Resurrection Day!

He is Risen!

He is Risen, Indeed!

He is Maker and and Sustainer of this amazing, beautiful universe.

Jesus, He is unselfish, obedient, humble love.

He is my generous Provider - of salvation, of daily life-needs, of delight.

He is all-wise, all-powerful, all-good.

My God knows the beginning from the end.

He is Father, Friend, Rescuer, and King, and in all those roles He is relational. 

And because Jesus lived righteously in my place; suffered and died unfairly in my stead; and defeated death on my behalf...because of all this, I can be friends with God, both in this life and when my body dies someday. I can know what He means by I will never leave you or forsake you - because Jesus already endured forsakenness for me. And I'm able to believe and take comfort from the reality that nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. 

Halleluia! What a Savior!

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Revelation 5:12

 (the picture seems sideways, but it's not...I got to jog under these breathtaking Japanese Cherry trees last week, and this was just the view straight up! pink clouds...pink snow...and matching pink snowdrifts on the the ground, as all the petals are falling down now.)

Waiting on Baby and Declaring God's Goodness

There you go. How about a pop of happy (Texas) summer color for you, here as winter settles in? I feel lighter the longer I look at this one. It was taken two years ago at one of our favorite day-trip spots near Fredericksburg, Texas, at a seed farm.

Today, by my reckoning, I am just over 40 weeks pregnant. Hooray for this event-free, full-term baby-carrying experience. Praise God for this tender mercy.

I am ready to meet her and not be so big anymore, but each day she's in there means more ounces for her and a bit more ready for Christmas for me. I am so grateful to the Lord that we've been able to thoughtfully and calmly enter this Advent and holiday season. But, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't quietly waiting on pins and needles for something to happen: a painful contraction (the usual way my labor begins - a painful contraction or two in a row usually means the real thing is ramping up) or water breaking (this has happened twice, where my water broke minus any contractions and labor never started on its own). We'll see what God's plan is, very shortly!

Everyone's really excited. The girls ask me frequently if I'm having any real contractions or Mom, is this a Twilight Zone day? Strange question, yes, but I have had a weird tradition, if you will, since my first labor, with EG. That day, there was a Twilight Zone marathon on tv. It's one of my favorite shows, and so while the contractions were far apart, but regular and bearable, I watched many episodes in a row. So, ever since then, during the labors where I had a significant number of hours at home, contracting, BB has fixed up the tv or laptop for me (and anyone else around who's cared to watch) to watch my shows.

Once I get to the point where I start pausing the show because I can't comprehend it during the contractions, we all know that things are progressing and BB turns it off. That's when all my energy and attention goes into the labor work.

I thought about placing these sweet pictures of BH at the top of the post, but that would've thrown everyone off a bit at this point, maybe? A bit cheeky of me, perhaps?

Look how little he was! I am excited about doing the tiny-baby experience again/one last time!

On a completely different note, I wanted to praise God for His goodness to me. Recently, I've been facing some pretty complicated and upsetting struggles in the area of relationships. I was desperate to hear from the Lord regarding these things, and I told Him so. I cried out to Him to speak to me and fill me with wisdom and love.

I've been reading through Exodus lately and this passage was beautiful and rich and peace-giving to me:

Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation that the Lord will work for you today...The Lord will fight for you and you only have to be silent. Exodus 14:13,14

I did not know how God would answer my requests for help. You know how it feels in the moment, when emotions are high and the solutions are unclear: how am I going to get through this, do this in a Jesus-honoring way? What do I do? How do I do it?!

But one thing I knew God was saying to me in the above scripture was to just be still and quiet. 

The truth from His Word, His speaking to me was great all by itself, but the coolest thing of all, that I'm so thankful for, is the lavish grace he poured out on me to enable me to be still and quiet. It was such an obvious departure from my usual way - I so often say so many, too many words, even if just internally. You know, the fretting, anxious kind - that I can only say  I praise you God for giving me the grace to be quiet and still.

And even more beautiful is His allowing me, already, to see fruit and movement in the struggles I'm having and in the relational challenges.

He is faithful and good and wise and present!

Thank You for loving me, Lord!
*
And just for fun, more BH cuteness....

Missing the Moon

The other morning the alarm went off before 6am. I never get up right when it goes off anymore, so it was about 6am when I shuffled downstairs in my ill-fitting (seeing as I have no waist these days) bathrobe.

