A life lesson...

If Your Brother Sins Against You

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.  Matthew 18:15-17

Today's WWIII gave me a tangible way to show the children how the church is like a family and our family is like a church.  

As I talked to Shaoey and Grace about how we don't want this separation to be permanent, how we wanted it to bring about a change in Eliana, I found myself thinking of church discipline and family.  I had an aha moment of the similarities between church and family. 

Eliana sinned against the girls by continuing to wake them and bother them during sleep time and against us by disobeyed Troy and I.  The girls immediately would tell her to stop, that they didn't like being woken up by her. Shaoey and Grace came to us and we talked to her about it.  When she refused to listen (and change behavior), we had no choice but to remove her from the fellowship of the girls bedroom into a temporary bedroom.  

 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11

I was able to talk to all the kids about how we handle conflict, how we strive for repentance and reconciliation.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Genesis 50:20

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Praise God for allowing His word to come to mind to use this ugly, uncomfortable situation this morning to teach our children and me a valuable lesson in what discipline looks like at home and at church.  

And a wonderful word of wisdom from a FB friend:

Sometimes being a good mother means feeling in the moment like worst mother in the world.

I know I needed to hear that this morning, maybe someone else probably does too.

God bless!