We all live in a world where raising children is now becoming more and more arduous. Parents are worried every day about how best they can raise their children; some have decided to have just one, two, or none at all just because of the fear of how to nurture them in our modern and complex society. Few days ago, I took my little baby to school and got entangled with another baby girl of about 18 months who was smiling and waving at me all at once. Because of the way I responded to the little girl from afar, a woman interjected and smiled at me and said, “children are always sweet when they are small, but when they grow up, they don’t listen.” She then began to talk to me about her experience with her daughter of age 13, which got me thinking. Immediately, I remember this write-up that I have started to work on, which offers a new perspective into what l am writing on.
The experience of this woman with her daughter provides a good platform for me to offer godly counsel to parents out there on the strategies they can adopt in nurturing their children in the way of the Lord with great peace of mind. First of all, raising children with great peace of mind requires you as a parent to know the God who is capable of giving peace to all who diligently seek Him. It also demands you, as a parent or a mother, to have an unbroken relationship with the God of peace Himself, which is “JESUS CHRIST”. It is through him that you can effectively nurture your children with great peace of mind. Isaiah 54:13 says, “All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace.” The most pragmatic approach to raising children is by instilling some measures of discipline in them now, which will go a long way in their lives as they grow older. Remember the Rechabites children who never forgot what their grandfather had taught them in Jeremiah 35:6-10. The Rechabite family insisted that they will never taste or drink wine because their great grandfather instructed them not to do so. They stuck to it, and they were not afraid to declare it even in the presence of prophet Jeremiah. Similarly, we, too, have some things to put in place to raise our children with great peace of mind. There are some truths we need to know if we are to raise our children with great peace of mind.
We must know that our children belong to the Lord. Psalms 127: 3 tells us that children are the heritage of the Lord and also a reward from God. The earlier you know that you are just a caretaker of these children, the better for you. The work of every caretaker is to look after something or a person in trust. In this case, you have been given a life to take care of, which is far greater than just looking after a thing. It is important to know that as a caretaker who will not want to lose her reward, you have to do the job as commanded and not as convenient. This can often be done by acknowledging the authentic owner of the child. You have to let God know how important He is to you in the presence of those children so that they can emulate that same way of life towards God.
Nurturing them with the help of the Holy Spirit: A child nurtured under the influence of the Holy Spirit will always give their parents peace of mind even in their old age. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide as you nurture them about the issues that relate to life.
Make their physical and spiritual needs your priority: The physical needs of your children, to some extent, can make them happy or disoriented if they are not met. However, it is not all that they requested that should be given to them. At times they can ask for what they are not supposed to ask for. But there are some important physical needs that parents should fulfill if they really want to raise them with great peace of mind. One of these physical needs is good food, i.e., balanced diet of food that will help their brains develop well.
Clothing: Clothes for all seasons should be provided for them, especially during the winter and summer period. Buying them the few that you are capable of buying is worthwhile and patiently teach them to be content with whatever they have. This will help them to mature as they grow in life so they will not be comparing themselves with other children.
Good Environment: Always have your children in mind when deciding to relocate somewhere or getting a new apartment. The environment you raise your children in matters a lot. Seventy percent of all the children that are not listening to parents today got some of the bad habits from the neighborhood they grew up in. So as a mother, if you are not going to consider anything at all when you and your husband are planning to get your own property or move to a rented apartment, you must first put the children into consideration. This is always our number one priority in my family whenever we contemplate our movements to a new neighborhood.
Academics: Guiding your child towards the career they will choose is not a bad idea, after sending them to a good elementary and high school, the next thing is to guide them because a wrong career can affect the child’s ultimate well being. So, conducting teaching to choose wisely will help them a lot. We don’t have to impose our ideas on them or want them to go to courses we wished we had done when we were younger. Everyone’s career path is unique, and your child must be allowed to pursue their approach to destiny.
Spiritual needs: This is even more important than physical needs in fact; no parent should miss the opportunity to serve their children with spiritual and godly virtues. The Bible tells us to train our children in the way they should go so when they are old, they will not depart from it. Don\’t train your children in a worldly way. Whatever you instill in them is what they will grow up with. The number one spiritual need of our children is their relationship with God. This is the most important one, and it’s, in fact, the cornerstone of their lives. Make it a point of duty to lead them back to their heavenly Father. Be the first person to tell them about Jesus. Teach them the steps to follow to know Him more day by day.
Talk to them about the baptism of the Holy Spirit; it is never too early because the Bible tells us in Acts 1:8 that we shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon us. We will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Teach them this so that they know the importance of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Teach them how to pray by being a praying woman yourself and by finding time to pray with them—in the process, teaching them the importance of prayer. Teach and allow them to engage in the kingdom service: One of the ways you can have great peace of mind when you are raising your children is to allow them to be useful for God, let them take up responsibility in the Church, this will occupy them and prevent them from using their talent for the devil.
Teach them how to develop godly character under God. Every mother that wants to raise her children with great peace of mind must possess a Godly character herself which will be more accessible for the children to emulate. I pray the Lord will make all our children His friends and cause them to love and reverence Him at every point of their lives in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.