As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, we did a variety of things through the years to help our children develop an enduring faith of their own. The following are the things our kids said made the biggest impact.
One of the first prayers we taught our children was this:
Dear heavenly Father, please show me Your will for my life.
This was one of the first prayers my dad taught me as well. He would say, "Andy, God has a plan for your life, and you don't want to miss it." I certainly did not. Teaching me that simple prayer was my father's way of introducing me to the idea that my first line of accountability was to my Father in Heaven. The habit of praying this simple prayer every night before I went to sleep had a profound impact on my sister and me. So every night I would conclude my bedtime prayer routine with, "... and please show me your will for my life. Amen."
Unfortunately, during that same season, my parents introduced me to the disturbing piece of narrative from the Old Testament when God speaks audibly to young Samuel in the middle of the night. Familiar with that story? If not, here's a quick recap. Hannah had trouble getting pregnant. She and her husband, Elkanah, had tried for years, to no avail. But Elkanah had two wives. Adding insult to injury, Peninnah, wife number two, had no trouble getting pregnant. So Hannah was greatly distressed. In her desperation, she vowed to God that if he gave her a son, she would give him back to serve in whatever manner God saw fit. In time, God granted her request. She had a baby boy and named him Samuel. And true to her vow, she took him to the prophet Eli and left him there to serve God alongside the aging prophet.
So far, so good.
Then one night young Samuel hears a voice calling his name. He assumes it's Eli, so he runs to Eli's bedside. Turns out it wasn't Eli. This happens two more times. Eli realizes something is up and tells Samuel that if he hears the voice again he should respond, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." Sure enough, it was the voice of God. And God gives Samuel a glimpse into his will for Samuel's life.
The moral of the story, according to my parents, anyway, was to be listening on the off chance that God chose to speak to me the way he did to little Samuel. And if so, I was to respond as Samuel did. However, I'm confident if God, or anyone for that matter, whispered my name in the middle of the night, my parents would have had to change my sheets in the middle of that same night. Theirs as well. I most certainly would have spent the rest of the night sandwiched between them.
In spite of all that, I continued to ask God to show me His will throughout my life.
If I'm honest, sometimes I hoped God was busy showing somebody else his will for their life, because I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with mine. And I was confident our wills didn't line up. But even then I continued to ask God to show me his will. This simple habit kept me looking up and looking ahead. It provided me with a sense of destiny. If God had a will or plan for my life, I didn't want to miss it. If God had a plan for my life, what could possibly be more important?
So it's no surprise this was one of the first prayers we taught our children to pray. And as I did, they tacked it on to the end of their nightly prayers: "... and please show me Your will for my life. Amen."
And no, I did not use the story of little Samuel as a selling point.
People of faith have long debated whether God has a specific plan for each individual. A case can be made for both sides of that debate. But at sixty-four, I still ask God to show me His will. You'd think I'd know His will by now, right? So why ask? For the same reason I've always asked: it keeps me looking up and looking ahead.
Garrett, our middle child, is twenty-eight and married. Recently, he and his wife, Danielle, went to look at a house for sale in a neighborhood they've had their eye on. The good news was they loved the house. The bad news was there were four full-price offers in the queue. On their way home they called Sandra to chat about it. Sandra mentioned that she and I were willing to make it possible for them to make an all-cash offer, pretty much ensuring the owner would accept their offer.
I hope Dave Ramsey isn't reading this.
Garrett called Sandra back a few minutes later. "Mom," he said, "that is so generous of you and Dad. But we feel like that removes the faith element for us. And I don't want to eliminate the opportunity for God to close the door." Translated: We want God's will for our lives more than we want this house.
That's it.
But as it turned out, that house wasn't it.
Directing your children's attention to God's will for their lives is an important first step in helping them develop a relationship with their heavenly Father and accountability to their heavenly Father. Once that relationship is in place, look for opportunities not to make decisions for your children, and encourage them to look to their Father in Heaven for guidance. In this way, you help them develop the habit of looking up, not just over, for direction.
~ Andy
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