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We've got four children, have a girl, a daughter, and three sons. So, Cammie was nine months old when we moved here, and she's 45. So, we've been here just a wee bit, and she lives in Owasso, have a son, Jordan, used to play the drums here forever, and they live in Verdigris. And then we have Nathan, who is in Norma. Oh, my gosh, I can't believe I said that. Oh, my gosh. Anyway, they live in Edmond. Just go, folks. Okay. And then Luke, a lot of you know Lukey. He just had his 37th birthday, and he ushers here, and he's a gift. He's truly a gift.
So, and then we've got 10 grandchildren, a sophomore in college, down to two years old. So, we have a wide range of kiddos. And I've been real blessed through the years. Like he said, when we got this, at first, I thought, well, this is a different approach. And gosh, Lord, I don't know if this is what people are expecting. And oh, my. And I had to call Melissa, text her, and repent for something I said to her. And so, and the more we dug into it, I just thought, Lord, this is you. And like Jeff said, no one's here by accident. I'm not here by accident. You know, when you get asked to do something like this, you know, I looked at Ed, and I thought, oh, wow, time to get out the dirty laundry again, you know, and time for us to really dig in and look and to see. And as I was asking the Lord, you know, it's been a lot of years lived, what should we say? And just like God always does, about two hours ago, right in the nick of time, I really felt like the Lord was. The Lord was asking me a question that I was to start out and ask you all, too.
But the question really isn't, how can I be a better parent? The Lord was asking me, Lisa, how good of a child are you? And man, that just really hit me. I thought, Lord, that really is the question, because you're my father, you're my parent, and I'm your child. And as I get to know him and his ways and how he parents me, then that is what I give out to my children. And we can get all the books and all the things, and we'll talk a lot about that next week. But the bottom line is that it's Christ in us, him forming us. It's not the personality of my child that I am working with, it's their character. And there's a big difference in that. So when we think about relationally, you know, what does that mean? And how can I relate to my kids, and how am I going to start? And it felt like the Holy Spirit is just kind of shaking things that need to be shaken off of us and getting down to the foundation. I don't know about you all, but probably most of the women in here, if we're building a house, we just can't wait to get the sheetrock up, and then we can't wait to get the paint, because we've got to put up all the decorations, and we've got to make it feel a certain way. But it's a process, isn't it? And if we skip a process, then we pay for it later. And so I think that's what the Lord's doing right now, is giving us a time to really reflect. Performance is what stuck out to me. You know, everything is submission, isn't it? And it's real easy, according to our backgrounds. You know, we want to please the Lord, don't we? We want to hear, you know, well done, good and faithful servant. We want to have good acts, don't we? We want to, but it's the motivation, and before you know it, our parenting becomes all about performance, and then it becomes about me. And as a teacher, I immediately thought of standardized testing. Standardized testing is made for you to fail, that you can go along so far, and then it's like you fall out, well, these are just too hard. I just, I can't, I can't do this anymore. And they're designed. They're designed that way. And life is going to have failures, isn't it? We are going to fail. That's the way it is set up, because none of us are perfect, and none of us are perfect parents. We are all going to miss it, and we're all going to fail. But the question is, can we fail and not feel like a failure? And there's a big, big difference there.
