Archive for Our Parenting Journey Series
Our Parenting Journey: Master Resource List
Posted by: | CommentsIf you haven’t read my disclaimer for this series please do so.
If you made it through the series with me, you can probably tell I love books. I mentioned and/or recommended a lot of books throughout this series, so I thought I would close it with a master resource list. This is not exhaustive by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a start. These are books I have enjoyed, many will read again, and some I look forward to reading. Add your own favorite parenting/family books in the comments section.
My Favorite Books on Parenting:
1. Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp
2. Teach Them Diligently by Lou Priolo
3. Grace-Based Parenting by Ted Kimmel
Other Recommended Parenting/Family Resources:
1. Christian Living in the Home by Jay Adams
2. Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham
3. The Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo
4. The New Six Point Plan for Raising Happy, Healthy Children by John Rosemond
5. What is a Family? by Edith Schaeffer
6. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen Covey
7. Train Up a Child by Brent Bounds (Audio)
8. Training Our Younger Children by Kenneth Maresco (Audio)
9. Gospel Centered Parenting by C.J. Mahaney (Audio)
10. Raising Children Who Are Confident in God by John Piper (Audio)
Parenting/Family Books I Haven’t Read but Are on My List to Read:
1. Parenting is Heart Work by Scott Turnasky
2. Peacemaking for Families by Ken Sande
3. God, Marriage and Family by Andreas Kostenberger (many call this THE book for Christian families)
4. Instructing a Child’s Heart by Tedd and Margy Tripp
5. Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas
6. Raising Kids for True Greatness by Ted Kimmel
7. Age of Opportunity by Paul David Tripp
8. The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot
9. Standing on the Promises by Douglas Wilson
10. The Family: God’s Weapon for Victory by Robert Andrews
11. My Life for Yours by Douglas Wilson
12. For the Family’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
13. Making a Home for Faith by Elizabeth Caldwell
14. Teaching Kids Authentic Worship by Kathleen Chapman
15. Heirs of the Covenant: Leaving a Legacy of Faith for the Next Generation by Susan Hunt
16. Courageous Parenting by Jack Graham
Books That Are Not Necessarily Family/Parenting Books but Encourage Godly Interactions with Others:
1. How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp
2. Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul David Tripp
3. Humility by C.J. Mahaney (here are the audio messages as well)
4. The Peacemaker by Ken Sande
5. The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges
6. The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor
7. War of Words by Paul David Tripp
8. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
9. The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
Resources for Family Worship:
1. Family Worship Hymnal
2. Family Worship by Donald S. Whitney
3. Thoughts on Family Worship by James Alexander
4. The Family Worship Book by Terry Johnson
5. Training Hearts Teaching Minds by Starr Meade
6. The Righteous Shall Live by Faith by Children Desiring God
7. Lord, Teach Us to Pray by Children Desiring God
8. Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus by Nancy Guthrie
9. Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross by Nancy Guthrie
Resources for Men:
1. Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes
2. Where’s Dad? by Weldon Hardenbrook
3. Dynamic Dads by Paul Pettit
4. King Me: What Every Son Wants and Needs From His Father by Steve Farrar
5. Raising a Modern-Day Knight by Robert Lewis
Resources for Women:
1. Biblical Womanhood in the Home ed. by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
2. Girl Talk by Carolyn Mahaney
3. Praise Her in the Gates by Nancy Wilson
4. Don’t Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman
5. The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer
6. Your Home a Place of Grace by Susan Hunt
7. Heaven at Home by Ginger Plowman
8. Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes
9. Moms2Moms Series by Covenant Life Church (Audio)
Resources for Children:
1. The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm
2. The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
3. Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt
4. My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt
5. Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers books by Joey Allen
6. Biblewise books
7. Seeds Music
8. Cedarmont Kids Music
9. Fighter Verses by Children Desiring God
10. Herein Is Love (vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3, and vol. 4)
11. Truth Made Simple by John Todd
12. ESV Children’s Bible
13. Heaven for Kids by Randy Alcorn
Our Parenting Journey: My Three P’s of Parenting
Posted by: | CommentsIf you haven’t read my disclaimer for this series please do so.
