What a gorgeous day we had here in Northern California! It was a perfect day to go to church, just as I do with my family every Sunday. The service was great and the topic, one of my favorites, how to believe for the impossible. The message was going along just fine, when the Pastor used an analogy of how our faith growth is like working out. He said that the muscle will not grow unless it has time under tension over a coarse of time. The same is true with our faith, perseverance under pressure is the way to develop our faith. Be it stress at work, family issues, health issues, anything that comes against us, if we don’t give up, God won’t let us cave in. He will come through with an answer and we will not only receive the answer, but we will be stronger, wiser and better equipped for the next trial or testing.

I completely agree and know what he said to be true by the evidence of my own life. But what happened next was so charming; it has become my purpose for this post. My Pastor mentioned we can’t obtain a six pack, as in tight abs, by looking at the weights.  As he is speaking, my two year old was playing at my feet with a little toy he had in his hand.  When Pastor mentioned six pack abs, my little guy stood to his feet and pulled up his shirt and patted his tummy as if to say, “Hey Mom, check out my six pack!”

He then proceeded to try and look at my abs in church…no bueno!

As delightful as his actions were, it immediately set my thoughts to motion. He is two years old. He appears to not be paying any attention what-so-ever to the service, but his ears are catching it…his heart is chatting it…his spirit is absorbing it. And so I write.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

No matter what your belief systems, lifestyle, pursuits and passions…if you have children you are shaping their minds, their emotions, their hearts, whether you are trying to or not. Just as I described with my sons actions in church, our children catch far more than we realize. Now, theoretically I already knew this. I have a bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology (all that means is that I had to read a lot of “stuff” and study a lot of research regarding human development).  So, I know this to be true from education, but even more important to me is that I have observed this in raising five children.

When my older children were young I began teaching them things that I knew their little heads hadn’t the cognition to comprehend. I was acting on a higher learning pattern, their spirit.  Between my Bible and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, I knew that I could pray over them aloud and  I could speak to them as though they could understand. I knew that I was planting seeds of faith, hope,  and possibility into their hearts by vehicle of their spirit. Only by the grace of God did I have the inclination to do such a thing. No one ever told me to do this.

I think maybe some examples of this that would be familiar; a person speaking to a child in the pregnant womb of a mother. Baby Einstein and the like, classical music to shape frontal lobe development of the brain, etc. Same principle, but planted into their spirit. It was important for me to instill in my children early in life the absolute wholeness they had in God. That they know who they were in God and who’s they were. I spoke many things over them, knowing that their spirit would be soaking them.

You have the power to shape young lives for good, better, best…or for the worse. Whether you are actively speaking into them, or they are “catching” another’s words or yours. Are you speaking positive things into the atmosphere? Are you being positive and speaking of the possibilities? Or are you speaking discouragement, hopelessness and despair? Are you exemplifying gratitude in your speech or are you complaining about your situation? If you believe, then your children will as well. I’m not saying it is easy, I know it is not. Especially when we are really struggling, it’s hard, but not impossible.

My family has had many  “faith stretching” circumstance, but we spoke of them with belief and possibility to our children. Over and over, this is what we did. Then, on one occasion, we had a specific and large need and the children were saying their bedtime prayers over this specific need. My oldest son, must have been nine at the time, said to me, “I know God is going to take care of it, because he gives us miracles.” Then he proceeded to recap our victories out loud! What a seasoned prayer warrior at such a young age. I can only give credit to God. I honestly don’t know how anyone can parent without His wisdom!

Speak life. Speak possibility. Speak in faith. Believe. All is not lost. There is nothing God’s arm is too short to reach down and fix for you. All looks ominous through the natural eye, but through the spiritual eyes of faith, all things become possible. Your children are watching your faith in action and they will do what you do. Lead well. Lead strong. Lead with belief. You are an Over Comer!

~Nicole

“We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.” ~Dale Carnegie