These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you
walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you--a land with large, flourishing cities you
did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did
not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant--then when you eat and
are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of
the land of slavery. (Deuteronomy 6:6-12)
I have a deep desire that my children would desire to dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6b). That they would choose this day who they will serve. I pray they develop a love for the Lord God and that they would desire out of their who hearts to know Jesus Christ.
One of the ways we have started to do this is by reading a chapter of the bible at bedtime. It has been two and a half weeks and Maddie has it pretty down pat, with only a few prompts here and there. I suspect in a couple more days of hearing it she will have it down to were she can recite it without help.
Scripture says to talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road. As I am training my children in the way their attitudes need to be. When we see situations as we are out and about we talk about what Jesus would have us do. As we walk along the trails in the local state park, we point out God's creation. Instead of trying to figure out were something came from, we take the truth of what we believe, that God created it. We then try to hypothesis how God created it.
Another way we write upon our children's hearts God's provision and love is to sit down with them and pray with them about a need we have or a need someone else may have. We do it in their mind frame of understanding. We bring our needs before the Lord, then our kids get to watch the Lord answer our prayers. But, also learning to trust and have peace about an answer that God may have told us no about or has simply said wait. They learn to have peace and to trust God by watching Mark and I responses to situations we have prayed about. Assuring our kids even when we can't see God working, he is always working for our good. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
One thing to keep in mind, you can't force your child's heart. Changing and molding hearts is God's job. I, as the parent, can give them tools such as scripture memorization and praying for them is huge. But, I must remember God is the master artist of their hearts and lives. I must trust God with my kid's hearts, even if it doesn't make sense and I want to pull all of my hair our of my head! Isaiah 55:11 "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth: It shall not return to me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
If I believe that God is truly in control, then I must also choose to cling to the truth that he is in control of my kid's hearts as well. After all, they are only loaned to me for a little while, it is God who formed and knit them in my womb, he is intimate in all their ways. I will trust in the Lord and watching the amazing things he does in my kids lives.
What are some ways you have taken God's truth and helped your children to remember them? I would love to hear the ways the Lord has lead you, to lead your children!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The Shift...
This last year my parents moved my grandma into a nursing home. It has not been until the last couple of years that I have felt and seen a huge generational shift. When I was growing up the order went: my grandparents, then my parents, and then us kids. Grandma and Grandpa made the Turkey, Ham, casseroles, whatever the main course for whatever we happened to be celebrating. Then my parents and their siblings would bring the side dishes. Us kids were left to haul everything in, out, up, down, or wherever something needed to be moved. The adults sat at the dinning room table, us kids sat downstairs in my grandparents basement (which us kids thought was the greatest thing ever).
This year however, holidays have been at my house. I made my first ham this year in the roaster, which is traditionally what my family uses to cook the huge holiday hams and turkeys. I made the ham, while my sisters and parents brought the sides. While grandma looked on with a look that said I'm glad they're doing that and not me.
The shift has happened. My parents have moved into the rolls of my grandma and grandpa, I have moved into the roll of my parents, and my kids now play the fun roll I had as a child with get together. Now, it's me who calls my mom at 10pm asking questions about the Ham I am suppose to get up and put in the roaster at 4am. Not getting up at 4am would assure that we would not be eating at the traditional 12 O'clock lunch bell.
I am the parent who is suppose to know how to sew a dolls arm back on, pop the wheel back on the tractor. I am the parent who is suppose to know which band aid goes on which owie and kisses the pain away. I am the one who is now suppose to have the answers.
The shift has happened. I feel and understand 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
As I ponder the role of being an adult it makes me stand back and look at my life, look at what I know and how I got to know, what I know. I ponder what do I want to place in my kid's lives that they will take with them into adulthood. When it is time for them to plant a garden on their own for the first time, will they know how to do it? When my kid's welcome their first baby into the world will they be equipped to know how to be gentle, how to love unselfishly. I think what is the legacy I want to set today, so that they will be ready in the future. Today makes a big difference for my kid's tomorrow. Have I shown them Jesus, have I lived a life of reading my bible, showing my kids through action that the word of God truly is important? Showing them it's important by a daily quiet time in the word and prayer? Have I shown my kids that God is the great provider by praying for our needs and the needs of others. Pointing out when God has provided for us or someone else. I remember a quote that says something like, kids learn more by watching than my hearing.
I have officially entered adulthood and I pray my life points others to Christ. For Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one will go to the father unless through Christ (John 14:6). There is no other way into heaven other than Christ Jesus and the bible says we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. So we must speak with our mouth, words must come from our lips that Jesus is Lord and has paid the ransom for our sin with His blood! Jesus paid it all! As an adult I praise and worship God knowing that he has saved me from hell and from separation from Him.
As wife, mommy, sister, daughter, and friend I rest with confidence "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). Amen, Amen!
This year however, holidays have been at my house. I made my first ham this year in the roaster, which is traditionally what my family uses to cook the huge holiday hams and turkeys. I made the ham, while my sisters and parents brought the sides. While grandma looked on with a look that said I'm glad they're doing that and not me.
The shift has happened. My parents have moved into the rolls of my grandma and grandpa, I have moved into the roll of my parents, and my kids now play the fun roll I had as a child with get together. Now, it's me who calls my mom at 10pm asking questions about the Ham I am suppose to get up and put in the roaster at 4am. Not getting up at 4am would assure that we would not be eating at the traditional 12 O'clock lunch bell.
I am the parent who is suppose to know how to sew a dolls arm back on, pop the wheel back on the tractor. I am the parent who is suppose to know which band aid goes on which owie and kisses the pain away. I am the one who is now suppose to have the answers.
The shift has happened. I feel and understand 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
As I ponder the role of being an adult it makes me stand back and look at my life, look at what I know and how I got to know, what I know. I ponder what do I want to place in my kid's lives that they will take with them into adulthood. When it is time for them to plant a garden on their own for the first time, will they know how to do it? When my kid's welcome their first baby into the world will they be equipped to know how to be gentle, how to love unselfishly. I think what is the legacy I want to set today, so that they will be ready in the future. Today makes a big difference for my kid's tomorrow. Have I shown them Jesus, have I lived a life of reading my bible, showing my kids through action that the word of God truly is important? Showing them it's important by a daily quiet time in the word and prayer? Have I shown my kids that God is the great provider by praying for our needs and the needs of others. Pointing out when God has provided for us or someone else. I remember a quote that says something like, kids learn more by watching than my hearing.
I have officially entered adulthood and I pray my life points others to Christ. For Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one will go to the father unless through Christ (John 14:6). There is no other way into heaven other than Christ Jesus and the bible says we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. So we must speak with our mouth, words must come from our lips that Jesus is Lord and has paid the ransom for our sin with His blood! Jesus paid it all! As an adult I praise and worship God knowing that he has saved me from hell and from separation from Him.
As wife, mommy, sister, daughter, and friend I rest with confidence "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). Amen, Amen!
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