The Small Victories

Ever wonder if all your hard work in something is noticed or appreciated?  Or, all that time you’re investing in your kids is going somewhere?.

This past week, I was able to experience a breakthrough with one of my children, a ‘small victory’ so to speak, that allowed me to realize ….. it is going somewhere!.  No one has to notice anyway except the Lord, who is the only one that counts, and guides me with His still small voice.

One morning last week, we started our school day off as usual with our Character study.  The character for the week was Truthfulness. As we talked about the importance of speaking the truth, and going over some wonderful verses, I could see that my 7 year old daughter was thinking about something…. her  face seemed intense.  As a mom, I knew something was going on.

I didn’t ask her what she was thinking, or what was wrong.

I wanted the Holy Spirit to move, and speak to her.

So, I kept on reading. We went over verses like:

Prov 12:22  ‘Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who speak faithfully are His delight.’

Prov 16:13  ‘Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and he who speaks right is loved.’

Then my daughter stopped me, put her hand on my arm, and said “Mommy, I have to tell you something”.  I looked at her, and she said  “remember when you asked me if I took my vitamin the other day?,  I told you I took it, but I really put it in the garbage.  I didn’t feel good a few minutes ago, and I wanted to tell you the truth”.

Wow,  I wanted to be mad, but I was just so happy that the Holy Spirit  gently convicted her, and then she responded in the right way!. I praised her for being bold and telling me the truth.  We were then able to continue to talk about truth, and how good it feels to speak it.  We prayed and asked God to forgive her, and help our lips to always speak right!  It was a beautiful moment.

The rest of the day, I was reminded that what I am doing is not in vain. All the hard work and prayer is paying off in this BIG thing called child rearing.  The little accomplishments and small victories (like this one) show me that they ARE listening and learning, and our job is to consistently point them in the direction  of Jesus!.

On our own, we CAN”T do this!  But leaning on the Lord, and crying out to him daily will allow us and strengthen us to do this amazing thing called……. Parenting!.   Don’t give up!