Dan Seaborn - Parenting with Grace and Truth: Leading and Loving Your Kids Like Jesus

Praise forParenting with

Grace and Truth

Parenting isnt for the faint of heart. Seaborn presents a fresh, honest, and helpful parenting book built on the sure foundation of grace and truth. It is anchored in the clear understanding that every kid needs someone in life who is crazy about them, especially when life can get a little rocky. Parenting with Grace and Truth is a gift to help raise godly, healthy kids in a balanced and loving home.

Dr. Tim Clinton, American Association of Christian Counselors
President, Co-host Dr. James Dobsons Family Talk

Im a husband and daddy of two little children. From the moment I met my wife, Dan Seaborn has been a mentor to me, supporting my own marriage. He loves me with grace, but he loves me enough to not leave me that way. Patterns Ive set in my own family are because he speaks truth to me. What I love most about this book is that Dan applies unbelievably practical helps even with the seemingly little time and energy you feel like you have as a mom or dad. Let Dans parenting experience speak into your life. He gets it.

Joshua Straub, PhD, Marriage & Family Strategist,
LifeWay Christian Resources, Author of Safe House

Grace and truth, along with the capacity and spiritual maturity to rightly employ them, are what set apart Christian mothers and fathers. They allow us to become the eyes and ears, the hands and feet, and ultimately, the love of God, to our sons and daughters. There are many voices in the world today when it comes to parenting. Dan Seaborn brings an uncompromising and biblical approach to the subject, and incorporates humor, wisdom, deep insight, and balance to one of the most challenging roles in life. Parenting with Grace and Truth offers practical help with callouts, sidebar illustrations, case studies, questions to consider, and the use of story to bring home the principles he shares. This book is a must-read, and every parent will discover him or herself in its pages.

Dr. Eric T. Scalise, PhD, LPC, LMFT, President of LIV Enterprises
& Consulting, LLC, former Vice President of the American
Association of Christian Counselors and former Dept. Chair for
Counseling Programs at Regent University

Few books have challenged my thinking and captured my heart like this present work by Dan Seaborn. His transparency compels the reader to go beyond the shallow waters of traditional parenting and venture into the deep and unfamiliar seas where God awaits to teach about grace and truth.

Rick Rigsby, PhD, Pastor, Motivational Speaker,
Author of Lessons from a Third-Grade Dropout

Its time for a reality check: There is no perfect parent except God. Anyone struggling with the balancing act of life and raising kids needs grace and truth. Blending biblical principles with practical steps, Dan Seaborn shows parents the path for equipping Christ-centered children in todays culture. This book will not only affect your childs life; it will impact yours!

Pastor Miles McPherson, Senior Pastor,
The Rock Chuch, San Diego, CA

2017 by Dan Seaborn

Print ISBN 978-1-63409-931-8

eBook Editions:

Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-68322-156-2

Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-68322-157-9

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Published in association with the literary agency of Credo Communications, LLC, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525, www.credocommunications.net.

Cover design: Faceout Studio, ww.faceoutstudio.com

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the H OLY B IBLE , N EW I NTERNATIONAL V ERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Published by Shiloh Run Press, an imprint of Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.shilohrunpress.com.

Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

Printed in the United States of America.

I am grateful to God that I have been allowed to experience pain in parenting. It has made me more like Jesus. I would not have made it through that pain, or anything in my life, without the support of my wife, Jane. She has been my dearest friend throughout all of my life. I am dedicating this book to her and her faithful love to me.

I also thank my children who have prayed and stood by me over all these years! Alan and Annaliese, Josh and Amy, Cristina and Jonathan. I especially want to thank my youngest daughter, Anna, for her willingness to talk about our story together. As I write this book she is growing in Christ, and we celebrate all God is teaching her. We pray her life will have a mighty impact for Christ.

Also, thank you to Sue Lewis for partnering with me in writing this book. I appreciate the effort you put into it to make it exceptional!

I am blessed,

Dan

Jesus forever changed parenting! When He came on the scene more than two thousand years ago, He brought a fresh approach of balancing grace and truth. He took some tired and well-worn laws and added joy! He was the first to say, Let the little children come to me (Matthew 19:14). His invitation assigned a value to children, who had never before been acknowledged. This gives us hope as parents that we can raise our children with the freedom that comes from grace and the love that is derived from truth. Jesus recognized the wisdom of God. He understood that whether there were to be one billion or seven billion people on earth, they would need a standard for living together in love and harmony. Jesus showed us by His example how to lovenot forceGods principles into someones life. While He endorsed and supported Gods truth, such as that embodied in the Ten Commandments, He administered it with a gentleness to which people were likely to respond positively. By following His example, we will find hope and a future for ourselves and for our children.

C hristians are called to emulate Christs character. Therefore we are going to take a look at Jesus life and how He loved and then learn how to practice that same philosophy in developing good character in our children. The first thing we should notice is that our parenting style has to move from being authority driven to love driven. Wouldnt you want to be compelled to action by love instead of authority? As a father of four children, I learned how to shift from an authoritarian-truth style of parenting to a godlier and more grace-filled approach without ever compromising the godly standards I believed in. I will share the ways in which this has worked for meas well as some of the ways it has not. We will analyze together why it is more effective to parent with truth and grace than with truth alone. For me, this shift in approach took away the burden of parenting as an obligation and turned parenting into an opportunity. It moved me from being intrusive to being inclusive.