How A Child Crushes A Lie

We snuggle, Robby, Alexa, and I - all three curled up on the couch with the green lambswool blanket over us, and I read the second story of the Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name, "The terrible lie." 

I already like how this devotional book tells the stories in a much more captivating way than others. And this particular story prompts discussion that leads to the very thing that has been on my heart and mind these past days.

I've wondered how we can impress upon them truth that will make a heart difference in their choices.

The snake's words hissed into her ears and sunk down deep into her heart, like poison. Does God love me? Eve wondered. Suddenly she didn't know anymore...And a terrible lie came into the world. (the Jesus Storybook Bible)

I've wondered how they will discern truth when they walk out the front door. Does what we do and talk about within these four walls sink in, I've wondered? 

I wonder this because there is a liar, the father of lies, and if he can't get to them here within these four walls, when they walk out that door, it's lurking around every corner, within every person that has believed a lie and whether we recognize it or not, they - just like we - walk onto a battlefield every. single. day.

I tell them about that battlefield, like the battles they've watched in Narnia, only unseen and raging in their minds. I remind them who God created them to be - God's warrior and God's princess.

Robby sits upright. Don't all boys want to fight for something and little girls to be rescued? 

Yet, we are not strong enough to fight that battle. Our children are not strong enough.


There is but one weapon that defeats the enemies schemes and rescues from tangled snares, and wouldn't we be appallingly foolish not to arm our children with it?

Scripture crushes a lie. Living and active, in it contains the weapon that defeats, and the power that rescues.

I ask for ideas on how they think they can overcome lies that lurk when a bible is not handy, if what is in it truly contains the weapon that crushes the evil that is a gazillion times more powerful than they are?

Just days ago, I observe this utube clip found on Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience, on Why Memorize Scripture, by John Piper. I've thought about memorizing scripture, but have always left it for another time. Robby knows a handful of scripture verses from earlier years, Sunday School and singing scripture CDs. However, I haven't really recognized the importance of making it a priority.

This time, however, as I finish the four minute clip, my heart gasps, this is what they need - more than please and thank you and yes mom; more than a clean room and teeth and face - they need armor! Because the fruit of rules, etiquette, and hygiene (aside from the golden rule)  are pleasing yet, will perish. Those things, though necessary, won't save my children from the enemies blow. But the fruit of His Word gives life. Defeats. Rescues. Saves.

We talk about how we will start memorizing scripture and hiding it in our hearts so that we can be equipped to draw from His Truth anytime we feel uncertain of what is true or tempted by the whisper of a lie in our hearts.

They both run downstairs as fast as they can and gather their bibles and race back up with what you would think was a brand new, exquisite sword or a glistening new crown! 

They are hungry. They are hungry to know just who God created them to be and they stand there equipped with a weapon that promises defeat.

Later that day, the two participate in a swimming lesson. Afterward, Robby tells me that when his class walked over to the deep end of the pool to practice diving, he was a little scared. But then recited, "When I am afraid I will trust in you (Psalm 56:3)," and he tells me he did it!

Didn't he just crush that little whisper, "I can't?"

Does what we do and what we talk about within these four walls sink in, I've wondered? 

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^a”

5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’^b”

7Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^c”

8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’^d”

11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 4: 1-11

I'm linking up with Sol Deo Gloria at Finding Heaven.

Five Minute Friday :: Wonder

I'm linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Friday with the writing prompt

Wonder...

Go

All wrapped up tidy into my imagination are my thoughts and my intellect. The capacity of what my human cognitive power will hold. Everything that can be explained, and made plain to see.

Yet, in the capacity of my imagination, everything that my mind sees and that can be explained can also be debated and turned on it's head. It is a place where, if I were my own ultimate authority, my truth would simply be my own. A place where I may reason yet, wonder explained away.

Bursting at the seams of my imagination is wonder. It is what goes beyond the capacity for understanding. It does not fit into my intellect or thought-process. It is what I see - and all that I don't see - and must simply believe. It is where a swelled heart or dropped jaw cannot be explained; where there is no debate. And I simply marvel at what moves my heart and surpasses my imagination.

Wonder is what humbles me to know there is one greater...and I am small.

Stop

Now it's your turn! Give it your best five minutes!

To be still and know...

...just know

...that you know...that you know...that you know.

