By RACHEL Larson

the mom of a boy( who’ s four and taking on the world!) has taught me more than anything else in my whole life. I’ ve had more exposure to dinosaurs in the last four years than in my 33 years of life combined … I never thought I’ d be a dinosaur pro, but here I am killin’ it! Along with excessive exposure to dinosaurs, there’ s been a whole lot of bugs, robots, and superheroes. The toy battles never seem to stop around my house. My son’ s imagination just blows me away!

Though my son is only four, it hasn’ t been hard for him to see and understand that all stories have good guys and bad guys. Our life story is no different. We have a real enemy in this world who has one goal: to steal, kill, and destroy. As I’ ve gotten older, I’ ve seen just how devastating and destructive the work of the enemy is … and how easy it is to unintentionally give him access to various parts of my life.

Being a mom has also shown me just how hard it is to love and discipline at the same time. Sometimes it feels impossible. I couldn’ t believe my son could feel love from me when I’ m disciplining him for doing wrong.

I recently read a book talking about God and His love for us. God does love us, and there’ s

never a question in my mind about that, but if I chose to do something crazy, God wouldn’ t stop me. Is that love? Is He loving to allow us to make our own choices? The answer is yes. Our free will was a gift from the beginning. God doesn’ t force us to do anything. His whole plan for us is to simply be in relationship with Him … to know Him: John 17:3( NIV) says,“ Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” But for this relationship to be real love, it must be chosen, not forced.

I’ ve wondered how often I blame my circumstances on my enemy … getting mad at satan for“ messing” with my life. But the truth is, sometimes what I’ m experiencing is a direct result of my own choices. All satan had to do was sit back and watch. Sometimes I make choices based on my own understanding, motives, and perceptions. I react, retaliate, and focus on myself way more than I’ d like to admit. When I spend time with Jesus, He transforms me to be more like Him – removing my selfish responses and my desire to control my surroundings. The closer I am to Jesus, the more the enemy will want to try to influence my life. But if I’ m just out

here doing my own thing, the enemy doesn’ t have to worry – destruction and pain will follow.

“ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”( Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV).

What if we started trusting in the Lord, seeking His guidance for our lives, instead of going about our days, blaming the enemy for messing up OUR plans? We can blame the enemy, or we can take responsibility for our actions and start taking our relationship with Jesus seriously. He wants to transform us; He’ s not a cryptic God who hides His plans from us. He has given us His Word to show us just how loving and trustworthy He is. And He wants a relationship with you. He offers power through the Holy Spirit, purpose through His plans, and eternal life by knowing Him. Let’ s choose Him when we’ re at school, in our families, at sports practices and games, at concerts, and beyond. He’ s the Good Guy, and He’ s already won the fight for us. CMA

Ben and Rachel Larson serve CMA as National Evangelist

Youth Movement.

23

cmausa. org