Jesus – Page 9 – The Bless Your Heart Blog

Thankful Tree

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. Psalm 100:4

The first of the month kicked off our family’s thankful tree activity. Nothing fancy – just pure, unadulterated gratefulness for the countless blessings we have in our lives.

We ARE a blessed people! We have a roof over our head that is comfortable and climate controlled…we have access to a clean, safe water supply (that can be heated for comfort and cleanliness)…we have the cheapest, safest and most wholesome food supply in the world…we have the privilege to worship how we so choose…we live in a democratic society that although, not perfect, is better than every other alternative… we are healthy and thriving…my husband has a job and one that provides for our financial needs…I have the benefit of staying home to raise our children…we have more than enough food in our cupboards and freezers and stomachs…we have totes of clothes we aren’t currently wearing…we have extra shoes in our mudroom…we own animals for pleasure…we have access to more than one vehicle…we have MORE.THAN.ENOUGH.

Let us not forget from whom all blessings flow.

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. James 1:17

So, we will praise Him. We will praise Him with our voices and words and blogs. We will praise Him with our attitudes and the posture of our hearts. We will praise Him with our paper leaves.

It’s funny how something so simple can evoke such emotion. To hear Sawyer say she’s grateful for her…

just takes my breath away. She gets it.

Daddy said he was thankful that…

to which Sawyer quickly replied, “No, silly! We live in Holyoke!”

And the past couple of days? I’ve been especially thankful…

The ways in which He provides for us are many and we’re really good at celebrating the gift…but let us not refrain from worshiping THE GIVER.

My heart overflows in gratitude for all He has given…and for the things He took that He knew I didn’t need. Really thankful for those things, too…

Let us cultivate a spirit of gratitude among us, in all things and in all times. It leads to joy. It leads to selflessness. It leads to a greater perspective. It leads to Him.

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Five years ago, I took a trip that would change my life in ways that I didn’t know were even possible. In the spring of 2008, I received an invitation to go on a missions trip to the Home of Refuge orphanage near Valencia, Venezuela. I looked at the dates of the trip, saw that it coincided with a state fair my husband was going to be judging and I immediately dismissed it. Nope. Couldn’t go. Already have plans. Plus, why would I want to go on this trip without my hubby (and he was already under contract with this fair)…the orphanage isn’t in the safest of countries (and I’m not much of a risk taker)…I wasn’t the biggest fan of children (or so I thought)…plus, I remember missionaries coming to our church when I was growing up and I was HELLBENT not to be one. (It just seemed so foreign, unglamorous and scary to me.)

And then…isn’t there always an “and then?” The Holy Spirit convicted me and made me realize that I wasn’t committed to anything during this time. Wrex was, but I was not. I was just planning on going with him to have fun and support him…and in that moment, I think I knew I was called to go, not to Indiana, but to South America.

After praying and attending an informational meeting, the Lord confirmed it to me through worship one Sunday using verbage our group leader had used in a previous meeting.

Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

It didn’t exactly whack me in the face when she said it, but that Sunday, He ministered to my heart regarding this trip and I paid in full to go. Can I just say, obedience is a BEAUTIFUL thing and that’s definitely what this trip was for me. Every ounce of my being was kicking and screaming “no” but the Lord was whispering “yes.” So glad I listened and obeyed.

The orphanage was run by an American man and wife who, too, were obedient to the Lord. Read about their AMAZING history here. (Seriously. Read it. The Lord’s faithfulness is astounding.)

As a team, we put on a VBS of sorts during the day, and at night we ministered solely to the older kids. The Lord had put that task on our leader’s heart as she planned our trip because there were a couple of students there that were 18 or were turning 18. They would soon be entering the world beyond the fences of the orphanage and we wanted them to be as prepared as they could be to stand firm for the Lord in a country that would be ready to eat them alive because of Him.

It was SUCH an anointed, majestic, holy time. The kiddos learned to give their testimony and how to lead others to Christ; they got to gain a deeper understanding of the Lord from a different set of mouths; they got to play games and have fun and be joyful and do creative activities apart from school; and most importantly, they got smothered in love.