Have you taken some quiet time with God today?

For more inspiration, go to Internet Cafe Devotions for Word Filled Wednesday and Katie Lloyd Photography for Scripture and a Snapshot.

When Abundance Requires Surrender {Guest-posting at Comforted By God}

Shuffling into the restaurant – about six of us near strangers scrambled to find our seats. I nonchalantly pulled back the chair and sat next to him. As I sat there awkward, I peered across the table tuning out the words of my boisterous friend, who had gotten on the topic of, “God is just an idea…” It was a topic I had learned to ignore. I wouldn’t be persuaded nor would I persuade her. I avoided those conversations that challenged the very core of what I believed up to that particular point in my life.

However, the next thing I knew, that guy sitting next to me was speaking up. I don’t recall those exact words that straightened my posture nearly twelve years ago, but I recall having no choice but to chime in. We alternated affirmations, with complimenting points, “Yeah, and…,” “Right, and…” My eyes began to widen and my heart sprang forth as I was overtaken by the proclamations of this guy. It was as though I had suddenly noticed him for the first time.

I went home that night intrigued…

Who was that guy who proclaimed so boldly a belief in the one true God?

Who was that guy who said he owned over 100 Christian CDs? Did that many Christian artists even exist?

Who was that guy who grabbed my attention and literally woke me up?

You see, I grew up knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior. I knew He was good and that He loved me. I trusted Him. I just wasn’t willing to trust Him with my whole life. I had decided I knew better than anyone what I was looking for in the love department. After all, I had imagined how I would be gallantly pursued and rescued in my childhood fairytale dreams. I wasn’t looking for a godly guy, someone who was trusting God with his whole life. I didn’t believe those kind existed. The more a guy pursued me, simply, the more likely he was to win my heart.

None-the-less, several decent men came and went in my life. I remember telling a friend that if the next guy (whom I had already scoped out as heroic) was not the one, then there would be no one for me. I believed that. I was tired of disappointment; tired of gambling in a game that was being played too casually with my heart.

Something changed that round. I had inevitably been pursued, however, not by that “next guy.” That ended, too. I remember that day well, humbled by my circumstances; when compromise would no longer camouflage my existence. Oh, how I wanted to run; crawl into a hole – but, there I was backed up against the wall of my own captivity. I knew what I had to do. I threw my arms up – finally – and surrendered. I admitted I couldn’t control this outcome. I had already compromised the belief that there was something more – someone worth waiting for. I had compromised what my heart deeply desired and was yearning for – God. I surrendered my choices and committed to allowing God to take the pen and write this story. That is the moment God gathered all of the fragmented pieces of my life and started putting them together.

One month later, I pulled back the chair and sat next to him…

“That guy” and I have been married now for nearly nine years and have four children together. He is the man that makes my heart skip a beat every time I think about how he met the deepest desire of my heart – to know God and to grow in this area with someone.

He wasn’t the one who rescued me like I had imagined in my fairytale dreams, but the One who had been pursuing me all along did rescue me from my dire predicament and gave me more in a man than my eyes could have possibly foreseen on my own. 

God used the circumstances of my relationships to draw me back to Himself and showed me that I had to make Him first in my life. This uncommon script – one of full surrender – has laid the foundation to an abundant marriage that works because God remains the heart of our passion, which is the most rewarding kind you will ever know.

Is there an area of your life that you are still holding on to? Do you realize that holding on to fragments of your life will cost you more than you ever intended? Are you willing to surrender every aspect of your life to Christ today?
***

{Guest-posting over at Comforted by God.}

Adapted from the archives and re-titled, "Looking For Mr. Right?" at Comforted By God.

When Hesitancy Doesn't Stop You

We could have backed out. Easily backed out. The hesitancy in her voice told me we really weren't doing her a favor by stopping in for a visit. 

The week the two older children would be at VBS and she just across the street, I decide to initiate a call to see if the youngest two and I can come for a short visit.

"Oh, I don't know. They don't really know me. We could try it. Maybe just for a half hour or so - you know, I haven't changed a diaper in years," she wearily debates.

Well, I promise I won't ask you to change a diaper," I reply.

"Okay, well let's just try it," she succumbs.

I originally think our visit would be for her sake. Now, I question my motive.

