Anthony - Spiritual parenting : an awakening for todays families

What people are saying about

spiritual parenting

Spiritual Parenting paints a marvelous portrait of the environment God wants us to have in our Christian homes. Dr. Anthony has masterfully woven Biblical truth and personal experience together in a way that will instruct and inspire any parent who reads. I believe this is the most comprehensive description of a God-centered home in print today. Its not about techniques (though there are some great ones in the book), but about a mind-set. Read this book, and you will change who you are as a family, not merely what you do. Trust mewhen you finish, you will know what being a spiritual parent looks like!

Larry Fowler, executive director of Global Training, Awana

With refreshing honesty, Michelle Anthony shares her wisdom about parenting from a perspective everyone can relate to. While keeping a real-world perspective, she weaves a picture of how we can guide our children not just to be good kids, but to be active and vital members of the family of God. Her own life lessons give you a sense of vision for what your parenting can become. Her honest and transparent illustrations will inspire you to excel in your role as a mom or a dad.

Ken Canfield, PhD, executive director, Boone Center for the Family, Pepperdine University

There is no doubt in my mind that this book will help you be a more effective parent and bring you an abundance of practical help. Michelle Anthony is one of Americas premier leaders in the field of family and parenting. Spiritual Parenting is one of the best books I have ever read on energizing your familys spiritual life as well as presenting a philosophy of parenting worth living out. It will make a legacy of difference in your parenting.

Jim Burns, PhD, president of HomeWord and author of Creating an Intimate Marriage and Confident Parenting

My thoughts as I read Spiritual Parenting: Wow! I never thought of it like that! That actually sounds doable. Michelle Anthony has written a biblical, honest, encouraging, complete work that is different from any other Christian parenting book Ive read. Generations can be changed by the power of God through the principles in this book.

Rob Biagi, recording artist

How I wish I had this amazing, insightful book long before my first day of parenting! Michelles unique perspectives and practical wisdom have encouraged, challenged, and inspired me in the immensely important task and privilege of raising my children to truly know and love the living God. I believe millions of families and churches will be powerfully affected by this book! It is an absolute must-read for Christian parents!

Jana Alayra, Christian praise and worship recording artist for children

SPIRITUAL PARENTING

Published by David C. Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C. Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

David C. Cook and the graphic circle C logo

are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the Holy

Bible, New International Version. NIV . 1973, 1978, 1984 by International

Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture

quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE . Copyright by

Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by

permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture quotations marked

NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible , Copyright

1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

LCCN 2010921503

ISBN 978-1-4347-6447-8

eISBN 978-1-4347-0221-0

2010 Michelle Anthony

The Team: Don Pape, Karen Lee-Thorp, Caitlyn York, Karen Athen

Cover design: Amy Kiechlin

Cover images: iStockphoto, royalty-free

First Edition 2010

To my children: Chantel and Brendon.
You are the reason I want to be a spiritual parent!

Thank you for letting me tell your stories and for sharing your lives;
It is a privilege to be your mom.

I thank God for you every day!

Contents

1 In the Path of the Divine

Beyond Managing Behavior

2 Whats the Rock?

A Transforming Faith

3 A Garden and a Big White Horse

The Environment of Storytelling

4 Royal Blood

The Environment of Identity

5 Help from Our Friends

The Environment of the Faith Community

6 What Needs to Be Done?

The Environment of Service

7 A Heart of Dependence

The Environment of
Out of the Comfort Zone

8 An Entrusted Kingdom

The Environment of Responsibility

9 Discipline That Heals

The Environment of Course Correction

10 Down at Eye Level

The Environment of Love and Respect

11 A True Relationship

The Environment of Knowing

12 What I Say Is What I Do

The Environment of Modeling

My Ahas from This Book

Notes

In the Path of the Divine

Beyond Managing Behavior

Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little is spent allowing our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder.

Donald Miller

In the Path of the Divine

As a young parent, I wanted to do a good job raising my children. Well, if Im honest, I wanted to do a perfect job! I hated to fail, and I definitely didnt want to fail at this. I wanted people to look at my kids in amazement and think, Wow, what a magnificent mother! I became overwhelmed with trying to please everyone with my parenting. It was exhausting.

Both my mother and my mother-in-law were stay-at-home moms in the 1950s and 60s. They were like Mary Poppins: practically perfect in every way! Who can compete with that legacy? I wanted them to think I was cutting it with their grandchildren. But it didnt stop there. Id be at a church event, and Id want the ladies at my table to think I had it together so they wouldnt see how scared I felt. I was even beginning to care what the grocery clerka perfect stranger!thought of me as a parent.

Of course, part of that was my pride, but another part was that I didnt want to do the parenting thing wrong, or badlyor even worse, to not do enough. I loved my children, and I wanted the best for them.

I have a close friend who one day joked, half-seriously, that she was setting aside a little money every month while her kids were little, so that someday they could pay for counseling (because of the dysfunction she was surely imposing on them)! Now, while we may laugh at her thought process, we also may understand how my friend felt. In that statement she was identifying how important her role as a parent truly was, for better or for worse, to her childrens well-being for their entire lives.

In this book we will explore what it means to seek God as our primary audienceto please Him alone with our parenting and seek Him alone for the strength and power to do so. Spiritual parenting is not perfect parentingits parenting from a spiritual perspective with eternity in mind. Its a way of parenting that declares, I want to parent the child or children that God gave me in such a way that I first honor God, and then second, create the best environment to put my children in the path of the Divine.