Our house is very dark at night. We have so many trees, such dense shade that little light - natural or otherwise - really makes it into the house at night. So, it was strange to me when I walked into the kitchen and there was light. Light was shining on the pantry, through the sliding glass door that leads to the back yard.

It was moonlight.

I miss moonlight. I sat down on one of the kids' stools and looked at that square of light and shadow and at the moon itself (I believe that night was one of those supermoon nights...I know little about what that means, but it was a very bright moon).

In Texas, we had no shade. That made for some intense heat, but the mysterious beauty of unhindered moonlight streaming in our windows for nearly half the nights of each month was an ethereal treat.

Of course, shade is its own blessing, to be sure, and we enjoy it here.

That morning was the first time I've noticed moonshine making it into this house. So, I sat still, moon-bathing, I guess you could say. I slid the glass door open, so that I could hear the crickets and cicadas more clearly. Have you ever listened to them? It's music, to be sure, especially when the night is almost over and the singing is peaceful and slow. (They get phrenetic and angry sounding in the heat of the day.)

While in the dark there with the door open, BB came down, saw my moonlight, asked if I was okay, then went away to get his day started.

And I thought and sat still and I cried and prayed. I'd been telling BB I felt all wound up inside lately, strangely sad, but wasn't able to put my finger on the exact causes. Sometimes you just need a cry, right? And sometimes you need an alone moment for that. I wandered onto the back porch as the moon sank down and the day crept up, and cried and prayed some more.

Breaking down a bit in the cricket-song and moonlight helped me be more honest with myself and with the Lord. Quite cathartic and energy-giving.

Glory to God...this is the work of the Wonderful Counselor.

Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8

God's Close No Matter How I Feel

One thing that has comforted and encouraged me lately - this idea of Jesus' nearness and presence regardless of how I feel or how I've performed. 

His nearness does not change.

His love does not change.

His presence stays the same.

It's wonderful to take this in and draw comfort and confidence through it.

He keeps His promise. He loves me. This is wonderful.
*
Believing (not just knowing) these truths has been born out of the reality that my feelings aren't so awesome at times, and I found myself telling the Lord, I don't feel close to You. I felt close to You when...and the answer is often rooted in a time when I was accomplishing more of my spiritual checklist. It's occurred to me that it was checking off those boxes and the feeling that came with it that I equated with closeness to Jesus.

But Hello! HE.IS.ALWAYS.NEAR.

Emmanuel. God with ME.

Nothing I think, feel, or experience diminishes or negates His nearness. Hmm, that sounds familiar...

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 8: 38-39 {we could add all sorts of things to this list, yes? performance, feelings, my super-Christian checklist, other people...}

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Psalm 23:4

Late afternoon grocery trips are traumatizing, I'm thinking. It was for me, at least - a rare occurrence: I took all the kids with me for a week's worth of grocery shopping. Eek. Not again anytime soon. (The kids were not bad - it's just a nightmare to move a pod of 8 people through a crowded grocery during the witching hour....)

 The feet! Oh, those sweet feet!

 She had two "eyebrows," but ate one before I could snap a photo. 

 Loving this: on the floor beside my desk, trying to allow CJ to have a bit of quiet downtime during the homeschool day without quite crossing over to the full-blown nap, an idea to which she's quite averse.

 Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers....and stuck the stickers onto BH's cute little head!

 Oh, whoops! I guess someone did cross over to a full-blown nap after all - on the living room floor.

 It's exhausting being a 4th grader, for real.

 We had a lovely visit from my mom last week!

Holding on to daddy...

He is Here!

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel," which means, "God with us." 

Matthew 1:22-23

A Happy Christmas to you! 

May your heart be comforted and blessed by the great Advent Reality that Jesus is not only God with us...

He is God With Me. 

He is God With You.

All praise and thanks to Jesus!

Fed by His Good Word

Sometimes there's so much to say that you don't know what to say...

Our days have been filled with highs and lows. Very filled, indeed.

God's Word is a refreshing encouragement in it all.

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 1:6

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. 

Philippians 1:27

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.

Philippians 2:13

 I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Philippians 3:12

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

These scriptures helped me keep a right perspective this past week. God encouraged my heart through His Word.

And looking back at the Field of Cosmos, exploding with color, makes me happy, too.

