I'm writing today because I'm exhausted of not writing. I'm tired of going to bed at night thinking "Hmm, I should write about that". I have a really long list of great reasons that have kept me from writing, but maybe Jen Hatmaker
dished out some serious truths that made me realize my list is only going to get longer, and I'm tired of stuffing all the words in a box for a later.
So I'm back, and I'm not sure how often I'll be back, but let's just hope its not another nine months before I post again. ;)
For those of you who haven't heard from me in a month, here's my neck of the woods in a nutshell: The Hubs is still a stud. Newbie is going to turn five in a couple months, loves sharks, and will start kindergarten next year. (I can't even talk about it.) Miss Mowgli radiates joy and spunk, loves baby dolls, and hasn't slept in 18 months. (I. am. so. tired.) I am six months pregnant with a baby boy who we can't wait to snuggle at the end of May. (I. am. so. tired.) We are so thankful for where we are and where we've been, and we are looking forward to seeing where we're going!
How's that for a fast forward? =)
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I've had a couple friends recently ask me what I do to teach my kids about God. Its a big question in a messy broken world where God whispers and people yell.
This week I was writing to a friend to answer that question when I realized emails shouldn't be like, 20 paragraphs long. That is what blogs are for. So instead of sending a novel to her, I decided to download my thoughts here in hopes of sharing some ideas with other mamas and hopefully mining for some new ideas too.
If there's one thing that's for sure, I don't have this parenting thing all figured out (don't tell my kids.) But I do really love Jesus and one of the deepest desires of my heart is to see my children know and follow hard after Him. It is such an honor to "tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord" (Psalm 78:4) and I've spent a lot of time in the last five years praying for my kids
and searching for ways to help them get to know Jesus in the game-changing, life-giving way that I do. After years of blog-reading and seeking out ideas and insight into tending to their little hearts, God has lead me to a few resources and things I really love. Maybe you do all of these. Maybe you do some of them. Maybe you do none of them. Maybe you do all of them plus seven others I haven't thought of. I'd love to hear you holler in the comments if there's something you do to make Jesus real and a part of your kids' every day routine. These are to pick and choose from, to leave or take, and I'd love to hear your ideas too!
Here are some of my favorite ways to bring Jesus into our home:
I truly believe our kids will learn more by what we do than by what we say, so I think when it comes to sharing Jesus with them, the most important thing we can do is be actively pursuing Christ and engaging in our own relationship with Him.
I think if we have a heart that is tuned into Christ and is mindful of the Holy Spirit, then God will make all the parenting pieces fall into place. (hallelujah!) The way I do that is by reading His Word, engaging in a small group Bible study with other women, and by going to church. It all helps me grow, but I have always always struggled with making time to get into my Bible each day, even though I know God uses His Word to lead us, encourage us, and love us through this beautiful broken life. The She Reads Truth app has been a game changer for me because it makes getting into my Bible super easy- I don't ever have a lot of time or quiet(!) to read, but this app makes it easy to get a little bit of Scripture reading in when I can (or a lot, depending on the day and the diaper status). The entire Bible is on the app, but they also have devotional plans you can go through that have a bit of scripture to read and then an encouraging note from one of the sites' authors. I love these! And the app is super cute, which is fun too. =)
I like to read out of my own Bible, so I often have my Bible and my phone with me so I can look up the reading for the day, read it in my Bible, then go back to my phone to scroll through and read the devotional piece for that reading. I am doing the Esther study right now, but they start a Lent study on February 18 that I am super excited about!
When I'm digging into God's Word by reading it each day and learning through Bible study, I find that I examine my heart more and grow so much more than when I don't. And I feel a lot better about teaching my kiddos about Jesus when I am consistently seeking to know Him better myself. The bottom line is, it has to begin with our hearts, and tending to our hearts begins with getting into God's Word. I think that is the best thing we can do as parents- take care of our hearts so we can take care of theirs.
2) We talk about Jesus A LOT!
I really try and be vocal about what's going on in my heart, so my kids can learn what it looks like to have a heart that longs to love God and love people. If we hear sirens while we're driving, my heart hurts for the people in the midst of an emergency, and we pray for the people who need those sirens right in the car as we are going down the road. My son is so used to it now that he asks to do it anytime he even sees a firetruck- ha! We also pray before each meal, and throughout the day if he is worried about something or bops his sister for taking something that isn't hers. We just do a lot of heart talk around here.
I also talk a lot about their sisters. Eden and Jubilee are often a daily part of our vocabulary around here. A lost sibling isn't something that every family can relate to, and it's probably a post in and of itself, but the short version is that I use their sisters as a link to talk about God's goodness. We talk about Heaven and what God did for us when He sent Jesus to come and rescue us and wash our hearts so we could live with Him in Heaven forever, like Eden and Jubilee do. Oh, how I treasure the gift God gave me in taking my girls Home so I can share the anticipation of seeing them again and God's greatness when I talk to my kids about Heaven.
In addition to little prayers throughout the day, I pray with my kiddos before bed at night. That's when I try to really slow down with them and process what we are talking to God about- we praise God, then tell Him we're sorry for any mistakes we made that day, and then ask Him for different things. We pray for sick friends, we pray to be brave, we pray God will help my son be a kind friend at school and listen to his teachers. We pray about a lot because I want them to know they can talk to God about anything! (Disclaimer: not every bedtime is a great conversation about what/who we should pray for, what mistakes we made, what we are thankful for. Mostly because REAL LIFE happens and Mom is tired and letsjustgettothelightsoutpartalready. We do pray each night, and I do try and incorporate all of the above as the evening allows, but just keepin' it real- it ain't always the full blown end of day quiet time and closure. Sometimes its just Momma prays and now stop talking and GO TO SLEEP.)
