What Does God Have in Store For Your Kids?
Joey & Carla Link
February 21, 2018
As parents do you ever look in on your kids while they are sleeping and simply stop to thank the Lord for them? Do you kneel by their bed, pray for them and ask God to use their lives? We know Psalm 139:13-14 says that:
“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
God doesn’t create something for nothing. Everything He creates He has a plan for, including your children and what they could do in this life.
I was impressed with this again when I read the story about Bobby Gruenewald. Someone most of you have never heard of, but someone you are grateful for because of what he did for you.
Bobby started and sold two technology companies before he graduated from college. Obviously this guy is crazy smart.
Bobby started volunteering for the church in his mid-twenties, where he was eventually hired. Although his contribution to the church was extraordinary, he didn’t feel like he was making a difference. Bobby considered quitting and going back into business.
It would have been much easier for him. As a pastor, he still had a lot to learn. Business was second nature to Bobby. But by the grace of God, he decided to stay in ministry. Among his many important contributions, Bobby came up with the YouVersion Bible App, an idea that has done more for Bible distribution than any idea since the printing press.
Around the time my kids were in 8th grade, I would take them out to lunch to begin asking them questions about their future and what God might have in mind for them. I remember my youngest daughter when we sat down said, “If this lunch is about what I want to do in life, I don’t know.” Her older siblings had warned her about this talk. I said that is OK. Let’s keep talking and exploring what gifts and talents God has given you and see how God could use your life for his honor and glory.
Today, I am not only pleased they love the Lord, but they look for ways to serve Him through their busy lives.
What natural skills, abilities, talents and desires did God give your kids that He wants to use in them? One of the greatest jobs of parents is to guide their kids in the way they need to go. How can you help your kids keep their focus on God so He can use their lives for the purposes He created them for?
- Make sure they are growing in their knowledge and understanding of God and living one’s life for Him.
- Family Devotions
- Personal Devotions
- Read books on Christian growth
- Attend Church weekly over other activities
- Encourage them to pursue their passion.
- Understand their “passions” can and will change over time
- Don’t let their pursuit overwhelm the rest of the family
- Do be interested in what they are interested in
- Make sure they are well-rounded in sports, music, art and other non-academic areas of life.
- Don’t overwhelm them with too many activities at one time. Other than weekly church kid’s program, one is enough.
- Give them time to just be kids and play.
- Encourage imaginative play like dressing up and having pretend dramas
- Make serving God a lifetime habit.
- This starts with the family.
- Have an area where you serve together.
- It doesn’t have to be a huge time commitment. Greet newcomers at the door at church one Sunday a month. Work in the nursery as a family. Take cookies to elderly people in your neighborhood or church and play a game with them.
Growing up, it is possible Bobby Gruenewald was considered a nerd. He was likely too smart for others his age. Yet, as an adult he used the skills and talents God gave him to honor God, and God used them for purposes way beyond what Bobby could have thought or dreamed of. Don’t underestimate what God can do with your kids.
* Bobby Gruenewald story taken from “Divine Direction”, by Craig Groeschel