A few extra pretties in the field that day...

(Of course, BB isn't pretty. He's the best-looking man ever. Baby H is quite handsome too, but he was hiding out in his stroller nearby when the kind lady offered to take a picture of all of us.

Oh, and this was the same day that BB and the kids went wading at a nearby state park in 100 degree weather while I sat in the shade with Baby.)

He's Always Working on My Heart

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Tiny flowers on a pretty plant given to me by my friend since I came to stay at the hospital

So. I've had an increasing burden and desire to be really frank about my own heart and about what God is doing through all this uncertainty.

My disclaimer at the beginning is this: I am very much still processing and understanding what God is teaching me, so I don't write this out of Hey, look what I learned! I've arrived! Far from it. Writing and discussing are how my understanding deepens, so here goes...

Oh, a second disclaimer: this may be another too much information post for some, because I will be pretty open about the physical things that have become a spiritual battleground.

It has been three weeks since I experienced the alarming bleeding and subsequent 7 hours of labor. Once the dust settled, it occurred to me how terrified I was during the whole thing. I know that fear is a normal response in that kind of situation, but as I pondered the whole thing, I was really bothered by my own lack of peace during the ordeal.

If I believe that God is good and sovereign and that He loves me and that my life's purpose is to shine for His glory...and if I believe that He is Emmanuel, God With Me, then why the terror and non-existent peace?

I don't know if I can answer the why of all that right now, and it may not be important anyway.

But Jesus has made something very clear to me since that day, really since all this started a month ago. It has taken days and days to see more clearly, very much like a fog slowly lifting from my mind and heart.

BB has spoiled me with flowers twice now - each bunch lasting quite a long time. Smart guy: he's been buying them at Costco - lotsa flowers for not lotsa money! What a blessing he is, and the flowers cheer me!

What has He made clear? He's showing me that, true to His nature, He has allowed all this strange uncertainty so that I will become more like Jesus, and so that I will grow into a person who really, truly wants God to be glorified more than I want my own will, comfort, and happiness. I'm so not that person yet.

Here's the part that may be too much information for some, but it's part of what He's doing, so I'll take that chance. After The Big Scare as we call it now, it took a few days for everything to settle down - our hearts, bodies, and minds. Even as my body calmed into a non-emergency state, I began to experience something in addition to the daily loss of amniotic fluid: the loss of a little blood almost every day.

Now while this tends to FREAK ME OUT (Did I just do that in all caps? Did I just SCREAM that?!), I know am in good, skilled hands here at my hospital-home, and it does NOT freak them out. Apparently, what I'm dealing with falls within normal - for my abnormal situation, that is!

My point in sharing the, ahem, gory details is to say that God has used those details in His sanctifying work on my heart. Seeing blood is scary. And each time I see it I either become really afraid, or, am very tempted to become really afraid, to panic. But, as the days have gone by (oh, I praise Him for this, and am thankful for the prayers of His people!), I feel His peace settling on me. This is nothing less than His patient, good grace; Him unwilling to leave me to myself. Jesus planning these difficulties into my life so that I might learn trust, patience, submission, praise, and peace.

These were the flowers we gave the big four girls after their theatre camp performances; you know I can't not take pictures of flowers!

Upon seeing The Thing That Scares Me (it's an intermittent, random Thing), the Spirit has strengthened me to be able to start saying Thank you, wise God for this Thing. Your wisdom is higher; Your plans are better. If you are more glorified through this unnerving Thing continuing, then so be it. I praise You for your goodness and good plans. And, Lord, please let this bleeding go away, if it is Your will.

Yes, learning and relearning and unlearning then learning again how to really, truly say Not my will, but Yours be done...that is yet another lesson for me in this pregnancy adventure God has given us.

So, as maddening as it has been on some days, Jesus has given me many opportunities to lay this fear in His Hands. It has seriously felt like learning to ride a bike or something. I keep falling off, and NO, I do NOT want to get back on, but He gives me the opportunity, which at first glance just looks like a Scary Situation, to try again at resting in Him when things are frightening.

I listened to a great John Piper sermon on Sunday, since obviously I'm not making it out to a real church service or a live sermon these days. He taught from John 7. In verse 24, Jesus quite bluntly chides His opponents, Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.It's easy and natural to judge by appearances. What are you facing right now that seems to be nothing but bad? Or scary? The beautiful thing is that God has specific purpose designed into the bad, the scary, and the uncertain. He will give us grace to begin seeing His goodness in the afflictions; to recognize the ways He's molding us into Christ's image, bringing glory to Himself.