There were so many sweeties there, it was hard to have a favorite…but there was a little girl that specifically caught my eye and attention. Her name was Eduangeli. She was around 2 or 3 and had the biggest brown eyes and the curliest brown hair…and she called me momma. I was sold. Smitten. Completely in love.

She loved being doted on and carried around and loved on and was so content just to sit. I’d sing to her and play with her hair and pray over her. We’d get out bubbles or a ball and she’d play, but she was so content just to sit and snuggle. And I was content to do so.

That’s what a lot of the kids wanted. We’d sit and “talk,” which mainly consisted of me trying to attempt a conversation in my simple, left-a-lot-to-be-desired Spanish. But they didn’t care. Smiles and laughter and self-deprecation are a universal language, yes? They just wanted to be included…to be wanted…to be known…to be loved…to be accepted…to be in…to be heard…to be in the presence of someone who cared.

Don’t we all? I’m so thankful that we have a Father that sees that need in ALL of us and should we choose to believe…should we choose to sit at His feet and be in relationship with Him…He adopts us into His family, forever.

The Lord did some major, life changing things in me on that trip. I owe a tremendous amount of who I am today and what my walk with the Lord looks like and what I believe as Truth to His doings (or, undoings) that occurred in a red, stucco orphanage in a communist country in South America. (So much so, that that will have to be another post for another day or you’d be reading all night.)

Leaving those kiddos – not my finest hour. My heart was, indeed, broken for the things that break His. I was a wreck; a complete, sobbing, ugly-cry, overwhelmed mess. Our leader reminded me in our last hours there as I struggled to pull it together and say my goodbyes, that there are some 150 MILLION orphans in the world and we got to know 60. As much as it felt like this was the end of the world, it was not; and though our time there DID make a difference there was still a lot of other children that were in need in the world. We couldn’t limit our vision to just these 60…because the Lord doesn’t.

A few months later, we found out why we felt so impressed to really concrete some things with those older kids… On a horrible day in November, the government stormed the orphanage at gunpoint, seizing all the kids except the handicapped individuals. The ones that were 18 were turned loose on the street and the others were sent to state run jails and orphanages. Heartbreak and anger and confusion and unanswered questions and cries of injustice poured from our lips. How can they do that? Is there something we can do? What happened to Hector? Jesus? Eduangeli? Oh, how I prayed and cried out to the Lord! If someone could just find her and get her here, we would adopt her! Any of them! All of them! But it wasn’t to be.

I think of her when I see my own little brown-eyed, curly haired beauty. There aren’t too many days that go by that I don’t wonder where she is or what she’s doing. I pray that she’s cared for…that she isn’t scared…that she has enough to eat…that someone is showing love to her…that she isn’t being taken advantage of…that someone is teaching her about the Lord…and that somewhere, in the deep recesses of her heart, that she remembers the Jesus we talked about…the Jesus that rescued her once and that will do so again, some how, some way. Would you pray for her, too? For all of them?

Our church celebrated orphan Sunday today. We prayed collectively for the persecuted church and for the orphan everywhere; there are almost half a million children in our very own country that are not in a forever home. The videos are hard to watch and the statistics are hard to hear, but we can’t look away. We can’t protect our hearts and think someone else will do the work because it might just be too much for us to handle. Much perspective is gained by getting outside of our churches and living rooms and families; a God-sized perspective, a life-changing perspective…and not just your life.

The orphan is dear to the Lord’s heart. Pray for them today; for the ones in our backyards, in our state, in our country and in other nations. Ask the Lord to break your heart for what breaks His. Ask Him how He wants you to share His name with the orphan. And then? (See, there it is again…) Be obedient to what He’s asking you to do. If it’s go, go. If it’s pray, pray. If it’s support, support. If it’s adopt, adopt. If it’s build, build. There is blessing in obedience, this I know.

By the way, my heart has done a 180 on the missionary front. 🙂 There are longings in my soul to go and preach the Good News and to make disciples and to bind up the brokenhearted and to free the captives and to pass on knowledge of production agriculture to help change a society by feeding people for more than just a day. I just want to be a vessel of the Lord. Wherever. Whenever. With whoever. And if it happened to be somewhere with more brown-eyed, curly haired girls that decide to call me momma, I shan’t complain.

