Bible, family activities, Holiday, Memorizing scripture, Uncategorized

A moment to reflect and pause

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I am not Jewish, but I do believe that the Jewish festivals and activities can teach us a lot about our own relationship with God. Now that that is out of the way, I want to share with you a Jewish celebration or maybe tradition that I started doing this year.  It is called Tashlikh.  Tashlikh means to cast away.  The celebration of Tashlikh is done during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Which I realize as you read this is already past; however, I am wanting to get at the heart of this celebration not focus on its actual time frame

Since I am not Jewish I am not going to attempt to tell you how they celebrated this, but I will share how I choose to celebrate Tashlikh.  I asked the ladies from my Bible study to meet me at a pond near our church.  A few weeks before we met at the pond, my co-leader and I gathered some rocks for this day.  We left some blank and painted on a few of them.  We painted words like “faith”, “worthy”, and “loved”.

The day we met at the park I explained to them that Tashlikh is a time when we reflect on what sin or habit or item in our lives the Lord would have us give up or, to use the Tashlikh wording, cast away.  I read to the ladies Micah 7:19 which says “You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depth of the sea.” I told the ladies to grab a blank rock and a marker, go find a place near the pond and ask God what they needed to cast off in their lives.  After they were done discussing that with the Lord, I instructed them to write it on the rock and then throw the rock into the pond.  So we all took our rocks, found our place to be quiet and pray, and then write on and release our rocks.

While I was sitting talking to God about the word on my rock, He said once we release the rock into the pond we can’t get it back.  It would be next to impossible to find it in the pond.  And even if we could find it by the time we did the words would be faded if not completely wiped away by the water and other items in the pond like sand and dirt and other rocks.  Then God said, “This is how I forgive. I get rid of it – never to be able to get it back or find it again. So why can’t you let things go?” I sat there thinking about that.  Why are we so hard on ourselves?  Why do we hold onto things we should just let go of?  And once they are gone, why do we live as though we are still holding on to them?

One of the points of Tashlikh is using your body to represent what is happening in the spiritual realm.  On my rock, I wrote self-doubt and pride.  I struggle with believing I am good enough – that I have something valuable to give to those around me.  Or I think I am so great everyone should align their thinking with mine all the time.  I never seem to find that balance of humility and obedience.  I have spent hours in prayer on this.  And then it became clear.  It isn’t pride to share what God tells me, and it isn’t up to me to make people accept it. That part is on God.  I am called to love others and point them to Jesus with my life.  The end result is up to God.  Whether I am accepted or not is not the issue. It becomes an issue of obedience to Christ and trusting Him with the outcome.  When we write our issue or sin or word on the rock, we are acknowledging our wrong thinking or wrong actions. When we release them, we are giving them to God and asking him to wash over them.   We are living out Micah 7:19 and Psalm 103:12.  God really does remove our sins, and He says He will remember them no more according to Isaiah 43:25.  It’s amazing how a physical action can help us understand something we know to be true but had a hard time fully understanding.

When the ladies were done with their rocks and had thrown them into the pond we all came back together. There is a second part to Tashlikh that is just as important as the first.  Once we gave God our struggle we turn and look for the positive.  I told the ladies to think of something God has done for them this year.  Or think of something God has helped you to overcome.  Basically, now that we got rid of one word, let’s focus on a new word.  For me it was “worthy”.  I have worth and value because God created me and gave His son to take my place so I can have a thriving eternal relationship with Him.  That screams of value and worth.  I also have worth because God has created me with a purpose according to Jeremiah 29:11.

Our words were not all the same and they were not supposed to be.  We are all vastly different with different struggles and different strengths. We got rid of something that was bad, but we are to keep doing something that was good.  We are not supposed to live focused on our sin, but rather live giving glory to God for the good.

So I challenge you to think of something you have been holding onto or a sin you have struggled with for too long. Write it on a rock then throw it into water (somewhere) and let it go. Give to God 100%.  Then think of something good you are doing or an area of weakness you are overcoming – something amazing God has done in you or through you.  Write that on a rock and put it somewhere you will see it often. Remind yourself, God is faithful. He will forgive our mistakes, and He is using us to make a difference for His glory. Go and celebrate Tashlikh.

Click Here for October’s memory verse

 

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Bible, Memorizing scripture

Obedience is best

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For anyone tracking, I am about 2 1/2 weeks behind in this post.  I normally have been posting at least once a month with a monthly memory verse.  Well, this month I was out of town at the beginning of September and I literally haven’t been home this month but for 5 days.  While it is the middle or near end of the month, I have a great verse to share and lots that God has taught me about this verse.

For the most of the month, I was in Israel with my church and family.  First off if you haven’t gone you NEED to go. It’s not scary or dangerous, but life-giving and amazing.  With that out of the way, there were many things that touched my heart while in Israel, but I want to share a continual theme that kept coming up throughout the trip.  God wants our hearts, and with our hearts comes our allegiance, and with our allegiance comes obedience.  You see God wants to be in a relationship with you, where you surrender your ways to His and live in obedience to what He tells you to do.  That may sound scary and sometimes it might be, but the outcome will be worth the risk.

One of our first stops along the way was to the town of Joppa.  Joppa is the city port where Jonah tried to run away from God and got on a boat headed for Tarshish.  God had asked Jonah to go to Nineveh and call out against them for their evil has caught God’s attention. (Jonah 1:1-3) But Jonah knew God and knew God would have compassion on the Ninevehites and not send wrath upon them.  This was a big deal to Jonah because the Ninevehites had invaded Jonah’s land earlier in his life and quite possibly were responsible for the death of his parents.  They were wicked and mean people.  And Jonah didn’t want them to have any of God’s mercy. So He ran away from God.  And we all know how the story goes. Jonah gets thrown overboard, swallowed by a big fish, repents in the fish’s stomach and gets thrown onto dry land.  He finally goes to Nineveh and tells them God will send His wrath if they don’t repent, and the city will be overthrown.  According to Jonah 3:5 the people of Nineveh repent, fast and cry out to God.  Verse 10 of chapter 3 tells us that when God saw what they did, how they turned from their wicked ways, and He relented of the disaster He had for them.

Jonah still wrestled with God’s mercy over his judgement which we all do from time to time, but the point is that Jonah, after going through a lot of trouble (and a fish), decided obedience to God is best.  The end result, the city was saved, even though they didn’t deserve it.  Our God still saves people who don’t deserve it, and for that, we should be grateful.

The city is also home to another person in the Bible – Simon the Tanner.  Peter the disciple is staying in Joppa with Simon the Tanner when Peter has the vision of food coming down from heaven. Acts 10:1-35.  This story is the beginning of Peter’s ministry to the Gentiles.  This place is where Peter encountered God in a vision – where God told Him that God makes all things, including all men, clean.  You may be wondering why that is important.  What God was telling Peter is God wants ALL MEN (and women and children) to be saved, not just those who are of Jewish heritage.  Peter’s obedience to God is why I am a child of God today.  God again wanted to show Himself merciful to all men, and He needed a person to do that.

Through both of these stories, God was glorified and people were saved.  I don’t think that Jonah or Peter knew the impact of their obedience.  I don’t think they could ever imagine the ripple effect that act would have for years to come.

Joppa is a town that reminds us that God wants to partner with us to make His name famous in all the world.  We can either surrender and obey, or we can fear and try to run and hide; but God will still accomplish His will.  When we try to avoid obeying God, we don’t stop His plans but rather bring ourselves, pain, frustration, and fear.

God doesn’t want what we can offer Him. He wants our hearts. Because when He has our hearts, obedience follows naturally, and God’s goodness is spread through the land.

Ok. I realize this is long, but stick with me.  We are no different than Jonah or Peter.  God has called everyone who believes in Him to share that faith with others.  And sometimes we respond with, “But they don’t deserve it.”  And sometimes we respond with, “God they could never turn their hearts over to you. They are evil or, to put it in Peter’s terms, unclean.”  But God is full of mercy and His ways are higher than ours.  The bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 that God wants all people to be saved and none to perish.  So what is holding you back from obeying God and sharing His love with those around you?  You have a choice. You can be like Jonah and go through some pretty gross things before you obey God, or you can be like Peter and wrestle it out in prayer and obey God.  Which way will you choose?

Click here for September’s memory verse.

 

 

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Bible, Memorizing scripture, Uncategorized

A heart that dreams

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Summer is nearly over.  And for anyone tracking, I am late in posting the August memory verse.  But that is how this month is going to go for me.  School starts, bible study starts, sprinkle in some family bonding, and a missions opportunity, add some changes with our church, and you have the recipe for CRAZY!!  Although, I could say almost every month for me is crazy.  Hence live the crazy life.  I am just a magnet for crazy!  Take on new tasks and add more to the old – sure why not — CRAZY!.  But it is fun.  I laugh more than anyone, which is due in large part to my husband and kids.  They just make life fun.  The other thing that makes this chaos keep spinning is the fact that I am chasing after my dream.  Since I was a kid I can remember asking God to make me different.  I got a little more than I thought I would with that prayer, but I wouldn’t give it back now even if I could.

I wanted to bring peace to everyone everywhere.  I wanted everyone I knew to feel loved and valued.  I still do.  I just go about it differently now than at age 5.  Ok, all that long-windedness (is that a word?) to bring me to the main point of this month’s blog.  Finding your purpose and living it.

Some call it their dream, their calling, their purpose.  All of which means the same thing.  God has us each here for a reason, and life is best when we know that reason and strive to fulfill it.  But just how to find it and accomplish it seems elusive at best, and sometimes impossible.

Then I read these verses from Psalm 16.  Verse 7 reads ” I bless the Lord who gives me counsel, in the night also my heart instructs me.”  When I first read it all I could think of were the verses that talk about the heart being full of evil like Jer. 17:9.  But this verse seemed to be saying my heart instructs me at night.  Why at night I wondered?  I am not a fan of the night.  Sleepless, bad dreams, loneliness all seem to thrive in the night.  Anyway, I did a little research and the word heart there is actually kidney.  Odd – my kidney instructs me at night… all mine instructs me to do is use the bathroom at 2:00AM.  That isn’t what it means. It does mean kidney, but there is more to it than that.  It also means the seat of emotions or your innermost heartfelt desires.  The secret things you long for that you don’t tell just anyone.  An amazing woman of God and friend of mine told me that the kidney is one of our innermost organs, and damage to a kidney can be life threating.  It all began to connect and lead me to this amazing conclusion.  God gives us counsel or direction but allows our dreams or our God-given purpose to instruct us.  Why do I say dreams, because at night you dream, and if we pay attention to those weird dreams they might just be clues to our purpose.  You see God gives us certain desires, or likes if you will, to specific things.  For me, I love the word of God, art, and talking.  Mix it all together and you have Bible study leader who makes art to decorate the table for the study.  Or a leader who is always making stuff for the women in the study that have Bible verses on them so they can take them with them or hang them up at work or home to remind them what God says.  I even put Bible verses on the little tags that connect to a bag of tea. Make something portable, pretty and full of the word of God and I am in every time!

But that’s me.  So what is you?  Do you like to write?  Start a blog or write a Bible study, or even just write a friend a note to encourage them.  Do you sing?  Join the worship team, make a youtube channel of your songs, or sing to random people to cheer them up.  I would so do that if I could sing well.  Do you cook?  Join the ministry at church that makes meals for people who are going through a crisis or hard time.  Do you like one on one conversation?  Have people over for coffee or meet at your local Starbucks and just listen.  God can use anything we offer.  And it works best when we allow Him to use what fuels us.

It’s simple to figure out. Daydream for a minute what you would do if you had time on your hands.  Write down what that is.  Now pray over that paper and ask God to show how He wants to use that to bless you and influence those around you.  Then, here is the part that trips us up every time, do what God shows/tells you to do with what is written on that paper.  Then keep doing it.  And bam you are living out your dream or your purpose.  God has counselled you, and your heart has instructed you. And if you are really brave, tell us all about it in the comment section of this blog.

Click here for the August memory verse

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Bible

Dressed for success

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The perfect shirt that makes you feel pretty.  Those jeans that make you feel skinny. That whole outfit that makes you think you can take on the world and win every time.  It is interesting how clothing makes you feel.  Sweats make you feel safe and comfy, while the right blouse and pants can make you feel powerful and unstoppable.  But regardless of what you wear on the outside, you are the same you on the inside.  Strange isn’t it?  I got a few new super cute tops for Mother’s Day. I put one on and it made me feel amazing, beautiful, smart and noticed.  I did get a lot of compliments that day in the office.  However, that same day my daily devotion was on Gal. 3:27 which says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Some translations say clothed yourself with Christ.  What a thought – I am clothed with Christ.  This verse is talking about once you are saved you remove the old you (your sinful nature) and put on Christ.  You become more like Christ.  Ok, that is pretty easy to understand.  The words clothed with Christ (which is what my devotional said) stuck with me all day.

I am clothed with Christ.  What that verse literally says is that you are sinking into Christ. Think back to those comfy sweats or yoga pants you just feel so at peace in – so comfortable in.  You know those pants you can’t wait to put on when you get home from work.  We all have a pair of pants like that.  For you maybe it’s jeans or yoga pants. For me it’s a pair of – I guess you could call them yoga pants – I don’t honestly know what to call them.  But they are black with pinkish flowers and are made of the softest cotton in the world.  I want to live the rest of my life in these pants. Now that you are thinking how good your (whatever type of) pants feel, think of this: do you ever feel that way about Christ?  Do you ever long to just sink into Jesus?  If not, maybe you should change up your time with Jesus.  However you do devotional life with God, it should feel like those pants you can’t wait to put on. It should be the time of day you long for, can’t wait for, and want to last longer.

But that isn’t all the Bible says about clothing.  In fact, there are a lot of scriptures about clothing. The more I thought about putting on Christ, the more I searched what else I am to put on or take off.

Luke 12:35 says to be dressed for action. The idea here is the biblical concept of girding your loins.  Which just sounds funny. Can you imagine if you call your kids down for breakfast in the morning and they respond with, “I’ll be right there. I’m just girding my loins”? Oh my, that would make me laugh. But the idea of being dressed ready to serve at His command is an admirable way to dress for life.

Colossians chapter 3 gives you a list of things to take off: anger, malice, slander, obscene talk. It also then gives a list of things to put on or clothe yourself with:  compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, and above all love which binds everything together.

Isaiah 61:3 says to put on the garment of praise.  Yes, the Bible really does have a lot to say about what we should clothe ourselves in.

So the next time you get dressed in your “best foot forward” outfit, ask yourself this question: Are you also wearing compassion, kindness, humility and love that ties the whole outfit together? And when you slip into your comfy pants, let those pants be a reminder to find time to sink into Christ. What you put on can change the way you feel about yourself, but when you spend time with Jesus it will change you!

 

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Bible, Memorizing scripture, wisdom

Living in light of wisdom

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It’s May!!  Wow, this year is flying by, and what a year it has been.  It has had some amazing moments and quite possibly some of my very lowest moments, too!  This year, which started with my theme word for the year of steadfast love, slowly morphed into a year where two words – steadfast love and wisdom – (thus far) are making the framework for how I view everything. I still am learning to see everything in life through the steadfast love of God; which by the way is a great viewpoint to live from.  Then, slowly, wisdom crept into my line of sight.  There has been so much that I don’t know how to respond to, or I simply respond in my own ways -which usually lack wisdom and end up making a mess of the situation.  So I found myself creating the monthly memory verse this month and hoping I could return to steadfast love but found wisdom swirling in my heart and mind.  So here it is.

James 3:17 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”

I want to live with God’s wisdom in all situations – never my own.  I fail at this a lot, but I promise it is a goal.  So I am learning to distinguish my wisdom from God’s.  That, my friend, involves prayer.  Before I go any further in what I believe this verse to mean, I must disclose that prayer is the key to the whole thing.  You can’t have wisdom from God if you are not talking to God about whatever the situation may be.  Ok, now that that is established, let’s look at the verse a little deeper.

Being true to me I looked at what all the different words that describe wisdom mean.  Some mean exactly what they say, and others had deeper meanings. Let me show you.  Wisdom means intellect. Uh, could have guessed that.  But pure means in a condition prepared for worship.  So when I am seeking wisdom from God it will come in the form of intellect that puts my heart in a place of worship.  That is not all that pure means. It also means not mixed with guilt.  Meaning whatever I feel the Lord saying to do will not make me feel guilty for doing it in the end.

Peaceable means God’s gift of wholeness – knowing the Lord’s will and obeying it.  God will make clear the best way to respond to the situation, and your job is to obey it. Then it is gentle.  I just loved what I found this to mean.  You would expect it to mean easy or soft in some way; but not so much here.  It means truly fair by relaxing overly strict standards in order to keep the spirit of the law.  God won’t hold us to some impossible standard.  He will never change what is right and what is wrong, but how He leads through wisdom is usually a curvy path rather than a straight line.

Then comes open to reason,  not meaning that you are open to being swayed by what you feel the Lord has said in a given situation, but rather that it is easy to obey.   When you spend time seeking God in prayer, you place yourself in a position to obey.  He moves your heart to that place of obedience.  Mercy means what you would expect mercy to mean. But good fruit means something amazing here in this verse.  It means everything done in true partnership with Christ resulting from two life streams – the Lord moving through our lives to yield what is eternal.  Lastly, impartial means being certain, and sincere means free from hidden agendas.

Ok, that was a lot. Let me put all of this together for you. Life bombards us with decisions. Some have no impact on our life beyond that moment. Others have an impact that lasts years, and some for eternity. When those big decisions need to be made, God will give you wisdom.  James 1:5 tells us God will give us wisdom when we ask. When He does, it brings peace and makes us stand in awe and worship God. It isn’t a strict and heavy burden to carry. You won’t have doubt. You will approach the whole thing full of mercy. It will yield eternal impact, and you won’t have hidden agendas in your heart.

This year has led me to make HUGE decisions I never imagined having to think about, let alone decide the right thing to do in the situation. They have been heart-wrenching hard choices, but I have been able to make those decisions in peace because I leaned into God and sought wisdom from above.

Click Here for the May memory verse

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Bible, Memorizing scripture, Parenting, Prayer, Raising Teens

Bright Shiny Stars

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It’s April which means it’s time for a new memory verse for the month.  And, yes, I know once again I am a few days late in getting this post done.  I somehow feel as if someone has sped up time in my life, and I just never seem to have enough.

Ok, on to this month’s memory verse.  I had stated in January that my word for the year was steadfast.  Steadfast love to be exact, and it still is.  But recently God has added another word to be a theme for my year.  Wisdom.  The word is used about 235 times in roughly 222 verses.  That’s not counting words associated with wisdom like “wise”.  It isn’t the most used word in the Bible, but it is in there a lot.

Allow me to explain how wisdom became a word for me.  I have 3 teenagers.  Who are awesome kids.  But they are kids, and they do, on occasion, do things that are not wise.  They have been known to act without using wisdom.  So I began to pray that they would gain wisdom.  Not just wisdom like in school (I do pray that, too) but Godly wisdom.  That they would make wise choices; that when they talk with their peers, their words would be filled with wisdom from the Lord.  I began to ask the Lord to help me have wisdom in how I parent these 3 teens.  Through these prayers, it was like the word wisdom seemed to become highlighted in my Bible reading.  Then one day, I came across an interesting, somewhat odd, and very cool verse about wisdom.

Daniel 12:3 says, “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”  Bam, it hit me! That is what I want for my kids, for me, for my husband, for all of us.  I want my kids to shine in their high school with the light of Jesus.  I want them to be filled with so much Godly wisdom that when a friend is in trouble or in need of help, they have the wisdom of the Lord in what to do or say.  I want me & my kids to help turn other kids towards righteousness. I want that for myself, don’t you?

If I and my family could become this verse in the lives we live, it would change so many things. It would have such an impact in our spheres of influence.

So for April, and maybe longer, I am praying this over us.  That we would have wisdom from God that would shine in a world full of darkness like a beacon of hope for those lost at sea. That God through our words would turn us towards righteousness and also those around us.  That the dark scary parts of our world would be filled with shining stars of heavenly wisdom,  and twinkly with righteousness, too.

Will you join me this month in memorizing this verse and praying it over yourself? Would you become a bright shining star for Jesus in your world?  Will you bring light to the darkness and righteousness to those who need it?

I can’t wait to hear how God uses wisdom in your life to brighten lives around you.

Click here for April’s memory verse.

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Bible, love, Memorizing scripture, Steadfast love

A Precious Love

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The steadfast love of God, how great it is.  To live in the knowledge of a Savior who loves us unconditionally, with an unmoving, never-ending love is overwhelming and amazing.

You have heard of people having a word to define their season, or maybe they have a word for the year.  I am not sure which mine is or both, but the word to define my life is STEADFAST LOVE.  I guess it really is two words, but who’s counting. Steadfast love is a word I hear in my heart and mind daily. It seems to jump off the pages of the Bible when I see it.  It recalibrates me when I get lost in the pain of life or the routine of the mundane.

So for the memory verse for the month of March, here is another one on steadfast love.  Maybe it will be a year of steadfast love. Time will tell, but for now, it remains my anchor of hope in a stormy sea.

Psalm 36:7-8 says “How precious is your steadfast love O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.  They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.” Just take that first line, how precious is your steadfast love O God!  The Bible ends that sentence with an exclamation mark, but it could just as easily end with a question mark.  I ask God to show me how precious His steadfast love is.  He reminds me of Easter. Of a steadfast love that gave His life for mine.  Of how steadfast love clung to the cross, to the hope, to the redemption of my soul.

God’s love is not like man’s love.  It loves when it is inconvenient – when the one being loved does not deserve it.  It is always there through sleepless nights and sorrow-filled days.  God’s love surrounds us if we take the time to see it.

God’s steadfast love is an abundance feast in His house.  What a thought.  God’s love creates a place for us where we are the honored guest.  It quenches our dry throats with water from the river of His delight.  It refreshes and restores our broken hearts.  It reminds us that we are not alone.  There are others God graciously gathers with us to join the feast, to help us celebrate who He is in our midst.

What a love.  It knows no bounds, no limits, no hesitations.  It gives freely to all who will partake of it.  So I ask you, have you thought how precious God’s love is lately?  Have you silenced your mind and your heart long enough to really appreciate the steadfast love God offers?  If you haven’t you should.  Take a moment and think about what God’s love is to you. Maybe you have never thought about the fact that God, the creator of the universe, is passionately in love with you.  He is.  He loves you with a steadfast love that will never fade.  He loves you where you are right now in the midst of whatever your life is.  He loves you because He created you. No one knows you better, and still He will always choose to love you.  That, my friends, is a love worth daydreaming about.  It is worthy of gratitude and thankfulness.

Take time to tell God how precious His love is to you and how thankful you are for it. It will change your day.  It will make a bad attitude better.  It will remind you there is good out there and in you. It will pull you out of a funk and hold your hand if you need to cry.  It is precious and profound, and it is yours.

How precious is your steadfast love O God!(?)

Click here for the March 2018 memory verse

 

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Bible, Easter, family activities, family fun, Holiday, Uncategorized

Gearing up for Easter

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Is there more to Easter than a church service, a bunny, egg hunts, and a family dinner?  I know that theologically speaking, of course, there is. But when it came right down to it our celebration of Easter was not much more than that.  A one-day celebration, if you could call it that, with a bunch of mixed traditions.  As my kids grew older I wanted more from the Easter season.  I wanted a rich understanding and deep connection with what Easter really means to us as Christ followers.  I wanted it to be fun for my kids but not void of the gratitude and grace that Easter has.

As Pastors, church services are a given.  I don’t think there was ever an  Easter that my children were not in multiple church services, but something still was lacking.  We read the Easter story.  Watched cute movies about Easter.  I even made a cake for the Easter dinner in the shape of a cross.  Yet still, there was something in me that felt like we were missing the mark; maybe not all together, but we were not as close to the target as I hoped.

Then last year in a bible study I was involved in, the topic of prophecy came up – specifically the prophecies of Jesus.  As I studied and read them, I began to realize I was not as familiar with them as I thought I would be.  Sure I know the basics, but there were so many prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in His life, many I didn’t remember.  And then it hit me.  What if we took the month leading up to Easter (it helped that that year Easter was at the end of a month rather than the beginning or the middle) to read the Old Testament prophecies of Jesus?  I knew my kids knew the story of Easter, but I bet they didn’t know how many prophecies that Easter alone fulfilled – not to mention Jesus’ life.

I decided that each day for the 30 days prior to Easter we would read an Old Testament prophecy about the life of Jesus.  I bought foam shaped crosses and wrote the scriptures on them with a marker.

I had my husband, who is great at building just about anything I ask, to build me a cross with a stand. I then hammered 30 nails all around to hang the crosses on after we read the verses.  Lastly, I looked up the New Testament fulfilment of the prophecies and wrote those scripture references on more crosses.  I put the 30 New Testament Bible verse in plastic eggs.

On Easter Sunday we read the last Old Testament scriptures and hung up the last little foam cross on the big wooden cross.

 My husband and I hid all the stuffed plastic eggs outside.  We told the kids to go find them.  They were expecting them to be filled with candy like they have been in the past, but as they opened them they were shocked to find more crosses with Bible verses on them.  We told them if they could match each Old Testament prophecy to the New Testament fulfilment they would each get 30 pieces of candy.

They pulled out their Bibles and worked together to match each one.  We talked about how Jesus fulfilling those prophies brings validity to Jesus being who He said He was.  We talked as a family about the importance of His death on the cross, and how He was raised from death to life.

I know there is still more that God wants from me as I head into Easter season this year!  And I am working to accomplish those things.  But I know that helping my kids understand the connection of the whole Bible to Jesus is a huge part of that.  And helping them realize that Easter is more than a holiday with candy, church, and family dinner is a starting point. I want my kids to grasp that Easter is what our faith is about – a Savior who paid the highest price imaginable to be able to spend eternity with us in Heaven.  As I keep praying for them and me to understand this revelation deeper, we will continue to have family fun with our cross matching game.

 

Click here for Scriptures references I used.

 

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Bible, Friendship, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day

All kinds of Love

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Ah, February, the month of love.  And since my word for the year is Steadfast love this is shaping up to be a great month!  Of course, we tend to focus February’s love on those we love, but what if we included those we simply like in our focus this month?  What if we shifted our focus to those God loves this month?

I woke up in the middle of the night with two thoughts on love running through my mind.  The first stemmed from John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I called you friend for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus, the one we are supposed to serve, changes that game and says while you are serving me I will call you friend.  The word friend there has lots of meanings ranging from an acquaintance to a  trusted confidant, held dear in a close bond of personal affection.  This is where my thoughts began to run wild.  Jesus – the one who loved me before I knew Him – that Jesus calls me a friend.  I began to think of my friends.  How do I treat them?  Am I only friendly with them when it serves me?  Do I seek out time with them when I am lonely and have nothing better to do?  Do I love and honor them the way a true friend deserves to be loved?

As I lay there in the middle of the night with all these thoughts of friends – questioning if I am even a good one – my mind circled back to February, the month of love.  What if I not only focused my love toward my friends?  What if I told them how important they are to me?  To God?  What if I looked for small ways to tell my friends they are loved and valued this month?  Some of my friends are going through some really hard stuff. I bet yours are too.  What if God used me to show them his love?  I began thinking of ways to do just that, expanding this month of love to include my circle of friends.

I wrote down a few things thinking that would help me 1) remember them in the morning, and 2) give my mind the peace it needed to fall back to sleep.  It didn’t work.  My mind transitioned from God loving me as a friend and me living that out this month to God loving those I don’t.  God loves the unlovely. That is a heavy thought at 3:00 am.  John 13:35 came to mind. “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

My restless mind, now almost fully awake, began to wonder, “Do I show the world around me the love of Christ?  Would a stranger in the store know I was a Christ follower because of the way I chose to interact with them?  Does giving the homeless man on the side of the road a granola bar as I drive by count as love?  Could I do more? Is God wanting me to do more?”

I wrote down a few more thoughts on my paper by my bed hoping once more that by writing it down and planning to dedicate more attention to this in the morning that I would be able to fall asleep.  It did sort of help this time.  The final thought/prayer was what if I challenge myself and others through this blog to live these two verses out this month?

So here it is – February the month of love.  I challenge you this month to look beyond those you “love” to those you like.  Find a way to make them feel important, valued, and cared for.  It could as simple as taking a friend for coffee or sending a quick text to let them know you are thinking of them.  Then don’t stop there. Take that spirit of love to those who truly need to know someone cares about them.  Do something for someone you find unlovable this month.  Become someone who is known for the love they give to others.  Share the love of God by loving on those around you, those you really do love with your whole heart.  Then share the love of Jesus with those you like: friends, co-workers and neighbours.  And then take a giant leap and share the love of the one who calls you friend with those who have no one to love them.

I have decided to make these two verses the memory verse for this month.  You can pick one or the other.

Click here for John 13:35

Click here for John 15:15

Leave me a comment to let me know how your month of love is going.

 

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Bible, family activities, family fun, Holiday, Parenting, Raising Teens, Valentine's Day

Remind them how much Jesus loves them this Valentine’s Day

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I have three teenagers and more than anything I want them to have a great relationship with Jesus; filled with the knowledge of His great love for them.  With that in mind, I am always looking for ways to remind them of just how much Jesus really does love them.  And with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I decided to use this holiday of love to focus on God’s love for us.

In the past leading up to Valentine’s Day, I have given them hearts where I have written why I love them.  But this year I wanted them to know God’s love for them.  I start on February 1st and every day for the next 14 days I hang one random heart in their room with a personalized Bible verse about God’s love. For example, I might write “For God so loved Aaron that He gave His only Son so that Aaron should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

A few days ahead of time, I started cutting out my hearts.  I used scrapbooking paper that I already had, but you can buy heart themed paper, or red or pink whatever you want. I cut out various size hearts using different sized cookie cutters and tracing them on the paper – one for each kid for 14 days. For me, this was a total of 42 hearts.  I also looked up all my verses ahead of time.  I have a list of several scriptures you can use Valentine’s Day Activity –God’s love Bible verses.  Just remember to personalize them!  Then every morning for the first 14 days in February I would hang a heart with a verse on it somewhere in their room.  If my children hadn’t mentioned anything about the hearts to me by dinner I would ask them if they found the one for that day.

   

Last year I even added my husband in this.  I wrote why I loved him on 14 different hearts and hung them around our room. Most of which are still hanging in the same place a year later.

It’s a small thing but I pray the impact of these hearts will be huge.  That they will remind my kids, on days when they feel like no one loves them, that even then God loves them like crazy.

If you have ways you have tried to help your kids recognize God’s love for them I’d love to hear about it. Leave your ideas in the comment section below!

Happy Valentine’s Day, and remember God loves you more than you can even comprehend.

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