And so why don't we just close our eyes for a second? I just feel like we just need to take a big old breath, and just blow it out, and just kind of settle in. Thank you, Jesus. Empty out your basket. Lord, we know we want to know how, and you keep saying it's who. You want us to know you. Thank you, Jesus. Okay, who are you surrounding yourself with? We're talking about body life, and how do you get out of this performance mentality? And I am one of those. If I find myself always having to grade something, then I know that I'm in that mentality. You know, that the outcome, I'm looking for the outcome, looking for the outcome. And if I did well, it's an A. Look at my child. If I did badly, oh, golly, man, what did I do? Oh, man, I messed him up for life. What am I going to do? And, you know, the seasons of life and seasons of parenting, they never stop. Even if you don't have natural children, you have spiritual children. And some of my biggest failures I've looked at as they've gotten older, we laugh all the time, because your adult children, when you see them maybe parenting differently than you, or they're not doing this, or they're doing that, we'll be like, oh, they didn't like that. Or, oh, they put that one in the trash can. And, you know, but we all are to take those things that our parents have done, and how we were raised, but we compare them to Christ. And so I just want to encourage you this week to really think about areas that we can admit that we have failed, but we are not a failure. Probably one of the hardest things that I went through was with an adult son. And when it was over with, I really, and it wasn't false humility. I mean, I was like, oh, my God. I looked at Ed, and I said, I really failed that test. I really blew that. I mean, the Lord, I mean, and, but I didn't, it wasn't a failure. And God was still God, and he still redeemed it. And he had it that way, I think, because if I thought I passed the test, then it would have been all about me. And it wasn't. It absolutely was the hand of the Lord. I've been thinking a lot. I thought about Mary, and I thought, you know, I don't know why this came to me yesterday, and it just kind of took my breath away. I thought, I cannot imagine watching my child die and be tortured, and I'm right there watching it. What do I do with that? My husband isn't by my side. Talk about maybe feeling like you've, failure, what in the world's going on? And so there are times, and all of us will go through this, no matter what it is. Yes. The life of the body, and walking out life together, and getting real with one another is imperative. Because we really are a body, aren't we? We really are. It's joint supplying joint. It's crying together. It's talking about our failures together. And when I saw Amy walk in, she can remember it. Man, you know, back in the day when we first came, the church was a lot of just young couples. And we didn't know. You know, up from down. And we were like, what are we going to do? You know, we've got all these kids, and we just got together, and most of the time I was over at Linda's house. And it's not like we had a teacher, because we were all the same age. We were just all grappling together, you know, on what to do, and going through things. But you know, it forced us to share our lives together. There was no place to run and hide, and for us to think that we had it all together. So I want to challenge you about being performance and not isolate yourself, that your kids' behavior does not become a measuring stick for your parenting. And obviously, we want to do a good job. And obviously, we share in the victories. But it's funny, because we can share the good things, but can we accept the bad things or the negative things?
And then as the years roll by, you... You see that that very thing that I saw as a negative becomes part of their testimony. It becomes the thing that they had to wrestle with that brought them closer to the Lord, and that His ways are just different than our ways. And so, just take it off of yourself. I still try to talk to the kids.
I need to do it more. When I realize something that I... I wish I hadn't done. And it's not a big repenting thing, but it's like, oh, hey, I just want you to know I really realize, you know, yada, yada, yada.
And maybe I'll say, and the reason I did that was because of such and such and such. And I was thinking about the conference, and I got in the car, and I thought, you know, Lord, it really would have been helpful to know some of this stuff about your sovereignty back in the 80s. That would have been really helpful. And then I thought, you know, but as we continue to grow in our lives, and I hope that, you know, we're all growing, there's always going to be things. Because if we're learning, there's always things that we wish that we would have known. But, you know, the Holy Spirit is big enough to know and to give us what we need at the time if we will dig in and put His principles to work.
Let me see. Do we let God parent us? Now, I had to really stop and think about that, Lord. Do I let you parent me? Because so many times, instead of running for a book or whatever, if we will just see what He is doing with us and how I'm supposed to respond to Him, then that, you know, in the heat of the moment, it's not like, oh, my gosh, I need to know the chapter and verse that I need to dig. Something. Just think about Him and who He is and how He handles us and the grace that He gives us and to extend those things. And, Amy, what a privilege to live the years together and just the principles of God when things are true and right and they stand the test of time. And you can always trace it back to Scripture. But to have that modeled in front of us. From our 20s on. And they were our same age. You know, it's not like he was 50 pouring in. Like, yeah, a couple years older. That's right. Amy's younger than us. But we will still say, oh, that's a Glennism. I don't know if you know people say that about you, Glenn, but there are Glennisms out there. And one that he mentioned, and this is absolutely gold and always remember it, is that your confession is as big as your transgression. Transgression. And for me, we had to have a school assembly for Mrs. G to ask for forgiveness. So I was the Bible teacher at CCS. And there were plenty of times that I had to address. But one, it was the entire student body. Because I'm telling you, that referee was unfair, Derek. And I had it on video. Okay. And I could prove it. And I let him know it at the game. So, anyway, when you make yourself do that, it really does do something. And my parents, I know we're kind of getting this all switched around, but it's okay. My mom and dad were, sure, yes, yes, just a few. Well, I'll tell you how shocked I was. We were at an A&W. And I can't remember, I guess we were married. We were married. I know. And he's ordering, you know, how, and you know how raspy that thing is. You're trying to listen to it and stuff. And I'm sure I'm just, you know, like I told Jeff, certainly talking is a spiritual gift somewhere. Surely, surely it is. Anyway, I'm sure I was, you know, whatever.
