I thought when my son was 18 months old and I was expecting my daughter that I had this baby thing down. I knew all about feeding and diapering and doing a rock/sway that even put me to sleep. I'd read all the "What to Expect" books.
And then I had my daughter and realized I knew nothing about being a mom to my girl. She was completely different. I had to learn all sorts of new tricks to soothe and satisfy.
I figured that once we got past that colicky infant stage, it would be pretty smooth sailing. I mean I hadn't seen books called "What to Expect When you Have a Second Grader" or "What to Expect When You have a Middle Schooler." So the tough stuff must have been covered in those baby years with all the books, right?
Not. At. All.
In fact, I find at every new stage of life, I'm a new mom. I was a new mom to toddlers. A new mom to kindergarteners. I've never parented a 10-year-old boy or an 8-year-old girl before. You get the picture.
More importantly, I have yet to find a book called, "What to Expect When You're Discipling Your Kids." And I don't know about you, but I have no idea how to do this on my own.
Thankfully, God gave us His book, His counselor and a family, called the church, to do this together.
In the last couple of years, God has given me and my husband a passion for learning more about how to do this well. And He's put people in our lives on this same mission. We don't have the answers, but we know the One who does.
If equipping parents for discipleship makes your heart beat faster too, would you join us to pray Sunday mornings between second and third service (starting at 11:45 a.m.) in the upstairs conference room (second door on the left)? We'd love to have you. We're praying God gives us the vision, the people and the gifts to strengthen families for this journey and to point our kids toward Christ.
I don't know what to expect, but I'm excited to see what's next.