s grace, your children will not be who they are supposed to be or do what they are supposed to do.”
“If you are going to be what God has designed you to be as a parent and do what he’s called you to do, you must confess one essential thing. This confession has the power to change much about the way you act and react toward your children. It is vital that you believe and admit that you have no power whatsoever to change your child.”
“Parents, your children can’t give you life. They can’t give you sturdy hope. They can’t give you worth. They can’t give you peace of heart. They can’t give you right desires and motivation. They can’t give you strength to go on. They can’t give you confidence and courage in the middle of a trial. And they can’t give you that ultimate, heart-satisfying love that you long for. I’m going to say it in a way that I hope will get your attention. It just never works to ask your children to be your own personal saviors. This is a burden they will never bear well, and it will introduce trouble and struggle into your relationship with them. Jesus is your life, and this frees you and your children from the burden of asking them to give you what your Savior has already given you.”
“If you are going to be a tool in the hands of the Father, you need not only to submit to his work, but also to commit to his character.”
“Like your children, you aren’t left to parent yourself because God daily blesses you with his presence and grace, so that you can pass that same grace on to your children.”
“You are faced with the resistance of your children because God is a God of amazing grace. His grace has the power to turn very bad moments into the very good moments. Isn’t this what the cross of Jesus Christ is about?”
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