Help My Unbelief

I’m currently doing a Precepts Bible study on Joseph with my church and it is SO good. Man alive. So good. I love these studies because they use the Word to prove the validity of the Word. How can ya beat that?!

The end of last night’s homework had us examine who God is and it’s one of the most well-written lists of His attributes I’ve ever seen. The writer said,

You need to know, in order to trust Him.

So true, yes? I want Sawyer and Wryder to get an accurate view of the Lord. I want them to see Him for all of these good things that He is and oh, how I want them to trust Him! As their mom, I have to 1.) believe those things of Him myself and 2.) act like Him. For a while now, I’ve realized that my view of Him isn’t entirely accurate. I’ve listened to the lies of satan and have succumbed to the (not) fact that He’s a mean, punishing, vengeful, better-be-on-your-best-behavior-or-I-will-kill-you-off, game-playing kind of God. (Just reading that sounds APPALLING. How in the world is that love and how in the world would I ever love Him in return??!?!) Working on that. Because if you search His Word that isn’t Him at all.

When we speak of God’s attributes, we are speaking of His essential being or character. His character is a composition of all His attributes. In other words, when we talk about one of God’s attributes, we are not talking about a part of His being, but rather His whole character. For example, God is love…but not just a part of Him is love. Love is the essence of His being; however, He is also wrathful. One attribute does not contradict the other, rather they make God who He is. Therefore, whenever God acts in any given situation, all His attributes are used simultaneously in perfect harmony. He never suspends one so He can use another.

Great explanation, yes?! Now I just need to drill it into my head and drop it into my heart.

He is omniscient. God knows all. He has perfect knowledge of everything that is past, present or future. (Job 37:16, Psalm 139:1-6)
He is omnipotent. God possesses all power. He is able to bring about anything that He has decided to do with or without the use of any source beyond Himself. (Job 42:2, Psalm 33:6-9)
He is omnipresent. God is present everywhere, in all the universe, at all times, in the totality of His character. (Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24)
He is eternal. God has no beginning, and He has no end. He is not confined to the finiteness of time or to man’s reckoning of time. He is, in fact, the cause of time. (Deuteronomy 32:40, Revelation 1:8, Isaiah 57:15)
He’s immutable. God is always the same in His nature, His character and His will. He never changes, and He can never be made to change. (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8)
He is incomprehensible. Because God is God, He is beyond the understanding of man. His ways, character and acts are higher than man’s. Man only understands as God chooses to reveal Himself, His ways or His purposes. (Job 11:7, Romans 11:33)
He is self-existent. God depends upon nothing for His existence beyond Himself. The whole basis of His existence is withing Himself. At one time, nothing but God Himself existed. He added nothing to Himself by creation. (John 1:1-3, Exodus 3:14, John 5:26)
He is self-sufficient. Within Himself, God is able to act, that is, to bring about His will without any assistance. Although He may choose to use assistance, it is His good pleasure, not His need, that governs that choice. (Romans 11:36, Psalm 50:7-12)
He is infinite. God has no limits or bounds whatsoever in His person or dominion. (1 Kings 8:27, Psalm 145:3)
He is transcendent. God is above His creation, and He would exist if there were no creation. His existence is totally apart from His creatures or creation. (Isaiah 43:10, 55:8-9)
He is sovereign. God is totally, supremely, preeminently over all His creation. There is not a person or thing that has escaped His control and foreknown plan. (Psalm 103:19, Daniel 4:34-35, Isaiah 40:23)
He is gracious. God is a God of grace and always operates on the basis of His graciousness. (Exodus 34:6-7, Luke 2:40, 2 Corinthians 12:9)
He is righteous. God is always good. It is essential to His character. He always does the right thing. Ultimately, since He is God, whatever He does is right…He is the absolute. His actions are always consistent with His character…which is love. (Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalm 110:142)
He is merciful. God is an actively compassionate being. He responds compassionately toward those who have opposed His will in their pursuit of their own way. (Psalm 62:12, 86:15, 106:44-45)
He is long-suffering. God’s righteous anger is slow to be kindled against those who fail to listen to His warnings or to obey His instructions. His eternal longing for the highest good for His creatures holds back His holy justice. (Numbers 14:18, 2 Peter 3:9)
He is wise. God’s actions are based on His character. His wisdom causes Him to choose righteous ends and to make the most fitting plans to achieve those ends. (Isaiah 40:28, Daniel 2:20)
He is loving. God’s love moves Him to give Himself for another, even to the laying down of His own life. His love causes Him to desire His creatures’ highest good. This love is not based upon the worth, response, or merit of the object being loved. (Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:8, Ephesians 3:17-19)
He is good. In His goodness God gives to others, not according to what they deserve but according to His good will and kindness toward them. (2 Chronicles 5:13, Psalm 106:1)
He is wrathful. There is within God a hatred for all that is unrighteous and an unquenchable desire to punish all unrighteousness. Whatever is inconsistent with His holy standard must ultimately be atoned for or consumed. (Romans 1:18, John 3:36, Revelation 15:7)
He is truthful. All that God says is reality. Whether believed by man or not, whether seen as reality or not, what God has spoken is reality. Whatever He speaks is truth. (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, John 17:17)
He is faithful. God is always true to His promises. He can never draw back from His promises of blessing or of judgment. Since He cannot lie, He is totally steadfast to what He has spoken. (Deuteronomy 7:9, 2 Timothy 2:13)
He is jealous. God is unwilling to share what is rightfully and morally His with any other creature. (Exodus 34:14, Isaiah 42:8)
He is holy. God is a morally excellent, perfect being. He is totally other than man! His is purity of being in every aspect. (Leviticus 10:2, Job 34:10, Isaiah 47:4, Isaiah 57:15)
He is just. God is fair in all of His actions. Whether He deals with man, angels or demons, He acts in total equity by rewarding righteousness and punishing sin. Since He knows all, every decree is absolutely just. (Psalm 89:14, Numbers 14:18, Romans 9:14)

