Listening

Anyone else out there remember these tapes?  

I grew up listening to them, and I LOVED them!  (You can still purchase them here.)  Several years back, my mom gave them to me for my kids to enjoy.  And they DO!  These books and tapes tell stories to teach 12 different values, like honesty, happiness, integrity, dependability, etc.  Super fun!  And because our car has a tape player (yes that's right, our car is so cool that it plays tapes!) I bring them along and my boys listen to them most every errand we run. 
Well, the other day, I decided that it was my turn to listen to something I wanted to, and so I popped in a tape by Sheri Dew called Famous Last Words.  It was not new.  In fact, it was an address she gave at a BYU Women's Conference back in like 1999.  But, her message was so pertinent to today, and it has really stayed with me.  She talked about Satan, and how he is attacking the family.  She talked about how he knows that if he can destroy families, he can destroy societies and God's Plan.  Isn't that SO true?  The Proclamation to the World says that "the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets."  That's a pretty powerful statement.  I can't deny that I think the disintegration of the family is the #1 cause of most of the problems in the world today.  And Satan knows it too.  He knows that if he can get a family to spend too much time involved in good things, that they will forget about and neglect the most important things.  He knows that if he can get families to desire worldly things, he can get a mother to leave her children for another to raise in order to enter the workforce and acquire the money to buy those "things" that the world says are so important.  He knows that if he can distract us from what is most important in life, he can deceive us.  Like the scripture says, he truly is leading many "carefully" away. 
As I listened to this tape the other day, Sheri said, "Satan knows exactly what he is doing!  Do we?  Are we sleeping, or are we creating places of security where we may insulate ourselves from his advances?"  I really liked thinking of the home as a place of security.  That is exactly what I want to do as a mother-protect my children from Satan's advances.  She went on to say, "If there were ever a time when the Lord needed righteous, determined, women who can distinguish between the adversary's deception and the voice of the Lord, it is now."  If there were ever a time when the Lord needed his daughters to be alert to what is happening in society, and to defend the sanctity of the home and family, it is now.  If there were ever a time when the Lord needed us to have a clear vision of who we are, where we are and what is important, it is now." 
Then, after having this all in my head for a week or so now, I listened to a speaker at church on Sunday talk of his work as a teacher in an alternative high school.  He spoke of the disintegration of the homes and families of the children he teaches, and how the lives of these children are affected by the choices of their parents, many of whom are drug addicts.  Satan knows what he is doing, and he knows that one little choice he can get us to make when we are young can and will effect generations to come. 
I read this article the other day, and I am determined NOT to regret my decision to be at home.  I know that by being home, and teaching my children, I am creating a place of security for them.  And I feel in my heart that this if right for me.  I loved the closing line of this article.  The author stated, "even when everything we read and hear and see is sending us the opposite message, simply raising your children, being a mother and a wife, is enough."  And I would add that not only is it enough, it is vital, in order to thwart the plans of Satan and protect our children and our families.