Experiencing God at Home Read Online Free PDF

if you love God with all of your heart, you will need to depend on God’s wisdom, strength, and guidance if you are to succeed.
Second, the Bible has much advice to offer to those who want to raise godly children. We are wise to heed its instruction!
Finally, while we may not have grown up in a home where we saw godly parenting being modelled, we have a heavenly Father who is prepared to help us each step of the way in raising our children.
    Questions for Reflection/Discussion
    1. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate your current satisfaction with where your family is with God and with each other. If you are reading this book, it may indicate that you know your family could be doing better than it is. Take a moment to pray that as you read, God will open your understanding to the fresh work He wants to do in your home.
    2. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate how you are presently doing as a parent. Now, what score do you think your children would give you? At what score do you think God might rate you? How does this make you feel?
    3. What has been your greatest challenge as a parent? What are you doing to meet this challenge?
    4. Which parent in the Bible do you admire most? Which one do you identify with most?
    5. What might be two goals you have for your family as a result of reading this book? We pray that reading this book helps you to achieve them!
    Notes
    1. Blackaby Ministries International, www.blackaby.org.
    2. Sam S. Rainer, “Going, Going, But Not Forever Gone?” in HomeLife (February 2009), 62.

Chapter 3
    Our Home
    The Trek North—Moving to Saskatoon
    In April 1970, our family loaded up our Volkswagen van and headed north from Southern California to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Saskatoon is an agrarian city sitting in the middle of the vast prairies of western Canada. When we finally arrived on that historic spring day, we drove up to Faith Baptist Church and beheld for the first time the object of our quest—a neglected, white stucco, boxlike building. The entry door overhang drooped so much you couldn’t open the front doors completely. There was a hideous, zigzagging crack running down the right side of the building. But what was more disturbing was the “For Sale” sign we discovered that had been sitting prominently on the front lawn. That sign summed up the hopeless despair into which the few remaining church members had slumped prior to our parents’ acceptance of their invitation. Our young family was their last hope for survival, as they had voted to disband as a congregation had we declined to come. We had no idea what we were about to experience in that little church. What happened over the next twelve years would be the foundation for a book that would significantly alter the lives of millions of people around the world.
    Many people have mentioned to us how intrigued they are by our family. Our father is now an internationally respected Christian leader and author. All five of his children entered full-time Christian ministry. He is currently praying that all fourteen of his grandchildren would serve God with all of their hearts. Our family is somewhat unusual (in more ways than one!). At times people who did not grow up in Christian or healthy homes may assume families like ours must have been a domestic utopia where perfect parents used a magical formula that always resulted in God’s blessing. We want to debunk that delusion! We also feel it is important to be transparent with you regarding our personal backgrounds. The family in which we grew up was far from perfect. Yet, it exerted a profound impact on us that continues to this day.
    Our earliest memories as children centered on church. Worship services, Sunday school, potlucks, and friends from church were central to our lives. That wasn’t unusual, considering our father was the pastor. It had not seemed terribly unusual when, in a special-called family meeting, our parents informed us we were moving to Canada. However, our dad is notoriously