To conclude the series, I thought I would share the three P’s of parenting, that for me are the essentials of being a mom to God’s glory.
1. Prayer. More than anything else, I want to be a mom of prayer. I want to pray for my children in specific and continuing ways: for their salvation, for their strengths and weaknesses, for the grace to suffer well, for their sexual purity, for their future spouses and in-laws, and for my relationship with them. I also want to be a mom who prays daily for wisdom in parenting. I don’t want to run immediately to a friend, book, website or even Joe when I have a problem in parenting. I want to turn first to the perfect Father and ask Him to guide me and teach me. I want to humbly ask for wisdom and then open my eyes to see where that wisdom may come from around me.
2. Priorities. My biggest struggles in parenting usually come when I am feeling inconvenienced by the task of being a mom. In reality, when I step back and look at things, this is one of my most important jobs (after being a child of God and a wife). I often perceive the extra work in parenting as holding me back from are other things. But if you asked me about these other things, I would not say they are high priorities. When I face a temper tantrum and know that it could take an hour or so of heart work, when I am in the right frame of mind in regards to my priorities, I can face it gladly.
3. Perspective. This is the thing that keeps me thinking right most days. When I am tempted to become frustrated with one of the kids, my first dose of perspective is usually: What if this child were not in my life? Isn’t the little bit of struggle worth all the good? And then secondly, I usually think: In the grand scheme of all that God has created, how big of a deal is this right now? When I gain the right perspective it is so much easier to joyfully parent my children
Prayer, priorities and perspective. My three “musts” for parenting. Through our journey as parents and the lessons we’ve learned along the way, our parenting has become focused on becoming the kind of people we want our children to become and enjoying every moment we can to the glory of God.
Our Parenting Journey: Current Lessons and Struggles
Posted by: | CommentsIf you haven’t read my disclaimer for this series please do so.
Our journey has now come to the present. Many of the lessons I have mentioned I am still learning and seeking to apply every day. But each season of life seems to have it owns lessons, so here are the ones I am learning right now:
1. Grace. I just read a great book called Grace-Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel. I found out about it through Justin Taylor’s blog where Sally Michale gave it a high recommendation. The book has served as encouragement that we are on the right track as far as the heart of what we are trying to accomplish as parents. But one thought in the book struck me more than any other:
We need to treat our children the way God treats His children.
Not that this is the most profound thought in the world, but for some reason it really impacted me. I cannot just start with how God treats me though, I must start with who God is. If I do not properly understand who God is, I cannot understand the actions that flow from Him. So a study of the attributes and person of God is essential in my interactions with others. If I want to treat others the way God treats me, it starts with understanding, studying and meditating on who God is.
2. Fairness. I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old. And we live in a home where competition is a large part of our day with Joe’s job as a professional athlete. This leads to a lot of competition between Abby and Elijah. One of the lessons I am teaching over and over again right now is that things are not always fair. Just because one gets something, doesn’t mean the other does. This is a great lesson to preach to myself when I am inclined to tell God that He is not treating me fairly as compared to His other children.
3. Responsibility for Sin. Another result of having two young children is constantly dealing with pointing the finger at the other person. When I am in another room and I hear an argument erupt, as soon as I ask one what the problem is, the first thing out of his/her mouth is what the other one did. Again, this is a lesson on human nature. In the first sin, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. We all do it every single day. It convicts me every time I hear one of my children do it how I can pass my own sin off on being tired, having to move a lot, spending time without my husband, living in a foreign country, etc. Our sin is our own fault. No one else’s. Are there things which make the battle harder? Yes, but that does not excuse us. This is a great lesson to have to deal with every day for my own heart’s sake.
Tomorrow I will have some closing thoughts for this pareting series.
