Testimony from a mom in our online Kingdom parenting class: “Kids were arguing, and I felt led to ask what he thought Jesus wanted him to do now. He just walked over to his sister and started talking to her! It wasn’t manipulation or guilt or shame but freedom because he did everything from listening to Papa instead of me! I want more of this! Thank You, Holy Spirit!”
We were at the pool one day, and Hudson sneaked up behind Emma, who was sitting by the edge, not wanting to get wet. He motioned to me if he could throw her in. I responded, “You can, but will it help your connection with her?” He took a second to realize the joy of the victory would not be worth the splash it would make in their connection. I have taught my children over and over and over that the way they treat each other today will affect tomorrow. It may feel ‘good’ to be powerful today, but tomorrow you will reap the fruit of a low account with them.
These are the testimonies I love so dearly. This sweet mama took my class one night and sent me a testimony before she even went to bed!
“Something awesome just happened with my daughter. When I picked her up tonight, I could immediately tell something was off, but the Lord pressed me not to ask anything until we got home. When she was in bed, I went to say goodnight and asked her if she would like to ask Jesus why she was feeling what she was feeling. She said yes, so we asked Jesus what was going on. She said that Jesus said there was darkness in her heart. We asked Jesus where the darkness was coming from, but when I asked her if Jesus said anything, she said, “No… well… yes… but it was different this time… He said not to worry because I’m His, and He is mine.’ Lisa, I just started crying. I feel like with all this heaviness, Jesus is saying and showing that He’s breaking through all of it. I just wanted to share that with you. Thank you so much for teaching me how to do this. It’s been a revelation for me as a parent, connecting with the kids as well as connecting the kids to Jesus.”
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.
“This course has really helped me recognize my behaviors and start to understand the why behind them. I’ve become more aware of how I’m saying things to my kids. We have been talking much more openly and more often about God. I’m excited to continue to use the tools I’ve learned. We have been practicing soaking, and I hope to keep that a part of our weekly routine. It’s amazing the conversations we’ve been having! Thank you. I’ve been able to identify the root of so many issues. Change and healing have already started happening simply because it has been brought into the light. I so appreciate all of the practical steps you offered.”
The revelation this mom had taking our online parenting JOURNEY class is breathtaking.
“I am no longer an orphan. I have had a taste of not being an orphan, but I seem to always go back to the dump. I want to try to interact with others who God showed me are not only orphans but walking corpses… sounds horrific. And it is. But I see how I gave up my joy in the Lord to try and connect with the dead. I am so sick and sad by this… not only for me but for others. How do you show others a new dance move with Jesus when you are trying to do the lack of dance that you see? And then I am showing my boys to try and fit into a culture that is dead. No more.”
How many of you can relate to this mom in the area of PLAYING with your children?
“The first word that came to mind that He wants me to do differently is PLAY! I am not good at playing. It’s not natural for me, but I see my kids come to life when we lighten things up and PLAY. So, Holy Spirit, come and give me a spirit of playfulness! Let me have FUN with my kids!!”
Lisa’s response: Can you sit with it and ask Him to show you what about play makes your heart so uncomfortable? This is where God uses the next generation to align and restore the current generation and what was lost. Allow Him to reveal, heal and restore the art of joyful play.
Testimony from a mom taking our online Kingdom parenting class: “Parenting with the Father works. I’ve spent 5-10 mins extra in the morning connecting with my three-year-old son to fill his love tank. Our transition to daycare in the morning has been seamless. He struggled with that transition in the past and would scream, cry, and cling to us as we tried to leave. Now he gives us a hug and a kiss goodbye and is excited to play with his friends.”
Your child needs to know not only their own language but their siblings’. When a child is aware of their needs, it makes it a lot easier for them to get their need met in a healthy way. Say their language is quality time, and yet they haven’t invested any time in their family; they are going to feel disconnected. Love tanks aren’t something to just passively let others fill. We can intentionally put ourselves on the path to be filled up. They can be doing things that encourage their needs to be met. Many times when there is conflict in my home, it is because their tanks are low with each other. While it would be so much easier to just separate the two ‘offending siblings,’ what they REALLY need is connection. When I see this is an issue, I will ask the child what their brother’s love language is and ask what she can do to fill it and vice versa. The older they get, the more I solve sibling issues this way than anything else. Disconnected kids act out like kids starving for attention!
If this testimony describes your heart’s desire, join us for the next online class to learn HOW.
“I felt immensely inadequate. One day I just fell to the ground in tears and cried out, ‘God, I cannot do it all; I am not capable! My children need more than me; I am not enough!’ He said back to me, ‘I am enough, teach them to come to Me!’ BOOM! Right there, I realized so much of me was still working in my own efforts, and the Holy Spirit corrected me; He is what they need, not me. They needed to learn to go to Him, hear Him, and know Him. I love this lesson and the steps to guide our children to get to the source of the issue. So many times, we circle around the issues repeatedly, never getting to the root of the problem. In our own human efforts, we try to gain ground by dealing with the superficial symptoms instead of addressing the true issues, the hurt, the lie, or the offense. When we take ourselves out of the picture and teach our children to go to Daddy, He is the one that can deal with the truth of the circumstances, and He does it SO much more efficiently than I do. I hope to embed these steps more and more as I lead the hearts of my children. I hope to grow them up in a way where they are empowered. I am, again, thankful that God has led me to this class to bring more focus and direction in leading my children by the Spirit.”
Join us here: Journey – ONLINE CLASS – Let the Children Fly
Oh, that we would grasp this revelation and run our homes and churches to reflect the Father’s heart.
Hudson has been a bear – like the mean grizzly kind. He would not heed the multiple warnings and continued to operate out of disrespect for all of those around him. Finally, in frustration, someone walked away and said they could no longer be around him. He found himself disconnected from the group. The next morning as he was cleaning up his mess, he created another one, but this one had serious consequences. I was so frustrated as I felt like we kept putting out fires but never getting to the source. I knew I had to go deeper into getting the Lord’s heart and strategy for him, as he was clearly stuck in a cycle. As we asked Jesus, he said he wanted revenge (which is exactly how he was acting). We asked Jesus to show us what he wanted revenge for, and he started crying. He said the girls kept ignoring him. I called a family meeting, and we began to realize that we thought the girls were responding because Hudson was being unkind, but in reality, the girls were the ones not being loving, and it was causing him to feel rejected and like he didn’t belong in his own family (which was the root of his behavior).
All the discipline in the world would not have addressed the real issue – the girl’s hearts. He was not the ISSUE. His behavior was simply waving a FLAG that there was an issue. I went from being so frustrated with him to being so thankful for his reaction because it alerted me to something greater for the girls.