And he's trying to order. And all I remember is, he says, would you shut up? And I was, I mean, I thought, Lord Jesus. We are doomed. We are not going to make it. It's over before it ever started. I was in such shock. I could not believe it. And I looked at him and he's like, what? What? What in the world do you mean what? You said shut up. Well, I couldn't hear the lady talking on the thing. I thought, well, you don't say shut. Well, what do you mean you don't say shut up? We say shut up at our house all the time. I'm like, what? What in the world are you from? I mean, that was just like, well, that was the closest. I mean, I was beyond shocked because I really did. I really did grow up with June and Ward Cleaver.
And I lived in Mayberry for real. Parsons, Kansas was Mayberry. And it was very, very unusual and very opposite of Ed. And so you can imagine. The parenting things that I thought were common sense that he had never seen or what he had seen. I was just like, oh, my Lord, Jesus. And my mom and dad, this is kind of just a little side note. This is so cool. God is so good. Man, I had a good life. The goodness of God. But, you know, we didn't know anything. I was brought up, you know, just in a mainline denominational church. It was kind of like a. It was just a club, you know. And so I didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit, never even heard anything, didn't know anything. And I end up with a roommate who is spirit filled. And I didn't even really know what that meant. I just knew that I liked whatever it was. And so anyway, I ended up getting the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You know, thought they were going to put me in water and all kinds of stuff. I mean, I didn't know anything. And I get back and my mother always called me every weekend. And I thought, how am I going to explain? Explain this to them. They're not going to know what I'm talking about.
And they're going to think I'm nuts. And my mom called and she starts and she says, honey, dad and I need to talk to you about something. And I said, OK. Then she says, well, we were at. Anyway, they both had gotten filled with the Holy Spirit the same weekend.
And I thought, oh, my word. And so from that point on, every time I was ever with my mom and dad in a meeting, they would get a word. And it was always. It was always the same word. And it was about how the Lord had made their marriage as an example for the body. And so I really did grow up with incredible parents. But my struggle was, how am I ever going to live up to that? How am I ever going to live up to that? I'm sure my dad's never said shut up to my mom.
And so, you know, how are we going to maneuver this thing? And I'm saying that to say, you know, sometimes, I mean, comparison is a thief and it is a liar. And I don't care if the comparison is to the negative or the comparison is to the positive. It does not matter. The parenting that I am supposed to be reflecting is God. And whatever my parents did that lined up with the word, that's why it worked. And that's why it was so wonderful. And I was incredibly blessed and extremely thankful. But if your parents were not that way, it is a lie to think, well, if my parents just hadn't done this, maybe I'd be able, you know, to be a better parent. Or, you know, vice versa. It doesn't matter what the lie is or the comparison is. It is foolish to compare. The word tells us not to do it. And yet we just kind of do it, you know, a lot. And so. Coming, learning how to repent. So my dad, I was a real loud little child. I know that is really hard to believe. But I was a screamer and a laugher and a talker. And anyway, we would go on drives at night. And I was probably five or six. I mean, I was little. And he turns the corner and he kept saying, Lisa, quit your screaming. Lisa, quit your screaming. And I was just, you know, going and doing with my sister in the back. And obviously, I must have screamed and laughed again. And we were only like three houses away. Okay, my house was just right there. And my dad said, if you don't quit your screaming, I'm going to let you out of the car. Well, sure enough, I must not. Anyway, he turned the corner and he let me out of the car. Well, again, I could see my house. But, I mean, I didn't know it. But, I mean, looking back. It was just three houses down. And I get out. And I just stand on the sidewalk. And I just cry. And so, my dad, you know, parks the car. And I'm just standing there crying.
And he comes running down the sidewalk to get me. And by the time he gets to me, he's crying. And I'm crying. And he scoops me up and takes me back to the house. And just wept over me when he put me to bed. And said, honey. Honey, I thought you knew where you were at. You know, I was wrong. I should never, ever have done that. And, again, I was probably five years old. And that has stuck with me my whole life. That I was modeled that. And so, that's been an area. And our kids talk about it as they have gotten older. Be encouraged. It's not the mistake. It's how you handle it. And it's never too late. I mean. I mean, a couple years ago, I had.
