Don't Make Me Count to Three!

(Pictures: Anna and Rylie playing with their dolls together. Anna watching Baby Einstein, which she loves!)

For those of you whom I'm friends with on Facebook, you're probably tired of me talking about this book, Don't Make Me Count to Three, by Ginger Plowman. I read it when I was on vacation. I had been reading, Shepherding a Child's Heart, by Ted Tripp, off and on over the past four years. I finally finished that, which I loved. I decided to read Plowman's book because it takes the principles taught in Shepherding and applies them practically.
I highly recommend both books to any parent. They were convicting and encouraging and gave me a good sense of what my long term parenting goals are to be.
I don't want to just raise children who are happy and well adjusted to society. I want more than that. I want to raise children who truly have a relationship with the Lord and who love Him and serve Him with their lives, however they choose to do that. The goal is not just to change their behavior, but to get to the "why" behind their behavior and to train their hearts to know how to respond Biblically and want to do what is right because they understand that they are a child of God and they want to please Him.
I have been so caught up in feeling like I just need to survive every day and get to bedtime. I've been feeling discouraged, especially with Anna's strong will. I have been focused on the short term. I have also been treating Rylie as more of an equal and allowing her to make some decisions that I should have been making for her. I haven't been taking charge as much as I need to. I have also been telling her, "because I said so" instead of showing the heart of the matter and what God has to say about it. These two books convicted me of these areas that need improvement. They also encouraged me because they gave me a plan and practical ways to change.
One of the key principles that I learned was that I love my children too much to let them disobey. Because I love them, I will train them to obey me so in turn they will learn to obey the Lord. Another one was not to view their sinfulness as a failure or a tragedy, but as an opportunity to share Christ with them and to point them to the Gospel. God has entrusted them to me to train. I need to be proactive and not just respond to their negative behavior.
I could go on and on about things that I learned, but I will leave you with a verse that really encouraged me. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9