I want to get this and to believe this. Not just say it. Not just memorize it. Not just agree with it. Not just type it out on my blog. I want to believe it. I want to have confidence in the fact that this IS who my God is…and I want to live in a fashion to reflects that. I want my children to be witness to a mom that loves the Lord and who tries her best to mirror His attributes; a mom who is loving and trustworthy and merciful and gracious and long-suffering and truthful and wise; a mom who lives under the authority of the One who is perfect in all things and in all ways and who loves her despite her shortcomings and who desires GOOD for her; a mom that trusts Him explicitly…..because He’s worthy of our trust…and He’s worthy of their trust.

There it is, your immutable God who never changes. His character can never be altered – nor His response; God never acts contrary to Himself. What peace, what security, what confidence this should bring to your heart and mind. Therefore, anytime you meet a biblical doctrine that you cannot fully understand or explain, or anytime you come across a situation in life that is difficult to understand, run to the shelter of the character and sovereignty of your God and rest quietly in these solid, immutable, eternal truths. Rest and order your affairs accordingly.

We will believe, Lord…me and my children and my children’s children and to a thousand generations…we will believe and we will live like we believe.

**All quotes and list of attributes are from the Precept Upon Precept study on Joseph – Keeping Your Focus When Your Dreams are Shattered**

Fun, Fuzzy Surprise

We woke up to a really fun, fuzzy surprise! Out of habit, I peaked out the kitchen window to see if the baby calf had made it’s way out of the womb and into the world…and turns out – he did!

Isn't he adorable?! — Welcome to the world, little guy!

Sawyer and I ran to the bedroom to get daddy and we all threw our shoes on and ran outside. All of the other ladies came to dote on the new baby along with us.

Isn't that what WE do with a new birth, too? — Isn’t that what WE do with a new birth, too?

His momma is a little ~~snarly~~ motherly. This picture was her charging at me for the umpteenth time. She did NOT want me anywhere near him and was prepared to take me out.

I was armed and ready with my sorting stick…and a fence.

Not a big fan of being walloped. — Not a big fan of being walloped

Daddy got her away and got iodine on the baby’s navel and off we went to church! He had sucked before we’d even gotten out there this morning but showed us he knew how just so we felt even better about leaving him. She seems a little embarrassed about nursing in public (note the ear) but she stood for him.

