Some parents are either too harsh toward their children or they don't pay any attention to them at all. But children who aren't shown any love will grow up not knowing how to give or receive love properly.
Kenneth and I always determined we would show our children a lot of love and not lose them for the sake of the ministry. We have seen so many ministers' children who grew up and rebelled against God and fell away from God because as young children they were neglected by their parents.
So Kenneth and I decided we wouldn't let that happen in our home.
Before we were married, Kenneth and I discussed how we would raise our children. One of the things he said to me was, "Why should we go out and get other people's children saved and let our own children go to hell?"
We decided then that our children would never be neglected.
Kenneth's home life was destroyed when he was a young child. His father left his mother with four young children to raise.
Kenneth's mother eventually had a nervous breakdown and lost her eyesight and was no longer able to care for them.
So Kenneth was practically raised as an orphan, with some of the children living in one place and some of them living in another place. Kenneth always looked forward to the time when he would grow up and have a family of his own.
Kenneth started to preach when he was seventeen years old. In those days, a preacher who was invited to a church to speak usually stayed in the pastor's home.
One thing Kenneth noticed when he stayed in ministers' homes is that many ministers and their wives would be so busy with the work of the ministry that they often neglected to minister to their own children.
Some of these ministers would come home after a long day and have no time to spend with their children. Many times these ministers would be tired after a hard day's work, and they would be irritable and hard to get along with.
They would take their frustrations out on their children, and the children would suffer for it.
That's one reason I always made my family my first priority. When our children were very young, it took most of my time just to care for them.
I attended the ladies' meetings, but I made sure my children didn't suffer because I was too heavily involved in church work. It was my place to make sure my children were properly cared for first, before I concerned myself with the work of the ministry.
I was still a part of my husband's ministry because I supported him and prayed for him, and I kept things running smoothly at home. But Kenneth and I determined we would put first things first and not neglect our children.
by Oretha Hagin.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications