Raising Them for the Lord

Romans 3:12 They are all gone out of the way , they are together become unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one . How many days do I feel that way as a stay at home mom?  Too many to count.  I'm sure there are others who can relate to this feeling of futuility while raising children for the Lord. But just as Romans continues to describe the hope possible for a person, what an encouragement that there is hope for our children as well. There is no hope for man in his natural condition, but Christ made the ultimate sacrifice to make a way for us to go to heaven.  He died for our sins and took our place of punishment; and when we accept that gift, we are made profitable to God and good in his sight again.  Becoming a parent and choosing to raise children for the Lord is a sacrifice.  A sacrifice of our time, treasure, and patience.  What makes a parent make that sacrifice?  LOVE!   Even when my kids are at their ...

Happy Thanksgiving to all my faithful readers.  God has blessed us with so much, but today I'm especially thankful for the beautiful family He has given me.  The Bible says that " children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. " (Psalm 127:3)  I look forward to the privilege to shape that heritage to be a godly example to the world around us. God bless you as you endeavor to do the same with the treasures He has given you; whether they be your own children, grandchildren, or "adopted" as we were for six years (I am planning to write on that next week). 

My kids are a wonderful gift from God, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to raise them for Him.  There are many different facets of raising children, and one that I'm often reminded of is the physical.  That's easy, right?!?  Not always.  If you have a perfect child with no physical hurdles to jump, then count your blessing and remember to thank God for that wonderful blessing.  I have two totally different children, so far.  One has no physical hurdles; but what she lacks in that area, she makes up for with attitude and strong will.  The other has a sweet spirit and is very tender heart; but we have just recently discovered that he has allergy-induced eczema.  The eczema has been around for a while, but when we had him allergy tested, we learned that by eliminating eggs and nuts from his diet we could reduce the severity of his eczema outbreaks.  Eggs and nuts...I know, they are in almost everything at least in trace amounts. ...

Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest us. We have been reading to our children since long before they could talk.  Stories like Dr. Seuss , The Poky Little Puppy , as well as Bible stories like Jonah and David and Goliath.  Now that they are older we are beginning to apply lessons - Biblical lessons - they should be learning from the stories we share with them.  Recently I read a story to Sister about a train that left its track because it was tired of the same thing every day.  It wanted to do something different than it was supposed to do.  What happened...it ended up in a pond - stuck!  It's passengers (toys) had to push it out so they could return to the track and d...

In America, the land of religious freedom, no one likes to think about being persecuted for faith in Jesus Christ.  But the Apostles were persecuted from the very beginning.  They were told by religious leaders, who had physically seen and heard Jesus teach, no to teach and preach in Jesus' name.  But the Holy Spirit was with the Apostles and gave them power and strength to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The religious leaders hoped to see this new zealous group fizzle out as others had done before.  One wise leader said in Acts 5:39, "If it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God."   Seriously, how far can you get fighting against God?  He has unlimited resources, and has proven that He can lift up another to preach in place of one persecuted and even killed in his service.  God is on our side; are you on His side?

Some days I wonder what happened to my day.  I woke up with the proverbial birds chirping, the sun shining on me, and all is right in my world; only to discover we have wet sheets to changed, stuffy noses to unstuff, children reluctant to help out with the whole process, and the dishwasher didn't get run so we have no big kid cups for morning milk!  I know...sounds petty, but it's easy to let these trivial things bump into the happiness that started the day.  A devotional blog that I often read by Lysa TerKeurst had a post recently called When My Happy Gets Bumped that I'd like to share with my friends.

This week we have started chore charts with both kids.  My hope is to have them used to a routine before the new baby comes to help make the transition to a new morning routine easier on all of us.  Our first chore chart has only four things for them to accomplish each day: Get Dressed, Make Bed, Brush Hair, Brush Teeth.  As they get comfortable with the routine, we will add small responsibilities they can successfully accomplish.  The incentive for them is a sticker or stamp for each item they complete each day.  If the chart is completed at the end of the week, we will take some money from their money banks and they will be able to pick out one thing from a dollar store.  I got an ideas for our own chart from the Homeschooling Curriculum for Life website  where they provide free printable chore charts for all ages.  I created our charts for our needs in Word using a Table format. The first day, it seemed really help Bubba wake up better and h...

Sunday morning are usually packed full with getting the kids ready, eating breakfast, and getting to church on time.  But with the time change this week, we had a little more time since our bodies didn't get the message about the time change and we all got up a little early.  The easy way to fill that extra time for the kids while Mommy and Daddy relax for a few minutes would be to turn on the TV for them.  But something exciting happened in our house.  When asked if they wanted to watch a show, the kids informed Daddy that they were talking about God! Daddy asked if he could join in the talk with them, and Sister said, "Sure!" The conversation moved from where does Jesus live, to why don't we want to go to hell, and what is sin, to finally how we can get to heaven.  That was the point that our four year old got distracted and started talking about ways Jesus could take us to heaven.  Her ideas included using and elevator, a helicopter, airplane, o...

Yes, they come up often and far too easily.  Whether thoughts of things to do today, or children running in just as you are surely going to glean something deeply spiritual in your daily devotions.  Even if nothing profound was right on the horizon, the spirit of the moment is lost. Goals should be flexible to the changing needs of the family's daily schedule, but try not to be discouraged when interruptions come along.  Stop where you are, address the distraction (love on your child, help them find clothes, write down the chore you are sure you will forget later in the day), and then return to the quiet time when things have calmed.  Sometimes you may find that quiet time shortly after the distraction, or it may be the next day.  Don't be discouraged, we all face those distractions.  It is our response to those distractions that makes the difference. Start looking for a nugget of nourishment from the beginning of your Bible reading.  Even if you d...

James 2:9 - " But if ye have respect to persons , ye commit sin.. ." The book of James covers many ways to be a Christian.  Each one could be taken individually (and should be), and practiced in the life of every Christian.  After all, faith without works is dead. The first admonition to stand out to me was in chapter 2 regarding not having respect of persons due to their outward appearance.  How easy it is to be drawn to things and people that appear clean and sparkle; and avoid the dirty, smelly, unwashed outer appearance.  Only God knows what is on the inside, and he may have brought the aromatic person into your path today to share the gospel with them.  If you allow the unsavory-ness of the person to put you off, you may lose out on the blessing of witnessing.  I'm reminded of Romans 14:15 where the Bible speaks of the one "for whom Christ died."  You were once the one "for whom Christ died," in need of a Savior. I find it easy to appro...