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Hi, my name is Leanne Friesman and this is Restoring Word and today I'm talking about

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raising godly families.

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And you know when I even say that to a lot of women that almost seems impossible in this

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crazy world that we live in.

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But today I just want to share some common sense, down to earth hints or tips that might

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help you.

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You know one of the things I love about being a Christian and a believer is that now having

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served God for a while, I look back on what really helped me.

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And what helped me was when I listened to men and women of God who were open, who were

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transparent and who really shared their heart with me about what they did that worked and

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what didn't work.

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And what's wonderful about that is I actually made some good decisions not because I knew

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what I was doing, but because I had some incredible Christians and leaders in my life that I listened

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to.

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And I went to church on a regular basis and I sat in that pew with my husband and my children

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and we're in Sunday school and by example we listened to the ups and downs and highs

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and lows of my pastor and what he did that successfully enabled them to raise kids that

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love Christ.

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And it's a tough job, but you know what?

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The most holy, the most sacred thing that you're ever going to do is you're going to

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raise your children to love the Lord.

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I love the scripture in 3 John, and I've quoted it before, that says there's no greater joy

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than watching your children walk in truth.

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And it is possible, you know, and I think all kids have phases and they go through things.

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I remember Marilyn Hickey sharing stories about her daughter Sarah, who I actually went

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to ORU with, and how Sarah loved to do and say shocking things to get her mother's attention.

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But Marilyn stayed steady.

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She just continued to love her and to speak the word and to pray.

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She never varied.

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She never wavered in what she believed or what the word said.

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And in the long run, Sarah is now a powerful woman of God, loving God in the ministry and

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doing things for God.

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You know, kids will do and say shocking things to kind of get your attention.

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Don't be moved.

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The word is true.

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Stick to what the word says.

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Share with them what you're reading.

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Share with them principles of why.

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You know, so many times my kids would come home and they would say, Mom, do you know

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what's going on with whatever?

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And I would say, well, honey, why do you think they're doing that?

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Well, Mom, I don't know, but I would say, okay, well, let's go back to what does the

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word say about this?

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And then we would talk about motives, and we would talk about hurt, or we would talk

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about maybe why certain people were doing things to get attention or to be shocking.

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Why do kids do what they do?

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Well, a lot of it revolves around, you know, attention, the class clown, whatever.

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You know, you can kind of put yourself in kind of a tailspin, and you can get so uptight

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about what your kids are or aren't doing that it can affect your joy.

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You know, as a parent, probably the most important thing you can do is just try to relax and

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enjoy the journey.

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I think if I were looking back at my younger self, that's probably what I would say.

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Hey, Leanne, lighten up, okay?

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Be happier.

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God's got it.

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He's going to work it all out.

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I don't know how you're going to empty the house.

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I don't know how you're going to get through this.

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I don't know how you're going to, but you know, Leanne, you're going to get through

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it.

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Trust God.

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Trust Him.

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He's faithful.

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He will work it all together for good.

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It will all, you know, we can all find things to worry about, right?

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I have to really guard my heart and guard my mind and say, Leanne, why don't you go

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back and read what the Word says?

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Why don't you go back and actually live what you believe and stay at peace?

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Why don't you live what you believe and pray in the Holy Ghost?

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and quit worrying about things. It's easy to do. I still do it. It's actually making

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a choice to stand on the promises of God. Proverbs 14 verse 1, The wise woman builds

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her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears it down. There are many things that

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we can do to build up our families and there's things that we can do that tear them down.

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And I would say probably guarding what you say and guarding what you speak over your

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children is probably one of the most important things that you can do. Build your children

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up. Establish them in the word. Speak life over them. Even when they maybe don't necessarily

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deserve having life spoken over them because they've done something silly. You know, haven't

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we all done something silly? Haven't we all missed it? Haven't we all not made the mark?

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Haven't we all fallen on our faces? Haven't we all sinned? Haven't we all have failures?

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We all do. And the more transparent and honest that you can be about it, the more victorious

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you can walk that out with your kids. Because in the long run, I mean looking back over

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the course of all these years, it isn't starting the race that matters. It's finishing the

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race. It's not how you start serving and raising a Christian family. It's in the long haul.

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And yeah, there's going to be detours. And for all the moms out there that maybe your

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kids have started a detour, just continue to love them and speak the word. Every kid

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is going to make mistakes. Every kid is going to have failures. They're going to come back

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home and they're going to look to you and they're going to want to be loved and they're

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going to want to be cared for unconditionally regardless of what they've done. Guess what?

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When we come back to Jesus after we do something stupid, we want him to love us unconditionally,

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right? We want God to forgive us when we do stupid things, right? We want God to restore

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us and renew us when we fail, right? God is a restoring God. And we've got to be restoring

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parents. There's no such thing as a perfect family or a perfect mom or a perfect kid.

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And I am far from that. I am consistent. I mean, I fall down on my face and I keep getting

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back up. And I think in the long run, that's probably my greatest testimony. Maybe not

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that I did everything right. Maybe it's just the fact that I kept going. Maybe it's the

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fact that my husband just stayed steady and never changed. Maybe it was the fact that

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he continued to pray in the Holy Ghost even when things went right and when things went

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bad. My kids were raised with a dad who prayed in the shower in the morning. They knew what

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dad was doing. They could hear him praying in tongues. And not only did he pray in tongues,

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but he got his kids spirit-filled. You know, it's funny. Our kids went to a Christian school

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where they were filled with the Holy Ghost. My daughter climbed in the car one day and

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leaned over the front seat and said, Mom, I can tongues. I said, What? She got spirit-filled

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one chapel at school. What a beautiful testimony. You know, children hear from heaven. Children

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are filled with the Holy Ghost at a young age. Children, you'll often hear the voice

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of God in the voice of your children for good and for bad. They will encourage you and they

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will correct you. Trust me, especially when you goof it up. And I was famous for that.

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They can give you all of them. Mom was far from perfect. No, but you know what? I just

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kept going. And that's what you need to do, too. Trust Him. He will restore you. He will

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restore your children. All those prayers that you've prayed over your children over

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the years, God seeks to fulfill His Word. God looks to those who will speak the Word

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of God and stand and believe in truth. God looks for voices and people that will pray

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and will stand in the gap in the earth and will speak the Word of God over their children.

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You know, regardless of what detour they take, you want them to come back on track.

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Didn't you take a detour? Didn't you miss it? Didn't you fall on your face? Didn't you

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make mistakes? Guess what? He's a restoring God. And as parents, we can

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can be people that love and restore. Because in the long run, it's maybe not how well you

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run the race or how fast you run the race. Maybe it's just about the fact that you kept

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going and you stayed steady, and you didn't shift, and you didn't vary. And here you are

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years later, still doing the same old, same old, reading your Bible, speaking the Word,

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worshiping Jesus, loving Him. That's really the example that this generation wants to

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see. I'm working with a couple right now down in Atlanta, Georgia, and they're doing an

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amazing work helping older people get their message out on social media. Because guess

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what? We're not really that savvy about producing videos and putting stuff out there. And you

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know one of the most interesting things that Lindsay said to me was, Leanne, our generation

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needs mentors. This generation of kids, they want to see people who are successfully sticking

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by the stuff, who have successfully not given up. Maybe they aren't doing it so well, but

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at least they haven't stopped, they haven't quit, and they keep going. And it's joyful,

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and it's worth the battle. Stay by the stuff, stick to the Word, stick to what you know.

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Just keep running your race. He's faithful. He will enable you, by the grace of God, the

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strength of God, by His supernatural empowerment, He will enable you to keep going. He's a good

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God and you can trust Him. Thank you for liking and sharing and subscribing. Restoring

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Word will never ask for an offering. If you see someone out there that looks like me,

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it's not me. It's a fake person. I'm never going to ask for money. I'm never going to

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ask for a place to preach. I'm doing this simply to encourage you, the body of Christ,

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to continue to serve Jesus. Thank you for listening and have a great day.

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♪♪♪