HUNGRY TOGETHER

HUNGRY TOGETHER

  • Godhead Parenting, JOURNEY

HUNGRY TOGETHER

I started out just offering the Kingdom parenting class to moms, and then He brought a slew of hungry dads to join us. Then grandmas started asking to join because they wanted to influence their grandchildren and have a better connection with their adult children. My heart leaped when grandmas and adult daughters wanted to take the class together. Then there was a season where He was bringing young married couples who had not yet become parents but wanted to align their hearts and mind with Him before they brought children into the world. I smiled when singles began to take the class, saying they wanted to heal from some of the parenting choices their parents made in raising them. Jesus is just so good. And in our relaunching of the class, He is unfolding a new theme – besties coming together to learn side by side. We have couples taking it with their best friends and small groups of girlfriends taking it simultaneously. They are learning together in the class and then intentionally connecting weekly to discuss and go deeper. 

WHEN LOVE TANKS ARE FULL

A mom in class shared: “Let me encourage all of you, even with young ones. My boys are 3, 5, and 7, and we have spent the month of July focusing on love languages as a result of Lisa’s JOURNEY parenting class. We made a calendar and rotated through the languages in order, then picked different ways to show it every time in the month. We have been talking about it and naming it when it happens naturally and working on how to show it. The peace in our home and the connection among my boys have been like never before. It is such a joy and blessing to watch them connect and work together from full live tanks and a place of life!!!”

WEEPING FATHER

I will never forget the father who took our online Kingdom parenting class and wrote to me weeping as he told me how all these years, his daughter had annoyed him with her constant chatter. Holy Spirit revealed to him that that was her way of trying to connect with him and her love language. He was weeping for all the times he had become annoyed with her and told her to be quiet. He never saw her heart until that day, and it broke him. Love languages matter!

APRIL SHOWERS

I heard the Lord say to me, “April showers bring May flowers,” and was reminded of the scene in The Shack where Sarayu (Holy Spirit) was collecting the tears of Mack, who was deeply grieving the devastating loss of his daughter. Later in the movie, Sarayu used those same tears to water the seeds that would become a massive tree. God is doing something profoundly deep within you in this season. Spiritual Daughters, I am so proud of you! I am proud of the one who stepped away and caught her breath. I am proud of the one who went outside to let the tears flow. I am proud of the one who chose faith over fear. I am proud of the one who showed her gorgeous vulnerability. I am proud of the one who sobbed in her closet. I am proud of the one who called a friend and shared her heart. I am so proud of the one who owned her heart and what she was feeling. I am so proud of the one who kept her eyes on Jesus. I am proud of the one who dropped to her knees, asking God for help. I am so proud of you for choosing to let God have His way with you and not medicating your heart with the novocain of the world. The only way to lessen the pain is to feel it. Let Jesus continue to have His way with you, and He will allow those tears to blossom into something so beautiful.

UNIQUE YOU

Corporate love works well for the one in authority but not so much for the receiver because it denies their creative expression and teaches them they need to look like, sound like, and act like everyone else. Each child is different, and we must learn how to dance with them alone. They have different styles, personalities, likes, interests, talents, desires, and ways of connecting. The sooner we realize this as parents, the greater joy there will be in our homes. It is impossible for a child to feel seen, heard, and valued when expected to be someone other than who God knits them together to be. 

Examples of corporate love: expecting everyone to work, eat, get dressed, and do homework at the same speed. Some children just move faster/slower.

Expecting everyone to respond to the same style of communication. Some children need things spelled out more, said with greater tenderness or more engagement, such as eye contact.

Expecting everyone to adjust to your spoken love language. Children speak their own language and may not have a natural high appreciation for yours.

Expecting everyone to value and appreciate what you value and appreciate. Some children are just simply not going to follow in your footsteps but need to find their own journey.

Expecting everyone to be happy when you are happy, tired when you are tired, or hungry when you are hungry. Children have different needs based on their own bodies.

Ask Jesus to show you if you are expecting your children to be mini-you’s in an area that God wants them to BE who He created them to simply be.

I RELEASE REST OVER YOU

Testimony from mom in class: “Ok, this is really awesome and timely because AGAIN, I have been having some trouble with my daughter taking naps, and I got to the point of frustration where I just had to leave the room for about 10 minutes. I got so tired that I finally texted my friend to ask for prayer for it – she said, ‘I release rest over you,’ and no more than 10 minutes later, she calmed down, and she was nursing and then fell asleep! AWESOME! Thank You, Lord. I needed to hear this because I have a tendency to be timid in my prayers, but like you said, ‘Your kingdom come your will be done **on earth as it is in heaven**’ So yes, Jesus came to give LIFE, and we have the authority to ask for that (John 10:10)! I love that. I need to take authority over anxiety and anger!”

FAMILIES IMPACTED

These messages from parents taking our JOURNEY class cause me to weep in gratitude over His goodness. 

“Lisa, your daughter’s story of protection because of a relationship with Jesus has probably impacted me most and made me want to learn ALL I can from your teaching to equip my kids. My husband & I both are really appreciating the practical applications you are giving & I felt a definite shift in our mindset and spirit today!”

HIS YOKE IS LIGHT

This may be my favorite feedback from a mom walking through JOURNEY, our online Kingdom Parenting class: “Your advice and pointers take the pressure off me!” When God says His yoke is light, He means in parenting too. I am passionate about helping parents create a lifestyle of partnering with Him in their parenting. 

I’M SO HAPPY

“We were out shopping, and my son had his money in hand. He was on the hunt for something to buy in a store that he usually wouldn’t buy something in. He had money, and it was a lot to his standards, and he had the urge to spend it. He found this watch that he wanted. He showed it to me, and I said it was nice. He already has a watch, but I told him it was up to him. After a while of hanging onto the watch, he came up to me and said, ‘Mom, I asked God if I should spend my money on this watch, and He said I didn’t need it. So, I’m not going to buy it. He’s right.’ I didn’t even have to tell him to ask his Father about it. He turned to Him on his own. My heart was celebrating, and I told him I was proud of him for making the right choice and listening to God. Thank you. Thank you for your help, your words, and for showing us how to seek God in everything we do.”

BEING TRANSFORMED

I want my life to be a vessel of transformation for others to find, see and experience Him. Messages like this make me stop and thank God for the way He set me free and gave me a voice to help others.

A mom taking our JOURNEY class shares: “I felt like I could actually comprehend who I was created to be by doing this lesson. This is changing me deeply, and I’m so excited to feel it!”