The world or the family?

1 Timothy 3:1-5 (New International Version)

Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)

I read this verse in "Riven" by Jerry B. Jenkins two years ago. It has stuck with me, and has been screaming at me a lot lately. I am seeing so many Godly parents with children doing things that I would assume their parents tried to teach them against. While at the same time, I am seeing other young men and women who grew up in the same church (same families) who are strong and admirable Godly men and women. I saw an interview with some celebrity mom and she said that her fear of having teenagers was "Did I teach them as best as I could so they stay in the way that they were raised?" So what is it? Is it the world or the parenting?

As a parent with three young children, I am so worried that I will not raise them right. I don't want them making the serious mistakes that they will regret the rest of their lives. I wish I could just keep them locked up in the house forever, but they won't grow that way.

I grew up in a Catholic family. Church wasn't a priority, but as I got older I felt God's pull on me. I was never a social butterfly, so I didn't go out much. I didn't start dating until I was 16. I married the first man whom I had a serious relationship with. We have known each other for 10 years today. I never wanted the things that my peers were doing - 'partying', drinking, smoking, sex. I had a health teacher freshman year of high school tell us that if we were in a long-term committed relationship, if our boyfriend wants sex, after while shouldn't we respect his wishes? At my husbands 10-year reunion, someone asked how long we'd been together, and we said 9 years. The guy was like "dude she was total jail bait." No, I was only jail bait if something happened. I earned my white dress on my wedding day, thank you very much.

Today when over half the marriages are ending in divorce, girls are getting pregnant in middle school, and young people are working to pay for partying, what am I to do to save my children?

Well, I have to trust in the Grace and Love of God. I need to spend more time in prayer and fasting for my children, even now, when it is not affecting them. I need to surround myself with Godly couples who have raised Godly children and eat on their every words. I need to keep myself and my children around other Godly couples, and pray for them (we will be our support team). I need to pray for the friends that my children will have and plead the Holy Blood of Christ over them and their parents for protection.

So I know what I need to do, but how do I do it? I'm finding that Churches today are focusing on the "feel good" and not the "good for you" approach to things that are attacking our families. It's should be so important for mentor parents to reach out and share their wisdom with young parents. Not every Christian couple in churches today were raised in a two-parent Christian home. Churches should be offering parenting 'classes'. There should be a format for young couples to share their questions and difficulties; there should be open discussions (not just lectures and videos); there should be rotating small groups of similar ages, varying ages, boys versus girls. Lord, lead me to a place that this is happening, or give me the courage to bring this to my own church.

I want my children to grow strong in the Lord. But first, I must grow stronger. I must be more diligent in my prayer (and in front of the children), more active in m Bible study (and involve the kids), more involved in ministries (they keep asking me to let them help me volunteer...) Lord, show me the way!