Are there areas in your child’s life that you want to see a change in? Are there faulty parenting habits that crept in along the way that you want to change?

During one of my alone times with the Lord, the Holy Spirit began to show me certain things that needed to change in how I raised my children. I was convicted of certain areas where I was following the world’s patterns and not Kingdom standards. 

Initially, I began to change things in my own strength and kept failing. Then I went back to the Holy Spirit, and He began to give me strategies to overcome what was going wrong. 

I am still in the process, but by now, I have surely begun to see changes. In this post, I want to share a few things I learned and I am implementing in my own life during this time to encourage you beautiful parents to pursue noordinary parenting. 

1. Prioritize your time in the secret place.

Your time with the Lord, in prayer and in Word, should be uncompromising. That is the place where you take your failures, weaknesses, and worries to the Lord. 

That’s where you receive God’s strength to endure and keep fighting the good fight of faith. That’s the place God shows you what is going well and what needs to change. That’s where you get divine strategies to overcome the issues you or your child are facing.

You can never be too busy that you cut off this time with the Lord. This is priority number one.

“Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”

John 15:4-5

2. Find an accountability partner.

Accountability encourages and protects you in your journey of transformation. Find someone, your pastor, leader, or a spirit-filled friend to whom you can stay accountable regarding your decision to change in the areas you want to change. This will encourage and help you more than doing things by yourself. 

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

James 5:16

3. Take it one step at a time.

When the Holy Spirit showed me what I needed to change or improve, my initial response was to fix everything overnight. Obviously, that was overwhelming. The more peaceful way would be to take it one step at a time. List down the things you want to see a positive change in your parenting and overcome them one at a time as the Holy Spirit leads you. 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

4. Start right.

Recently, I did something for my kids that was normal according to worldly standards. But as I did it, I sensed the Holy Spirit say, “If you keep doing this, it will be another habit you will have to break tomorrow.” 

Dear young parents, the best thing you can do is to start things right. Don’t build a habit because it is ok according to worldly standards or because you are trying to meet a certain need, like allowing your child too much screen time so that you can get your things done. Remember, starting right is easier than trying to break it later.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

5. Replace the bad with the good.

This is an understanding I received from my spiritual father, Prophet Derrick D’Souza, who said that every time you try to break a bad habit, replace it with a good one. This helped me realize that when something is broken, a void is created, and if it is not filled with something good, the chances of the old habit or even another bad habit creeping in are higher. 

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Galatians 6:9

Ria Jobin @No Ordinary Parenting