Fight for Your Family A Family Journey

Fight for Your Family

A Family Journey

Family is a journey

Each life has the potential of 70, 80, even 100 years

The sacrifice to rebuild the wall is worth it

Because the full extent of your work is for eternity

Not just an eternity

But for the eternity of every family member

We cannot give up

The harder it is to fight

The more important is it to rebuild the family wall

 

A Family Journey

As a young boy, Dave,

 loved to make people laugh.

He was funny and the life of the party.

He grew up in church, as his

parents served in multiple roles.

You might say he spent more

time in church than at home.

As he grew to be a young man,

 he followed the paths many of his friends

in the neighborhood and school followed.

He began to drink all the time

which made it hard to keep a good job.

He had girlfriends and was married, but

the life of relationships were failures and pain.

He became a father to two boys.

One day an old girlfriend came to him and

said you have a 3 year old daughter.

 

For a short time he tried to be a father to

his daughter, but she soon disappeared

despite his search for years for her.

The daughter just came back into his life...

 With no husband

 Living in a hotel

Two young teenagers

And a 4 year old that does not speak and is

not potty trained due to development issues.

Seven years ago this man determined he would change

his life and take on the responsibility of being a dad.

He grew up with the love and support of family and knew

he had to change to be the love and support to his children.

For seven years he has not drank.

 He says it is not because of any recovery group

or support group, it is because of a change of mind.

He chose to be a father of a family with

unfaithful mothers unable to take care of themselves.

He realized there was nothing wrong with him,

 God did a wonderful job of creating him…

 But there was a lot wrong with his path in life.

His life had no walls.

 What walls his parents help

build were laying in rubble.

The women in his life, his children

and himself were all living in rubble…

Physically and spiritually bankrupted.

Determined to be a dad,

he quit drinking seven years ago.

He got back to church and got his sons involved.

His sons have some disabilities,

 plus a very dysfunctional upbringing.

 But dad worked it out for the boys to be on some

mission trips and got them special training and jobs.

Now that his daughter has come back into his life,

 he is becoming an Uber dad to her and his grandchildren.

He is determined to work with his 4 year old

grandson, to the help him talk and potty train him.

This father because he has limited education

or experiences, has a job but little pay.

In every way his life is a struggle

because of the path he took as a young man.

It is his weaknesses, his lack,

that make him so remarkable.

At his core beliefs is family…

 So he is doing all he can to get his children and

grandchildren around his family of brothers and sisters.

He is getting them involved in the church family.

His focus to rebuild at a great sacrifice

to himself, but a greater benefit to

his children and grandchildren.

It is never too late to rebuild the wall for your family.

Most of us reading this have walls in a lot better

shape than this father standing all alone.

But this father and grandfather is not alone.

God could not support his lifestyle as he

walked for years down a destructive path.

 

But God’s mercy and grace abounds to

help him rebuild the walls for his family.

Family is a journey.

Each life has the potential of 70, 80, even 100 years.

The sacrifice to rebuild the wall is worth it.

Because the full extent of your work is for eternity.

Not just an eternity…

 But for the eternity of every family member.

We cannot give up.

When you have family gathering and

you see the one whose walls are

in ruin because of the wrong path…

There is hope for that one

because they see the value of family.

And the value they see will draw them.

 When you feel discouraged…

 Remember this father whose

family walls have been in rubble.

This father who now is willing to sacrifice

everything to FIGHT for his children to

have the family values he grew up with

in the home and in the church.

Scripture Reading

Nehemiah 4:12-18 NIV

12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us."

13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work.

16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.