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Learn how to raise a family that's healthy in all aspects of their lives: mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Use five core-value sets and God's Word to create a meaningful guideline for your family to follow. Find this title and others listed in Lutheran Life at cph.org/llresources. FAMILY WELLNESS As Christians, our faith in Jesus, the Savior, shapes the way we see ourselves and the world in which we live. It's the guide by which we learn how to live in relation- ships of service, love, and forgiveness with those God has brought into our lives. We learn to see God's grace in every aspect of our lives—in the grace we give, and in the grace given to us. Through the giving and receiving of grace in our families, God teaches us how full and unending His love for us truly is. As individuals enter into their own mar- riage relationship, they are going to have their own set of blessings and difficulties to nav- igate. What makes our faith stand out in comparison to any other faith in the world is that we have forgiveness. We have forgiveness from God our Father in heaven, and we've been gifted with the ability to for- give our family, friends, and neighbors. Every marriage is going to require individuals to give of themselves in ways they have never experienced before. It's also going to require individuals to forgive in ways they've never experienced before. Marriage can help us grow in our own understanding of God's sacrifice and forgive- ness for us, and it can help us grow in our own ability to follow the example of Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit constantly working through us. I've often thought that if you would like your faults quickly exposed, getting married is a swift way to make that happen. There's nothing quite as revealing, even if only in your own mind, as having someone there to wit- ness pretty much everything about how you live. While each marriage is going to be as unique as the individu- als in it, marriage, in general, is designed to point us to the loving union we have with Christ. It's a lifelong les- son in learning to live as an accepted and loved person, even as all your faults are revealed and known. Raising a child may prove to be even more humbling, especially once the child begins to repeat back to you seemingly everything you've ever said. However, each life experience, when navigated by the light of Scrip- ture, helps us both better understand our Father and to live as changed people. Being able to raise a child becomes a particularly spiritual journey as the parallels between parent and child and God and self become glaringly apparent. As I search for patience amid the whines of childhood, I think how patient my heavenly Father must have to be with me—a grown woman who still whines and complains! As I reflect on the love I have for my own children despite frustrations, I catch a glimpse of God's deep, everlasting love for me. Living as a spouse and a par- ent in light of God's forgive- ness is the only way I can imagine it. Thanks to God, when the tears and frustration come, there is always the promise of healing and being able to start fresh again. May the picture of love that Jesus gives us in the parable of the prodigal son be a daily reminder to both you and me that our heavenly Father is filled with compassion toward us. And may we be filled with the same compassion as we navigate these special family relationships each day. w And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. (Luke 15:20) Lutheran Life 19

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