“This I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, KJV)

I think people assume that since my husband and I are Christian’s and have twelve children that we must be saints, full of patience and gentleness towards each other and our children. Unfortunately, this isn’t often the case. I come from a long line of demanding brutes myself, and though my husband wasn’t raised like I was, I have somehow managed to pull him into my wild, unruly ways. 

Recently we found ourselves in a hot mess. Our marriage was in shambles from years of neglect on both of our parts and our older children were beginning to display the character traits we disliked most about ourselves. It was time to take a good hard look at ourselves and decide what to do next. 

This happened one night after my husband calmly and accurately laid before me all of the bad habits I had engrained into our children through my poor example. Exhausted, I fell asleep amidst him telling me, but when I awoke later on that night, I couldn’t help but feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

With a broken and contrite heart, I cried out to God asking Him for wisdom on how to steer this ship to safety. He quickly responded with many scriptures, first showing me the errors in my way with scriptures like:

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5, KJV)

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV)

“This I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, KJV)

For too long I had been walking in my flesh in my marriage and especially in my parenting. It was true that I needed to have more consequences for my children and that more training was needed to get them where they needed to be, but that was only one piece of the puzzle. I needed to exemplify love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. At first, I was completely baffled on how to do those very things I knew I should have been doing all along, but then the Lord was faithful to lead and guide me by showing me something about myself. 

I have always put a lot of focus and emphasis on my physical body and keeping fit. I have studied and implemented ways of eating that burn fat rather than storing it and I have been faithful to work out a minimum of three days a week no matter how tired I feel. The spiritual body is kept in good health just the same way- with much purpose and deliberation, through faithful and steady habits. So, I committed myself to being just as intentional with walking in the spirit as I was with diet and exercise, and boy if it hasn’t paid off! I am more regularly the mother that I want to be, and when I find my fuse getting short, I apologize to the children and repent to the Lord and get right back on track, just like I would if I ate off of plan or skipped a day working out. 

God meets us where we are at and He makes a way for us where we feel there is no way. He would not tell us we can have these things if He wasn’t going to help us get there. You don’t have to be chained to your old ways which cause havoc on your relationships, He can help you become a completely new creature in Christ! I pray this article has given you some food for thought and that you will go to the Lord with your weaknesses so act He can strengthen you!