Prove Me Wrong

There is always a parenting moment that I am in desperate need of God to give me an answer to train my kids.  Today was no different.  You don't have 8 kids without some issue arising and often having that issue arise in several kids at the same time...over and over again (creates a lot of teaching moments, parents driven to their knees and very frustrated kids trying to figure out what the problem is.)  Before church and then again on the way to church ...opportunity came to deal with an issue that keeps coming up again and again.  Just about at my whits-end I called out to God to fill in the blanks for me.

"Lord, they aren't getting this...now what? 

Knowing I can continue to point out the problem but God has to capture their heart!  I prayerfully moved forward with being the parent and let God deal with their heart..our conversation in the van continues.

Our issue at hand...dealing with a mumbling heart, an argumentative response, a sigh, a degrading word to a sibling.  You get the picture.  I finally said...

"Prove me wrong."  You have the opportunity to either prove me right (that you will not respond correctly) OR you can prove me wrong (by responding differently and making me question my punishment for you).  You know...there is a world out there that expects you to answer just like everyone else.  They are waiting for you (Christians) to 'prove them wrong'!

When our response and/or actions are just like the worlds, we leave them with "SEE, I knew Christians were no different!

What would happen if our actions and responses were different and made them question what they thought we would do.  What if our response made them ponder, "Hmmm...maybe Christians are different." 

Leave it to God to challenge them and me at the same time. When the conversation was more about what God desires than just them...God grabbed their hearts...and they began to respond.  All of a sudden I saw 2 children go from tears and fighting in trying to prove they were right, to eyes open for the challenge...to be different than the world!

LOOK how God already took their response and it challenged me!  In a split second we went from proving mom was right (their response will be just like before) to proving mom wrong (a Christ-like response).  That response...just challenged me in my own walk with the Lord.

So here is the challenge....

What am I doing that is different than the world?

"Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." - Francis Chan