I think, well, probably a little bit more than a couple years ago. Because I talked about it at the Mother's Day panel. We sent Jordan off to a church camp when he was in second grade. Because I was trying. No, I guess he wasn't that old yet. I was trying to potty train Nathan. And I'd had Luke. Luke with special needs. And going to have heart surgery and all that kind of stuff. And I sent him off. And it really. Produced some things in him that just weren't good. And so, as an adult, we sat down and I had to truly repent to him. And you know, the Lord healed something in him. Not that he was offended at me. But whatever that bad fruit or whatever was produced by that. It is never too late. So, if the Holy Spirit brings something up to you. Take care of it. Because you never know what that's going. It's never going to be the wrong thing to do.
To repent. You know, emotional health and wholeness. You know, that's what he's talking about. You know, me too. We all have things.
We all have things. And it gets back to, you know, you can't give out what you don't have. What well are you going to? Is it, well, that's what mom and dad did to me and I made it okay. That's not how we reason.
You know, we go. We go to the word. We go to who the father is. We go to his principles. And we'll talk about those things next week.
But we live in a society that we don't understand absolutes. Or we label everything legalism. Or whatever. And we're as lost as a goose. And we argue, well, that works for your child, but it doesn't work for me. Well, I was so glad to hear Ruby in the Mother's Day thing. When she brought. You know, you could almost hear the air go out of the room. You know, because we just don't talk about it anymore. And, oh, you know, there's so, so much of that that has gone into us. And we don't realize it. And it's just, it's time to get real. If something does not line up with the word, then you need to check yourself.
And you may say, well, you know, I don't have a seminary degree. How am I going to figure this out?
God is blank. Is he honest? Well, then you don't lie. God is love. God is, I mean, it's, you know the Father.
And you're training to hear his voice. And sure, the word, you know, backs it up. And we need to know it. But sometimes we make it so hard.
And it just doesn't have to be that hard all the time. When you're using the right measuring stick, don't argue with the yardstick. If it says it's an inch, it's an inch. And so there are just things, and we're bombarded with it now. And we have such a privilege that we are in a place that is, we just went through 401. If you've never been through 401, we need to go through it again.
You know, we would just come out and just like, oh, my goodness. My mom would always say any time, about once a week, I don't understand. I don't understand why. I don't understand why. There's not 5,000 people at that church. If they knew Glenn's preaching, they would be here. Where is everybody, you know? And I mean, we were sitting there in 401, and I thought, Lord, I can't believe we've sat underneath this teaching all these years. And it's just so rich. And getting back to sound doctrine and getting back down to the basics. And if it says something about spanking, don't argue with it. Find out the wisdom in it and how to do it. And if God said it, then if I will obey, it's up to him to produce whatever. I mean, come on, getting dirt and spitting in it and putting somebody's eye in that ridiculous.
But God used that. You know, it's time to see some of these things and just get real. Okay? We're not talking about. We're not talking about behavioral modification. We're talking about trying to get the character of Christ.
And, you know, if they're truly, there's no difference in little bodies, you know, and that's Christ in them, then he's forming Christ in them. And so anyway, that was just a little rant there on getting back to the basics. But it's true. We have got to be emotionally healthy. And ask the Lord. Lord, where am I being a rebellious child? Lord, where is my orphan heart or my hurt heart or whatever? And ask the Father. You know, when you think about it, he asks us to come to him like a child. He's always telling us, isn't he, to ask, seek, knock. You know, there are things that we do, right? We approach him. And anyway, okay. One thing he said is, that I had thought about, you know, truth is truth. Two plus two is four, even if I got an F on my math test.
That doesn't mean that that isn't the correct answer. And so to feel like, oh, I can't address that because who am I? Come on. That is false humility. You're going to the word. We are not perfect. Maybe you need to work on whatever it is. But it is still truth. Those principles are still. The principles that you need to be talking about. And this is the truth. And Ed and I have said this so many times. I mean, let's just be real. Sometimes the reason we wouldn't take care, or I'll say me, I wouldn't take care of any, whatever it was, is because I wouldn't take care of me. I didn't want to have to pay the price. Again, it became about me. It is hard sometimes to discipline, isn't it? Right. Right. Right.
If I want to discipline myself in that area, then I feel like an imposter. How can I require that of them? And there's truth there. The truth isn't that you shouldn't be requiring it of them. The truth in there is, I need to take care of this myself.
