A GUIDE FOR FAMILY LIVING

"Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts" Prov. 24:3(TLB).

Some people seem to wonder if God still keeps His promises. Is He trustworthy?

Many years ago, I was sitting on an airplane, heading for Chicago, reading the Living Bible Translation. As I read this verse, I thought "That's what we have done. This should be our life verse, and it is even in a three point outline!"

Wise planning: God blessed us with Dr. Henry Brandt as our Sunday school teacher and personal friend. He taught us to plan ahead. We had discussed so many things before we were married: Whether I would work outside of the home; who would handle the money; how many children we hoped to have; at what age we would allow our children to date; and even the fact that we wanted all of our children to take piano lessons for at least two years. We discussed many other issues as well.

Common sense: Dr. Brandt observed that most parents already had common sense on their side, and if left to their own devices, would make the right decisions. They were simply afraid to depend on common sense for solutions because their solutions just seemed too simple. So they paid a counselor to give them similar, common sense guidance. Today common sense seems so "profound." We often try to complicate the answer because we expect life to be very complicated.

Keeping abreast of the facts: I often told my family that I could handle most anything as long as they were the ones to tell me. I didn't want to get the news from a neighbor or a "friend." We have a motto at our house, No Secrets! We have tried keeping secrets from each other and it has not gone well. I am constantly amazed when I hear of 20- or 30-year or even lifetime secrets in a family. Secrets take so much effort to maintain.

Well, there is the three point outline contained in that one verse. I am so impressed that with His help, God never asks too much of us. And He keeps His suggestions very simple so that we can understand His directions and follow them. His promise is that we will become strong and we will profit by following His directions. He is faithful, and will keep His word.

Marilyn Willett Heavilin

Marilyn is a wife and mother, author, and international conference and retreat speaker. She and her husband Glen serve as Counselors-in-Residence at America's KESWICK during the summer months.