Love and Disobedience in Parenting

I'm sitting here on a beautiful Saturday morning. My house is empty...Ryan is at a conference and my children are in the loving care of grandparents...bliss. I should probably be taking a shower but I felt compelled to pull out my computer and write.

I recently started a new Bible study, Seemless by Angie Smith. By recently, I will share that my study technically started 12 days ago and I began actually doing the study yesterday. Why is it so hard to jump into something that you know you will enjoy? Anyway, the beginning of it is going through Genesis, the stories of creation and Adam and Eva and the generations that follow...all stuff I've read and studied before but this morning it was SO GOOD.

Backstory: life with a four year old has been rough. I love my daughter. She is kind, compassionate, generous beyond expectation, funny, smart, and incredibly passionate in all that she does. She is also a sinner, just like me. Our days have been hard and ridden with disobedience and consequences. Imagine whatever a four year old might do to disobey and I'm sure it has happened. At the heart of it is her desire for control. Umm, probably the same struggle that her mother has...I'll move on. Just know that if you are having parenting issues with a small child, you are not alone.

This morning I read the following passage from Genesis 6:5-8. Do not skip over this passage. It matters.

The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

I could have easily skimmed through this and been like, "Yeah, blah blah blah, people were bad. Noah was good. Next passage." But God in his goodness had me fully read it and it hit my heart.

God knows what is is like to have disobedient children who have hears far from what He planned, designed, and created them for. My heavenly Father feels the pains of parenting. Wow. All those days...years...that I have cried out and asked for help during way too short breaks in the days...and He has been like, "Yep. I get you. I've been there. Look at all these people I've created who don't want to love and obey me." My intentions for Eva are always so wonderful. Learn fun things, play, laugh, enjoy life together, go places. If she could see my heart and the depth of my love for her and how I always am thinking of ways to bless her, surely she would trust and obey me. Even after days when I have been so frustrated with her, I find myself planning lessons for her in the evenings, or looking up which kind of new cup she might enjoy me ordering from Amazon, or figuring out ways to afford taking her to the zoo. And even when I fall short of how God created me, He is always working things for my eternal benefit.

God is my father.
God created me. God created Eva.
I'm a sinner. Eva is a sinner.
God loves me unconditionally. God loves Eva unconditionally. I love Eva unconditionally.
God knows how to parent and discipline us when we disobey. God's heart knows that frustration and how to respond to us in love.
Lord share this wisdom with me!
Be slow to anger and quick to forgive.
God can relate to all of my parenting struggles.
PRAISE God!!!