Outside of praying, we just talk about Jesus a lot- I try and bring Him into any and everything. We talk about the creatures God made and how we SO WISH God would bring spring SOON! We talk about how God is making their baby brother in my belly, we talk about how God gave Daddy a job so he can make money and pay for our house and our food and toys (Newbie's favorite- he's convinced the Hubs only works so he can have fun toys- ha!) So praying often, talking about Jesus and being intentional about pointing Him out in our every day is something else I do.
3) I pray Scripture over my babies
This is something I've done for a long time, and I really love it. I just have a few verses memorized that I read out load and pray for my littles so they hear God's Word often. One of my favorites is Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you, and He is mighty to save. He takes great delight in you, He quiets you with His love, and He rejoices over you with singing. The Lord your God is with you." That's my bedtime go-to, and there are several others I toss around throughout the week.
My kids have little memory verses they work on memorizing each month at church too, so we practice those- they are short and sweet and simple so Newbie understands them, and I love that he has some of God's words hidden in his little heart. When he was two he had each verse memorized every month...back when I had only one little and a lot of time to focus- ha! I've fallen off that bandwagon in the past year or so, and we are more hit and miss with our memory verses, but I do try and make a point of working on them with him. We're just not as good as we were at 24 months- ha!
4) We read a Bible story each day
I'm just super big into my kids and myself being in God's Word because I think its so important that we know what Jesus said and how God's story unfolds! I used to kick booty and bust out our Bible reading together each morning, but preschool schedule makes it tough to do much other than eat and get everybody dressed and out the door in the morning! So we started moving up Newbie's bedtime routine to build in time to read a Bible story together each night. Sometimes we miss it, but most nights we read and talk about the story a little bit. I love The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones for this, and Newbie has learned so much about God's love for him by just reading about God's story each night. Here's a link to the another Bible we use on Amazon- its actual Scripture (not paraphrased) and it has some questions after each story as well as some action/games/activities- its really preschool friendly.
5) We listen to worship and praise music
Listen. Country is fun and Billie Holiday is the best way to end a Monday, but I have our local Christian radio station playing in the morning and in the car, and my kids pick up on the songs and I love hearing them sing along. Newbie often asks questions about the songs, which I dig, because you know I love to talk about some Jesus. =)
"Seeds Family Worship Music" is the sweet spot though- kid worship music that won't make you want to rip your ears off. I ADORE this music, and I thought they were out of print, but Amazon has them! There are some that are priced crazy high, so you might have to hunt a little for the $13 deals, but I found several tonight. My littles are gonna find them in their Easter baskets this year because I have always wanted a few more, and I'm so excited you can still buy them! The neat thing is that all the song lyrics are verses of Scripture, so you learn Bible verses while listening, and get to hear God's Word through some catchy music written by some Nashville studs. Here's the link to one of them and you can scroll down to find others. We have Seeds of Praise and Seeds of Encouragement, and both are good!
6) We take 'em to church
Sometimes its hard to rally the troops, and maybe Miss Mowgli cries for the last twenty minutes of her nursery experience, but it is so important to me that our kids see and experience the importance of connecting with God's people and growing through the church community. There are so many awesome children's programs available, if you haven't already, I'd encourage you to get plugged into a church where the kids' ministry team loves kids and is passionate about teaching children about who God is. Even if you have to bribe them with a cookie from the refreshment table afterwards, get your littles to church- it takes a village, folks. And a loving church home can be a fabulous village to come alongside you to guide and encourage you as you raise your babies.
7) We need to DO.
Ah, the doing. Its the hardest part because its the part that takes us outside of ourselves and our little families. Numbers one through six have been a lot of heart work and conversation, but I think the most important thing is in the DOing. Its all well and good if we tell our kids we love Jesus and that He is good and wants us to love God and love others, but it won't mean much to those little hearts if their eyes don't see us DOing.
I want my kids to see my love for Christ in action. I have many friends who do the DOing so well. Whether its a family that moved to Africa to follow God's direction (hi, Gretchen!) or a family who is constantly offering to cook a meal or take a kiddo, there are people in my life who have set a really good example of what it looks like to work out their faith in action, and I'm convinced their children are learning all kinds of things about Jesus as they watch their parents and love and serve others as a family. It has really been on my heart lately to get more involved in reaching out to my neighbors and community. We talk a lot about loving our friends and our neighbors, but I want to get better at actually DOING that instead of just talking about it. My hope is that as a family we will get the kids involved in service projects and in just loving our neighbors well. In doing that, we will be obeying Jesus, and our kids will learn firsthand what it looks like to step out of our comfort zone and help someone else in big and small ways. I've got to get better at this, but its on my radar as another way I can really help my kids understand who Jesus is. I want to start DO-ing. =)
I look forward to growing as a mama and learning more about how I can train my children up to know the Lord. In the meantime, I'm going to stay on my knees, asking God to guide my steps and theirs as we seek to love Him and others well. And I'm going to keep plugging away with the things I've listed above, and swipe some of your ideas as well if you're willing to share. ;)
Happy Monday, friends
Brittany
