Preparing to become mature at loving God or preparing my children to become adults who knew how to love started with teaching them God’s most important commandment: to love Him with all their hearts, souls, and minds.

If we live breathing the depth of God’s love for ourselves, we come to understand that God’s love is essential to our understanding of Him, what drove Him to the cross, what He longs to share with us. Love is the essence of God’s character. Join me today as I elaborate on verses that speak about God’s steadfast love as a model for what we are to grow into.

Many years ago, Clay and I dreamed up the idea of Our 24 Family Ways as we discussed our desire to disciple our children as we walked along the path of life together. As parents of young children, we wanted them to have strong foundations of godly character and an understanding of what it meant to please God so that they could develop integrity.

What if God designed home, motherhood, & family to be the foundational community upon which society was to emerge from — a place of truth, goodness, & wholeness? What if we were designed to be caretakers of such a task because of the sacredness God placed on women because of His great esteem for them?

I have realized over the years that the most important element to a Christian parent, in regards to discipline, is not the method, but the heart attitude towards God as a Father of us. When we become our children’s advocates, always for them, defending them, protecting them, we are helping them grow as we extend the mercy, kindness, and teachings of God.

Your faithfulness matters. The moments of lifegiving relationships, truth discussed, virtue modeled, happens over thousands of days, many years, lots of laying down of life. You are writing your own story of faith and faithfulness. Join me today and be encouraged in your own life to live faithfully.

Your children long to see you as their heroes — those who inspire, live with courage, bring truth to bear in your generation. Each of us has a part. You will love the tales we talk about today and perhaps someone will be telling your faithful tale to others who need courage to live as women of valiance and light. Enjoy and be inspired.

It is not getting the rules right that will make our children want to serve God. It is laying down our life for them, serving them, listening to them, loving who God made them to be, that will secure in them a desire to love God with all of their hearts. By seeing our love, they will more easily understand and receive God's love, as it will already be familiar to their hearts.

The reality is that all marriages are filled with challenges. How a woman responds to her marriage will determine if it is a place where the light and beauty of God’s love will be shown. One of the glories of women is the opportunity to spread the gracious spirit of love and peace in her home. It is a beautiful grace of godly women to behold -- the fragrance of unconditional love and the art of spreading light, even in the dark places.

When you first hold a baby in your arms, you can't even imagine the talents, personality, and strengths they will have as an adult. The miraculous and mysterious process of loving, training, cultivating skills, inspiring your children over many years results in a full-fledged adult that you could not have perceived in their earliest moments.