We asked five families in our community to explain why they have chosen to raise their children with faith. Some are traumatic, some are educational, and all come from the heart and are truly inspiring.
When I was just four years old, my mother was murdered on Cayman Brac and left for dead on the side of a road. Losing such a key figure in my life changed my perception of love. However, I was very blessed as my eldest sister played a significant role in my upbringing after my mother passed away. She took on the responsibility of raising my brother and I, and provided us with much-needed support and guidance during a difficult time. As did other maternal figures in my life, including my other sisters, teachers and my step mother, who provided me with the guidance and support I needed as I navigated through life without a mother figure. Despite losing my mother at such a very young age, my life became a version of normal – I went to school, graduated, went to college, got a job, had friends, lost friends, and created my own way. Now, at the age of 29, I am a single mother of two beautiful children, and I am raising them with faith. Life is not always easy, but I know truly that the Heavenly Father knows our needs, that those needs have been met and that they always will be met by the glorious grace of God. I can say with certainty that my faith in God has been a guiding force in my life, and has helped me overcome many of the challenging moments that have come my way since my mother's passing. I credit my relationship with God for giving me the strength and resilience to move forward in life.
When my son fell ill in the year 2020 with a tummy ache, he came and asked me to pray over his tummy. He told me that he knew if I prayed over his tummy, he would feel better. He did. I cried tears of joy as I realised that my son knew the God I serve! He knew the power of faith. As of now, his baby sister also asks the same when she feels ill.
I promised God that I will forever allow my children to see His works and to show them the life they see me living is not 'mine', but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
We love to pray, we love to sing and we love to love our God. We pray for their dads, we celebrate life and we are grateful. We are full because of HIM. Believe. Accept. Rejoice. He is real! He is the great I AM. He is Jesus Christ, the rock upon which we as a family build our foundation.
Raising children to love and serve the Lord is the number one goal that we have in our home. While we long to see our children grow up and be successful and have their own individual lives, nothing is more important to us as a family than teaching them about who God is and that serving Him is the only true way to live this life in preparation for the life to come. If we don’t teach them about who God is, the world will teach them who He isn’t. Children learn from their parents, and with my husband, Joshua, we seek to be biblical examples of followers of Christ so that our children have first-hand examples to follow. We are never perfect, but we aim to remind our children that it is through the grace of God and His love for us, that He sent his Son to this world to redeem us from our sins and through Him, we all have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him through our obedience to His word.
As parents to three beautiful children, our deepest desire is to watch our children put on Christ in baptism and walk with Him all the days of their lives.
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
I was about nine or ten years old when I truly came to know that there was a God; that He was watching over us, and that I could trust Him no matter what circumstance I found myself in. I knew when I started my own family that I wanted them to develop the same faith that I had in God. So, I made the choice to raise them in faith and that meant going to church every Sunday as a family, and from a very early age, my girls developed the same faith that I had. Raising a child with faith helps them see and understand the consequences of good and bad choices. Some of the issues that I see many teenagers face today would be much more easily overcome if, like my children, they had a faith through Jesus Christ with them. I have some friends who raise their children in faith, and I see the way their lives have been impacted in a positive way. Through faith in Jesus Christ our children learn that “A soft word turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up anger” Proverbs 15:1. This proverb is talking about conflict resolution and we are faced with conflict daily! If our children do not learn early to diffuse conflict, they can sometimes make choices that can cause lifetime issues. I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the past 25 years.
For my husband and I, there was no doubt that we would raise our children with faith. We would even ask, “Why not raise your children with faith?” In this ever-changing world, the one thing that has and always will remain constant is God’s love for us. The way we live our lives, treat other people, cope with trauma and respond to any situation is often shaped by our worldview. Everyone has a worldview and most worldviews are formed and shaped by faith. From the moment I became a Christian, I knew that I would give my children every opportunity to experience the same transforming grace of God. When you view the world and other people through the lens of the Gospel, everything changes! You naturally begin to see and respond to people and situations in a way that brings glory to God. In a world that demands our kids form an identity from a very young age, and demands that they are able to defend that identity, I want nothing more than for my kids to find their identity in Christ Jesus! As the saying goes, “stand for something or you will fall for anything.” I raise my kids to stand for Christ and all else falls into place. When you are able to give your kids absolute morality given by a moral authority (God) then discipline and raising kids is that much easier. You don’t have to make it up as you go along or keep changing the standards. The standards are clearly laid out for you in the Bible. There is no guessing where the line is. We were created to worship and we have chosen to worship our Savior Jesus Christ by raising our kids in faith.
I can’t help but think of the story of the Three Little Pigs. What better way to describe and put into words the importance of raising our children with faith, than with that of a fable? The three pigs set off to build their houses. One built his with straws, the other with sticks and the third pig with bricks. One day, a big, bad wolf came along, and he blew the straw and stick houses of the first two pigs down, but he was unable to destroy the house of the third pig; the one made from bricks.
My husband and I have chosen to raise our daughter with and in faith so that her foundation is firm, and one on which she can depend. No matter where life takes our daughter, and no matter how hard the wind blows, nor how far she may stray before she decides to come back, she will always know that her foundation in Jesus Christ is solid. Investing in our daughter’s faith is not the easiest path, especially when iPads and lie-ins seem more appealing, but praying together and reading the scriptures add a layer of resilience one brick at a time. I pray for my daughter to have a firm foundation, as everything long lasting is built on a solid foundation.
