Hey,<\/p>\n
Today the kids and I went shopping again \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I love being able to take them out and shopping with them.\u00a0 Three little ones like that draw a lot of attention and the two most common things I hear are, “Are they triplets?”\u00a0 and “They are so well behaved.”\u00a0 I tell people that it takes a lot of work at home to be able to take them out in public.\u00a0 I’ve even told some that we spank them if they need it.\u00a0 It makes me think of what you have told us before.\u00a0 If we will just be who Jesus has made us, we will shine.\u00a0 Being normal will make us shine.\u00a0 It’s amazing how most people (around here anyway) don’t think that having well behaved children is normal anymore.<\/p>\n
There was a young man who was working as a cashier at one of the stores the other week that really stood out to me.\u00a0 He seemed sincere in wanting to know how to have well behaved kids.\u00a0 He looked me in the eyes and said that he wished he could take his kids out in public.\u00a0 I felt really sad for him.\u00a0 I told him that it takes a lot of work at home, and they have to know that you mean what you say.\u00a0 I also told him that I pray a lot and get help.<\/p>\n
I had to go back to that store today to return something, and I was hoping to run into him.\u00a0 He was there and he remembered us.\u00a0 He talked to the kids some.\u00a0 I was prepared to give him a business card this time.\u00a0 He got busy helping someone else and it turned out that the lady working with him was the one who wanted to know my “secret” this time.\u00a0 I handed her a pastorjohnshouse.com card.\u00a0 I told her that was my secret and if she visited the website she could get help.\u00a0 She tucked it in her smock and said she would do that.<\/p>\n
When I left, I felt a little disappointed that I didn’t get to mention spanking to either of them, because that is really what is lacking in most homes today.\u00a0 There is a big pressure to be “nice” and spanking is seen as being mean and impatient.\u00a0 I wanted them to know that those well behaved children are the results of us being “mean” enough to spank them. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
I had another stop to make at the post office, and we all filed out of the car \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 (I really do enjoy going out with them!)\u00a0 As we were walking in, I was still feeling like I had missed something at the store, and the Lord said, “It is better to obey God than men.”\u00a0 That broke that feeling that I had.\u00a0 I was pointing them to my help, and I wasn’t trying to be anyone’s hero \ud83d\ude42 .\u00a0 If they get in touch with Jesus, they can overcome the same spirits that are around us all.\u00a0 Including those that would make you feel mean for doing what is godly.\u00a0 I was feeling this “pressure” to tell them about spanking, but what Jesus did was enough.\u00a0 Jesus knows my heart and that I still want to outright tell them that spanking is good if done correctly, but I’m trusting him about all of that.<\/p>\n
I was wondering if there was anything on the website to encourage people who are looking for help in parenting?\u00a0 I’m thankful to have the family that we do.\u00a0 A couple of weeks ago, Token said that as parents, we can’t catch it all and that we need each other.\u00a0 She also said that God has set it up that way.\u00a0 I love that.\u00a0 It’s a relief! \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I’m just wondering about other children of God, who are looking for help.\u00a0 I only heard bits and pieces of some testimonies on the beach Thursday morning, but it was the relief that I was looking for.\u00a0 And watching your gentleness with Daniel’s fear of the ocean was wonderful for me.\u00a0 We don’t want to be too far one way or the other, and I need the ones who have been there before me to show me what is good.\u00a0 I’m thankful for my family. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I want to live and let my children live \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Love you,
\nCris<\/p>\n
P.S.\u00a0 In no way do I feel that my children are “saints”….at least not yet anyway! \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 And even then they will still need correction!\u00a0 And I would very much appreciate your prayers that the praise that men may give me now for having “good” children doesn’t puff me up.\u00a0 We are just being normal!\u00a0 We have plenty of times when they are not so “good”, and I want to remember that it is all working together for good if we love God.<\/p>\n
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Hi Cris.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Rearing children is indeed a community project!\u00a0 I am thankful for the sweet, godly community that we have.\u00a0 The fellowship we share in Christ serves children well, as parents take advantage of the wisdom and love in this body of Christ for all these wonderful kids.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Keep up the good work!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hey, Today the kids and I went shopping again \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I love being able to take them out and shopping with them.\u00a0 Three little ones like that draw a lot of attention and the two most common things I hear are, “Are they triplets?”\u00a0 and “They are so well behaved.”\u00a0 I tell people that it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}