Devotions for Sacred Parenting

Devotions for Sacred Parenting
By Gary Thomas
Published at Zondervan

About the book

Raising children is a sacred calling—and not for the faint of heart. It shapes the parent every bit as much as parents shape their children. In Devotions for Sacred Parenting, Gary Thomas, author of Sacred Parenting, delves deeper into the conversation and contemplates the soul-transforming journey of being a parent.

Many books have been written about how to parent your children effectively, how to become a better parent, and how effective parenting produces better kids. Devotions for Sacred Parenting explores an entirely different reality: how parenting transforms you, the parent. It explores the spiritual dynamics of parenting and why caring for your children is such an effective discipline in shaping your soul and forming the character of Christ within you.

With all new material, 52 devotions explore the spiritual dynamics of parenting. These life-related devotions are creative, fresh, and encouraging, inspiring mothers and fathers to look at parenting from a different perspective—as a holy and high calling from God, and as an opportunity to grow spiritually as you strive to raise godly children. Devotions for Sacred Parenting helps you understand how God is parenting you as you parent your children.

My Thoughts

Let’s face it… Parenting is not easy and sometimes it takes lots of wisdom and patience.   Being a parent require us to be constantly connected to our Father in Heaven whether you read the Bible or pray.  Devotions is also a great way to be nourished as a parent and where you can find tips and tricks to be a better parent.    We have heard Gary Thomas speak about parenting in the past and we really enjoyed his thoughts about this amazing job that is parenting our children.   So when I was able to review the new edition of Devotions for Sacred Parenting I did not hesitate to do it.

Thought many books have been written on how to parent properly and how to encourage your children, this particular book will emphasize on the fact that parenting transform you – the parent.   How can we shape our soul and become more like Christ as a parent is the whole idea behind this book.  The book contains 52 devotions and reflection questions which explores the spiritual aspect of parenting.   Fifty-two devotions to do once a week with your better half – your spouse.  And each devotions concludes with a prayer to say together as well as questions for reflections during the week.  These questions are always great and make you ponder on what you read as well as think of the past week or so in order to identify what you could have done better.

From the first devotion I have read, I was hooked.  This particular devotion titled “God is in the room” opened my eyes to the fact that God is always there (I knew that already but the reality sinked in more in my mind and heart.) and that realizing that will make you realize that how we act, think, behave and speak has a witness at all times.  Because let’s face it – we sometimes forget that He is there with us and tend to act is if He was absent.  But he isn’t.   God is in the room. So if we want our children to be able to acknowledge Him and notice Him we also have to do it as well.  It is funny how our parenting skills changes when our mind shift to the fact that God is ALWAYS with us.  He is in all the rooms you go in, in your car, in your kitchen, in the backyard…. (I think  you get the picture.)  So I have been telling myself this word – God is in the room. – for some time now.  I even plan to make a watercolor with the words on it to put in our dining room which also is our homeschool room.  Seeing it day in and day out will make these words sink in more and more in me and in my children.  

God is in the room.

Simple yet effective words to repeat.  A great way to remember that He is always there with us – no matter what happens.

In a way this book will allow you to discover how God is parenting you to become the parent he intended you to be for your children.   It is a fabulous book that I highly recommend to parents everywhere.   It is packed with wisdom and nuggets on how to be a better parent. 

Devotions for Sacred Parenting is available for purchase at your favorite bookstore, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

 

Disclaimer: Thanks to Thomas Nelson for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.