When I was going through my first divorce I was in the habit of calling my Dad whenever I was having a hard time coping. Which was basically every day. I was ill-equipped at handling the storms in life and by the time  my marriage was crumbling, I was barely keeping my head above water.  I would call my Dad crying about my problems of which there were many. He would always ask me the same question.

“Are you reading your Bible yet?”

I wasn’t reading my Bible. I always had my reasons.

• I’m trying to raise two kids here!
• I’m working 24/7
• I’m just trying to survive!

One day my Dad made an abrupt shift.  He said,

“Alison, you need to read your Bible. Now go and read it, and don’t call me back until you do!”

Then he hung up the phone! That was it, straight and to the point. To bad for me I didn’t heed the warning. If only I had listened I would have learned a valuable lesson that God has for all of us in 

 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”[a]