My prayer for myself and for you today is this: Lord, make us people who really, truly want You glorified above all else. Grow us into people who give up self-exaltation and self-satisfaction. We are so weak - strengthen us to say truthfully that we want Your will to be done above our own. How we need Your help!

You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for You created all things,

and by Your will they were created

and have their being.

Revelation 4:11 

Who Knew Hospital Beds Were So Much Fun?

Kind friends of ours went out of their way this week to ferry our big girls to the hospital in groups of two. I had a long visit with just EG and MK on Monday night and on Wednesday night, I got to hang out with AH and LC for several hours!

Praise God for all His goodness! Praise Him for His kindness and the loving hearts of our church family and family-family. We are amazed and grateful for the ways He is taking care of us all through His people.

So LC and AH got a bit restless at one point in our visit and found the hospital bed to be a fabulous source of entertainment. I mean it has buttons! It goes up and down! It does all kinds of amusement-park-fun-things! I finally had to put a stop to the experimentation. But they were cracking up and it makes me smile to see these pictures.

That night, we ate our suppers together. We watched a little bit of tv together. We all love a good food show! And the three of us played a few games. It was good!

Baby's still apparently happy staying unborn. We're praising God for this. Learning to praise God for the easy and the hard, the sure and the uncertain, the good and the "bad."

The doctor is a bit surprised to see things continue on like they are and to have had labor stop twice. To God be the glory.

I've dived into 2 Corinthians after finishing up Hebrews. I had to read 2 Corinthians chapter 1 for three days in a row, to make sure I was getting it. Lots of great stuff there! Encouraging!

For instance Paul tells us there in that first chapter that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort. That's verse 3. And that's a lot to take in, just that little bit, pondering the meaning of each phrase describing God.

Paul continues, Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God (v4).

I love that it's all about blessing others in the end, and that one of the many reasons God allows trials and struggles is so that we can one day minister to someone facing similar circumstances, and we can proclaim God's faithfulness and sovereignty and goodness.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Grace Laced Mondays: Panic, & The Right Words

Sometimes one of the children will hit me with a question that makes me panic a bit. The panic can be for a few different reasons -

1) I know there's no real answer or way that I can fix their problem/hurt/concern and as their mom, I really do want to make it all better. Not being able to makes me feel helpless (which is making me learn to turn to Jesus more and more, because He's not helpless. He IS my Help.)

2) I do know the answer, but it's complicated or difficult or time consuming

3) I'm super tired and it feels like just one more thing.

One day last week - it was one of our homeschool days - EG hit me with a tough one about midday. This was after a busy morning of training and discipline and helping the girls relate to one another properly. I'd gone upstairs to check her progress on a book report project she's doing for school.

Somehow our conversation turned to her habit of nail biting. She expressed her great frustration over having been unable so far to leave her nails alone. When I began to remind her to go to the Lord with the struggle, it unleashed a torrent of words and emotions.

I've prayed and prayed and prayed about it and asked Him for help, she cried angrily, and He's not answering, so I'm not going to ask Him anymore!!

Oh. Insert internal panic here, due to a combination of the above listed Reasons for Panic.

Breathe. Pray. Ask God for His words for her through me. Be patient. She needs this counsel just as much as the other child needed what turned out to be exhausting confrontation an hour ago. Being tired from that does not give me a pass to skip this one's need. Nor am I left without Help, Wisdom, or Strength. Breathe.

My child's mad at God. And for reasons I can understand; reasons I've faced myself. I've been mad at God before when I didn't get a response from the Lord regarding requests or questions I'd laid before Him. What do I say to her?

But then I knew what to say. God put it in my mind and in my mouth.

What if God is delaying His yes so that He'll receive more glory, honey?


What if He will receive more glory by waiting to answer your cries for help?


Could it be that your faith will grow more if you aren't granted your yes immediately?


Perhaps Jesus might reveal Himself to you in more ways, in new ways, because you had to wait longer than you desired.

