Approval flows from heaven and floods this earth in Christ. Let’s advance the tide in our day.

You don’t get to decide to lay down your life one day and then not think about it again

As awkward and abrasive as it might sound to my son’s little ears, I will continue to tell him that I love Jesus more.

What if the bigger issue in having your kids obey isn't their obedience, but rather, is your patience with them?

While the Bible does not provide a fully-developed treatment of child-development, a careful study of the Old Testament reveals several presuppositions about the nature of children which can be applied to questions regarding their readiness for the Gospel.

When your children grow up, and they are asked, “Tell me about your dad” or “Tell me about your mom” - what do you think they will say?

Not too long ago, my five-year old daughter asked me why I exercise, and I hesitated. The language we use regarding food is vitally important.

Your consistency and persistence in the younger years will pay huge dividends in the teenage years.

To show and teach our kids what a renewed mind thinks requires us to renew our minds.

“No,” she pulls a blanket up over her head. I know you want to hide, I want to say. Confession makes us feel naked even with all of the weight of hiding on top of us. I know where she is, but I ask for her to show herself anyway. Coming face to face with the one you’re confessing to is important. I know it from the garden. I…

Compassion remembers the frame of our children like God remembers that we are dust and prone to weakness. 

I carefully study, edit, prepare, and pray over my sermon every week. What would it look like to prepare and pray about the words I speak at home?

I can still remember the first time my oldest son asked for it.  He’d callously knocked down his one-year-old brother in pursuit of a toy.  I was coming down the hall, ready to dole out some parental justice. But his four word exclamation stopped me in my tracks. 

He cared for the one who was lost and that is what Jesus does.

Three questions to help parents begin evaluating the way they talk to and around their kids in more relaxed settings.

Engaging our children in healthy, God-honoring conversations about sexuality is less about "keeping up with culture", and more about learning to set the pace.

We love them, shepherd them, and pray for them, but we can’t make them follow the Lord. 

If virtuous conduct is what we mean by telling our little girls they’re “princesses,” then cool. I wonder, though, if “princess” culture can, perhaps unintentionally, encourage girls to construe their self-identity narcissistically and aesthetically.

From time to time I hear about Christian parents disowning, cutting off, or permanently shunning a son or daughter who adopts a gay lifestyle. Is that the right thing to do? Is this a requirement of biblical faithfulness?

Let the Gospel of the cross be your proof to them that Jesus loves imperfect people.

There is more to it than just the pattern, but the pattern sets us up and supports the truth. 

Parents, use the sacred space of car rides and other "as you go" moments to explore and deepen your family faith story with the people who matter most.

As parents, we are to point our children to Jesus. But before we can point them to Jesus, they, like us, need to see their need for him.

Mothering is not about fulfilling my dreams or satisfying any craving in my heart. It is about offering my heart to be wrung out on behalf of His redemptive plan, for his glory.

One thing I know I can do in the midst of the complexities and difficulties of the parenting task: I can pray.

Parents, when you’re so tired you can barely function, consider this a chance to enjoy the privilege of friendship, family, and fellowship in the body of Christ.

These 4 recommendations will help you create a culture of discipleship in your home.

Your spiritual legacy and that which you impress within the life of your children will be influenced by these four areas

As my Father takes me down life’s uncertain roads, I pray he will help me to respond by trusting him.

If it’s true that the first shall be last and the last first, there are going to be a lot of moms who wind up first in the ultimate line.

Mom-judging is inevitable.  It will always happen, even in the best of scenarios and the best of friends and the best of hearts.  But it doesn’t mean we need to get stuck in a quagmire of doubt.

Their mettle will be tested. Their faith will be challenged. They will be pressured to succumb on any number of fronts.

Even though Jesus isn’t a mother, he is still able to sympathize with every weakness we face as moms. 

I can’t reroute my kids' sins to me. I can’t undo the pain they’ve already felt. I can’t remove the stain with which they were born. But Jesus can.

 But this thing is far too hard without the Father’s love coursing through me. The truth is that I don’t love like he does. 

Your children will thank you after their conversion that you trained them in good habits, even as they will recognize that only the gospel truly sustains holy living.

The fight for love is sometimes not letting go.

One of the joys of weekly communion is the opportunity it affords the parents in our churches to declare the great news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to their children.

Do we want to guarantee that our children will run in the opposite direction of our most cherished biblical convictions? All we have to do is sterilize our churches.

We must not, therefore, underestimate the importance of the local church family when it comes to pastoral issues regarding single parent parenting and discipleship. 

I need to be reminded that even though my little children will one day be grown, joy in Jesus is possible now, will be possible then, and will be fully complete in heaven forever.

It is amazing to me that my helplessness before God mirrors the helpless of my two week-old son.

Confidence must never rest upon the situation, but upon the Savior Himself.

If you want to give really good, eternally significant gifts to your children, become poor in spirit, take up your cross, walk in freedom from sin, and be willing to do whatever Jesus asks of you in this life.

The dark parts of our hearts have been exposed by learning to care for another human being who is not biologically related to us. 

How do we work for our child in the midst of their selfish desires?

“Daddy, worshipping Jesus makes my heart happy,” her little voice whispered into my ear. “Do you know why that is?” I asked.

So how do we—as parents, mentors, and church leaders—help the children in our care separate wisdom from folly? We train them as the Church has for generations: we catechize.

When I was Mama to littles, I mothered hard but often only with reward in mind: the end of the day, the occasional morning to sleep in, the dazed stroll around Target. My hope, I'm saying to you, was in false hopes, temporary hopes, lifeless hopes, hopes that were never guaranteed to give me anything.

Although salvation is the work of God and not something that we can do for our child, there is hope.