#teamSialoi: Your first ministry is your home ministry.

As a mother, it took me years of mental maturity and most importantly spiritual maturity to reach a level of comfort in running my own home. Part of maturing included learning to prioritize and organize our home. Although I've learned along the way there is no way to prioritize God, because He alone is the key to all things. I've learned that He is greater than any list I can create for my life, He is bigger than any plan I had for myself and my family.

But I had to prioritize people, functions, events and places. I look back and realize that the closer I got to God, the further He took me from the paths I used to walk. I'm not saying they were bad places, I'm just saying they filled up my time and they consumed my energy that I could have been spending with God and at home.

I praise God for divine revelation in my relationship with Him. I thank Him for revealing to both me and my husband our roles in our successful marriage. I thank God for my husband who is a man after God's own heart. He is a wonderful leader in our family and he is so patient and wise. He seeks out God's will in all our decision making and he makes it easy for me to submit and trust his decisions.

In a world that teaches our daughters to be independent women, I praise God for clarity and understanding of my role as my husband's help-meet. Some women don't understand the submissive role we ought to play in our families. Once we learn to honor that role, God reveals a heatwave of blessings over your marriage, your children and your home.

Our family motto: God is key! He is the key to all things. He is the key to good marriage. He is the key to happiness. He is the key to healing all the hurt in you. He is the key that can break any bad habits we have. He is the key that can cure your heart. He is the key to patience to handle difficult situations. He is the key to keep the peace in the face of animosity. He is the key to helping your kids make it in this big world. He is the key that anchors your family.

Understanding that we are nothing without Him has set the tone in our family hierarchy. Our kids know who the leader is but they also know who the boss is LOL. The leader lays down the law, but the boss enforces it. Just like the judicial and executive branches of government. I am the disciplinarian and the executor but my husband is the supreme court. I praise God that our kids have grown and matured in our home.

Knowing that God has our family in the palms of His hands, knowing our leader and respecting his leading and knowing our roles in our family has been a real blessing. My kids understand the power of peoples words over our family. They understand that their opinions do not defy who we are, no one defines our family but God. Using Gods word ALONE to measure up to, will steer you away from any tricks the enemy has over your family. Having a blended family has been anything but easy, but for such a time as this, we've been called forth to be a shining example of God's goodness and faithfulness, starting in our home.

I realize where all my kids have come from, I realize God had a plan for all of us all along, I realize that God is utilizing my husband and I as a vehicle to transport our children to display God’s glory and to succeed.

As parents, we realize the importance of connecting our children to the Lord. Our home is a mission field in itself. We want our children to witness firsthand the realness of God’s love. If we want our kids to be encouraged, they will be encouraged firsthand in our home. If we want our kids to understand what it is like to have relationship with Christ, they will witness it in our home.

Your home is your ministry. I see a lot of people who pour out their lives to different ministries in the church, yet neglecting the most important ministry at home. I don’t want our kids to get lost in routine of church life and miss the key elements of being a true believer.

At the same time, my kids understand what it means to make time for God. In our quest to honor God with our lives, we must make time for Him. We try to live a balanced life, between schooling, sports, church, outings, home life, church, homework and amongst other things. We travel as a team as much as possible wherever we go. Time is of the essence, we must pour into our children in our homes so they know how to live, live physically and live spiritually. I am a true believer that when our kids fail, it is because we failed as parents. It starts with us parents, it starts in our home.

Statistics show that by the age 18, youth are already set in their ways and in their beliefs. That leaves a small window for parents from when they become teenagers (13) to when they are of age. Nurture your children, encourage them, push them to succeed, help them live a balanced life. It starts with you, it starts in YOUR HOME.