Holy Spirit, help me. One of the most precious things to do, and let your kids pray for you. Let them. Let them see that you need prayer, too. And there needs to be wisdom, because, you know, when you're a child, you reason like a child, don't you? And so you don't want to. There was a deal in the notebook, and it was so good, is that you don't want to put too much responsibility on a child and make them a parent. Or sometimes we will keep a child almost an infant emotionally because that feeds us. And I'm sorry. I'm just going to say something here.
That may step on toes. But sometimes, I don't really see it now, so I can talk about it freely, but we used to, of course, everybody was kind of like the same age, and we were all these, you know, kids and whatever. But sometimes it's very easy to hide behind your child. And so it's the end of service, and you know you need to go down for prayer. But, oh, time to go to the nursery. Oh, time to go to the bathroom. Oh, time to, you know. Whatever.
And we can hide behind anything, can't we? And sometimes we do it with our kids. We keep ourselves busy. We keep ourselves distracted. We give ourselves excuses. And all the time, the Holy Spirit's trying to get our attention. And it's not that you should not take care of that. You should. But most of the time, you won't until you let the Holy Spirit take care of you. And that's hard when you realize it.
And again, you don't have to, again, depending on the age, and we'll talk more about this next week, because you do need to use wisdom on, and you do need to know just some common sense child development things. You know? I mean, goodness, it doesn't do any good to tell a child, you know, you're going to go to grandma's in four weeks, and don't you ask me again about it, when they don't know what time is. They have no clue, you know? They don't know. They don't know when they're going to bed. They don't know anything. And yet, you've set yourself up for something like that, because you, you know, maybe you just didn't know.
Or you're going to sit in that chair for two hours. Well, you know, their little bodies are just, you know, yeah. State of Oklahoma just gave us more recess time, because, you know, you realize some things. So you don't want to put too much on a child, and then yet you don't want to keep them dependent on you. That is one thing, too. If we're supposed to be part of the body, there is not a magical time, like, okay, the body's for my child, too. I know we're responsible for our children, and they're with us and stuff, but I'm telling you there are things that other people can impart to my children that I'm not going to. And it can be a same-school teacher. It can be a friend.
I'm not saying that you don't have oversight, but I have seen people that withhold their kids from the body, and honestly, and I had to wrestle with this when I realized that some of my parenting was coming out of fear. It was fear. And, you know, that's not trusting in the Lord, because if I trust Him and I'm doing the best I can, you know, I'm trying to use wisdom with my decisions and stuff, but ask yourself, why am I doing this? And in our young moms group, we used to talk about this a lot. Ask yourself, and don't be offended. We would say, you know, why are you doing that? Well, okay. And then I'd have to really wrestle, and some of it came back to the performance thing, is, well, you know, if I don't, da-da-da, what are people going to think?
Or if they'd, listen, here's a truth bomb. Every one of your kids is going to blow it. Didn't we blow it? We all blew it, and God was faithful to us, and it was part of the journey, but all of your kids are going to go through things, and it doesn't even matter how much you know. You're never going to know enough. You are never going to know enough. You're never going to be the perfect teacher. You're never going to be the perfect mom. You're never going to be the perfect father, because there's only one perfect.
And, you know, you're expected. This was another Glennism. Your devastation is as long as your hesitation. Man, I've used that one a lot through the years. And the... The longer you put off something, the bigger it grows. And that happens with us, too, until, you know, you're just to the devastated part. And hopefully, as we gain wisdom, right? Gray hair is supposed to be the crown of glory, right? We're supposed to be getting some wisdom along the way. That you're quicker to do that and quicker to repent. But living life with your children is just that, living life. You know, some people...
Some people will say... I remember when I had Cammie, I went crying to my mom. I mean, she was like a week old. I said, Mom, how is she ever going to love me like I love you? How is... How am I going to get this relationship with her like I have you? And some of us, maybe we didn't get saved until your kids are in junior high or whatever. But it's living life together and being intentional. And it's talking. And it's asking questions. There was one thing in this notebook. I thought this was fascinating. In the Bible, it's recorded that Jesus asked over 300 questions. See? Jesus did it. Ladies, let's use that one. When they think we talk too much, okay? And he only directly answered three. Think about that. Now, guys, you can't use that one. But we can use... We can use that. We can use the 300 questions. But you have to answer us more than three times. But anyway.