It could very well be determined that she would rather not have her day interrupted with visitors. Yet, I determine I need to do this, if not for her, for my children - for me. I want them to know her - the mother of the man who stumbled into the life of a women raising six daughters already reaching puberty. The mother of the man who introduced me to the mountains, camping, fishing, cribbage, and tennis.  The woman who lost her husband more than twenty years ago and has depended her very life on her Savior as long as I have known her. The woman who has not let an encounter go by without sharing Jesus.

A family function has always been the venue for when we would see her. But, those are few and far between. Simply running into her has become rare as the years have passed; paces speeding up as she is slowing down.

The three of us arrive and I push the button in the entryway so she may buzz us in through the second door of the senior citizen building. The door buzzes open and she announces she will be waiting at the elevator. We visit in front of the elevator for several minutes, she in a chair facing us, getting acquainted with Drew and Madeline. Drew shows her all of his "owies" and is captivated as she shows him hers.

"What happened? " on repeat keeps the conversation a flow.

"Here, I want to show you something," she tells Drew and invites us around the corner to the 400 square foot space where she eats and sleeps and pours into scripture.

She has a yellow ball tucked away and she directs Drew to form a triangle with Madeline and herself, then they begin rolling the ball to one another.

Thirty minutes passes quickly and it is time to walk across the street to pick up the older two from VBS.

We say good-bye. She hands me a box of cards and wonders if we'd like the Max Lacado Hermie themed birthday card set. I thank her and take the box, with a top cover so vivid it looks like it could be the top cover of a puzzle box, and I hand it to Drew, knowing he would like to see the picture.

She asks Drew and Madeline if they will come visit again.

On the way out, I remember the last VBS the oldest, Robby, attended and how she walked across the street for the last day's picnic. I know the answer, but I invite her again to the Friday afternoon picnic.

Too many people. Too far too walk. It is true. I know a lot can change in a couple of years at her age.

Drew walks out the front doors behind me, with Madeline straddling my hip, and yells back to her, "Good-bye...thanks for the puzzle!"

All are smitten.

In that moment I'm so glad we went and didn't let the hesitancy I sensed in her voice - in me - stop us. 

Two days later, I show up to the VBS picnic a little early, pushing Drew and Madeline in the "Chariot" double stroller onto the VBS grounds at the YMCA, and the first person I see standing there waving me down is her. Grandma.
***
#75-100 of thanks to God for

time with Grandma Anna
children and great grandmas closing generational gaps for time
pushing through doubt
seeking grace
mother/daughter date to the theater
one bedroom left empty so two can share
firsts - upright in a car seat
digging dirt
planting
watering
believing
"weeds" adding color and beauty to the distance
face painting
sharing in the delight of children
a mans hands that work hard
a heart that loves deep
constancy
more grace - pouring grace
water gun fights
tennis in the rain
grandpa teaching grandchildren the game of tennis
summer BBQ's
family adding up to thirty-six at one home
sisters
oldest reading to youngest

working my way to One Thousand Gifts and beyond of gratitude and linking up with Multitudes on Mondays at Holy Experience and  Sol Deo Gloria at Finding Heaven.

{photo source}

Five Minute Friday :: Home

I'm linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Friday with the writing prompt:

Home...

Go

Is home really where the heart is? Jeremiah 17:9 states that the heart is deceptive above all things. So, if home is where the heart is, than is it possible we can be deceived by where we think our home is?

My four year old said yesterday that she missed our old house. Her heart was there for a moment and we talked about the good memories we had there, but that we wouldn't want to go back because then we'd miss this house, where we have also built memories. A heart remembering is a good thing. Yet, a heart will pull us in many confusing directions - those, which are meant to be felt; not meant to be made our home.

When our hearts are splattered all over the globe, we can rest assured that our home is not where we go, or where our heart is. Our home is where He is.

Like the prodigal, when we put our focus on what we have; wishing for what we don't have, we venture far from home only to find our hearts in poverty and desolation within the context of all that has lured our eyes and very heart.

Our home is where we humbly recognize the deception of our hearts and turn back to the one who has provided for us all along and readily accepts us with feast and celebration elaborately thrown in our return to Him - every time we make His dwelling our dwelling and we trust our hearts only because we trust Him who resides there.

My heart, His home.

