Good News - July 2020

14 JULY 2020 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition PARENTING Usually when we think of July, we think of celebrations, cook outs, fireworks, beach days, maybe even family vacations… but this year is different. These times for our country are so tumul- tuous, so uncertain. We can’t however, continue living in a state of survival mode in our homes. We are going on month five of liv- ing in what seems moment to mo- ment, and February’s normalcy seems like a life time ago. So what can we do? We can try as a family to shift our focus. Faith The first thing we can focus on as a family is our Faith. We can take this month of July to reset ourselves spiritually. There are some churches that are choosing to open up and some aren’t quite yet. But either way, we can make this a priority this month. One of the things we as Christians can do when things are feeling out of our control is pray. We can take this moment to pray together as a family. Praying hard for our nation, our nation’s future and the many people through- out that are hurting right now. We can also choose to, instead of filling our heads with news or social media, fill our hearts with scripture. Tackle memorizing a verse a week as a family. I will never forget as we drove around the country on a family vacation, we chose to mem- orize 2 Chronicles 7:14. “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” There are so many verses for us to focus on right now that will help us with our perspective. What an amazing lesson to be able to teach our children, dive deeper into scripture when facing difficulties. Family The second thing we can choose to focus on this month is family. It is very easy right now to feel pulled outward with everything going on. Our attention as parents is feeling continually pulled to everything else, and it is exhausting. What if we took the month of July to really focus on each other. How are our children handling everything? How are we doing as spouses? Turn the news off, put the phones away and really have some family time. Are there areas we can work on or areas we need to do better? Take some time this month to really love and serve each other as a family. Fun The third area we can really focus on is FUN! Make sure that you are scheduling in fun as a family. Have a weekly game night this month. Spend time together on an evening walk or bike ride after dinner. Have a water bal- loon fight, or surprise your kids by going in the pool with them or chase them with the hose. We can all use some exhale time and this is the perfect month to do it. Get creative. If your family can’t do a vacation, then get creative with a staycation this year. Have living room camp outs instead. These are the mo- ments where memories are made. It’s so interesting where we feel pressure as parents to do big memorable activities or trips, but the things that our chil- dren will remember most are when we take the time to make the ordinary ex- traordinary. We can take July as our family refocus, reset month. Make the choice to focus on our faith, that our Father has us in His hand. Make the choice to really focus on our families. What fun things are you gonna do with your family? Visit parentingonpurpose.org for more advice from Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts. Refocus Your Family - Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts - Sheridan House FamilyMinistries