There's a shift that's been happening in my heart and life for the past year. I'd like to share about it in a series of video blogs. If you receive posts via email, you may need to click on the title to take you directly to my blog in order to watch the video. I'm glad you've stuck in there with me during my hiatus. I plan to start posting once a week on Wednesdays, continuing to share life's lessons I'm learning on the way. Please watch the video for the scoop! :)
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
Quiet Times for Kids
After Lynn's post on Friday, a bloggie friend left this great question in the comments:
Well, I have boys but thank you for the reminder to still set that example for them. I would love to hear ideas you or other may have about exactly HOW to help your kids develop that habit of quiet time for themselves early on. We are trying many different things but my oldest( just 9) will resist it if pushed to hard and I certainly do not want time with God to be a chore or something he dreads. Any ideas?
Here's the thing...I really didn't want to answer that question, because, quite honestly, I'm not sure we've done this right. But here goes...
Barry and I have taken the approach that personal quiet times are a habit our kids will have to establish on their own when they're ready. I started my own prayer and Bible study times when I was 16, and they were powerful primarily because they were my idea. (You might not believe this, but I'm a little on the strong-willed side. Ha!) I made a personal commitment from a personal realization of my need.
Since I felt insecure about this advice, I asked my friend Wendy about it this morning. She said she thinks that the time for personal quiet times really depends on the age and stage of the child.
BUT Wendy followed by saying that she thinks there are two really important things for parents to do to prepare their children for that day:
As I thought this through, I thought of one more thing I want to add:
3. Live like Jesus is real and part of the family...because He is.
Even though we might not have been strong and intentional enough in regular family devotions (and I really wish we had been stronger), I think the area in which we've been really intentional is in keeping Jesus very present in our conversations, our family decisions and our everyday interactions. We've tried to live out Deut. 6:5-9,
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 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 doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (NIV)
Friends, I know lots of you are probably doing some wonderful things to teach your children about personal time with God. Please share. This topic is essential to passing on our faith to the next generation. How are you approaching it?
Well, I have boys but thank you for the reminder to still set that example for them. I would love to hear ideas you or other may have about exactly HOW to help your kids develop that habit of quiet time for themselves early on. We are trying many different things but my oldest( just 9) will resist it if pushed to hard and I certainly do not want time with God to be a chore or something he dreads. Any ideas?
Here's the thing...I really didn't want to answer that question, because, quite honestly, I'm not sure we've done this right. But here goes...
Barry and I have taken the approach that personal quiet times are a habit our kids will have to establish on their own when they're ready. I started my own prayer and Bible study times when I was 16, and they were powerful primarily because they were my idea. (You might not believe this, but I'm a little on the strong-willed side. Ha!) I made a personal commitment from a personal realization of my need.
Since I felt insecure about this advice, I asked my friend Wendy about it this morning. She said she thinks that the time for personal quiet times really depends on the age and stage of the child.
BUT Wendy followed by saying that she thinks there are two really important things for parents to do to prepare their children for that day:
- Model quiet times by having their own and letting their children see them. (Just what Lynn said. Yay!)
- Read scripture as a family. You can got to Wendy's blog by clicking here and reading her series about morning devotions. The Carroll family is following her plan this year, and we love it!
As I thought this through, I thought of one more thing I want to add:
3. Live like Jesus is real and part of the family...because He is.
Even though we might not have been strong and intentional enough in regular family devotions (and I really wish we had been stronger), I think the area in which we've been really intentional is in keeping Jesus very present in our conversations, our family decisions and our everyday interactions. We've tried to live out Deut. 6:5-9,
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 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 doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (NIV)
Friends, I know lots of you are probably doing some wonderful things to teach your children about personal time with God. Please share. This topic is essential to passing on our faith to the next generation. How are you approaching it?
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The Most Important Mistake a Mom Can Make
I'm thrilled to have my friend Lynn Cowell today as our guest blogger. I've been talking about trying to get more of God's Word into our every day life at our home, and that's Lynn's heart, too. Although Lynn's ministry is focused on girls, I learned lots from her post that applies to my boys too! Here's Lynn...
Do you ever worry about the young women in your life? Your daughter, niece or granddaughter? The girl at your son’s school or the one who sits next to you in church?
You see the choices she makes. You watch the way she dresses, the friends she keeps or the empty look in her eyes and you feel concerned; worried even. You wonder, “What will her future hold?”
I, too, am that mom, aunt and mentor in the church and I’ve asked myself, “What’s missing?”
Growing up, I knew I could count on one thing every morning. My mom would be in the living room, Bible in her lap, spending time with Jesus. Witnessing her consistency quietly spoke of the importance of this time. Without knowing it, she was mentoring me through her example.
Heading into junior high, my youth pastor asked me to be a part of the leadership team. There was one non-negotiable commitment: you had to spend 30 minutes a day reading God’s word. Since I had seen my mother doing this each day, the commitment didn’t seem unusual. That’s what Jesus followers did, right? So from the age of 13, I began my own discipline of spending time with Jesus.
Probably not able to define it then, now I can look back and see the impact my mom and my pastor had on me. I see the foundation they instilled by teaching me to be a woman of the Word.
In the days when Sunday School is all but a thing of the past, I worry if as moms we are making an very important mistake. Are we missing teaching the girls in our lives the importance of daily time in God’s word?
As a mom and a mentor of teen girls, I know that my role is to prepare them to live a responsible life on their own, my responsibility to teach them God’s word is my most important role of all. My passion is to help set young women in motion for a lifetime of studying God’s word.
