Raising 19 Kids and Counting

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar did not begin their marriage planning to have twenty children. Originally, they thought that they would have just one or two children. However, following a miscarriage their hearts began to change, and they surrendered their family size to the Lord.

Gil Bates has a clearly-stated goal for his family: to lead them in the Lord's ways. But the Lord had to coach him first. Gil's testimony tells how God challenged him at home and at work to do what he never wanted to do in order to be the man he wanted to be.

"Dad, you just don't understand." As this phrase rang over and over in the ears of Jim Sammons, he knew that God was trying to get his attention. Something would need to change in the way that he interacted with his children or . . . .

"When I became a man, I put away childish things." Entering adulthood is certainly a time of change. We pray for our teenagers and give them counsel, correction and instruction. But are we willing to adjust with them?