New life of any kind is an absolute miracle and man, I need life. This world is so full of injustices; injustices that are hard on my heart. Satan’s on the warpath out to kill, steal and destroy and as hard as it to comprehend, the Lord allows some of this to happen. In His sovereignty, He could stop it…but for whatever reason, He doesn’t always. In our little world alone, there have been moms and babies taken too early, cancer found too late, kids in the system who end up in abusive homes, brain tumors that are growing – and those are just the biggies (in the past WEEK, mind you) that have been weighing on our hearts and minds. I’m the first to admit that I.don’t.get.it. I don’t understand…and maybe I won’t this side of heaven. So I have to turn to what I believe as true. I have the Word. And it says the He comes to give life and life abundantly. Lord, I need that life…and I needed to see this little life this morning. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Connecting your Child to Christ (Part 2 of 3)

So, last time, we left off here. Soak in these first two paragraphs again because they are oh-so important…

God intends for us to model His character to our children. Scripture tells us that we are to give our children affection, compassion, protection, provision and loving discipline. When we provide this kind of environment, children then believe that HE is loving and compassionate and protective and gracious and a loving disciplinarian.

But in a home that exhibits the opposite – homes with a lack of affection or compassion or where there’s yelling or neglect or punishment and especially abuse, they begin to see God in THIS way. A mean God; a God of no grace. They see Him in a way that is untrue of who He really is; a way that leads to deep, deep wounds and the inability to apply His true character to their lives. We have to act in ways that are consistent with Him – THAT is how we will connect our children to Christ the most…and this is especially is true of how we discipline.

I feel like the “d-word” can be a controversial issue and it shouldn’t be and I don’t want it to be here. I think oftentimes we hear discipline and our brain immediately thinks, spanking. Spanking is a form of discipline and it’s one of the things we use at my house, but the word itself comes from a Latin word “disco” which means to learn or get to know. It does NOT mean punishment – there’s a big difference between the two.

Hebrews 12 tells us five main things about discipline. It says that:

1.) God disciplines those He loves

2.) discipline corrects

3.) it is not punishment

4.) it is for our best

5.) it is to be done in the character of God

So, this (discipline) is what we’re to do for our children. Proverbs is chocked full of scriptures on the importance of disciplining children and the responsibility we have as parents in disciplining them. We are to TRAIN them, to TEACH them, to GET THEM TO KNOW God’s best. That is discipline. It’s God’s way of parenting.

We have to remember that they’re just little kids. They don’t come out of the womb knowing every rule, every social norm, every right from wrong – it’s our job to teach them these things…even if we have to teach them 15 times a day…it’s our job and we are accountable to the Lord regarding it.

When a child misbehaves, we discipline to correct the poor behavior, we invoke an age-appropriate consequence (timeout, spanking, loss of privileges, etc.) and we teach them the correct behavior.

Discipline isn’t something to be done in haste. It takes time.

We might have to take a minute to cool down.

Then we need to get on their level and get their eye-to-eye attention.

Then we have to explain to them why they are getting disciplined. – “Do you know why you’re in timeout? It’s because you were disobedient. I asked you to stop/put it down/come here/sit/pick it up and you chose not to. That’s being disobedient and that doesn’t honor mom and dad and it doesn’t honor Jesus.”

Then we need to explain how they should act differently next time. – “Next time when mom or dad asks you to stop/put it down/come here/sit/pick it up, let’s do it on the first try” or “Next time, instead of back-talking and whining, let’s just say, “Yes, mom” and then if you have a real question about it, then you could ask it politely afterwards.”

Then we should pray with them. We find it helpful to have them repeat after us. – “God, forgive me for being disobedient. Please help me to honor you and mom and dad by being obedient. I have no hope of being obedient without your help.”

Then we need to hug and kiss and remind them that we love them and then move on. Don’t hold them in their sin…because God doesn’t do that to us. It’s done and gone…as far as the east is from the west.

And that’s all a simple scenario! That’s not the time your sweet little pumpkin throws a fit or screams or cries or pulls away while you try to discipline. Please tell me that doesn’t just happen at our house on occasion? It’s hard work and it takes time.

