The family is the smallest yet most important unit in the community as this is where every individual gets his first learnings and experiences. The Family Life Apostolate supports in strengthening and preserving the harmonious relationship within a family by conducting a Parenting Seminar with a theme, “My Family is Worth Fighting For,” last Saturday, July 14 at the Parish Hall of the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Nuestra Señora de Aranzazu.
Our families are being attacked by the devil either by subtle or obvious ways and it comes in a form of problems and challenges that every family faces. Regardless of the gravity of the threat, the distraction has to be immediately addressed and this is what the speakers did in the recent parenting seminar.
1st Talk: “The Battleground – The Family is Under Attack”
Bro. Joey Binay was the first speaker who explained that the family experiences distractions because of the following: Wrong understanding of choices, wrong ideas for the sake of art, using good stuff for the wrong reason and financial challenges.
He also enumerated the effects of these distractions which are broken marriage, breakdown on the respect of authority, grey areas on the matter of faith, and declining of weekly church attendance.
2nd Talk: “Defense Plan – Securing My Family”
Bro, Dave San Juan shared some practical ways on defending our family from different attacks. He called these steps S-S-S, (Strengthen yourselves, Stand for you family and Spirit-filled life) your defense to secure your family!
The first step is we need to strengthen ourselves. As a child of God, we can strengthen ourselves by being honorable, submitting to the ordinance of men, submitting to our masters and doping what is right regardless of what is right.
While as a husband, you should strengthen your roles as a presider, provider, and protector of the family. Wives on the other hand should strengthen their roles as a prayer warrior, helpmate, guardian and source of goodness.
He also said that parents should also strengthen their roles while sons and daughters on the other hand, can strengthen themselves by obeying, honoring, and respecting their parents.
To stand for your family by giving time, honor and respect to each family member, putting God at the center of the family and to make a firm stand is the second step that Bro. Dave discussed while the last step is to live a spirit-filled life.
3rd Talk: “The Offense Plan – Fight for your Family”
Bro. Jesse Delima who served as the last speaker in the seminar presented the five steps that we can follow to fight for our family.
F – Face the enemy, do not be afraid to fight anything that threatens the Christian values of your family. Have the courage to make some actions for God is always with you.
I – Identify your strength, to win a battle, you should not only identify who you are up against but you also need to find your strength and use it as your advantage over your enemy.
G – Gather the army, face the problem with your family. There is power and strength in number.
H – Heal other families, help other families to restore or regain their relationship with God.
T – Take Control – establish a Christian community for families to maintain the strength, courage and inspiration for everyone.
The seminar was indeed engaging as it was not purely “talks”. The attendees also sang and danced with the speakers who initiated the ice breaker activities. Speakers were given with a certificate of appreciation and an Aranzazu image in return.