But, you know, ask questions. Be involved in their lives. If you're feeling that, you know, sometimes as they grow up, we're like, you know, I don't want to... No, you're the parent. My dad used to say this. And at first, you might think it's really harsh. But there's truth. He'd say, Lisa, I didn't come to live with you. You came to live with me. There's a whole lot. There's a lot in that, isn't there? I know. And I thought, you know, he's right. He's right. I was a gift to my parents. And your kids are gifts to you. And God didn't come to live with me, did he? You know, when he was talking about a safe place for your kids. You know, can your kids fail at your house? And, you know, that's the place of training, isn't it? And this is something that I don't think... I mean, I was thinking about this.
Of course, you know how it is. Anytime you teach, it's just like, you know, the Lord's just really talking to us, talking to me. But, you know, I was the Bible teacher and assistant principal. He was a coach, an athletic director. And my mom was the principal of the school. Well, good grief. Just think about that. I mean, they couldn't get away from us, you know?
And so, we never helped. We never helped with youth or went on trips or anything like that because we thought, oh, you know, they need time just to be with other people. But I've thought about this this week in every area of that because, you know, I was teaching about godly character. I mean, that was, you know, what I taught every day. And you're putting out the word and, you know, you're trying to motivate everybody. And then he's the coach and you're wanting to win. And there's grandma down the hall. And, you know, that would have been hard. It would have been hard to be in our house with the expectation level always there because of everything Katie's back there going, yes, she's one of Cam's friends. And I'm sure that that was hard. And I don't know if it was a real safe place to make a mistake.
And I've talked to Cammie about it. But that is something to check. You know, how do I respond? I remember Greg Jones. I don't even remember the story he was telling. But he just, but one statement that he said, he goes, you know, when your child comes to you with whatever they're going to come to you with, just get your face ready. Get it all taken care of that there's nothing they can say that's going to shock you. There's nothing that they can do. There's nothing they can do that's going to just, you know, blow the situation up. And I've often thought about that. Okay, just get yourself ready. And because you want that communication, don't you? And it has to be intentional.
If you're with your kids, life is happening all the time, isn't it? The ambulance goes by, teaching time. I mean, there's just, life is just teaching. And we would pray about, you know, the ambulance and where it was going or this or that. Or, you know, if whatever, always bring it back to the father. Always bring it back to the father. It's not like you have to get into a big questionnaire all the time. Or even give them a reason. Does God give us an answer every time or a reason? Or does he say there are some things that are just my ways are higher. You're just not going to understand it. And sometimes we're, we're sitting there and we're thinking we're doing the right thing, but we're getting into these discussions all the time. And ladies, I do think that we're more apt to do this. I don't know about you, but I always want to know the why. Well, if I could just understand why you did it, then maybe, whereas, you know, men don't seem to be near as much like that. But, but the reasoning and I remember one time Dick Chapman was talking to us and one of the girls came up and said, dad, may I ask you a question? And he goes, no, I can't. Nope, nope. This isn't your, you know, it's not your discussion. Well, you know, that, that kind of, even to say that I, you know, it's kind of like, did you say that, you know, but they're not adults yet, right? And so sometimes we get these things all twisted around that I'm, well, you know, the Lord's turning my heart to my child, but it's still your child. And. So there are discussions to have and discussions not to have and things to share. And well, how do I know? Well, it all comes back to trying to hear the Holy Spirit and know what to do and when to gather and when to cry together.
And I think one, this is probably the last thing on my heart to share is that we're all going to have surprises in life. Life is not going to go the way you think it's going to go. And everyone has it. And it's that opportunity. And I know for us, when Luke was born, it was a big surprise. And, you know, Down syndrome was not on my bingo card. And then, you know, the health problems and, and some things like that. And I thought, oh my gosh, what's this going to do the other three kids? How are we going to walk this out? How are we going to blah, blah, blah, blah. And you know what? God's grace was for them. Just in the same amount as it was for me. And so that was our, you know, moment of truth and, and whatever. But every single person in here will have something.
It'll all be different. And the grace is there for your family and for you. And now, I mean, well, if you know Luke, but it doesn't matter, but those hard times become your family altars. They become your memorials. They become the things that you go back and say, look at what God has done. And every year when it gets close, you know, Luke will go, my heart day's coming.
My heart day's coming. And when he had his major heart surgery. And so we get out the baby book, you know, and we do all the things and we talk about the faithfulness of the Lord. But whatever is yours, those family things make a difference because every year you go by. You go look at God's faithfulness, look at what he has done.