A wise momma once said, “You can’t teach character in the fast lane.” Man, is that ever true! Discipline is one of those things that we can’t do in 10 seconds and hope they got the lesson and won’t do it again. That doesn’t work. That’s not real discipline because they aren’t learning anything positive. They might learn that mom has a temper or that she swats you from behind if you misbehave…that is punishment and that’s not effective discipline.

You can scare/intimidate/or terrify a child to get a certain response or correct action, but that doesn’t mean that they have learned WHY they aren’t to act in that manner and it doesn’t give them the choice to change in the future. They aren’t striving to be obedient because they LOVE you, it’s because they are afraid of you and the ensuing punishment. It’s just like us with the Lord. He wants us to be obedient to Him as a result of our love for Him, not because we’re afraid He’s gonna zap us.

When you consistently discipline your child and do it with the right attitude — compassionately, with emotions under control, with consistent boundaries and consequences, and you focus on the child’s best outcome — you are expressing love exactly as God expresses His love. It may seem uncomfortable at the time, but in the long run, it’s the most selfless, compassionate thing you can do to set your child up for fruitfulness in God’s Kingdom…

Connecting Your Child to Christ (Part 1 of 3)

I was raised in a Christian home…of sorts. My parents believed that God existed. They had both said at some point in their lives that they wanted Jesus to be their savior and were water baptized. We went to church for the most part and I wouldn’t say that my family was anti-Jesus but we sure didn’t talk about Him. We didn’t read the Word together. We weren’t taught of Him or His character except for what we gleaned in Sunday School or “big church.” And I don’t say any of this to bash on my parents. They did a lot of things right with us kids and I’m completely positive we were more similar to the “norm” than not. But that piece of the puzzle – the piece about making Jesus known in the home – was missing, and I didn’t realize how big of a piece it was until later in life.

I remember being in about 7^th grade and I decided I was going to start reading the Bible and I learned that God took a rib from Adam to make woman and I was stunned! I couldn’t believe that was real! How did I not know this?! That Noah guy that took animals onto a boat – it was in the Bible; it wasn’t just a wallpaper border in the nursery – it really happened! I just had no idea because we didn’t read the Word as a family.

It wasn’t until I went to college and I met Wrex and two church leaders (a husband and wife duo from Clarendon, Texas) that I really got an understanding for Jesus. These people had REAL relationships with Him. They talked about Him. They talked WITH Him. He wasn’t this mystical guy only to be pulled out for a few hours on a Sunday…He was an everyday, every hour, every minute part of their lives. Because of their unabashed love for Him, I became a TRUE believer in Christ. I dedicated my life to Him, was baptized and later married that good-looking man who showed me what it was like to know Jesus in a really real way.

After we were married for a few years, we took some high school kids to a Dare to Share conference. I was skimming through some of their information and it talked about how parents couldn’t just send their child to youth group to learn all they needed to know about Jesus. It explained that there just wasn’t enough time on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights for youth leaders to build a teen’s foundation and that Biblically, that was the parents’ job…it had to start at home.

Now, these might seem like common sense facts to you, but at the time, I was just shell shocked. All these lights went off, I heard the Hallelujah chorus, my head was buzzing and it all made sense. God help them, my parents did what they knew best which was send me to church on occasion and hope that I’d learn enough about Jesus to get my free ticket into heaven. And while I want my children to spend eternity with Him, I also want them to have a relationship with Jesus, because THAT is what He wants from us…that other stuff comes as a result of that relationship.

I want them to know Him better and closer and more intimate and deeper than I ever have. I want the most I have ever known of the Lord, to be the least they will know of Him. I want my ceiling to be their floor. I want to leave a legacy of the fear of the Lord with them that no one can take away. I want them to have a reverential awe of the Him, a worship and wonder of God the Father, a deep respect and reverence for the Lord and His ways – because that’s what He wants from us as parents. It is our duty to connect our children to Christ. They’re not going to learn it anywhere else. Youth groups and Awana meetings and Moppets can come alongside us as parents and help us and bolster us and fill in some missing cracks, but we, as parents, have got to be the ones that build their foundations.

I adore Psalm 78 and the instruction it has for us.

