Growing With

I recently read a book called Growing With 

by Kara Powell (author of Sticky Faith) and Stephen Argue, 

and I can't stop talking about it.

The title itself is worth the cost of the book. 

"Growing With parenting is the 'mutual journey of intentional growth for both ourselves and our children that trusts God to transform us all.'"Growing With, page 23

We are never done growing and we are trying to figure it out as we go....

"We think we are getting the hang of one parenting stage. Then our kid or circumstances change and we’re faced with another new frontier. The predictability we have grown to appreciate that stems from routines, resources, and relationships is often upended that first time we drop our kid off at school, let them stay at a friend’s house, empower them to join the sports team, witness them get their driver’s license, help them figure out prom, watch them pick a career, and greet a special friend they bring home to meet us. These crucial moments challenge us to pause and recognize that the ways our parenting worked in the past may not work today or tomorrow." Growing With, page 138

"With parenting, namely, as our kids grow, we are growing also. There is no such thing as healthy status quo parenting, just as there is no such thing as healthy status quo living. We are ever evolving and ever developing." (Growing With, page 132)

The following pictures are evidence that we are certainly growing with our two under our care. 

"Jesus, our kids are growing up and we are growing older.  These truths weigh heavily on us, some days more than others. There are moments when it feels like we’re growing together and other times when we fear we’re growing apart. By your grace, please grant us faith to trust you with our kids as well as courage to grow with them through our parenting. Spark in us a more expansive vision for this journey- a vision not only about who they might become, but also about who we might become." (Growing With, page 18)

"Jesus, we thank you that in the midst of the ups and downs of parenting, we can place our hope in you. We are grateful for how you use parenting to prune us and shape us more and more into your image. Please help us abide in you so that we may bear great fruit in our families and in our world. Thank you that you love our kids even more than we do. Thank you that you want the very best for them and for us. Please help us rest in your powerful grace that continues to transform us all. Amen."(Growing With, page 278)