What Scriptures Should Your Children Memorize?

As I've written about here in the past, scripture memorization is an important part of the faith life of our family. The way that has looked has changed over the years... recently our younger kids joined an Awana club and they are flying through new verses! Like everything in a family, flexibility and change are part of the package, but we keep our core priorities.

Laying the foundation of Scripture memorization when your children are young will help them develop a habit that will bless them for their whole lives. There are many ways to creatively encourage children to memorize scripture, even programs that they can join. But really the only “program” necessary is a willing parent with a bible.

Once you have decide that you want to develop this habit in your children, how do you choose which scripture to teach? read more

I've pulled together a few resources to help parents select verses for kids to memorize (and grown ups too!) and listed them at Do Not Depart.  Click here to read the whole post "Choosing Scripture for Children to Memorize."

 

Writing a Book = Open Heart Surgery {gulp}

I am writing a book.

I have dreamed of writing books. I have dreamed of having written books.

I have imagined that I could write a book that could capture all the beauty that my heart yearns to express.

But I have not actually written a book.

I am writing a book.

Writing a book is... revealing.

The one thing that all finished books have in common? They are finished. Completed. The author kept going and going and going and <pant pant> going... then one day found closure and moved on from a dreamily perfect ideal to release it to the winds of the world.

Writing a book has revealed to me that all the going takes a very long time. And that finishing is not for the faint of heart.

It has shown me that I have even more left to learn than I thought. About writing... about my topic... about myself.

It has cast a spotlight on my fears... there are times when I think about this book and I feel like the whole world is a blinding beam silhouetting all my deepest anxieties... all the tender parts of me exposed to the heartless throngs.

Oh there are so many reasons not to write this book. The lack of a long string of letters after my name (credentials!); the bookshelves that need organizing; the baby goats to watch; the possibility that maybe just maybe I am not smart enough or talented enough to pull it off; the cookies to bake; the laundry that needs folding; the wrenching pain in my soul when I realize that what I am writing about is the hardest thing in the world to live but I must try in my every waking moment to live it; the deep knowledge that I do in fact fail to live it every waking moment...

... but...

I am writing a book.

I am relying on God's grace. I say this with all my heart: if this book is ever finished and published... if you ever see a copy of it that is not an email from me of some word document of a chapter (ha!)...  yes, if there ever is an actual book... this is why:

For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves
- 2 Corinthians 4:5-7

Not me. If this crazy thing ever comes to completion... no, when this crazy, gloriously beautiful journey comes to completion, it will be because of Him. I am not fit for the task. I am out of my comfort zone. Way way way out of my comfort zone.

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
- 2 Corinthians 12:10

Yes, I'm relying on His grace as I slowly stitch words together. Lord, be glorified!

{Author friends: it would bless me greatly to learn your favorite tip for keeping head down as you soldier onward with your writing projects. Would you tell me in the comments? I have learned so much from other writers! My burning question right now... is it just me and my pace or does writing a book really take forrrrrreeeeevvvvver?}
 
 photo credit

Do You Feel Just Ordinary?

Do you ever feel too ordinary to be used by God? Too busy cleaning up messes and bandaging knees to be important in the kingdom?

The alarm rings. You get out of bed, like every day, and stumble to the kitchen. Your hair is lopsided as you start water for tea, rustle around in the fridge for a bite to eat. You were tired last night and left crumbs, so you grab a cloth to wipe down the counter while the water boils. As you reach for the sink faucet, your bare foot kicks the pile you swept after dinner but forgot to sweep into the dustpan. You mentally add things to your to-do list for the day.

By the time you settle with your bible to snatch a moment with God, you feel the weight of the ordinary bending you down.

You and I are steeped in the ordinary aren’t we? Swimming in the mundane details of daily life. Yet when I crack my bible open, the extraordinary… the supernatural… flies off the page and into my heart. Do you feel it too?

To read the rest of my post today at Do Not Depart, click here...

YOU choose - get the good in your head

Do you ever feel like your brain belongs to someone else?

You know what is right and what you want, yet you keep thinking about the opposite?

Like... you know you want to feel well and not eat things that make you sick, but you just think and think and think about eating sugar.

Or you know that your friend really loves you but you can't stop thinking about the thing she said that hurt your feelings.

How about this - you tell all the other moms you know not be so hard on themselves about how hard it is to keep up with the house, but deep inside you are sure you are a horrible human being because YOU can't keep up?

It's ridiculous.

All that stinkin' thinkin' gets you nothing and nowhere, but it sure delights the enemy of your soul.

As a stinkin' thinker myself, I'm not exactly in a position to preach, except for I'm going to preach, sisters!

Look, what a way to distract, right? I mean, you could be thinking about an absolutely gorgeous plate of life-sustaining food, but you're distracted by that sugar. You are feeling sorry for yourself because you can't/shouldn't/whatever and are completely ignoring the fact that GOOD GRIEF you are opulently wealthy and can eat just about anything you want and it can all be good for you! What a gift!

Be thankful.

Or that friend? The one who loves you and oops isn't perfect? Did you ever say anything that came out differently from how you meant it? Or maybe you meant it and were just being thoughtless?

Forgive.

And your house... oh your house. Ugh. Houses are just, just... endless. An endless experiment proving entropy.

When you are lying on your deathbed, will you be saying, "If only I had spent more time cleaning my house!"? I think not.

Let it go.

Can we be more intentional about our thinking? How about this (the girlie version of Philippians 4:8)...

SISTERS!

Whatever is
true
honorable
right
pure
lovely
of good repute
excellent
worthy of praise

dwell
on
these
things.

Dwell, sisters.

Live there. Live in the true. Live in the lovely.

Live there in your mind. Find the beauty, choose the pure, look toward what is right and good.

You choose it, girlfriend, only you. You want power? You and only you have power over what you think about.

If you feel like you can't control the thoughts? Get your head right into the good book. Crack that bible. Read. Read quiet, read loud, just read. Get the good in your head.

Get your thoughts off yourself. Get them onto God.

Seek His face.

Trust me, when you are looking in the face of Jesus all that other mess? Fades away.

Focus. Use the power you have to choose where your thought life goes. Go to the light, friends.