Becoming A Spiritually Healthy Family by Michelle Anthony

We all want the best for our children and our family. We want to watch our family grow in love and God. Life can get so busy that sometimes we step away from these values and beliefs. Becoming A Spiritually Healthy Family by Michelle Anthony brings family and God back into the forefront.

About Becoming A Spiritually Healthy Family

We all want to guide our children into the abundant life that Jesus offers. But when we as parents pursue the more, the better that life offers over the pursuit of Jesus we fall into dangerous parenting habits. In Becoming A Spiritually Healthy Family, Michelle Anthony breaks down six of the most common dysfunctional parenting styles that we may fall into because of habit, lack of attention or oversight due to busyness. If you long to show your children Jesus but unsure of how to do this practical guide is for you! This guide includes scripture passages, reflection questions and real life family examples.

My Thoughts

“This is the way God intended His family to respond to one another. God knew families would suffer loss and pain, and that no family would have the perfect life they anticipated. His provision was that we would, in His name, fill in the gaps for each other. No one family can provide for its needs in the powerful ways that the family of God can!” (Becoming a Spiritually Healthy Family, 123).

This is the perfect resource guide for busy families. The moment I picked up this book I could not put it down. I found so much of myself and those around me in the parenting styles Michelle highlights. Michelle breaks down parenting styles into six of the most common ones: the double minded parent, can’t say no parent, driver parent, micro manager parent, criticizing parent and the absentee parent. Instead of throwing blame at parents for their parenting styles she visits why we have come to this route of parenting style and how it can affect our family life and children. She then gives real examples from not only her own life but those around her. She ties in Bible scriptures breaking them down to help us see the bigger picture. At the end of each chapter she allows room for us to complete discussion questions and assessments.

It can be hard to guide our children in our faith – I am not going to lie I find this hard! I take them to our Church and try to teach them moral lessons but I know I can and should be doing more. I loved the real examples Michelle gives us – ideas that I would never have even thought of on my own! The passage that I started this section with is one of my favourite from the book. It truly exemplifies what God asks us to do when he says we are part of his Kingdom and one family.

You can purchase a copy of the book here. For more reviews you can visit the Litfuse Blog tour page.

Rating: 5/5

About Michelle Anthony

Michelle is the Vice President of the Learning Resources and Family Ministry Architect at David C. Cook. She is the author of Spiritual Parenting, Dreaming of More for the Next Generation, A Theology of Family Ministry and The Big God Story. She has over twenty-five years of church ministry experience as a children’s and family pastor. You can connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.