Family Time Training

My husband and I had been wanting to implement some type of formal biblical education in our home for quite some time. However, devotions and/or family worship were not modeled for us growing up and we had no idea what it was supposed to look like. We had tried a few different things but nothing felt quite right and engaged the kids at the right level. Then, we had the opportunity to attend a wonderful parenting conference at our church where we learned of Family Time Training. Their mission is to provide families with tools and resources to have family worship time in the home. The worship lessons are designed to engage and impact the children in a fun way so they will learn and retain the knowledge. At the conference, we got to see Kirk Weaver (founder) stand on stage and literally explain step by step how his family does family worship time. He also explained some of the intricacies, such as child's personality/learning style and dos/don'ts for expectations from children. He even showed a video of a family having Family Time. Even though every one's worship time doesn't have to look the same it was such a blessing to see how someone does it and then adapt it to our family's style. We purchased a couple of the preschool workbooks and began right away!

Now, I want to share what our Family Time looks like:
I am responsible for picking out the lessons and gathering everything needed. I also ensure that my husband knows which lesson we are doing that week so he can familiarize himself before the day of. I also plan a simple dinner for the evening of so we can focus on Family Time instead of letting dinner and cleaning bog us down.

The day of, I hype it up to the kids (hey, guess what? we are having family time tonight). When we first started I explained to them exactly what we were going to do. After just a couple of weeks the older two became very familiar with the routine. (Our kids are 4, 2.5, and 9 mos)

We eat dinner and remind the kids it is Family Time night and we all eagerly clean the kitchen and dining room

We play our family's theme song (Brandon Heath, Give Me Your Eyes), which the kids love to dance to. No matter where they are in the house they come running...

After the song we all go sit at the dining room table (we mix it up sometimes too but mostly we are at the dining room table)
***Daddy leads everything from here on out and I just help if I need to***
Daddy prays and sometimes the kids will want to pray too
We talk about what we learned last week
Daddy discusses the lesson and asks questions to engage the kids
Daddy leads the activity allowing the kids to be as hands on as possible
We wrap it up pretty quickly because attention span times are fairly short...

I really believe that the "trick" to this is that in addition to the Family Time sessions, we have to apply those lessons in everyday life. As the week goes on and a situation arises where a lesson can be applied we can say, "hey, remember what we learned at Family Time?" and that immediately opens the door in a positive way and makes the information really come alive.

In a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to make vital connections with our kids, I am so thankful that this is another avenue to make those bonds. We are getting started while they are young but even if your kids are older and you have not started having worship time inside your home, I would encourage you to start. It is never too late and it really doesn't matter what it looks like. I just hope that a glimpse into our worship time gives you some inspiration to start your own!

Glory to God, Forever!

Genesis 1:1-2 and Chills

I like to try to get out of bed before my kids so I can have some very still, quite time with the Lord in the morning. I haven't been doing this lately because of sleep deprivation. However, it is a discipline I hope to return to soon. A couple of years ago I was awake pretty early it was very still, very dark, and very quite. I listened to a few worship songs through my headphones and then opened my bible. I was at the beginning because I was starting a "through the bible" reading plan. I didn't get very far before I was floored. Genesis 1:2 says,

"Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

I have read that verse before. This time though, it gave me chills (in a good way). Just meditating on that and thinking about the fact that the earth was a whole lot of nothingness (besides water) and blackness and there was God, his spirit "hovering." What an awesome picture of God as creator! I am so humbled to serve the God of the universe in His precious son's name, Jesus Christ.

Next Generation Women's Mentoring

I am embarking on a new adventure beginning in a week and a half. It is called "Next Generation Women's Mentoring" where I will be under the mentor-ship of a woman who is a little further along in life and has an established, mature relationship with Christ. This ministry was put into place at my church in order to fulfill Titus 2:3-5, which says:

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

I can't even put into words how excited I am about this. Since I was pregnant with Braedon, it has been my prayer that God will continue to teach me how build a Christ-centered home, glorify Him with my marriage, and point my children to Him. God has been faithful time and time again in providing people and resources for me to glean wisdom from. Now, thank you again, God for this wonderful opportunity to have a structured mentor relationship and the chance to grow some more in this area. The mentoring program will last for ten months and we will read a book a month and have memory verses. We will meet as a group (there are 5 mentorees in my group) once a month and will have at least one weekend retreat. Did I mention how excited I was about this? I am soo super excited. The other thing that I love about it is that it is pretty structured and the church is taking it very seriously. I have to sign a covenant stating that I will complete my reading and assignments and that I will be on time for events. My husband has to sign a statement of support saying that he understands that this will take away time from our family and that he will support me in this allowing me the time commitment. I just think it is so awesome that this is being taken so seriously because learning the Word of God, loving my husband, and loving my children are the top three priorities that God has called me to. Praise Him that He not only called me to this but he is also equipping me with the knowledge I need to fulfill the calling!

Hebrews 4:12

This is a great verse that speaks to the major power and importance of the word of God.

The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joint and marrow; it judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart.

When thinking about just how powerful something has to be to divide soul and spirit, I ended up looking both of those words up to see their definitions. From a definition standpoint, they can hardly be separated. From a materiality standpoint, they also can hardly be separated since they are both immaterial. That to me says POWER!

The bible is so often taken out of context and/or "judged" sometimes but what this verse is saying is that the word of God judges our heart. It is extremely relevant (and powerful) in our current, real-life circumstances and our hearts should be aligned with what it says instead of what we want or don't want it to say. It reminds me of something I heard a couple of years ago and it has stuck with me. Instead of looking at the bible through a "worldly" filter, look at the world through a "biblical" filter.

1 Peter 1:13-15

This is a long and oh how significant passage so we have studied it for two weeks now. "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be self-controlled. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But, just as He who called you is holy, be holy in all you do." To me "prepare your mind for action" means clean out my mind of nonsense things and fill it up with truth, maintain clear focus, pray up, renew myself with the Holy Spirit. Further, I must keep my eye on the prize. Don't be distracted and lose focus to the things of this world. Do not return to my selfish ways of before I became a believer in my precious savior Jesus Christ. Seek Him every minute of every day and stay on the path that He has planned for me. Run everything through the "is this going to bring glory to God" filter just as in Ephesians 4:1. The most significant thing I have discovered about myself on this faith journey with Jesus Christ is that my biggest weakness is my mind so this verse speaks directly to me. I have to be intentional with my thought life and meditate on God's ways instead of just letting my mind wander because inevitably the enemy will try to fill my mind with the wrong ideas and blur my focus. I also must follow 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Therefore, not entertaining any thoughts that are not Godly but take them captive and turn them into truths from God and His Word.

Ephesians 4:1-2

I have not taken time off of my bible study but I also have not been able to blog about it as quickly as I would have liked to. I had notes in my notebook and I just had not been able to sit down and type a blogpost yet. I studied these verses two weeks ago.
"As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you to live a life worthy of your calling. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient;bearing with one another in love." Michelle liked Ephesians 4:3 so well that she wanted to back up to memorize and study the preceding verses. This again was Paul writing to the people of the church in Ephesus and refers he to himself as a "prisoner of the Lord" because he had yet again been persecuted for his faith and was in prison. I think he refers to himself in this way because he wants to make it clear that he is living out his faith in a dramatic way and thus be more credible and influential to the people. "Live a life worthy of the calling that you have received" recognizes that they have received the calling of God to be His people. It is a high and holy calling completely worthy of the dedication of a Godly lifestyle by the believer. I love the way my Believer's Bible Commentary describes this verse, "Our exalted standing in Christ calls for corresponding godly conduct".

I had a really neat opportunity to discuss this some with my father, who was visiting during the week I was studying these verses. I asked him to read them and tell me what he thought they meant. This was a huge step for us in talking about spiritual things because it made only the second or third time in my whole life. He said that, "we don't want to do anything to bring disgrace to our Lord". He also said, "of course this is what you should do but it isn't always very easy". Right on, Dad...I totally agree. We also discussed the issue of how hard it is to change behaviors and lifestyles that are taught when growing up. This is so true and really takes dedication to God and prayerfully asking Him to guide us in His ways instead of falling naturally back in to the old habits or worldly thinking.