Then I told her about one of several situations in which I've prayed and cried out to God passionately, faithfully, desperately, only to receive no answer. I've talked here some about CA's 2 years of insomnia. During that time I begged God to change things, to heal CA, to help us understand why she could not stay asleep. My God did not grant my request for her healing, nor did He help me understand why she could not sleep. I went through quite the angry phase over this and I'd say things to Him like How could it be a good thing for me to never sleep? How could this be okay? How can it be alright for me to have short term memory problems due to this? I was pretty mad. Not saying it was right. Just keeping it real.

But. God is so good, patient. Ever the loving Father, He does not leave us to ourselves. Very slowly but surely, God transformed my whiny and demanding heart into one that began to trust Him and His sovereign Insomnia Plan for my life and to thank Him for His goodness in the sleeplessness. And now, guess what? Here I sit, glorifying Him for changing my heart and mind more into Christ's image, which wouldn't have happened without the delay in His answer. Conforming my heart to the image of His Son was more important to the Lord than providing me with a quick and comfortable yes. And He is glorified.

It makes me think about the way that Jesus delayed going to Lazarus when he lay sick and dying. He didn't hurry to Lazarus' side because it wasn't best. In John 11:4, Jesus said that the illness itself was happening so that God would be glorified, and Jesus also. Then in verse 14, Christ tells the disciples that Lazarus has died, and for your sakes, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. The delay was good. Was best! Incomprehensible for little human hearts and minds, but isn't God's wisdom so much higher than our itty-bitty understanding?! Hard to wrap our hearts around, yes. Give us faith to believe, Lord!

I talked to EG a bit more then about thanksgiving being a choice at those times. I reminded her how much God loves her and warned her not to believe the lie that He is not listening or that He doesn't care.

After this, I prayed with her and for her.

And I've been praying more earnestly for her healing from the nail biting and her growth in Jesus.

She seemed calmed after all this. Thank God for His perfect counsel. I praise Him for His help, for the words to say!

Then I gathered them all up downstairs and set a box of surprise cupcakes in front of them to share. It was a rather unorthodox choice for me (and this right at lunchtime!), but it sure did brighten some faces as we split the cakes up and took turns trying the different kinds.

Ah, grace. Grace is the fact that...

If any of you lacks wisdom, He should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5

Amen!
(photos: in the spring and summer, there's a shaft of evening sunlight that barges happily into my kitchen each day. I welcome it by taking photos of almost everything drenched in sunny brightness. Bok choy remnants, asparagus spears, and butter - everything looks twice as lovely in the sunshine, yes?)

*Oh, and CA? Around 2 years old, her sleep problems resolved. God's yes came right on time.

Muse

...but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching...Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.

I Timothy 4:12-13, 15

I've been musing over the above scriptures this week, trying to return to my Bible and reread them now and then during the day. Those simple commands, Be diligent in these matters and, give yourself wholly to them, reverberate in my mind and become prayers, deeper thoughts. In what ways can I give myself entirely to All That Matters? Hmmm...don't have the answer yet, but I'm pondering these things.

The photo is my Project 52 offering this week. 

Theme: Muse.

I tried a few ideas and arrangements. The first was with my Bible open to 2 Timothy 3:16, which is the all scripture is God-breathed passage. God's Word inspires me, directs me, teaches me.

But the photos didn't capture all that.

So turned to my journal. I love to write...just to let thoughts flow out onto paper. It's the perfect place to muse, of course. I've filled dozens and dozens over the years. Often, they are part of my time with the Lord, as I have always had a thing for scribbling down verses that catch my attention...something about writing them down makes them more real, more permanent for me.

I hope you are having a pleasant week. Baby, it's cold outside here! Crazy, crazy cold! My big girls' school is canceled tomorrow, because the indoor sprinkler system at their school froze up, and more blackouts are expected. We will cozy up here. And do schoolwork. And clean the schoolroom.

One Way to Really Feed Your Family

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly...Colossians 3:16

A few years ago, inspired by the audio version of Arnold Pent's Ten Peas in a Pod, we began moving toward regular Bible reading as a family. I was further spurred on in this by Ann Voskamp's (of A Holy Experience) description of her family's commitment to scripture ingestion together.

Slowly but surely, we started incorporating Bible reading into our mealtimes. For us this is the best option for now, because we have a captive audience, and we are all together around the table, and though chaos is often still a problem, it seems that it is reduced when we're still around the meal.

