I have an 8 year old daughter and as her mother I love her dearly.  She is an only child and sometimes my husband and I are not sure what the best approach is to dealing with different things that we go through as parents when it comes to raising a Godly girl.  She is a great kid and we don’t have major issues, but as a parent I always want to do the very best that I can to raise her in the way she should go… in God’s ways 🙂

I love reviewing books and finding gems where I had not expected them.  I was very blessed to have been asked to review the book “Lead Your Family Like Jesus” by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges and Tricia Goyer.  I love Tricia and her books but wasn’t quite sure about this one because I have never read anything by the other two co-authors of this book.

I have to say at the beginning that this book is amazing!

What I love the most about it is that it is written with three points of view, with both sexes represented.  I love this because dads and moms can see things differently sometimes and this approach covers the different perspectives and points of view very well!

Note: I will be writing multiple blogs about this book because it is so rich that I want to share with you all without creating such a long post that none of you get to the end 😉

While reading the first thing that really struck me was this comment in the introduction, “God has gifted you with your children.  Will you nurture them with a servants heart, as Mary and Joseph nurtured Jesus?”  How often do we feel like the all powerful parent that needs to be in charge, instead of… the servant parent that wants to help our children grow and become exactly what God intends them to be, not what we intend them to be?  I often only want my daughter to do what I want her to do, instead of taking the time to see her perspective and serving her the way I should.  That doesn’t mean she gets away with things, but it means I need to look at how and why she is doing what she is doing and why I act the way I do.

“Am I seeking to serve God and the well-being of my family members, or am I seeking my own self-interest?”  Often, it is my own interests that I am protecting.

Another thing I loved was when Ken talked about things that are Important Forever or Temporary Stuff.  When going through your day trying to figure out what is most important ask this question, is this important forever or is it just temporary stuff?  It really opens your eyes to all the things we focus on that are not really important.  Do I want my daughter to remember all the house work I do, or the chores that got done if something happens to me, or do I want her to remember that no matter what was going on, she came before all the stuff and that I loved her deeply and unconditionally?

There are so many incredible nuggets in this book.  I will be sharing more with you soon.  I highly recommend getting this book and taking the time to create a plan on how to make an eternal  difference in your kids life.

I received a complimentary copy of this book, courtesy of Litfuse Publicity Group, for the purpose of review on this blog. All opinions expressed are honest and my own, and I have not been compensated in any other manner.