Be A MAN!

One of the greatest challenges we have as mothers is the challenge to raise a man. I won't even go into (in this post) about how we as mothers have the responsibilities of protecting our son's maleness in a world where gender is a choice.

Our job gets even harder if we desire to raise a godly man.

A man who is desperately in love with the Savior, hard working but family first, humble yet willing to stand up for what he believes, faithful to his family, servant to others.

Wow, this is an honor and a privilege...but hard.

I'm only 23 years old, and three of the most important men in my life have thrown their marriage vows to the wind, losing the life they had built in the name of serving the Lord. Off the top of my head, I can think of another five or six that have been influential in my life who have fallen in the same way. I could speculate about "what went wrong" and wonder aloud about what it would take for a person to actually go that far, but there's no point.

"Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity" (Titus 2:7)

I saw the above sign on pinterest the other day and it got me thinking. Thankfully, I truly believe I have married a man who will always be faithful to me in mind, action, and body.  While I have wanted to shout to the men in my life who have defiled their marriage bed to:

"BE A MAN....".  Be a man and honor your vows.

Be a man and honor your God.

Be a man and honor your children.

Be a man and be real to the people you serve.

Be a man and GET ON YOUR KNEES and realize you

CANNOT be true to your wife if you are not true to your God first.

Unfortunately, it is socially unacceptable and inappropriate for me to yell these things at the millions of men who keep giving into Satan's plan for their failure in this way, but I can certainly pray for my husband and son. 

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth" (Psalm 119:9-16)

My desire and prayer is that Adrian (and future sibling(s)) will grow up knowing that God must come first in their life. They WILL know that I am stupid in love with my husband, and it is the Lord that is King of our relationship. I pray for protection for the lives of my children, for their future relationships and loves...the things that take up the biggest spaces in their heart.

It is not okay that I am no longer shocked when a godly man is found to have made a bigger priority out of his pants than his God.  My prayer is that we will raise a generation of MEN who will put the Lord back in His rightful place in the family....men who realize the depth of their responsibility to be faithful.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;" (Psalm 1:1-6)