KNOW THE SEASON

KNOW THE SEASON

  • Encouragement, Godhead Parenting

KNOW THE SEASON

Every child of God should be asking this question right now. “Jesus, what season am I in?” If you do not know your season, you will work against the natural flow of God. You will be burned out, worst yet, taken out. This is a time to be awakened to YOUR season in this hour. For some, it will be silence; for others, it will be using their voice. Some will enter rest, while others will tap into the endurance He built in the previous season. Others will be in a season of healing, while some will be ministers. Some are to post; others are to shut down social media. Some will be on the front lines; others will be unseen. 

Seasons build upon seasons. You can’t have a harvest time without a planting season. You cannot enjoy the fruit if you haven’t plowed. All seasons are vital. Your role in this season is important, but you must know the season YOU are in so that you can be the fullest version of yourself. “Jesus, what season am I in?”

WHAT IS PARENT COACHING?

Parent coaching involves me coming alongside you and helping you become the parent God designed you to be. Sometimes we remove things that were never supposed to be there, such as lies or a wrong belief system. Other times we encounter Him to heal those places that were hurt when you were younger. Sometimes, we increase your parenting tool belt and arm you with resources, creative solutions, and activities to help empower your children. 

You can schedule a PARENT COACHING session here: Coaching – Let the Children Fly

PARENTING GOAL

If we focus on being a perfect parent and handling everything just right, we will surely fail because Jesus is the only perfect human. However, our weaknesses, failures, wounds, and mistakes do not disqualify us from equipping our children with the truth that while we may have blown it, Holy Spirit is never impatient or annoyed with us. While Dad might be distracted or absent, Papa God is always eager for our attention and company. Where Mom may lack, He always provides. Where we stumble, He is able. How will children know this unless we actively teach them about the faithfulness of God? So, the next time you blow it, use it as an opportunity to teach your child how awesome and good Father God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit really are and that while we try, we are not always like Him, but praise God, He isn’t like us either!

MODEL HIS LOVE

My friend said it beautifully: “God showed me that the purpose of my parenting is not to turn my children into models (in whichever field), but for me to model His love to them. After that, the rest will fall into place automatically.”

RE-VIVE

We are in a never-seen-before season on earth. I passionately believe God is reviving families back into alignment with His original design and purpose for advancing His Kingdom on earth.

MORE LIKE JESUS

 If I were to ask moms if they wanted to be more like Jesus, most would eagerly raise their hand with a resounding, “Yes!” Yet few of us understand or enjoy the process of becoming more like Him. Let me explain how God gives us an opportunity to be more like Jesus the moment we become parents.

Every home we have lived in had an open floor plan and my four children (very close in age) would begin in one end of the house and zoom in and out of the kitchen, dining room, living room and then repeat over and over at record speed. I am a very fun mom and can handle noises and messes, but it was like they would hit a certain octave and my blood pressure would shoot up. I would cash in on my parental authority and command that everyone switch gears to something more peaceful. I couldn’t shut it down fast enough. This would go on for years and I could never really figure out why I was fine one minute and not the next. One day when I was barking orders for peace, I heard God say, “What are they doing wrong?” I replied, “I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” I began to see that maybe this was my issue and not theirs. For the next month, whenever the kids raced around the house, I would go in the back room and process my heart. I felt anxious, scared and uptight, yet my ears were hearing joy, laughter, and connection. Why was this so upsetting to me? God began to show me that when I was little and my siblings and I would get crazy, all hell would break loose and someone would get punished severely. You didn’t want to be on the receiving end, but worse yet was having to endure listening to your siblings get the wrath. He showed me that joy scared me because it meant someone was going to get hurt. He gave me four bundles of JOY to restore what was lost in my own journey. I began to cry at the reality of just how anxious joy made me feel.

Of all the things I have endured in life, the hardest to walk through has been the healing process of receiving the GOOD. And more times than not, it was something modeled through my children (joy, play, silliness, trust, lavish, loyalty, laughter). They are made in His image, not mine, and God knits them with gifts, talents, and a personality to redeem and restore what was lost in mine. God continues to parent us through our children. It’s like He gives us one set of parents to raise and train us and whatever area was neglected or shut down He continues the job when we become parents and uses our children to parent us (our kids don’t parent us, but He parents us through them). This is why family is so important to Him. He is building something in us and the generations are interconnected.

