GENEROUS

GENEROUS; ADJECTIVE - kind: willing to give money, help, or time freely

I love how the dictionary defines it, but how is it defined in your life?  Take a look at a few ways you can gauge your families generosity.  When we talk about being generous we aren't necessarily talking about what you do and don't do with your money.  It's about the heart behind the matter.  There is so much blessing for the giver when we give.   I know we WANT our kids to be generous but the truth is, its starts with US. So, here's our quick and easy how-to guide to generosity.  I don't pretend to have all the answers or the perfect kids.  I've asked other parents and compiled this in hopes that it will encourage and challenge you!

Live it--Live a generous life!  Sounds simple but let your kids see you give, in obedience to the church and as an offering to the people and opportunities God places in your life.  Give away what you don't need anymore because someone else does, or even better give away something just because someone else needs it.  Sometimes our kids are willing to give away something they love if we show them a need that someone else has. Our lifestyle teaches!

Tell It-- Don't miss an opportunity to tell your kids about how God has charged us to be generous.  And not just with our money or possessions but with our time.  When we spend time with people when we go to a nursing home or help a stranded person change a tire, we are living generously.  Take every opportunity you can to share about the times you were able to be generous, a way that someone else was generous with you or a way you saw someone else being generous.  Our stories teach!

Do it-- Empower them.  Brainstorm ways that you as a family or they individually can be generous with what they have and even give them the means to do it.  Set aside some money each month for your kids and challenge them to come up with their own ideas of how they can be creatively generous.  I promise, your heart will be even more blessed to see this heart of generosity well up in your kids as they become actively generous.  Our experiences teach!

Re-tell it-- Talk through what you guys have done to be generous and how it impacted someone else, praise them for their efforts, and pray with them that God would continue to grow and use your family in this way.  And remind them, that these are stories to be told...because we don't know what God might want to do through our story in the life of someone else.  Sharing our stories teaches!

Deuteronomy 15:10 talks about how we should give freely to the poor, and our heart won't be grudging about it, and because of this, God will bless us in all we do. (my paraphrase)  But the "poor" isn't just isolated to the homeless people in a shelter and the "give" isn't just the money we have or don't have.  The "poor" can be someone who is down and out and just needs a little love and encouragement.  Help your kids find those ways to be generous too!  The truth is all we have isn't ours anyways.  It's all a gift from the Father entrusted to us to be faithful with the things we have.  Sometimes we keep our "stuff" for a long time, sometimes we are encouraged to give up something we really like, and other times we need to give away what we don't need.  A generous heart comes from a thankful heart.  So, as we walk into the Thank-Full month, talk about being generous and then, be intentional and set aside some time to actually live it out.  

Praying for you and your family!

prayer

God does not want merely to answer our prayers; He wants to spend time with us to prepare us for the answer that will come. Many times we want to skip over the process involved in engaging God in prayer as we wait for our answer. But it is this very process that works maturity in us and prepares us for the answers our prayers bring (James 1:4).

D6 Pre-con lab notes

Here are the notes one of my team members(thanks Josh!) took at D6 conference pre con lab

Parenting kids while doing ministry!

Birdcage - (what are we trapped by)

• They are perfect and I can't be that
• They are fake and I don't want to be that
• The epectations they put on theirselves or the expectations put on them by someone else keeps them caged and unable to be who they are supposed to be.

Fishbowl - (what we display)

• elevating our kids to watch them fail
• constantly on display

"in our fear of failure, we often fail"

Fear of failure is when we fail.

Fight for the heart of our kids.

Annointing leaks onto our kids.

Soccer Field - (what boundaries)

• to know and love God
• the ball goes off the field - and we pick up it and put it back on the field

I want to help raise my kids biblically - (sometimes you need to not be a pastor, not about a lesson.)

1. It's okay to talk about God on a daily basis.

2. They are going to fail. - Maximize the failure or teach them through it. 

3. We need to be a open place. Its not off limits. Its just out of bounds.

4. Help the kid understand they have an identity outside of church and her parents.

5. Don't tell them no because it reflects negatively on you or them. 

6. Be a mirror and not a glass window. Help your kids them in you and you in them. Be a mirror of God.

7. Pray for our kids... their failures, their expectations, 

THE WINS IN MINISTRY

• They get to see God in a daily way
• They get resources
• They get to see people and pastors as they really are
• They are set apart

80% of kids raised in ministry are walking away from the church.

Let yourself off the hook... what she/he is going through is okay, it doesn't discredit your ministry

It is okay to have perks in ministry. The blessings in ministry are quicker to ministry kids than. Its okay for the pastor to elevate other staff kids because of who they are and not what their parents do.

DON"Ts

• Don't constantly talk about all the hard and bad things about church.
• Don't assume that because they are around everyone that is going to help them come around to Jesus.
• Don't let their decisions decrease the view of yourself in God's eyes.

Your Kids - They are your number one priority

God is saying, "I got this"! Can you lay them on the alter.

God has a promise for your kid and they are wired. Cling to the promise that God has given you for each kid.

meganlacefield.com

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