Life Style

‘I raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies!’

I won't lie: this post is challenging. I waited almost year before I posted it. And I am still chewing on it. Dang! And I would like to say that it is okay for you to disagree with what I wrote. It might not be helpful to you. But it might just be. To me this is like a hidden jewel of truth. Love to ya'll!

Lamentations 3

v25+26 The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him. So it is good to wait quietly with hope (expectant) for salvation (rescue; victory) from the Lord.

This is probably the single most important thing we can ever impart or teach to our children: to depend on the Lord. To trust Him.

Yes Liezl, but how exactly? Well, in the next few verses, the Word of God actually tells us how !!

One thing that I have learnt through motherhood is that I am confronted with my own self more than anything else. Motherhood is a mirror. And I have had to make my fair share of adjustments to the way I live. And I continue doing so, for I influence my children through my routines and the life that I pursue. Our life's style cannot merely be taught for it is mostly 'caught'.

Back to the scriptures...

According to this excerpt from Lamentations, a person who depends on God, follows three key habits (and these are follow-able from a young age, meaning our kids are included!):

(v27) And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of this discipline (in other words a way of life - a habit- to trust God wholeheartedly):

v28 Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord's demands

v29 Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. 

v30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.

Upon examining these three verses:

v28 Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord's demands

• (v28) When we sit in silence and do not allow technology and screen time to dominate our lives, our kids will value their times of solitude. "Soulitude" *Yes, I made that up* Paying attention to our soul attitude. There is value in being alone with God. Do you have set screen times as a family? Do you have moments of silence in your personal life? No phone. No music. Just sitting somewhere in solitary where your heart thoughts connect with heaven?

v29 Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. 

• (v29) We need show that brokenness is not a weakness but that God desires a broken and contrite heart. We need to be vulnerable and authentic. Saying sorry should be said a lot in our households. Brokenness is a strength. If our kids see our passion and compassion for Christ and His will; the lost and His bride;  if they see our own brokenness over our own sin and wrong ways, then "lying face down in the dust" will not be something odd for them. Humility will be valued and esteemed. Pride will be understood and recognised in whatever disguise it may be.

v30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.

• (v30) When we return evil with kindness, it will train our kids to do the same. Forgiveness and redemption are biblical concepts. It is God's idea. Like the saying goes: 'to err is human but to forgive is divine'. And this is a tough one, because bullying in schools is a real thing. Where the world shouts justice and self-defence, God's Word is clear that we are to be the least. The Heavenly kingdom does not operate on the same principles as the ways of the world.  Sure, we apply wisdom and God-given common sense (that goes without saying) but turning the other cheek is an expected way of life for a Believer. And turning the other cheek will still sting like hell. Know this: it is a prophetic declaration that our trust and hope of rescue is in God alone and not in the seeming overpowering strength and cleverness of man. To see our children being insulted and bullied and to teach them to forgive is the hardest thing. To commend them for acting in the opposite spirit, in kindness, because it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit never gets any easier. Breaks my heart. 

But I'd rather sit with a broken heart, desperately clinging to God, sobbing and pleading in the dead of the night on behalf of my children than raising self-sufficient, sorted, self-indulgent kids who knows nothing about trusting God, even when it hurts. A part of me wants to shield them from a nasty world, but creating a non-existing utopia of Healthy Happy and Wise is not biblical and not helpful.

Because, the hurt will come. Life is not without pain.

And then what? How will they know whom to turn to if they have been taught that we need not trust God but we can sort things out ourselves. What happens when they cannot do that? Will they run to God? If we have raised them to be self-sufficient and problem-solvers, will our kids not turn to worldly quick fixes instead, rather than being Holy Spirit reliant?

Romans 5:3-5 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

*Me please!* I want to raise kids with character and hope.

And thus, I am intentionally making soulitude, brokenness and kindness my signature moves (this sounds cooler than the word 'habit', right? *wink*).

Besides, God says it is GOOD to live like this!