About Us and This Blog

Hello and welcome to the Brown Family Blog! The Brown family is comprised of Michael, Colleen, Noah, Eden, JoyAnna, and Harvest. We are a Christian family from Virginia desiring to share our walk of faith with anyone that desires to follow this blog. Specifically we felt led to share our experiences with Diligently Training our Children's Hearts (hence the name of the blog - "Diligently Training Hearts - Racing to train the source of life's issues"). The name of the blog actually comes from several scriptures that define our walk with the LORD within our family.

First Deuteronomy 6:7 which states,"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (KJV). This verse comes after God telling the nation of Israel (God's people) to "love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:" (Deuteronomy 6:5-6, KJV).  Michael and Colleen's goal as Christian parents is to diligently fulfill what God has instructed His people to do in these verses.

Second,Proverbs 22:6 states, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (KJV). As Christian parents, we are called to train our children in the ways of the LORD. Even though when our children come to the age of accountability (different for everyone) and if they decide to not follow Jesus Christ, our hope is that we have performed all training necessary such that God's Word will not leave their mind, heart, and soul. Training is complimentary to the teaching identified in Deuteronomy 6.

Third, Proverbs 4:23 states, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (KJV). Imagine knowing where all the issues of life come from! Then you could start working to alleviate them. Well this Bible verse tells us where the issues of life come from: "thy heart." The issues of the heart started with Adam and Eve's transgression in the Garden of Eden and because of that transgression (sin), everyone person born today inherits a sinful nature (a desire to do wrong). If you don't believe us, watch a child as they start to become mobile and tell me they don't want to listen to anything a parent has to say! There is something within them that drives them to do the opposite of what a parent tells them to do. This will follow that person through the rest of their life. There is hope however! By applying Godly teaching, training and discipling toward the persons heart (in this case our children), we can begin to fill the heart (the source of all issues) with the Word of God with the intention of receiving conviction for our sins and we repent and believe in Jesus Christ to receive salvation. Once we are saved, the issues (evil) within the heart begin to be suppressed and we begin to fulfill what God intended all along, to Glorify Him through living a life of holiness!

 Fourth, and finally, Hebrews 12:1 states, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." This is the final piece to the meaning of our blog. Time is short (the Bible says like a vapor - James 4:14) and we cannot waste any minute without Jesus Christ. Therefore, our blog will be centered around sharing our life experiences in diligently training our children's hearts (as well as ours as parents) with the hope that someone will be encouraged and convicted such that they also will have a desire to join in "the race" for the prize that awaits us at the end of this life (HEAVEN)!

God Bless and thank you for following us on our journey to train the source of life's issues!

-Michael and Collen Brown