Survival Skills 101: Children Must Listen to God

What’s the best thing we can do to prepare our children for emergencies, hard times, or struggles that they might have to navigate alone?

More important than teaching them to tie knots, eat wild plants, or dial 911 is teaching them to listen for God’s guidance in all of life’s circumstances.

I’ve always admired a friend’s story about how, when she was 10 year old, she escaped from a terribly abusive situation simply by listening to God’s voice and doing what he said, one step at a time.

I want my children to have the skill of listening to God finely tuned and well practiced for all occasions – good and bad. May they know what He sounds like and trust where He leads them.

So, we teach our children to pray about everything. We treat their spiritual leanings tenderly and encourage them to listen to God’s written Word as well as to His Spirit. We show them when “God told me to…” might *not* be Him – especially when it doesn’t line up with Scripture. We affirm them when, “I really feel like God is telling me…” could be right. All of life is about listening for His voice and knowing Him better and better.

I recently discovered a book that beautifully illustrates the power of listening to God, specifically to escape danger: Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. Beautiful and encouraging to every Christian.