I'm not going to sugar coat this. Moms and dads, our children are under attack. Every minute of everyday. The devil wants our children's hearts and he will do anything to get them. Anything. He will even try to use us as parents to attack our children's hearts. When Bug won't sleep that's not the devil keeping her awake, telling her to cry just to be naughty, its normal baby behavior. What he does instead is attack me, telling me there's something wrong with my baby, her behavior and with myself. He tempts me to be angry and frustrated with her and belittle myself and my parenting abilities. The same for Bean and potty training. When she has another accident he tells me " You're failing", "she should be trained by now" and "she should know better" and I get frustrated and angry and end up hurting her heart, and he wins.
So you see my friends, he starts early and he uses anything and anyone to get to your children. This is a war with little rest, hard fought victories and excruciating losses. It is exhausting and worth it. We know whats at stake and that we must keep pressing on, but how? How do you continue to fight when you're sleep deprived and haven't showered in a few days? When the laundry is piled high and the thought of changing one more accident or having one more argument about eating lunch makes you want to crawl into bed and hide for the rest of the day (or let's be honest- the rest of the week.)?
Pray
Never stop praying for your children. Ever. The devil has no plans to ever stop attacking your children so you need to keep covering them in prayer. And pray for yourself and your spouse as well that you stop the devil in his tracks of using you as a weapon against your children. Pray for your child's heart, and friends and teachers and, well, every single thing in your child's world. Trust me, prayer does not do harm.
Find Allies
I'm not s huge history buff, but from the history I do remember I can't think of any countries that went to war without allies. Allies don't just give you support in the form of weapons or supplies for war. Allies can give you a different vantage point from which to attack your enemy, resources you don't have, experience you don't have or simply scare your enemy away by making you stronger. Find all kinds of allies in this war for your children's hearts. Find allies who are older than you, whose children are grown or even allies whose children are your age (remember vantage points are important in wars too!). Find allies who have different resources and skills than you. The more allies you have for your children (and you!) the harder the devil has to fight for them.
Find Time to Rest
Hire a babysitter, send the kids to grandma's or put in a movie and take some time to simply rest. Some of the best advice I got when we had Lizzie was that an exhausted, stressed out Mommy is not good for a baby. Do what you need to to take a break, have a minute or two of quiet while also having a time while no one is touching you. It will do wonders for your heart.
Keep Fighting
Parenting is hard work. Wait, let me rephrase that... Parenting is exhausting. Most days it seems like you will be fighting the same fight for the rest of your life (and you might actually have to, depending on the "fight"). Then, just as you resolve one issue another pops up. And even after your children are grown and gone they still need you to help them fight for their heart. You are a parent for life. Remember why you are fighting, every sleepless night, every tantrum, every tear you shed is worth it. So keep fighting because the war rages on.
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