Tuning Out

A year ago this month our small group family was destroyed by the separating of our group leader and his wife. Not only did this destroy our leader’s family, but it split up our small group family and broke up longtime friendships. I personally was hurt worse than I have been hurt in years with the loss of so many friendships. I sat amazed at how quickly Satan was allowed by our group to step right in and speak lies into so many lives. Each of us knows that there is nothing that Satan likes more than to destroy families. Recently in a discussion with Douglas I saw the signs of us allowing Satan to once again try and plant seeds into our life. I am always amazed how some discussions are fueled by Satan. I am thankful that the Holy Spirit showed me what was going on and I was able to then show Douglas. He agreed with me, but in the thick of things sometimes we can’t see or don’t want to see. I am so thankful for a husband that will listen to me when I want to share with him. God has really blessed me. I just hope that I will be as willing to listen when he wants to share with me. I am terribly afraid I fail often in this department.

Over the past few months our small group has been discussing parenting and I am sure this has caused Douglas and me to do some soul searching. Almost two weeks ago Douglas and I were prompted by God to make some changes in our family. One of the first HUGE changes that we felt led to make was to not turn on the TV Monday-Thursday, but instead spend quality time together. We also committed to eating together as a family most nights. One other thing we have done is to not allow headphones in the car. I personally found that the majority of my conversations with Victoria in the car have been deep, but once we allowed her to text constantly and put her headphones on, all conversation stopped.

Last night in small group we were talking about what would your child say was important in your family I wanted to cringe because I am afraid she would have said TV. Sure we make her go to church and youth group and yes, she sees me have my study time, but at home the TV was almost always on! The thought of turning the TV off made us all twitch. In thinking about this little box I was really amazed at the power it has over each and every one of us. Not only does this box serve as a time filler distracting us from more important tasks, but it fills our heads full of worldly ideas. Now don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy TV and don’t plan on getting rid of it, but I am making a huge effort to not fill my head or Victoria’s head with so much of the propaganda we are being fed, even within our fun TV shows. How can I really expect Victoria to be different from everyone else in the world if her “role models” are part of our pop culture? How can I expect me to be different when the TV is telling me what is okay. I read my Bible and I know what is right and wrong, but the TV is constantly telling me different. What I see happening is that I am constantly lowering the bar of what is acceptable. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I would like to ask you all to pray for us. I can’t believe how difficult it has been to just come home and leave the TV off. It is crazy to think that we have had to figure out what to do after dinner. Maybe it is just me, but I am worn out by the time I eat dinner and get the kitchen cleaned up. I also have used up all my words for the day and really am ready to settle down and be quiet. I know that this will make our family better, but we are going to need the power of God to continue doing this and not just taking the easy way out. It is becoming easier. I am looking forward to getting into a routine and truly experiencing God’s blessings.

On another note, I just finished reading a book, a very quick read, that was wonderful - Season of Change: Parenting Your Middle Schooler with Passion and Purpose by Rebecca Ingram Powell. This book makes a lot of great points and has given me a lot to think about. I would recommend this book to anyone with a middle school age child or more. There are 15 “toolboxes” full of practical tips that really gave me some great ideas. She also brings out some things that I cringed as I read, because they were areas I have really blown it in. Anyway, you can get this book on Amazon and she has a website that has some good articles on it.

Have a great day!