O my people, listen to my instructions.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
² for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
³ stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
⁴We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
⁵For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
⁶so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
⁷So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
⁸Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.

He tells us that we have to share our stories! We have to pass on what we know of the Lord to the generations after us. We aren’t to hide the truths of the Lord from our children, we’re to tell them these truths.

So how do we do this? How do we connect our kids to Christ?

Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. (Deuteronomy 6)

We have got to talk about Him! All the time! He is in everything. He IS everything. We are to talk about Him and what He’s done for us and teach our kiddos about Him. So? We have to know Him for ourselves. We can’t give away what we don’t have, so some of us may have to start this journey of knowing Him WITH our children. And that’s ok. It’s NEVER too late to start somewhere.

So practically, what does this look like? Here are 5 simple ways to begin to teach your children about the Lord.

1.) Read the word together. Get a Children’s Bible and start going through the stories. That Noah guy I mentioned earlier? He’s in there! Seriously though, one of the easiest ways to learn the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, is by going through a Children’s Bible. Talk to them about the stories and what lessons Jesus wants us to learn from them. Then, incorporate different stories into other times of the day, like snack time. I’m willing to bet we aren’t the only family that buys stock in Pepperidge Farm because of our vast Goldfish consumption. So, when you give them the fishes that are so delicious, talk to them about how Jesus fed the 5,000.

If you give them pretzel rods or carrot sticks or celery sticks, make crosses with them and tell them about how Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

Make a rainbow fruit skewer and talk about Noah (he just keeps popping up, doesn’t he!?) and the flood and God’s promise.

2.) Get active. Acting out Bible stories is a GREAT way to get kids to remember what they’ve read. Kids (and adults, mind you) remember 90% of what they say AND do, as opposed to only 20% of what they hear alone. As you go through the Children’s Bible, act out the stories of David and Goliath or Jesus washing the disciples’ feet or Daniel and the Lions Den (Sawyer’s favorite right now). Get creative with it. It doesn’t have to be Pinterest perfect but you’ll be amazed at what some construction paper and tape can create to make a story come alive for your kids.

3.) Pray for them and with them. Teach them that prayer is a conversation between them and God. They can do it anywhere and anytime they want to – He loves to hear from His kids.

The 5 finger prayer is a really easy way to pray like Jesus taught the disciples to pray in Matthew, just in kiddo lingo.

Praise God – Lord, you are good and holy and righteous. How wonderful is your name in all the earth!

Confess your sins – Forgive me for losing my temper today or for thinking and acting selfishly.

Thank God – Lord, thank you for our warm house and for food to eat. Thank you that daddy made it home safely from work.

Pray for Others – Give Mrs. Smith peace tonight before her doctor’s appointment tomorrow.

Pray for yourself – Help me to have an obedient heart.

4.) Worship together. Get on YouTube and search for kids worship songs. Play them and sing together and dance together and learn some hand motions together.

5.) Serve others together. Find a way to show Jesus’ love to a neighbor or friend and serve them. Do random acts of kindness…leave money in a coke machine with a note; leave a package for your postman or woman; take some treats to the nursing home and just love on the elderly…anything that helps them to live out their faith.

Feel overwhelmed yet? Don’t. Really, don’t. It may take some time and a little effort to get there and build those habits to where we can talk about Him at the drop of a hat, but you’ll get there and you won’t regret it. I really don’t want you to feel overwhelmed, but I do want you to feel the weight of the importance of this thing called parenthood. We’ve got one shot with these kiddos. One shot to raise them with the fear of the Lord, to instill in them His ways and values, to guide and direct them in the ways of righteousness.

So, we can do all the things I discussed earlier…we can read the Word and eat cheese flavored fish and act like giants – which are all great things, but the most important thing we can do as parents is to ACT like Jesus.

We have to act in ways that are consistent with Him – THAT is how we will connect our children to Christ the most…

A Little Gloom for your Friday

This weather looks like my heart feels. It just feels so heavy, sinking really, for our country. I watched this video last night after I had scrolled through the latest headlines. While it’s a funny take on the state of the union, it’s not really funny, right?