The question is how and where to start.
When you brought your baby home, you didn’t start your child out with whatever was on the family table. Their diet was milk, filled with exactly the nutrients they needed, in a way they could take in.
That’s what today girl needs: a steady diet of God’s Word, filled with exactly the nutrients her tender heart needs.
While teaching God’s word might seem intimidating, it doesn’t have to be! You don’t have to be a Bible scholar, know how to find out what the words mean in Hebrew and Greek and or own big Bible commentaries. What you do need is 2 – 3 minutes set apart each day to fill your girl with God’s truth.
I’ve got just the tool to help!
My free 7 Day Faith Builder, seven days of devotions straight from my new book “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year” can be sent directly to your email box. These devotions are designed to speak to the issues that girls face each day; especially as school is back in full swing. You can receive these devotions free of charge! Just click here!
Maybe you’re looking for a resource to last longer than seven days? “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year; 365 Days of Jesus’ Radical Love for You” is written specifically for girls ages 13 – 17, each day addressing issues close to a young girl’s heart such as body image, crushes, performance, and social media. “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year” fills a girl’s heart with the truth that only Jesus’ can fill the love gap in her heart. Seeing God does have something to say about the important things in her world, she can establish a history with God and a pattern to last a lifetime.
In “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year” I help young women to:
Begin each day with truth from Jesus
Develop the habit of spending daily time with Jesus
Apply God’s wisdom to the choices she makes each day
Find positive self-worth in Jesus’ perfect love
Make decisions that honor God; not follow her feelings
Empower her heart to choose relationships that are beneficial; not painful
Would you invest in a young woman in your sphere today?
Lynn Cowell is a Proverbs 31 speaker and the author of “His Revolutionary Love; Jesus’ Radical Pursuit of You” and “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year”. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, Greg, of 25 years and their three children. The Cowells enjoy hiking, well-worn sweatshirts and anything that combines chocolate and peanut butter. Connect with Lynn at www.LynnCowell.com and on Facebook at Lynn Martin Cowell.
Do you ever worry about the young women in your life? Your daughter, niece or granddaughter? The girl at your son’s school or the one who sits next to you in church?
You see the choices she makes. You watch the way she dresses, the friends she keeps or the empty look in her eyes and you feel concerned; worried even. You wonder, “What will her future hold?”
I, too, am that mom, aunt and mentor in the church and I’ve asked myself, “What’s missing?”
Growing up, I knew I could count on one thing every morning. My mom would be in the living room, Bible in her lap, spending time with Jesus. Witnessing her consistency quietly spoke of the importance of this time. Without knowing it, she was mentoring me through her example.
Heading into junior high, my youth pastor asked me to be a part of the leadership team. There was one non-negotiable commitment: you had to spend 30 minutes a day reading God’s word. Since I had seen my mother doing this each day, the commitment didn’t seem unusual. That’s what Jesus followers did, right? So from the age of 13, I began my own discipline of spending time with Jesus.
Probably not able to define it then, now I can look back and see the impact my mom and my pastor had on me. I see the foundation they instilled by teaching me to be a woman of the Word.
In the days when Sunday School is all but a thing of the past, I worry if as moms we are making an very important mistake. Are we missing teaching the girls in our lives the importance of daily time in God’s word?
As a mom and a mentor of teen girls, I know that my role is to prepare them to live a responsible life on their own, my responsibility to teach them God’s word is my most important role of all. My passion is to help set young women in motion for a lifetime of studying God’s word.
The question is how and where to start.
When you brought your baby home, you didn’t start your child out with whatever was on the family table. Their diet was milk, filled with exactly the nutrients they needed, in a way they could take in.
That’s what today girl needs: a steady diet of God’s Word, filled with exactly the nutrients her tender heart needs.
While teaching God’s word might seem intimidating, it doesn’t have to be! You don’t have to be a Bible scholar, know how to find out what the words mean in Hebrew and Greek and or own big Bible commentaries. What you do need is 2 – 3 minutes set apart each day to fill your girl with God’s truth.
I’ve got just the tool to help!
My free 7 Day Faith Builder, seven days of devotions straight from my new book “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year” can be sent directly to your email box. These devotions are designed to speak to the issues that girls face each day; especially as school is back in full swing. You can receive these devotions free of charge! Just click here!
Maybe you’re looking for a resource to last longer than seven days? “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year; 365 Days of Jesus’ Radical Love for You” is written specifically for girls ages 13 – 17, each day addressing issues close to a young girl’s heart such as body image, crushes, performance, and social media. “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year” fills a girl’s heart with the truth that only Jesus’ can fill the love gap in her heart. Seeing God does have something to say about the important things in her world, she can establish a history with God and a pattern to last a lifetime.
In “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year” I help young women to:
Begin each day with truth from Jesus
Develop the habit of spending daily time with Jesus
Apply God’s wisdom to the choices she makes each day
Find positive self-worth in Jesus’ perfect love
Make decisions that honor God; not follow her feelings
Empower her heart to choose relationships that are beneficial; not painful
Would you invest in a young woman in your sphere today?
Lynn Cowell is a Proverbs 31 speaker and the author of “His Revolutionary Love; Jesus’ Radical Pursuit of You” and “Devotions for a Revolutionary Year”. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, Greg, of 25 years and their three children. The Cowells enjoy hiking, well-worn sweatshirts and anything that combines chocolate and peanut butter. Connect with Lynn at www.LynnCowell.com and on Facebook at Lynn Martin Cowell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
