How ISIS is Changing My Parenting

Oh, what a heart-heavy week.  When I first heard about ISIS in June, I felt it.  Urgency.  Then the news dropped the story in favor of the Israel-Gaza conflict and I prayed that the situation in Iraq had calmed somehow.  But here again, the story has exploded, and so many Americans don't seem to know.  Or if they know, don't appear to be concerned by it.

My children have made me watch too many solar system videos in the past six months to not feel how small our world is and how truly loved we are by our Creator to give us such a perfect place to live.  No one can find anything like it in the known universe.  Such grace that it's all ours!!

Anyway, that's all beside the point.

I came to write about how ISIS is changing me, specifically the way I parent.  Having three young children, I am not going to expose them to the horrors of the world (this stuff is not age appropriate, even for me), but it is my responsibility to prepare them for life.

That used to mean making sure they were kind, educated, generous, humble, and God-fearing.  Of course, I share Jesus with them and intend to prepare them for a life of service before they spend an eternity in heaven, but.... ISIS has drastically changed my goals.

I absolutely cannot watch the video clips of them declaring they intend to place a flag on top of the White House and not take it seriously.   Granted, it looks like a long shot, but when you listen closer, you see their plan. They made their own documentary, and I saw a tiny clip of it on the news. In it  one jihadist interviewed a young militant. I think he was 8.  He said his name was Allah-willing _(something)__ and that Allah-willing, he was going to kill all the infidels because that's what Allah wanted.   They showed the training camps and a 4-year-old boy saying he was excited to get to join.  Then the interviewer said that he fully expects the next generation to be the ones to create the caliphate--- the global Islamic State.  And they meant it.

And what struck me most at the time?  How *trained* that boy was.  How completely brainwashed and sold he was on his cause.  He'd happily die for his beliefs, and he could tell you all the reasons why.

Then I watched another video, featuring a Muslim leader in Belgium (of all places!) who also stated he expected the Muslims to outnumber other religious groups by 2030, and *then* they intend to implement Sharia law in the city.  In the next generation. And then I saw another video showing mobs of Muslims protesting Christians, carrying black ISIS-like flags through major cities across the world, being pushed back by police.  So, it's everywhere, including here.  Let that sink in. Islam is already everywhere and their teachers say that they must convert or kill the world to usher in their savior.  (What a disappointment that's going to be!  Might wanna rethink that... )

Anyway. 

They are playing a slow game. And we're frittering our lives away, taking stupid internet quizzes and wondering whether or not we should take out a loan to upgrade our kitchens.

So, I think about 2030.

My kids will be hovering around their 20s.

And I compare what ISIS is doing to 20-year-olds in their country.  Forcing them out or killing them.  Or worse.  Letting them starve to death, kidnapping them, crucifying them, amputating limbs, raping them, selling them as sex slaves, taking them in as their own brides.

Those could be my children.  The way America is so distracted, I don't think it's a far leap to assume that (outside of the gun-toting southeast), people would just lay their guns down if men in tanks came rolling through the city threatening to kill everyone who didn't convert.  "Allah? Sure. That's the same as God, right? Uuuh... okay.... just don't kill me or take away my internet, please?"

Which brings me back to my kids.  I want better than that for and from them.  If worse comes to worst, I want them to stand strong in their faith to the end.  I want them to proudly give up their lives for Jesus if fighting back wasn't an option.  I want them to have so much confidence in the good that is to come in the next life that they wouldn't be ashamed of the name they carry here.  I want them to shout it from the rooftops without fear.  I want them to love the Lord and serve him with gladness, no matter what arena they find themselves in.

If they have to be stranded on a mountain top, I want them to be so confident in Christ that they don't spend their time crying about their hunger.  I want them to be comforting those who don't know Him, who are crying and hopeless, sharing the Good News with them.

And if M, my dear, sweet baby daughter, was ever taken alive by those evil men and made to have their babies, I want her to be so close to her Lord that she feels His presence with her at every second.  I want her to not fear.  To never, ever deny her Lord.  I want her eyes on the end, and to be telling everyone she meets to do the same.

I do not want my children to be like me.  I don't want them to be shocked by atrocity.  I want them to be ready to face it.  I don't want them to weep in despair.  I don't want them to feel dread.  And I don't want them to have to listen to 4 hours of praise music to make their hands stop shaking when they see videos of Evil on the march.

So, what is a mama to do?  How am I to raise them to be spiritually prepared for the end of the world?  (Wouldn't you much rather them be prepared for the end and it not come, than any other prospect???)

The thing heaviest on my heart, I think, is to teach them to memorize Scripture.  I always had a hard time with it when I was younger because I thought, "Why memorize it?  It's on the shelf if I need it.  I have the gist of the verse nailed; if I need it specifically, I can find it."

But our kids might not have that luxury.  I haven't heard any sort of testimony coming from Iraq about a great minister on the mountain arising and spreading the Gospel of Hope.  They're all just crying and dying, fleeing, being buried alive.  I want my kids, should the worst happen, be able to quote Jesus effortlessly.  I know when He left this earth, he said not to worry and the Holy Spirit would speak on their behalf... and I fully believe that.  But when your own fears are drowning out the Spirit, then all that's left is dread.  Hope for the eternal future is buried in there somewhere, but insurmountable dread and sorrow can quiet the still small voice.

In addition to knowing Scripture, I want them to know how to carry heavy burdens.  I.am.exhausted today after all the praying and petitioning and praising I did this weekend (Gammy had the boys!).  It may also be that I have mastitis, but in addition to my body feeling completely spent, my heart is tired, too.  I feel ashamed to say I need a break from the news and a break from the burden-carrying, but .... I do.  My spiritual muscles haven't truly been flexed in *so* long, and I do feel that it's possible to strengthen your faith enough to carry heavier burdens for longer periods of time.

If we end up surrounded by evil, they are going to need to know how to cast their cares before the Lord and let Him carry it for them.  As it turns out... I suck at that.

Battle-ready the children.  Beyond your neighbor, beyond the lying co-worker, beyond the sad cashier at the grocery store.  (By all means, help them, too, but I truly believe we need to be prepared for even more.)

They may be in it for the long game.  But PRAISE GOD, His game is even longer.