How to Raise Children That Hunger After God: A Practical Guide for Christian Mothers: Christian Mother, #4

By Cheryl Carter and Meaningful Moments

In the Practical Christian Mother series, mothers are prodded to grow closer to God as they care for their families. This is volume 3

Volumes include:

How to Have a Consistent Quiet Time- Vol. 1

Time Management for Christian Mothers – Vol.2

How to Hear God for Christian Mothers- Vol. 3

How to Raise Children that Hunger After God- Vol. 4

          "Hey mom did you wash my sweat suit?" "Mom where are my ballet shoes?" "Hon, have you seen my blue tie?" "Mom, when will dinner be ready?" These are the cries heard in many households all the time. Mothers answer them everyday. However, there is a cry that is not as loud as these yet occurs in every Christian home. .There is a greater cry that moms are often unable to answer.

          "Come fellowship with me". Come commune with me". Come and languish in my anointing". These are the cries of the Father that moms hear and desire to answer, but are not always able to respond to immediately. Imagine the frustration of hearing the cry from the Creator and not being able to answer. I do not mean to suggest that moms do not spend any time in meaningful fellowship with the Lord. They do, but often the stress and time consuming tasks of managing a home and everything else crowds out  quality time  with the Lord..

          Often, in exasperation moms accept lost time with the Lord as the norm rather than the exception. When you think about it, hearing from God is of paramount importance especially when you are called to the awesome responsibility of managing  and nurturing a family. It requires a consistent and intimate relationship with the Lord.    

          I believe Cheryl to be the ideal mom to address this issue. Since the birth of our first child I have seen Cheryl identify and deal with this issue head on. Utilizing practical ideas and personal self-determination Cheryl has successfully nurtured a consistent and a deeply committed personal relationship with the Lord. At the same time she has poured herself into our children, nurturing them spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically and at the same time.  In essence, Cheryl has chased after God and the kids too and has caught up, and is now running along side of both!  - Derek Carter, Intentional Dad

         

• Language: English
• Publisher: Foundations for Family Success
• Release date: Aug 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386727484

Cheryl Carter

Cheryl Carter is a busy homeschooling and work-at-home mother with a passion for prayer. She enjoys encouraging other mothers to passionately pursue God to such a degree that their homes and families are transformed. Active in her local church, Cheryl is also the co-creator of the Meaningful Moments prayer journals. She and her husband regularly speak at marriage conferences and family retreats. Visit www.FamilySuccess.org and www.themeaningfulmoment.com for more information.

Book preview

How to Raise Children That Hunger After God: A Practical Guide for Christian Mothers

By Cheryl Carter

July, 2018

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.

All rights reserved

Scripture quotations designated (KJV)

are from the King James Version.

Dedication:

For Janae -Joy, may God reveal Himself to you in even greater capacity and may you walk supernaturally through the doors He is opening up for you! You inspire me!

Visit:

www.familysuccess.org

www.themeaningfulmoment.com

Table of Contents

Part I 

Parenting and Spiritual Growth

The Mystery of Childhood

Parenting Philosophy

A Biblical Approach

Active Listening

What Every Child Needs

Prayer

Part II 

Be Joyful!

Enjoying the Moment

Grace in the Moment

Joy, Joy, Joy

Speaking Out

Prayer

Part III 

Taking Care of the Body

Taking Care of the Soul

Taking Care of Your Spirit

Growing in the Love of God

Develop a Passion for Prayer

Develop a Love for Reading the Bible

Walking With God

Prayer

Part I

Behold children are a heritage from the Lord...

Psalm 127:3

Parenting and Spiritual Growth

M

others have a high and holy calling. It is indisputable: God cherishes children. After all, they are His. In Ezekiel 16:20-21, God rebukes Israel for sacrificing their sons and daughters. Specifically, He says, You took the children you bore to Me and sacrificed them to idols. Children belong to God. We must get our instructions from God as to how to raise our children. We must trust God to lead us in the process.

So as we journey up Mount Horeb for direction, some of us feel a little inadequate. After all, we’ve barely had a full night’s sleep, and have not spent time alone with God. Yet we are called to this awesome task. Still, the Lord bids us come to Him and not look at the steepness of the mountain, nor at the twiny terrain, nor the uncertainty of the mountain caves. Just as He did with the children of Israel, he bids us to come up the mountain. He is there in the pillar of fire by day, and he will guide us up the mountain. We simply have to trust Him.

Trusting Him is an active process because we only trust Him to the degree we move. The children of Israel moved with the cloud. They followed faithfully. Trusting God involves moving when He moves, and stopping when He stops. Trusting God means we know Him. We know He has a good end in mind even if we don’t know what that end will be. Our trust in God grows everyday as moment by moment we move with the cloud. Like Peter, when he walked on the water, we constantly look to Jesus.

If we listen to the voices of the other disciples in the boat they may distract us and get our eyes off Jesus, for it is gazing at Him, looking into His loving eyes, and seeing His outstretched hand that gives us the confidence that we can walk on water.

Moses was not distracted from his mission to deliver the tablets to the children of Israel; so we, too, must not be distracted by the very people we serve. When we hear the voice of God, we must not be distracted by our children. How do our children distract us? First, by just being children. We are simply annoyed by their immaturity. We expect them to enjoy the trek up Mount Horeb as much as we do; but they like to stop, examine the rocks, play with their sister, etc. Truly, they just want to enjoy the experience.

The Mystery of Childhood

Childhood is such an awesome mystery to me. Although I’ve worked in children’s ministry for years, been a school teacher, and, of course, spend time with my own kids, there is a part of the process of being children I still do not understand. They are so open, honest, vulnerable. They possess a perception of purity. They question unashamedly. Their concept of time is almost nonexistent. They rapture in