And it becomes, as your kids get older and, and don't let those moments pass without calling the attention to the kids. Did you just see what the Lord did for us? Did you just see what, yeah. And, and again, yeah, this is, you know, these are things that are precious to your family, but you always go back to the father and, and just miracles and provision.
If you will sit here this week, I just encourage you, Lord, take us to our family memorials. Lord, things that we have forgotten, Lord, that we didn't even know were you. Lord, if we feel like that you've abandoned us in any way, or I don't have anything to say, Holy Spirit, bring those times back up to our memories this week. Things that we can celebrate. Things that encourage our faith in you. Things that our kids will remember long after we're gone. Lord, that we can pass down through the generations. Your faithfulness, your faithfulness. Jeremy Alexander, God is faithful. He's been so faithful to you, bro. Things that seem like they were the enemy, they weren't.
Things that seem like they were in your way, they weren't. God used those to strengthen you. How are you going to be strong if you don't have a mountain to climb? Father. They're blessed, Jeremy. Thank you for what you're doing in him, Lord. Thank you for his heritage. Lord, I thank you that you have turned every negative to a positive. Thank you for his legacy, Lord.
Thank you that he's not less than, and it's not too late. And the Holy Spirit and the Lord never says, it's enough too many times. Don't ask me again. That's not him. Thank you, Jesus.
Wow, you ready to have church? That was good.
I think we did, didn't we? Hey, let's give them some appreciation. Thank you so much. We've got about five minutes before we move to close. I thought maybe we might have some Q&A. If you have some questions for Ed and Lisa, we might take a little bit of time to do some Q&A. Anybody have any questions for them? Yes, I'm going to run back to you. This one might be a little bit longer, but having a child with special needs, how did you balance that between therapies, appointments? We're trying to make sure you balance the time. With your other kids and, you know, even with parenting or discipline for a child with special needs, how is that different and perceived differently from your other children? So good. How about one more question? One more. Anybody? Okay.
I want to touch on something real quick. Oh, we have one real quick.
Okay. Good night, everyone. My question is, how do you deal with a kid that has strong will? Well, to move towards closing on, I'd like to ask the Family Life Ministry team couples to come up. We want to end each night for the whole summer series with a time to connect and pray. And if you want to spend some set-apart time to have a discussion or to be prayed over, man, we definitely want to make time for that.
But one of the things that I want to touch on, you heard maybe, if you don't know the history of DLC, you maybe heard a lot of names that you may not have recognized, like Dick Chapman, Greg Jones. And, you know, we're rich. We're really rich because biblical wealth is about spiritual heritage and legacy. And these 20-something couples that they talked about, you know what they were? They were forerunners. They didn't have anybody to look to. They were in the fast lane with the Holy Spirit, right? Just asking the Lord to give direction and then to have a revelation of the New Testament church during the decade of the 80s and walk this out.
We're getting to experience the fruit of. 40 plus years of these young couples saying yes and doing life together, life on life. And, you know, that's one of the things that they mentioned is body life. So in terms of parenting and walking out our own discipleship to be able to disciple our own kids, we need each other. So I want to encourage you to connect, find couples that are in the body that you can draw from. And the last thing I'll say is the healing journey never stops.
I know that there are still cycles of reactions in me that have come from roots that the Lord is still pulling layers back and revealing. So stay in the healing journey. Don't ever isolate. Don't ever think you're on the outside looking in because you've got a body that loves you and will walk with you here definitely.
So I'm going to close and pray over the night. And again, if you want to visit, if you would, maybe go out. Go into the foyer. And that way those that might want to come up and visit and pray will have some quiet. Also, there's going to be a QR code that we're going to put up here. We have some resources on parenting. Jonathan and JC have written a 30-day devotional for parents that are focused on Bible stories that would lead you to pray over your kids. So it's predominantly up to 12 years old, right? 12 years and below predominantly. So that's a resource.
And then there's some resources on, they touched on parentification. If any of you grew up in an addictive household like I did, you definitely experienced that whether you know it or not. And so there's some great resources on that and many more. So take advantage of the QR code and all the resources. So Father, thank you tonight. We just want to pray a blessing over Ed and Lisa and the blessing that they are, the grace and the measure that they carry, Father, and the impartation. That we got to accept and receive tonight. Father, I pray over every family at DLC. Father, do a deep work in us so that we might reflect you and your original intent for marriage and family and how we parent the next generation. In Jesus name. Amen. We'll see you next week. Same place, same time, same bat channel.