We live in a broken society with a broken system in a broken world and all the public policy in the universe won’t be able to “fix” us. (Ever been to the DMV or wondered why UPS and FedEx can be profitable organizations but the USPS can’t?! Our government has yet to prove that it can do anything with excellence.)

We need Jesus. We need our Congressmen and women to need Jesus. We need our Senators to need Jesus. We need our President to need Jesus. We need people to lay aside their pride and be willing to humble themselves for the greater good instead of their party or for the instant gratification of “what can I get for myself for ‘free’ TODAY.” We HAVE to look further down the line than just 2013 or 2014 or even 2020. What kind of financial decisions are we making today and how will they impact us in 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? We HAVE to look past the short term and towards the long term. This is one of the plights of our society; we all want everything that makes us happy and we want it NOW. Who cares what that looks like in 10 years – I’m living in today and that’s what matters. Uh, no. We live in community, not a vacuum; every choice I make affects someone other than me and vice versa, and those effects can be felt today or 20 years from today. We have to look past the short term and towards the long term.

It’s not JUST the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that needs ~~to go~~ revision. It’s our budget, it’s our gun legislation, it’s our social security system, it’s our abortion laws, it’s our tax laws, it’s our prison systems, it’s our welfare system, it’s our farm subsidy system – it’s our government, in general. Now, I’m not saying I want it to be perfect. That’s a completely unrealistic goal because it won’t ever be – see paragraph two. But I do think they owe it to the people to function as designed. It was created to be FOR the people and BY the people; it was created to ensure that we weren’t subjected to tyranny ever again…and dare I say, we’re close? And we’re partly to blame.

We can’t keep just handing over right after right after right to a broken system. The return on our input will be broken. And we? We will be a people who got something in the short term that didn’t really benefit us because it didn’t benefit us in the long term. We can’t continue to keep the mentality that, “someone else will say something” or “this is so wrong/off/ridiculous/out of line, surely it won’t pass” or “we’re so far gone, who cares.” We have to take a stand for our freedoms so that we can continue to have those liberties.

I don’t mean to sound like Debbie Downer here. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE America and I praise the Lord that He chose me to live here but we HAVE to make choices to continue to ensure our rights are protected. There is no freedom when you’re saddled in debt. (I’ve been there. I would know.) There is no freedom when you have no free will or choice. (Read the Word. It’s pretty clear about that). There is no freedom when when you don’t EXERCISE that right to free choice. We can’t stand idly by and think that someone else will fight for us.

I encourage you to take a stand today. Write an email or letter to your senators/congressmen and women. Let them know how you feel about what’s going on in Congress and with the Affordable Care Act and with other legislation. Encourage them to think about the long term effects of the decisions they are making. Inspire them to make decisions that unify us and not divide us. They may not receive, or respond to, your messages until after the shutdown (sigh) but let your voice be heard regardless.

Nebraskans, find information to write your Senators here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=NE

And here’s contact information for your Congressmen: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc2011&state=ne

Coloradoans, find information to write your Senators here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=CO

Congressmen, here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc2011&state=co

Above all, pray for our nation. Pray for our President. He has a BIG job, yes? Pray he does it well; with humility, common sense, respect, unity, mercy, grace, forethought, thought for the future, thought of our kids. He’s a broken, sinful, self-deceiful human being just like his Supreme Court, just like his Congress, just like his Senate…just like me. And just like me, they need Jesus. He IS the only answer, the only “fix,” the only policy or legislation that can repair the system. Pray we choose Him.

Because the World Needs Another Blogger, Right?

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. Psalm 9:1

Earlier this summer, I felt the desire to start a blog. I know what you’re thinking. The world doesn’t need another blogger. But my heart had been inundated with moments I didn’t want to forget. I wanted to have a place where I could leave a written account of the memories we’re making with our kiddos, because I always THINK I’ll remember every cute or witty thing they say or do without writing it down, but alas, I do not. The desire to blog wasn’t fleeting. It didn’t feel like a, “Oh-that-could-be-something-fun-to-do-in-all-of-this-spare-time-I-have” {insert sarcastic huff here} kind of a thing – it felt like a push from the Lord; a Holy Spirit nudge of sorts. Continue reading Because the World Needs Another Blogger, Right?