This week, Jeff and I get to speak to a group of young parents about marriage, family, and raising kids from a spiritual perspective. The invitation, itself, made me chuckle. You see, I was not the poster child for this kind of model. I found ways to mess up each of these areas as I lived through them. There are many times, in my life, when I get to see God bring something full circle for no other reason than to let me bask in the glory of His transforming power. He demonstrates to me two amazing truths when He does this: 1) What He did on the cross changes everything. I can now live in the freedom I received from that moment rather than focusing on my shortcomings; 2) God is HUGE. I'm just not big enough to screw up His plans.
As a young wife and mother, I wanted my family to be perfect. Being a Christian, I figured I had a set of rules that would help. The 10 commandments was a good place to start. In fact, the Bible was filled with all kinds of rules I could use to govern my new little family. My heart was searching for ways to please God. I was tying my family up in knots and making a huge mess of our life. I was striving to be someone I didn't have the power to be and I was putting all those same expectations on my husband and children. It wasn't until years later that I realized the purpose of all those laws. They were to show me how impossible it is to be righteous on my own. I would always fall short. I needed to grasp what it meant to have a savior who had already done all that for me at the cross.
So last night I went to sleep wondering... What in the world am I going to share with this group? I woke up this morning seeing how God was redeeming all my former mistakes in the life He has now set before me. I constantly have dreams of raising children who aren't my own. I am now beginning to understand those dreams. I get a chance to show others that there are better, more joyful, ways to be a family.
Years ago, Jeff and I started a non-profit called M.O.R.E. Ministries, Inc. (http://www.moreministries.rocks). When we began learning about all Jesus did (and still does), we noticed that as soon as we learned something, there was always something more to learn just ahead. Life was no longer about rules, but instead became about opportunities to partner with Holy Spirit to see The Kingdom of Heaven touch Earth.
M.O.R.E. was designed to launch new ministries and raise up leaders to advance the kingdom culture Jesus refers to in most of his parables, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand". M.O.R.E. is an acronym which stands for several things:
Moving Out Radically Encountered.
Moving Out Relationally Encouraged.
Moving Out Responsibly Equipped.
Moving Out Richly Empowered.
It was in seeing who we are and what we do now that I realized that this is not only how you raise up leaders and change a culture, this is also how you build a healthy marriage, raise a family and prepare children to be adults. All people need to be given opportunities to be radically encountered by Jesus. He's going to be the one to awaken their true identity. Our entire family needs to be surrounded by those who are willing to foster healthy relationships. Feeling loved and encouraged keeps us moving forward and helps us to avoid becoming critical and judgmental. As parents, we acquire tools we can share with our children. We need to find creative ways to partner with our spouses so we can equip our young apprentices to use these tools. And finally, we need to realize that our home (and church) should be a huge "play-pen". We need safe places to try out all we have learned. We need places we can fall down and be lifted back up to try again. This is how we become confident, joyful and are finally ready to be... sent out.
Jeff and I have an apostolic calling on our lives. We now get to be fathers and mothers to many. We have also been presented with lots of fun opportunities for healing with our own children and marriage. Each time we learn something new, God continues to show us "There's Got To Be M.O.R.E."!
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