HeartWork – Get out your journal and recall the last time you had an above average reaction to something your child did. Ask Jesus some questions and allow Him to minister to your heart (do not be introspective, but rather ask and listen to what He has to share). “Jesus, was this their issue or mine?” If it was your issue, ask, “Jesus, what was my heart feeling at the time?” “What made my heart so uncomfortable at that moment?” “When was the first time I felt that emotion?” “What did my heart need?” If your reaction to something is on a scale of 1-5, chances are you are just feeling a response to the event, but if your reaction is a 6-10, there is a good chance you are being triggered from previous situations that brought pain. God wants to heal that place so that you can respond in love and walk in peace.

Use these questions the next time you are triggered with a higher than usual response to your child and allow those uncomfortable moments to be the times you are molded to be more like Jesus. We don’t want our wounds or lack parenting our children. We want to parent from a place of wholeness and freedom. Understanding this is so important because oftentimes we react to our children who aren’t doing anything wrong, yet our reaction (out of a wounded or hurt place) teaches them that it is not okay to be who God made them to be, such as joyful (in my case). Allow Him to parent you through your child!

P.S. I am proud of you for doing the hard things so that your child doesn’t need to reap the fruit.

GOD IS FUN

I hear this all the time – “I believe God is good and loves people, but I don’t think of Him as this fun God. I grew up with a picture that God is always very serious. His Kingdom is serious in that it’s life-changing, but the idea of playing and engaging with Him seems foreign.”

If this is your view of God, I want to invite you to sit with Jesus, His Son. Ask Him, “Jesus, will You please give me a picture of the FUN side of Your Father?” You might want to set an alarm on your phone and ask Jesus to introduce you to this part of His Father every day until you can begin to see and experience this part of YOUR Father, too. Yes, God is Almighty and serious and powerful, but He is also the most fun-loving, tender, and engaged Father.

MOMS OF LITTLES

Moms of little ones often lament that they aren’t doing anything significant in their life other than changing diapers, doing laundry, and cleaning the house. WHAT A LIE! The season where you usher children into the world is one of the most *powerful* seasons in your bloodline. You are standing at the gate as a new mom deciding what you do and do not want to pass on to your child. You are being given a chance to say, “My parents did an outstanding job of X and Y, and I want to give my child that same gift.” You are also saying, “I do not want my child to experience X and Y and will seek to bring that area into alignment for their good.” POWERFUL! Moms of little ones, do not believe the lie of your insignificance in this season. You are like a Customs and Border Protection Officer in your bloodline!

TRULY WISE

As a child, I used to think the goal in life was to have it all put together, to need no one, and to know it all. The older I get, the more I realize the sweetest place on earth is when I have exhausted all of my own energy, wisdom, and ability and to be in that place where only something supernatural can occur. I just witnessed the impossible become possible once again! Feeling humbly grateful and thankful!

WHICH ONE ARE YOU PARTNERING WITH?

When you partner with the pressure of perfection, you will reap anxiety, worry, and lack of joy. On the other hand, when you partner with His perfection, you will reap peace, joy, abundance, clarity, movement, and solutions in your parenting.

TIPPING POINT

There has been an ongoing issue we talk about in our family. The kids want one thing, and I want another. I have prayed, processed, and pondered, and my heart has not changed much on the subject. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. It was just that I didn’t feel led. Finally, my daughter made a statement about it one more time, and I could physically feel a grace lifting off of me. Since then, we have been moving in that direction as a family. Her last comment was the TIPPING POINT. Tipping point – the point at which a series of small changes or incidents become significant enough to cause a larger, more important change. The Bible talks about a woman who asked, asked, and re-asked without much avail. But she went to ask one more time and finally got her answer. She is known as the Persistent Widow in Luke 18:1-8. 

DO NOT GET COMFORTABLE in this season. Many of us will find a new groove, embrace the new pace and rise to the occasion, but we cannot let that shrink our passionate prayers and crying out for God to reveal His glory in this hour. Your prayer – the one you have prayed 101 times – could be the tipping point that creates action and change. Keep praying!