Making Home a Safe Place to Nurture Your Family

"A Christian home is a safe place because God is there.

 He turns your home into a fortress. 

Your home, wherever it is, can be a city of refuge." 

-R. Wolgemuth

Today we are covering Chapter 9 of the book The Most Important Place on Earth: What a Christian Home Looks Like and How to Build One. If you would like to get the book and read along with us you can find it HERE.

I have to tell you that this is one of my favorite chapters so far. As a society I think sometimes many of us can lose our way and seek out the joys and pleasures of this life and forget about the importance of nurturing our families.

It also breaks my heart when I see broken families who are caught up in a destructive cycle and not realizing they are tearing their families apart. It is hard to watch and even harder when you see that it continues from generation to generation.

The truth is that some homes are sad places where there is no love. Sometimes the parents get off track from being a parent. They make home a place where the family members do not feel loved or wanted.


I love how the author reminds us of this important truth:

"You're the parent. You're not a policeman, patrolling the family room , looking for a chance to issue a citation. You're not a hall monitor or a driving instructor or Santa Claus, making a list and checking it twice And you're not a librarian, making certain that all desks are in straight rows and no one speaks above a whisper. You're the parent. And your job is to create a place--a happy and safe place --for your family, an atmosphere that assures everyone that he is really home." 

What I really loved was how he emphasized this point:

Home is a safe place where people think the best of you.

I think it is because in some homes we know that there is grumbling, complaining and blaming--but this reminds me of the Bible verse, "Love always hopes all things." If we have hope we can do our best to think well of others and not negatively. When we are negative it affects others and even what they think of themselves.

"For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is."  Proverbs 23:7

If you have higher and noble thoughts for your family, it can help mold and elevate them to what they may become one day. You have heard of parents saying things like:

"You'll never become anything in life, you are such a loser."

And how often times that can come to pass because the child has actually believed it.

But if you speak love and vision and God's truth into his life then the child becomes more motivated to reach for those higher things instead of what is negative.

We need to remember that:

"The tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit." Proverbs 18:21


"What can you do, first, to make sure that it is truth, honor, rightness, and purity--and second, to make sure that they know you think of them as truth-tellers, honorable people, children striving to do what is right and young men and women wanting to live a pure life..."

He also had some additional points that encourage our homes to be a safe place for our families


1. Home is how we treat and honor each other with grace, forgiveness, tenderness, love and repentance.

2. Home is letting them know we are on their side - we are for them and not against them because we love them

3. Home is a safe place to make mistakes - so they aren't afraid to be around you

4. Home is a safe place for truth telling and to ask anything - so they feel that they can come to you

5. Home is a place where people don't play the blame game - instead, we show love and find ways to work problems out

6. Home is where people express appreciation for one another - and not resentment or anger

I encourage you to read the book to get more details, it is well worth it to build a strong foundation for your family!


Would you add any other helpful tips to making home a "safe" place?

We'd love to hear them- please share them in the comments below!


If you are joining us for the first time, we are going through this book for the next few weeks and would love to have you join us! We will cover a chapter a week and in case you missed it be sure to watch the video and get the A-to Z  Bible Verse Printable to do with your children (we'll be doing it too). The book is still on sale so it is a great time to get it!