God Was Raising Me, Too

October 12, 2026

From Pastor Eileen States

Twenty-two years ago today, my twin daughters were born. I already had two little boys at home. So in less than four years, we went from a family of two to a family of six, and I'll be honest, a lot of it was a blur. Somebody was always hungry. Somebody was always crying, and every so often it was me. Sleep was something I'd heard rumors about.

Looking back, those years were shaping a lot more than our family. They were shaping me. I couldn't always see it in the moment. I was busy hunting for one missing shoe, and then the other missing shoe. I remember there were moments in my sleep deprived state of mind I would cry out to God to teach me whatever lessons He thought I was missing so that we could move on to something else!

Most of us start out with a plan to be the perfect parent. Shape these kids. Teach them right from wrong, help them become good people that others like to be around, point them to Jesus.

Please understand, that matters. Every bedtime prayer, every hard conversation, every "we don't talk to people like that" matters! None of it is wasted. I promise. Maybe that's one of the surprises of parenting. We sign up to help our children grow, and then we find out God has plenty of growing left to do in us. (Can I hear an AMEN?!)

Here's how Moses, in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, described family life with God: "These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

Where does all this teaching take place? In the house. On the road. At bedtime and first thing in the morning. Faith gets handed down in the normal day to day activities, with your family, usually when you're in the middle of something else.  

When my children were young, I found God was teaching me in the same way. At the kitchen table. In the car on the way to school. In the bedroom doorway at ten o'clock at night, when all I really wanted was to be done for the day. This was where God was quietly working on me.

There is a verse I have often claimed for myself as well as my children. Paul wrote to the believers in Philippi saying, "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion." Take note of Who it is doing the work. It isn't us, gritting our teeth and trying harder. It's God. He's patient with us because He is NOT finished with us - or our children.

So on this brisk October morning I have stopped to pause and reminisce back on all the moments that got us to this day. Kids grow up. The years change, circumstances change, and our role changes right along with them. But God's work in us doesn't stop when the house gets quieter. 

I think that someday, when we look back over the years we've spent with our children, we'll see that God was doing more than raising a family.

He was raising us, too.