"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6
Stud Muffin and I have chosen, what we feel is to act in obedience and dedicate our children to the Lord before our church, family and friends.
We would have done this sooner with Little Lady but we procrastinated doing it. At least the official part of it. Before we even talked about having kids we knew we would raise them up in the ways of the Lord.
What is a baby dedication?
To us, dedicating our child means raising our children in His ways from the very beginning, building a solid foundation of Jesus Christ into their lives. We believe that we have been given a great responsibility by God as parents because our children our not ours, but actually His. Although we are given a privilege of loving and experiencing the joy of parenting and being a family. But both Stud Muffin and I believe our soul purpose as parents is to return our kids to the King as saints!
To us this is a great honor! We don't take it lightly. We will require lots of prayer and guidance, as well as godly wisdom and encouragement. This is the main reason for dedicating our babies to the Lord before our church, family and friends. We know that we will need them through our journey as parents and welcome them to be a part of our experience.
“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Job 1:21
Another very important part {and probably the most difficult one for me} of dedication is that we are acknowledging before others that this baby is indeed the Lords. That what He chooses to do with their life is up to Him. Even if this means that He would take them from us to be with Him in Heaven. We trust Him because He is trustworthy. He will cause all things to work for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose {Romans 8:28} so we know that He would never bring harm to our children without bringing good to overcome it.
How do we plan on going about raising our kids up in the ways of the Lord?
First and foremost, we believe that our own personal relationship with the Lord must be strong and growing. We know that most of what our children will learn from us will not be from what we say, but from what we do. The decisions we make. How we treat people. How we handle difficulties and challenges.
“The righteous man leads a blameless life, blessed are his children after him.”
Proverbs 20:7
Second, we will pray for them.
God has created each of us with a purpose on this earth. We each have our own personalities, strengths, talents, interests, etc. And He intended them to be used to bring Glory to Him and to show people His love. To point them to Jesus Christ. This means that no matter what Stud Muffin and I would like to plan for our kids, God's plan is what we are called as parents to lead and encourage them to follow. It's our responsibility to pray for and seek the Lord's will in their lives so we can encourage and guide them to what ever the Lord would have them do in this world. Ultimately we know it will be to shine the light of Jesus Christ and love people to the Lord!
And third, we will discipline them God's way, according to the bible.
"He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly."
Proverbs 13:24
"Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death."
Proverbs 19:18
"The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother."
Proverbs 29:15
"Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul."
Proverbs 29:17
We believe that any discipline we give to our children should be for his profit and not ours. We know we have much to learn in the discipline department and we will be seeking much godly council and wisdom as to how to discipline our kids in a constructive way and not a destructive way. Little Lady is a very strong willed child and this has already proven it's challenges, but we know that God has made her, strong willed and all, and we wish to use discipline in a way that teaches obedience with out breaking her spirit.
By no means to we claim to have parenting figured out and that our children will be perfectly well behaved 100% of the time. We KNOW we face many challenges and obstacles that will undoubtedly throw us for a loop and frustrate us to what seems to be no end.
But what we DO claim to know is that God has given us the tools we need to figure it out as we go! We have the Holy Spirit, the Bible, prayer, and godly council. I believe the Lord has more than equipped us to be successful parents - that is, to return our babies to Him as saints!
So we will be dedicating our first child to the Lord on the very last day we can call her a baby - July 17th, 2010! {I said we procrastinated didn't I?!} Stay tuned, pictures to follow!
“Lord, please equip our Little Lady with everything good so that she may do your will, and work in her what is pleasing to you, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:21).
