This Child of Mine

We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.  Psalm 78:3


Emily, this child of mine.  She's about to flee the nest.  My first thought is selfish -- Am I ready for her to go?  But the next thought frightens me.  Did I teach her all she needs to know?   Do all mothers have these thoughts running through their head when graduation is looming? 

Emily, this child of mine.   She knows how to do all the domestic chores to take care of a home.  She knows (and proved it this week by tackling it all) how to care for laundry.  She can even cook enough that I don't need to worry she'll starve. Got that all covered.

Emily, this child of mine.  She's kind, unselfish, obedient.  She loves God with all her heart and is bold in her beliefs and stand. 

What bothers me is my life.  Has my life been the right influence for her?

Have I modeled forgiveness so she will forgive?
Have I cared about "the least of these" so Emily will care when others are mistreated?
Have I been willing to be used of God, making it easy for Emily to say yes when necessary?
Does my life reflect God and His glory, becoming more and more like Him so Emily will hunger for His presence in her own life.

Those kinds of things I wonder. And whisper a prayer over and over that I got it right for Emily, this child of mine.

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Raising Children to Adore God



From the author of Worship--A Way of Life comes this inspirational, biblical resource for every parent. Whether you have preschoolers or children in college, you will find the creative tools and strategies you need to revive worship in your home. Patrick Kavanaugh will show you how to bring your family into God's presence during the daily routine of life. Don't sit idly by and hope your children will develop a passion for God. Take them beyond the Sunday morning church service and show them how to worship seven days a week. Inspire them to adore God privately as well as corporately, and help them embrace a victorious Christian lifestyle that won't end when they walk out your door.

Lamp Unto my Feet

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It's words will I hide in my heart that I might not sin against thee." 
~The Bible

"I'm gonna hide God's Word inside my heart
                          and learn each word from   memory --

 I'm gonna hide God's Word inside my heart
                          until each word's a part of me!"

 

These words are from the chorus my parents taught me when I was a little girl. Of course it sounded more like "...each word f-wom mem-oar-wee..." since "R" was extremely difficult for me at that time! But it doesn't really matter how you would pronounce the words - they still can convict me. His (God's) Word needs to be a part of me. For me, it's easy to know what the Scripture says, but totally another to actually take it to heart and lean upon it.

In 2008, I  began helping my boys memorize Scripture. When they completed a verse they  placed a sticker beside the reference I jotted down on construction paper. (Somewhere along the way I became slack and we stopped.)


 Fast forward to 2010. Their Sunday School teacher had sent a laminated book mark which had Scripture printed on it. We have memorized some of those. Sometimes it's fun to do a theme. Christmas? Memorize about the birth of Christ. Valentine's Day? Memorize about love. (Or you could turn it into a craft like we did (here)  and just familiarized ourselves with 1 Corinthians 13.) 

Easter? Jesus' death and resurrection or John 3:16. ...and so on and so on.
We put a little funky twist on memorizing around here. Since I grew up in Leonard Sankey's church, I learned to love tying a song to the theme of a particular verse. (His song-tagging was done with testimonies during a service.)

Example

Verse:
Psalm 36:7 "How excellent is thy loving kindness, oh God;
therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wing."

Chorus:
"Under His wings, under His wings -
 Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings, my soul shall abide -
 Safely abide forever." (Add motions, too.)


 I have added a clip of my children saying verses they have memorized to give you an idea of how we go through the Scriptures.

Do you think they can remember these verses later on in life? Certainly! I remember hearing about Jimmy (a family friend who had attended an ACE school where he memorized a Scripture for each PACE and also memorized 12 verses or so each month from a section of Scripture)... He graduated, married, and pursued his goals, only to encounter some very difficult circumstances; on one occasion while sharing his heart with his mother, and he told her what an encouragement those many verses of God's Word he had hidden in his heart during those school days had been to him.


Let me leave you with this book: Discipleship in the Home.  Excellent Scriptures in the back of the book just waiting to be memorized!

God will honor your time and sacrifice in memorizing His Word and teaching your children, grandchildren or whomever you come in contact with...Just make sure you put those words into practice! Let His Words comfort you, call you closer to Him, and cultivate a yearning to learn more. Oh, that they will be your lamp and light to guide you until His faithful return! That is my desire - will you let it be yours as well? Now get memorizing!

This post is linked to:

Boost My Blog Fridays
Follow Me Friday

Home Grown Families

Sisters-in-Christ

In those moments when we open ourselves up to each other in exchanges of laughter, stories and perspectives we have vthe opportunity to grow close and form lasting bonds.  ~Women of Faith





When we moved from Bedford ten years ago, we left behind a group of people we had worshipped with for nineteen years.  It can be difficult to join a fellowship when you only know one or two families.  Ten years makes a big difference, and now I can't imagine life without my dear sisters-in-Christ. 

Welcome letter and lasagna instructions

We attended our church one time before we moved here.  The people didn't know us and we didn't know them.  But they began sheltering us immediately.  DeLynda and her family were at a youth camp during our first days here but made us a heart-warming (and stomach-filling) gift on moving day.  She made lasagna before leaving town.  Good lasagna!  She froze it and attached a note so we'd know how long to cook it.

Each of the sisters I worship with have hearts of love.  Are they perfect?  No.  But then, how could I with my imperfections expect them to be?  My sisters have a heart for God.  And tonight I joined them for breakfast (yes, breakfast!) and fellowship.  

Eleanor, Carisa and DeLynda

Carisa is a wonder with food and organization.  She's so creative--she made the newsletter just for us, complete with a word search comprised of names of all the women of the church.  So much good food.  Melanie took a layered dish: Whipped cream on bottom, french vanilla granola, then fresh blueberries and raspberries.  Besides being beautiful, it was delicious.  I took Cherry Sweet Rolls (recipe below). Carisa even made sure JoAnn and I had organic syrup--how sweet is that? 

We were asked to bring our favorite cup.  I took my china mug my mother made.  Melanie took the love mug Shawn got her for Valentine's Day.   If you've never had white mango peach tea you should--it's now my second favorite.  (Blueberry is still #1.) Unless you count Tazo but that's in a category all of its own. 

Melanie with her love mug

Eleanor's decorating is always beautiful and tonight was no exception.  When I walked into the room I could smell coffee.  So awesome.  There were coffee beans down the center of the tables with  hazelnut candles and tiny coffee related plaques on easels.  The food table was gorgeous, too.  Of course the warm shades of brown, rust and gold are my favorites. 

I hope you've enjoyed experiencing our fun.  Maybe you can get some ideas to use at your own women's meeting.  Most of all, I hope you can feel the love we have for each other, practical love as we planned meals for one of our sisters who had two surgeries recently. Joyful love as we laughed and shared about life.  And most of all, God's love which is the glue that joins our hearts and urges us to be the best sisters that we can be.

I won one of the door prizes--Could there be a better prize?

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Sweet Cherry Rolls

1 cup warm water

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp salt

4 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp. yeast

Put the ingredients in your bread machine in order given.  Use dough setting.  When dough is ready, make 20 balls and place on baking sheets.  Press each ball firmly in middle and fill with cherry pie filling (I use no sugar added)  Allow to rise 45 minutes and bake at 350 degrees 17 minutes.  Drizzle with glaze.

This post linked to:
Sweets for a Saturday
Buzz On By Thursday
Having Fun Blog Hop
Welcome Wednesday
Feeding Four
Wandering Wednesday
Follow Me Wednesday