{"id":1939,"date":"2013-02-24T17:56:01","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T17:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=1939"},"modified":"2013-02-28T20:00:39","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T20:00:39","slug":"the-greatest-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2013\/02\/24\/the-greatest-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greatest Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joel and I have come to Africa because we believe in the importance of people hearing God’s Word in their heart language. \u00a0About six months ago it struck me that the same was true for us. \u00a0There is just something important about being feed in our heart language.<\/p>\n

However what hit me the most was how important this was for our children. \u00a0Followed by the realization that we were the only ones here who could offer this to our children. \u00a0We don’t have the\u00a0luxury\u00a0of Sunday School, Awanas or other Bible clubs. \u00a0It was up to us. \u00a0So we began teaching our children God’s truth starting from the beginning of time.<\/p>\n

We had always talked with them about Bible stories and truth, but now we intentionally walked them through God’s whole story. \u00a0It was an amazing experience because we not only got to share with our kids our heart and passion, but we also learned so much through the process.<\/p>\n

We were challenged to look at our lives and make sure that our parenting\u00a0aligned\u00a0with the message we were bringing them. \u00a0We made intentional efforts to share with them what God was teaching us and how God was providing for us. \u00a0We had the hard discussion about why not everyone around us knows or believes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just this past week as we were sitting at breakfast. \u00a0Ethan looks up at me and said “Mom, I believe!” \u00a0After many question, I realized that he does in fact believe and knows what he believes. \u00a0There is no greater joy as a parent. \u00a0I think my heart might have been singing louder than the angels. \u00a0Ethan understands, he believes and he is a child of God. \u00a0His faith is young and our journey has only begun, but it is a moment worth rejoicing in.<\/p>\n

For me it took moving to Africa to realized that I needed to intentionally tell my children God’s story, not just isolated Bible stories, but the whole truth of what we believe. \u00a0Let me testify that there has been no greater joy for us!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Teaching our children is not simple or easy, but it is so worth it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
If you are a parent, don't miss out on the joy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joel and I have come to Africa because we believe in the importance of people hearing God’s Word in their heart language. \u00a0About six months ago it struck me that the same was true for us. \u00a0There is just something important about being feed in our heart language. However what hit me the most was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-updates-and-news","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}