Not My Own

"It's all God's money anyway."

Josh and I say this phrase quite often around here.

We say it when we have a huge medical bill waiting to be paid.

We say it when we are being called to give a huge chunk of our savings away.

We say it when we need to fill up the gas tank...again.

We say it at the grocery store every week:)

We try to say it in the best baritone, southern baptist voice we can conjure up, it helps the depleting bank account not hurt so bad, ha!

We joke about it a lot.

But isn't it the truth?!

It IS all God's money anyway!  He has blessed us with every penny we have in our possession.  We KNOW He could (and has) taken it all away at times, but never leaves us in need.  NEVER!

So, this is how Josh and I have chosen to live and view our money and possessions.

Having the perspective of Christ owning all that we have helps us steward our belongings and finances much better.  It helps us loosen our grip on what is "ours".

The subject of parenting children comes up on a weekly basis in our small group.

I LOVE the dynamics in our group.

We have people with children in college all the way down to us with a baby and others waiting for a baby.  So you can only imagine the prayers lifted up on behalf of our children in every stage of life.

But this got me thinking...

Not only can this previous phrase refer to money or possessions.  The same holds true in reference to our children.

"They are all God's children anyway."

If I try to see "my" children as the true blessings that they are and realize that they are God's gifting to us for a time, to help raise and teach the Truth to, then it helps to loosen my controlling grip on them.

Areyna is almost eight, and boy is it hard to let go of that control, and we are just on the outskirts of the preteen years!  It will only get more difficult to allow her to make her own decisions as she gets older.  But our job, as parents, isn't to control and demand certain behavior and choices, it is to lovingly nurture and pray for them as we see them begin to grow and mature.  It is to guide them, with the knowledge that they are God's children that have been entrusted to our care for this season.

I pray that I can keep this perspective.  God's precious children need our guidance and love, but most of all they need their Heavenly Father and He's got them.  

They are His!

And so we pray that they will see this Truth too.

Because that is something ONLY God can do.