This new habit of Eating Real Food wasn't easy at first. It felt clunky and time consuming, but it was clear that God desired us to do this, and we were confident of the fruit it would yield over time. In the beginning, it was mostly just us reading to them, but now the older ones ask to read, and little by little we're beginning to have those neat discussions we all desire as Christ-following parents!

These days, this is what our Bible-eating routine looks like:

Breakfast = a chapter from the Old Testament (right now we are in Daniel). Once through the Old Testament, start back over again.

Lunch = a chapter from Psalms or Proverbs (this is for lunches when we are all together, which isn't always; the goal is to cycle through these two books repeatedly, and skipping them as part of the morning Old Testament readings; right now we are in Proverbs)

Supper = a chapter from the New Testament (we just finished Revelation and have come back around to Matthew, and plan to read the New Testament straight through again).

I know we have read through the Bible at least once this way, and maybe almost twice. It has taken a while to settle into a method. I wasn't doing well with charts or trying to write it down. It really works best for us to divide it as described above.

There are times we forget. And we still struggle on out of town trips with consistency. But what a powerful thing, to be washed 2-3 times a day, as a family, with God's holy, good, perfect Word! Oh, and we usually do the reading toward the end of the meal. We bought inexpensive Bibles for everyone, with the goal of each person reading from her own, in time.

Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6,

and

Jesus answered, It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4

I hope you are encouraged about this way of feeding your family! I love knowing that our souls and bodies are being nourished at every meal we share.

And, in keeping with the theme of feeding our hearts and minds, check this out. I had the privilege of writing a guest post on my friend Ruth's blog, Gracelaced, in celebration of her 500th post!

Children's Bible Study Resource

Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 11:19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19

Jesus' call to make disciples begins for us in the home. It is certainly not limited to the home, but our own domain is the place to start. God must woo our children to Himself and give them repentant, believing hearts, but He's also given us the job of shepherding them.

One practical aspect of this responsibility is teaching our kids how to study God's Word for themselves, and to realize that feasting on the truth of the Bible needs to be a daily activity the same way eating food each day is a necessary part of keeping our bodies healthy.

I believe God's Word is full of power. He spoke it, after all! Therefore, I don't see much need for the entertainment factor when it comes to training children to read and study the Bible. What I mean is that quite often Bible materials or studies aimed at the younger set are either dumbed down, assuming that children cannot digest Scripture in its raw form, if you will, or they are made so splashy and gamelike that the meaty goodness of the Word doesn't shine through.

Some of the time, the big girls just read through a book of the Bible a chapter at a time. Often, one of us sits down with them to do this, so that we can try to guide and stir their thinking based on what they've read. Other times, we've used a lot of Kay Arthur's Bible studies for kids, which are a little cartoony, but they also expect a good bit from the child-student - scripture reading, digging, thinking, answering questions, as well as putting a great emphasis on the authority of Scripture.

But recently, when both of the big girls finished their current Kay Arthur books, God showed me a neat new-to-us resource for children's Bible study. It comes in lapbook form from In the Hands of a Child. Lapbooks are an interesting, hands-on project, usually requiring only file folders and printer paper. The project information must be purchased, downloaded, and printed.

I bought the Judges/Ruth Project Pack, and thought we'd try it out. I am impressed. My oldest 2 (ages 9.5 and 8) can mostly handle the project-y aspects of the lapbook work (mostly cutting, stapling, gluing), but what I love is that the hands-on element of it does not overshadow the point: digging into God's Word! The girls read a chapter a day of Judges, and each day they write a summary of their reading on little cut-outs, which will be stacked into a "book" once they've finished Judges. This "book" will then be glued into their lapbook. Every few chapters in Judges, there is a small project to encourage deeper thought.

For instance, the chapter on Gideon included extra questions designed to make the kids aware of how they see themselves, how God sees them, and how they feel about this. Gideon thought of himself as weak, as nothing, but God intended to use him for mighty purposes in the land of Israel. This mini-project sparked some great conversations with EG and MK!

The Spirit used it to help me urge Elizabeth to know what the Bible says God thinks of her, and it led into a sweet and quiet sharing/clarifying of the gospel with MK!

I did not intend to be so long-winded about this. I hope it is helpful, though. Either way, I challenge you to prayerfully and diligently seek to shepherd your children, pointing them to Jesus at every turn!
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Yesterday, we got to get away for the day...

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Many more mercies to add when I have more time!