Our Book Club-2

Our book club is still going strong. We finished "For Women (and Men) Only" a while ago and just finished "The Five Love Languages" today. I thank God so much that He has compelled us to be proactive in our marriage instead of waiting for crisis to strike. For us, the book club is part of being intentional with our time and fighting for our marriage in a society where the divorce rate is 50% or more. It doesn't have to be a book club but I believe it would benefit all couples to have their "thing" they do to study each other and grow together. We want to be the best we can be for God and He has called us to glorify Him with our marriage and disciple our children. Therefore, we decided to alternate the books we read between marriage books and parenting books. Since we have finished two marriage books so far the next book will be a parenting book. Though I really want George Barna's "Revolutionary Parenting" to be very soon on our list, I will probably suggest that we start with a couple of books we already own but have not read. I know that one of them is "Raising Effective Children In A Defective World" or a John Rosemond book we have that I can't think of the name of. We'll see what my wonderful husband suggests...

Ephesians 4:3

A great friend, sister-in-Christ, and accountability partner has a really neat bible study method. She picks a verse or passage and memorizes it, as well as digging into it to discover the context in which it was written and how to apply it to life today. She needed some accountability in this area so I am calling her on Fridays to discuss the verse of the week and make sure she has memorized it. I actually needed a method of memorizing scripture and love any opportunity to study scripture. Therefore, I decided to do the study with her and memorize the verse.

The verse for the first week is Ephesians 4:3, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace." In meditating on this verse, I am reminded of other verses that talk about being the pursuer of peace: Ps 34:14 and 1 Peter 3:11 which both say, "seek peace and pursue it." Also, there is the passage which talks about how God desires us to resolve any conflict within the body before we even bring Him gifts (Mathew 5:23). Since we are one within the body of Christ any conflict creates division and subtracts from the unity of the body. In reading my bible commentary, I learned that Paul was specifically speaking about the division between the Jews and Gentiles and encouraging the church of Ephesus to put aside this division, seek peace with one another, and become one under God. Although Paul was specifically writing about the division of Jews and Gentiles, I think this verse is also applicable to divisions of the church in modern days such as worship style, ministry methods, fundraising efforts, and management of church resources. These and many others can all be hot topics that can cause conflict and distract us from our main priority, which is to glorify God. These distractions take the focus off of Jesus Christ. A unified body so beautifully represents His power and His love. Please do not let conflict subtract from it!

Revolutionized Prayer Life

I must admit that I was lacking in this area of my relationship with God. When I really analyzed the situation and prayed for God to show me how to strengthen this area I found that I was unmotivated due to being overwhelmed with things to pray for. I would try to pray without ceasing but then realize that I wasn't praying and then feel bad that I had not been praying for people. Then, feel even worse that I had not even been praying for my own husband and kids. This always turned to praying for what was on the Sunday School or my small group prayer list. I was happy that I was praying for other people but I still was not sure about the priority of prayer topics in my life. If I prayed for my husband or my kids before I prayed for someone in my Christian community then I felt like I was being selfish. God was so good for clearing this up rather quickly for me. First, I was reminded of something I learned a couple of years ago that is basically an order of prayer as follows: Praise, Forgiveness, Thankfulness, Supplication. Secondly, as I began reading "The Power of a Praying Wife" I realized the importance of praying for my husband and that it is not selfish. In fact, it is the second most important thing I can do second only to praising God. This makes total sense given the order of priority in my life in general: 1. God, 2. Marriage, 3. Kids. So, my prayer life now looks like this:
1. Praise God for who He is
2. Ask for forgiveness and strength to overcome my sin
3. Thank Him
4. Pray for husband using chapter topics in order from "Power of a Praying Wife" or something else specific depending on circumstances
5. Pray for our kids also depends on circumstances or just in general that God would guide me in leading them to Him and they will fulfill His purpose for their lives
6. Pray from lists from Sunday School and small group or other need I am aware of

My goal is to go through this order of prayer multiple times a day as I try to pray without ceasing. If I do cease then I pick up where I left off as soon as I can. I am so not perfect at this or anything else I do but it is plan, goal, and a work in progress that, so far, has revolutionized my prayer life.