Category: Momma’s Sunshine

Guest Post ~ Teaching Children to Choose the Right

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mosesHebrews 11:25
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

One of the most important things that I wanted to teach my children when they were very young was how to make decisions. I gave them opportunities to choose. For example, I let them choose the types of food or clothes they wanted…without interference.  Mind you, this was  not on all matters.

I am a strong believer in individuality and freedom of expression (guided by God’s principles and law).

In this world, children as well as adults, have to choose. We must choose to walk in the path of Christ or the path of the world.

One of the best ways to teach children to make right decisions is reading about Bible characters who chose the right amidst very trying times. I think of Esther and the courage she displayed as well as the three Hebrew boys. There is Daniel, Joseph and Moses. This list goes on and on.

“The Bible heroes of faith are to be our example…” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, Page 477

Are you allowing room for your little ones to make small decisions?  Do you teach them about the Bible heroes?

~Thanks Tonya, for sharing with us today!  You can normally find Tonya blogging at Momma’s Sunshine.

Daniel and his friends “Momma’s Sunshine”

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From the comparative simplicity of their Jewish home, these youth of royal line were taken to the most magnificent of cities and into the court of the world’s greatest monarch. Nebuchadnezzar “spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace. . . .

“Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ” Seeing in these youth the promise of remarkable ability, Nebuchadnezzar determined that they should be trained to fill important positions in his kingdom.

They were acquainted with the history of Nadab and Abihu, the record of whose intemperance and its results had been preserved in the parchments of the Pentateuch; and they knew that their own physical and mental power would be injuriously affected by the use of wine.

Daniel and his associates had been trained by their parents to habits of strict temperance. They had been taught that God would hold them accountable for their capabilities, and that they must never dwarf or enfeeble their powers. This education was to Daniel and his companions the means of their preservation amidst the demoralizing influences of the court of Babylon. Strong were the temptations surrounding them in that corrupt and luxurious court, but they remained uncontaminated. No power, no influence, could sway them from the principles they had learned in early life by a study of the word and works of God.

Patriarchs and Prophets

Thank you Tonya, for sharing inspiring parenting insights.  You can read more at Tonya’s blog, Momma’s Sunshine.

 

He Gave All

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The gift of God to man is beyond computation. Nothing was withheld. God would not permit it to be said that He could have done more, or revealed to humanity a greater measure of love. In the gift of Christ He gave all heaven.
-How God’s Love is Manifested, Part 1
by Ellen G. White

Mrs. Manoah’s Sunshine

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The inquiry of every father and mother should be, “What shall we do unto the child that shall be born unto us?” The effect of prenatal influences has been by many lightly regarded; but the instruction sent from heaven to those Hebrew parents, and twice repeated in the most explicit and solemn manner, shows how this matter is looked upon by our Creator. Patriarchs and Prophets

Hopefully, every parent wants to give their child the best start in life. Manoah and his wife wanted to give Samson the best start in life. When Mrs. Manoah learned that she would have a child, she asked “What shall we do unto the child that shall be born unto us?”

The counsel back was to:

1. Not eat anything unclean

2. Not to drink any strong drink or wine

3. Observe all that God had commanded her

And, after practicing all those wonderful eating and drinking habits as an expectant mommy…continue to follow them long after the child/children have grown.

She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.-Judges 13:14

Mothers, Be Careful

Tonya3 Comments

Mothers, be careful of your precious moments. Remember that your children are passing forward where they may be beyond your educating and training. You may be to them the very model of all that is good and pure and noble. Identify your interest with theirs.

If you fail in everything else , be thorough, be efficient here. If your children come forth from the home training pure and virtuous, if they fill the least and the lowest place in God’s great plan of good for the world, your life can never be called a failure and can never be reviewed with remorse.   —The Adventist Home, p. 267

Hannah’s Sunshine

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From the earliest dawn of intellect she had taught her son to love and reverence God and to regard himself as the Lord’s. By every familiar object surrounding him she had sought to lead his thoughts up to the Creator. When separated from her child, the faithful mother’s solicitude did not cease. Every day he was the subject of her prayers. Every year she made, with her own hands, a robe of service for him; and as she went up with her husband to worship at Shiloh, she gave the child this reminder of her love. Every fiber of the little garment had been woven with a prayer that he might be pure, noble, and true. She did not ask for her son worldly greatness, but she earnestly pleaded that he might attain that greatness which Heaven values–that he might honor God and bless his fellow men. – Patriarchs and Prophets

Hannah’s Sunshine:

1. She taught her son to love and reverence God.

2. She taught him that he belonged to God.

3. Everything in her home was to lead Samuel to thoughts of God, our Creator.

4. She prayed for him night and day that he would be pure, noble, and true.

5. She made him a coat of service as a reminder of her love.

Rahab’s Sunshine

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I once saw a Judge Judy show and she said, “the truth has a certain ring to it”. That has stuck with me over the years. I have even taught my preschoolers about what I call the “truth bell” as a result of this comment by this famous judge.

How hard it can be to believe and act on the truth that we know and hear. Not so with Rahab.

Joshua 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho

Joshua had sent spies to Jericho. ‘They were, however, preserved by Rahab, a woman of Jericho, at the peril of her own life. In return for her kindness they gave her a promise of protection when the city should be taken.’ Patriarchs and Prophets pg.483

My thoughts on Rahab’s Sunshine:

1. She believed God. Rahab had heard enough about the God of Israel to know that He is God. When the spies came she knew that whatever they said would happen just as they said it would.

2. She helped those in His service. She was willing to risk her own life for these men…greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for a friend.

3. Her decided actions saved her mother, father and all her family. Her decision to believe and help the spies resulted in her family being safe.

4. She was kind. Love is kind.

Lord, help me to believe Your servants and act decidedly and quickly for the cause of what is true and right.

Further Thoughts….I do not know if Rahab was a mom. I do know that I read that “when mother is away the older sister is to be the mother to the younger ones”. Now, I do not know if Rahab was an older sister either. But, I listed her on Momma’s Sunshine because her character/faith/actions are worthy characteristics of any mother! I hope someone is encouraged by this post!