Lent is the Christian season, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending with Holy Week, that encourages believers to pray, fast, and serve as a way to prepare their hearts for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The ultimate goal of Lent is to draw closer to God. Much like Advent prepares our hearts for Christmas, Lent prepares our hearts for Easter. Not all Christian traditions place the same emphasis on Lent. I never observed Lent growing up, and 99 percent of what I know about Lent I’ve learned as an adult. I have friends who take the season very seriously with daily ..read more

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like if Jesus had children? And to have His parenting style recorded in the Bible? He could show us how to be the “perfect” parent — best tips for bedtime routines, how to deal with kids talking back, finding the perfect balance of game time and learning, and how to manage conflict among siblings. Wouldn’t that be valuable information to be shared!   Instead, the Bible is full of stories of parents getting it wrong: a father’s favouritism, a mother’s lies, a father’s ignorance. Maybe these stories were included so that we could feel a bi ..read more

“It’s too hard!” “I can’t do it!” “I’ll never be good at it!” “I give up!” Every parent has heard words like these, as your child gives up far too easily. You wince, because you don’t want your child to be a “quitter.” You want your child to learn to persevere, to face life with grit and resilience. To do hard things.  Kids can feel like giving up for a variety of reasons, so it’s important to understand where they’re coming from. Maybe your child’s personality leans toward the perfectionist side. It’s hard to accept a less than perfect outcome, so they give up as soo ..read more

Life brings countless trials. For many parents a prominent trial is the raising of a particularly sensitive, intense or strong-willed child who struggles more in life than other kids. Some of these parents grow increasingly discouraged by the challenge. But those who struggle well learn to view that challenging child as the blessing in disguise that God can use to transform both parent and child. How would seeing your challenging child in this way change things for you? We love a quote from Julie Barnhill, “God didn’t give you your child so you could fix him ..read more

Many discouraged parents have asked us this question: How should we respond to our child who doubts the reality of God? When children suggest “there is no God,” it’s natural for parents to immediately try to convince them otherwise. It’s a good intention, but one that often deepens the chasm between kids’ doubts and their movement toward God. If this is your reality, understand that there is probably little you can say, (because they’ve probably heard all the arguments before) but much that you can DO to make it safe for your kids to struggle back toward Jesus when they hav ..read more

Have you ever sat on the edge of a perfectly still lake? No wind. No boats. No kids splashing about. We know what it looks like if we take just one small rock and drop it into that calm still water, right? It’s what’s known as the ripple effect.  What we can’t know for certain is just how far reaching the effects of that one rock thrown in can be.   So it is with life. Our actions and words have a great effect on those around us. Like that rock, we just never know how far the effects will carry or just how great the ramifications will be. Does our smile cheer some ..read more

As I sit down to write this article, I am reminded of the awesome honour of being a parent. God has granted me the privilege of raising three of His special little ones. But with the privilege comes great responsibility — and a lot of hard work. Perhaps more than any other area of life, parenting brings with it the capacity both for boundless joy and tremendous heartache. What can we do as parents to succeed at the task God has given us? Pray, pray, pray! Parenting has not been an easy journey for me. I have had to face my own inadequacy and rely on God’s plan for my life and my children ..read more

We work through various themes in our family. They seem to change about as often as the seasons and so, as we pack away our winter jackets and pull out flip flops, we also reevaluate what’s going on in our hearts and lives. This season it’s all about kindness. Mainly because, there isn’t a lot of kindness going on. I’m not a fan of simple behaviour modification with my boys. I know that it seems great in the moment. It’s nice to see my child say sorry to someone they’ve just hurt. My mama heart can swell with pride when I see a boy give up something they want for the sake of another. But all t ..read more

Laura was stuck. Though she was passionate about bringing her boys up “in the training and instruction of the Lord,” she could tell that her oldest son Connor, at only four, was already getting “exasperated” by her reminders: “God wants us to…” …be kind, share, be respectful, be responsible, and on and on. At best he just tolerated dinner time prayer, and other times even seemed to enjoy interrupting it loudly. She was rightfully concerned about his growing lack of interest in her “spiritual guidance,” but didn’t know what to do. For Connor, God was becoming the Great Disapprover of all t ..read more

We do it all the time. “Nice work! Great job! You’re so awesome!” It’s nice to take notice and give energy to the good things our kids do. But throwing kids compliments like this without any substance is akin to throwing them popcorn when they’re hungry. It tastes good and kids want more, but it doesn’t really nourish. If you really want a compliment to improve a child’s sense of significance and grow wisdom at the same time, give that same energy some substance. Like this: “Hey! I watched you concentrate as you played. You were really working it and I could see your music spread joy ..read more