My Family Is Now My Number One Ministry

From Pastor Lackson Banda, South Africa – For the first two years of my older children’s lives I was an absent father due to ministry work. I have 3 kids, 2 boys and 1 girl. The first one is son 11 years, the second girl 8 years and the 3rd is boy 4 years old. They all have different personalities. Each one provides their own specific challenges to my wife and me.

My daughter has serious problems of breaking things and spilling nearly everything, juice, milk, water, drinks, you name it. In the past my wife and I shouted at her clumsiness that made her even worse because we spoke word curses over her calling her a spiller and breaker. I did not realize that I was sowing the wind, and so we began to reap the whirlwind.

After we finished reading “Rivers of Grace” we adjusted our lives. We are now more polite and careful in the way we speak. The tone of my voice was always loud and angry towards my children. I was always shouting and unpleasant but now I have repented. My behavior was not justified by scriptures, so I decided to ask God to change me and become a better father. My house was a battle field of words, rebukes, bitter corrections that made my children not enjoy my company. They feared me instead of honoring me.

We have now applied to our home life, the “golden rule” from the Bible as well as the “ten year rule”  you suggested in your book (“what difference will it make in ten years”). These have radically changed my life and my attitude towards my children and other people. Rivers of grace can now flow in my home and family. I made a decision to honor God, the Holy Spirit, to honor my wife, honor my children and honor my parents and honor other people.

I have chosen to make my family and my kids my primary calling and ministry.

Through the book, “Rivers of Grace”, I have found desired wisdom to help a parent find the joy of parenting. This book has positively influenced my wife and I in the way we parent and raise our three children. Thank you.

Pastor Lackson Banda        
Africa Mission Church