My Confession

Have you seen the movie “Courageous”? To sum it up without spoiling the movie, it is about five families who deal with the everyday struggles of life and their personal struggles to incorporate Christ in to every aspect of their life, especially their family life. It is an inspirational movie about the Biblical role of a father to his family. I can’t get enough of this movie!

My father died when I was four and my mother did not remarry until I was eighteen and in college. Don’t get me wrong, my mother did a wonderful job raising me considering the circumstances, but I had never had the opportunity to see a daily example of marriage. Before Kevin and I were married, I was worried. Would I become another divorce statistic just because I didn’t know how to act; would I break Kevin’s heart simply because I didn’t understand how a partnership should work; and would I be able to truly be fulfilled in a relationship I never had the opportunity to see or understand? With God, we’ve made our marriage a beautiful friendship. So what is my confession? Now, as we prepare to face our new roles as parents, new fears are coming to light. I have no idea had a family should act! What does a father look like? How are good parents supposed to interact and work together? What will discipline look like in a parental partnership?

Now, I feel like I am placing “pressure” on Kevin to be the role model father to our child, the father I never had. After watching “Courageous” (twice), he felt that one of my goals should be accountability. Hold him accountable to be the father who raises his children to be Godly; hold him accountable to be the Godly example to his child; and most importantly, hold him accountable to be the man God has asked him to be. That feels like a lot of pressure to me!

So, believing I could solve this answer on my own, I bought books – many books. And I have read these “many books.” Unfortunately, I have ignored the one book that could truly help me. To be honest, until I saw the movie “Courageous,” I did not think of the Bible as a parenting book. To be honest, until marital counseling, I never thought of the Bible as a book about marriage either. It is amazing how those ten different Bibles sitting on the shelf will stare us in the face day after day and we still don’t think of the Bible as an encyclopedia of answers.

With our daughters’ arrival approaching (although not soon enough), I have a new goal – to read The Big Book of Parenting Answers written by the Holy Spirit, with commentary by Jesus of Nazareth, and Paul of Tarsus and an introduction by Moses. I will also leave you with a sneak preview as to what you are missing if you haven’t read said book. (I highly recommend it; it’s been on the best seller list for centuries.)

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6