• Wes Bloomquist •
• Originally published January 23, 2009 at 4:30 p.m., updated January 23, 2009 at 4:30 p.m.

I hope you are finding the beginning of this new year to be a good time for breaking free of any circumstances, patterns of thinking or habits that may have been pulling you down. I believe this is a great time of year for looking ahead and making changes that will benefit each of us not only now, but throughout the days ahead.

Today, I'd like to focus on the importance of breaking free as a family. Many of us are in some kind of family relationship, whether we have children at home or we are married or single. To do this, I want to tell you a brief, real-life story that illustrates how a family can break free of the stresses that so often undermine our relationships.

I have a friend I've known since college, a wonderful guy who is a fellow pastor and the leader of a great church that God is really blessing. He also has a terrific family, but a couple of years ago this family experienced some painful challenges.

I remember talking to this friend at the end of that year, and I asked him how things were going, He said, "Jim, things are going great." So I asked him what he did to turn their challenging situation around. This is what he said.

"Well, during the holidays I got the kids together with my wife, and I told them: 'You know, your father isn't perfect, and if I could go back I would do a few things differently than the way I did them. But you know what, you guys aren't perfect either, and you've made some mistakes too. So I want to ask everybody, how many of you love God?' Jim, all the children raised their hands, so I said, 'Great. Now let's talk about what God desires for us as a family."

My friend went on to say that they had a great discussion about what they thought God wanted for them as a family. He said there was no blaming each other anymore, no finger pointing or talk about what each one of them had done wrong. They actually wrote out a mission statement for themselves saying what they were going to do to achieve the goal of experiencing God's desires and God's best for their family.

When I heard what had occurred my first response was, "Wow!" What a wonderful way for a family to get past all the negative stuff and move on. My friend's experience reminds me of this verse from Scripture which assures us that if we will seek God's desires, He will give us the motivation to achieve them: "It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

This is an amazing promise! God knows what the best possible path is for you and your family, so today I simply want to suggest that your family get together and answer the question my friend asked: "What is God's desire for our family and for me as an individual?" I believe you will be amazed at what will happen next when you get everyone involved and begin seeing things from God's perspective.

Jim Graff is the Senior Pastor of Faith Family Church in Victoria, TX. www.faithfamilyvictoria.com

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• Post a Comment
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •