Quest for Family Wholeness: Providing Spiritual Covering for Your Family
By Mary Wenger
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Quest for Family Wholeness - Mary Wenger
© 2013 by Mary Wenger. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published by AuthorHouse 05/09/2013
ISBN: 978-1-4817-4395-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4817-4394-5 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013907228
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright c 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright c 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., publishers.
Cover Design by Mary Wenger
marylwenger@gmail.com
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One Our Story
Chapter Two Fervency Of Heart
Chapter Three Intimacy
Chapter Four Be An Example
Chapter Five Leadership
Chapter Six Education Of Our Children
Chapter Seven Spiritual Warfare
Chapter Eight Watching Into The Future
Chapter Nine Learning To Love
Chapter Ten Conclusion
Epilogue
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A special thanks to:
My husband John. Thank you for helping me get this book together through the final stages so that I could get it out for publishing. I couldn’t have done it without you! Also thanks for allowing me to write about our family and for being willing to be vulnerable before the world. I love you very much and am so thankful that you haven’t given up in your quest for wholeness.
My four children, John Daniel (J.D.), Summer, Judah and Timothy for also allowing me to share our story with the world. I am so blessed to have you and I love you all very much. You have made my life rich and fulfilling.
My father and mother, Richard and Marian Stapleton, for giving me a foundation in life that was built on the truth of Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Thank you for living out your faith at home as well as in society and being the example of godliness that you were/are to myself and my siblings.
My good friend Cherie Levin who helped me with editing this project until her house burnt! Working and praying with you has been a joy!
Haavard Sand and Ted Johnson for taking the time to read my manuscript and give me honest feedback on it. I appreciate you expertise.
Alette Peña for also helping me edit this book and for encouraging me in the process.
Kyndra Van Der Stelt for helping me get my cover design ready while she is in the midst of finishing art school.
The One who has been my inspiration since I was a little girl of five. Jesus, You are the One who makes my life so worth living. Thank you for being patient with me as I wrote this book and for encouraging me along the way and giving me a life that has been redeemed in so many ways. You are unbelievably beautiful and I am looking forward to seeing you face to face.
INTRODUCTION
Many years ago when I was a young mother, I was asked to bring the devotional at a baby shower and the topic on my heart had to do with the spiritual covering of children. (It was mostly on my heart because of the struggle I found myself to be engaged in with my own family.) I checked around a little at our Christian bookstore and came to realize that there was very little written on this topic. The years have flown by and I’ve had to make my way through life and the struggles thereof. One day as I was minding my own business, I heard the still small voice of the Holy Spirit whispering to me that He wanted me to write a little book on parenting, and specifically on spiritually covering your children. I said in my heart, You want what?!?!?!?
I have never attempted to write a book nor have I ever desired to do so, but the next day my neighbor came to me and asked if I would speak at a woman’s meeting on raising children in the Lord. I can’t remember her exact terminology but I remember thinking, that’s the same thing as what the Lord is asking me to do. When I went and spoke to them about the spiritual covering of their children and shared some of our personal story, a lady came up to me afterwards and said, You should write a book!
Anyway, I have written our personal story at the beginning of the book so that you can understand where I am coming from in the following chapters. The purpose of the book is not to give an extensive examination into spiritual covering, but to give busy parents a little tool that can be easily read and cause food for thought in their lives concerning the raising of their children. I pray that God will use it to further His purposes and cause many little lives to be firmly planted in the kingdom of God.
Chapter One
OUR STORY
The year was 1951 and a little girl was born to Richard and Marion Stapleton in the small town of Littlefork located in northern Minnesota. They named her Mary and she was the 2 nd of six siblings with one more sister and four brothers. Marion was a homemaker while Richard worked for Koochiching County in the forestry department. Times were very good because the Second World War was over and life was pretty innocent in that little community of 805 people.
I was that baby and it was a day when the culture supported the Judeo Christian ethic. I grew up in a school that gave time for prayer occasionally in the morning. Along about sixth grade the local scandal was when a young lady in the high school became pregnant. What we were taught was basically the morals of the Bible although in my high school days, evolution began to rear its ugly head in the classroom.
We built a house a couple miles outside of town and basically did the American thing of growing up and participating in school, band, football, church and other all-American activities. We picked wild berries and grew our own vegetables and my mother baked bread every week. I remember getting off of the school bus and smelling fresh bread all the way down the hill. When the late 60’s arrived, things began to decline yet in my little town, I never heard of any drugs and we always felt safe. A few years after high school, I counted all the girls who had compromised morally in my class of 50 and it was nearly half. Shifting fundamental values had significantly changed our culture in those few years.
When I ponder how we were raised in those days, it was so different than now. Mom and Dad did their best to live a good clean life before us at home as they did out in the world. They carted us