Blue Like Tidy-Bowl Cleaner, Kool-Aid, and Heaven:
Thoughts on Home, Family, and God from the middle of Suburbia!
Though I grew up in church, the Bible and I weren’t properly introduced until I was already a young mom with three kids. I had aspirations of becoming a writer, so I set my alarm clock early to start writing before my kids woke up. This worked, well, for about a week until I started feeling guilty. That was because I often complained about not having time to read my Bible and pray, yet I had made the time to write.
So the next day when my alarm went off, I decided to read my Bible first. Five minutes should be enough time, I figured.
Amazingly, though my motivation was to ease my conscience, God began to speak. Five minutes turned into fifteen, and soon my little date with the Good Book became a romance with my Maker.
I got myself a journal, and I started jotting down all the Scripture verses that really stood out to me. Sometimes I added my thoughts. Other times written prayers.
I added some devotional books to my morning time, and wow … I found some good stuff. Before I knew it, my morning writing time had been replaced. I grew to need my time with God. Just me and Him and a cup of java. God spoke. I listened. And my heart was transformed.
Twelve years later, I now long for my morning solitude. I get downright crabby when, for some reason or another, I miss out on those moments with my God. And you know what? That’s okay. It’s okay to be jealous of my time with God. It’s okay to be needy. (I learned that from my one of my Bible readings somewhere along the line.)
How come we, as people, hesitate to take time for what we need most of all? Sometimes when I’m at church, I wonder if I’m the only one who is so needy, and so in love at the same time? I have to admit I’m discouraged when I see people in Sunday school class looking in the front of their Bibles to figure out where Hebrews can be found. I try to share my passion for my morning moments, only to receive comments like ‘I’m not a morning person’ or ‘Well, your kids are bigger now.’ Both are true, sort of. But they have little to do with what the Word of God now means to me.
One Scripture verse that has made it into my journal more than once, and is highlighted in bright yellow, is Acts 4:13: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
To sum it up, that’s what my morning quiet time means to me. I’ve been with Jesus, and I’d like to think it gives me more courage and wisdom than if I’d not spent time in His Word. But more than what I get out of it, it’s just the fact I’ve BEEN WITH JESUS. Like a teen girl who just had a first date with the most handsome and popular guy at school, I get that giddy, overwhelmed, undeserved feeling every time OUR time comes to an end. And that’s something I hope I never outgrow.
Labels: bible, courage, devotional books, god, scripture, transformation, wisdome, writing
PRAYER CHANGES THINGS
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know…This is the way our savior God wants us to live. 1Timothy 2:1, 3 (The Message)
More than anything, parenting takes courage. There is no going with the flow, no just trying to slide by, when it comes to raising kids.
As we enter the uphill battle of child rearing, we must trust the success of our parenting to God. Prayer is key. Sometimes situations are hard to see, and we feel like we are blindly tramping around. In raising kids in this day and age, we need to take all our needs before God and leave the results to Him. In prayer we plead our case before God, we get God’s perspective, and gain confidence and courage.
God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way we hoped or expected, but we can trust that He will answer our prayer in the best way, not just sometimes, but every time.
As Gen X parents, we know that these are trying times to be raising children, but we must realize that we are parents now, not by chance, but by design. God has called us to parent specifically during this time in history.
Here are some scriptures for the parenting journey:
1. Prayers of need (Psalm 55:22, Jeremiah 17:7-8)
2. Prayers of thanksgiving (Psalm 40:5, Romans 11:33)
3. Prayers for seeking families (Matthew 11:25, Psalm 116:6-7)
4. Prayers for generations (Psalm 105:708, Psalm 100:5)
Labels: god, prayer, raising kids, scripture
Seeing God's presence....
As part of my research of
Generation NeXt Parenting, I sent out surveys on various topics on child-rearing and family life. One of the questions I asked was how do you help your children see God's presence in day to day life?
And here's what the respondents had to say...
Tiffany: I always try to speak of things in light of God. If there is a need [whether it is healing or toilet paper] I encourage the kids that God cares about them all and when we ask him for things and obey his instructions he always provides. When we don't now an answer and don't know how to find it we ask God for wisdom. I have verses taped up all over my house so no matter where you go there is the word of God and every night they fall asleep listening to worship music on a CD.Lisa: Since my daughter is only 15 months right now just talking to her, showing her things God makes when we go on walks.Shannon: I try to appreciate the little things in life and give God the credit and praise. I try to have an active, "any moment" type of prayer life and let my children see and join in this.Michelle H: I try to relate scripture and Biblical principles in everything we become involved in (relationships, schoolwork, issues with classmates, decisions we need to make....) I try to relay to my kids that there is a purpose in all they do and that God has a plan for each of them. I remind them daily how loved they are by God and how much He wants to bless them. When we pray, I confess and repent. We pray for others when they are in need. We read scripture and discuss how it applies to us. We enjoy hiking to enjoy the beauty in nature that is not only for us to enjoy but is so much a description of God himself. Now that I have God in my life, it seems so empty without him. It seems so pointless to live it without him, so we try to include Him in everything from music, to TV, discipline, and even in our mistakes. Michelle D: We pray. In front of my child. All the time. I'm not talking about before meals, or as a family devotion time. I'm really talking about when we get in the car, before we go to the store. Or when we can't find a missing toy. We try to help her understand the truth of Psalm 139 - that we are always in the presence of God and we can go to Him at any time, and with any concern, no matter how small.Rene: We talk a lot to the kids about God. But what we're realizing is that they learn more from seeing God work in our lives than us talking to them about how God is going to work in their lives. When writing novels, they always teach you "show don't tell" and we're seeing this is a good motto in life, too. The kids are watching how God is working in our lives, and that is more powerful than words alone.Julie: We try to find teachable moments...Some days they are frequent and other days they are scarce. We try and use music, movies, scripture verses for Sunday school and Awana and any learning opportunity possible.Labels: children, god's presence, prayer, scripture, teaching
