His WORDs Not Mine

Complaining and arguing are among the hardest habits to break; for me anyway. This year we have had plenty of opportunity in Bible Study to hear about the "grumbling Israelites" in the desert. Always wanting to take advantage of a "teachable moment", Troy and I will use what we learn at Bible Study to help the children and ourselves see things from God's perspective.

One of the Bible verses we studied this year was from Philippians 2:14 which is: "Do everything without complaining and arguing". We use the verse quite a bit in our house. It also happens to be part of Carson's verse that we gave him at birth. Ephraim even quoted it in his own way when he thought my 18 month old goddaughter was "complaining" about not getting her yogurt fast enough. "Everything without complaining or arguing, Philippians...", he said indignantly.

About a month ago, I was picking up Ephraim after tape time at Bible Study. He was playing happily on the swings and did not want to leave. I explained it was time to go and tried to speak lovingly and calmly. He kept protesting, I said to him "Remember your Bible verse... Do everything without complaining or arguing, Philippians 2:14". I kept saying it over and over. Ephraim finally relented, but it was a struggle. All of this was happening as one of the child care volunteers was looking on. I have to admit, I hadn't felt like a very good mother when I had to coax and convince a very disobedient Ephraim to leave that day.

Today, I ran into that same child care volunteer. I was certain she questioned my abilities as a parent. But, this is how God works, that same volunteer, stopped me and asked me what Bible verse I had quoted to Ephraim that day. She said she really liked it that I was using God's WORDs to encourage obedience. She said she thought she would try it, because they would have more weight with her children, because they weren't her words, but from The Bible.

Yep, His WORDs are always better than mine. It is a very comforting thing to know that they are His WORDs not mine.