Stop 

{I'm reading a lot of posts in this link up on home being where the heart is...with family and relationship, not houses or places. Please know that I get that. I do. I throw myself out there with my thoughts knowing this and also knowing that all of it goes back to Him - God. In those relationships, He abounds. And without God, our hearts easily lead us astray. So, I do not want to sound contradicting to other heart-felt posts. This is just the ultimate picture for me. Without God, we're simply lost.}

Now it's your turn. Give it your best five minutes!

Evidence of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:21-23

It stuns me how easy it is, even for myself, to disregard the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God in the form of the Holy Spirit...right here...right now...guiding, directing, counseling, comforting...all for the taking. Yet, we do not see, therefore, we do not believe, therefore, we do not receive. Yet, there is evidence of the Holy Spirit for those who do believe...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

You see, you have to believe, in order to receive, in order to see.

For more inspiration, go to Internet Cafe Devotions for Word Filled Wednesday. Also linking up with Katie Lloyd Photography for Scripture and a Snapshot.

On Breaking Rules {Creatively}

There I was sitting in a potting class. The instructor teaching the rules for achieving the best results in creating a potted plant. She talked about planting a combination of thrillers (tall), fillers (mounding), and spillers (trailing), starting with the thrillers in the center and working out. She then proceeded to plant a pot as an example and, oddly enough, put a spiller in a filler domain. When questioned she stated something that I was inclined to write down, “Learn to do things by the rules, then start breaking them – creatively.”

 With four children, this sounded like a good motto for parenting!

Since our first born seven years ago, my husband and I have sought to provide structure, routine, and consistency with our children in order to form good habits and harmony within the home.

For instance, we have a rule that when we go to the grocery store if it is not on the list we don’t buy it. My children understand that rule well and rarely ask for something impromptu at the store.  Another example may be that nap/quiet time is sacred time at our house, as it allows me a small window of much needed time for myself. When it comes to this time of the day, the older two children know that they are expected to play in their rooms quietly while the younger two nap.

These practices, and others, have been working for our family now for seven years. However, with each child, I’ve learned something more valuable than rules. I've recognized that the value of relationship far out-weighs holding fast a rule.

What about the importance of consistency? On what basis would I think to throw out a rule?

Even Jesus esteemed relationship over rules. We see it in the way Jesus taught – always through relationship rather than dictatorship. We see it when the disciples reprimanded the children and Jesus said, “Let the children come…” (Mark 10:14) We see it with the Samaritan woman at the well, in a time when Jews did not associate with Samaritans and women were not spoken to directly by men and Jesus approached the woman. (John 4:7) We see it when Jesus healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath, though the Pharisees chastised Him for not resting on the Sabbath. (Luke 13:10) But, ultimately, we see it in the New Covenant versus the Old Covenant, where it is not the law that is most important to the Christian faith, but it is grace through a relationship with Jesus.

As Christians, we still live under laws and rules to keep us safe and protected, but only through that relationship with Christ do we understand our faith and cultivate a desire to obey.

In the same way, rules are necessary to keep our children safe and to {hopefully} achieve the best results in raising respectable adults, but only through our relationship with them will our instruction begin to take root.

So now, as a parent, my motto is to set a good foundation - lay the ground rules; keep a framework - and then start breaking rules – creatively! If I want a moment with just one child, I might have to allow one to stay up late to read extra stories together, let one crawl into bed with me during quiet time, or treat one to m&m's if it is just us at the grocery store.  I want all the cherished moments I can get with each one of my children and sometimes that will just mean a broken rule for a cherished memory.

***

#50-#75 of thanks to God for

rules meant to be broken

cultivating relationship

creativity 

His sovereignty

first fruits

teachable moments

snuggles with early risers

invitation to "play"

little hands to help plant flowers

(and little hands to help make a mess of the dirt)

children extending hearts to orphans

pushing through the blah days

grace in the moments

renewal

mercy - new every morning

taking "a walk for life"

children's pace

accomplishing summer projects

a night out with my man

ice cream in the park (with him)

celebrating Father's Day a week early (because he deserves it!)

the discoveries of a precious one-year-old

the delight of swinging for the first time

jumping eight feet to the ground...my ever endearing, all-boy 2 1/2 year-old

the wonder

working my way to One Thousand Gifts and beyond of gratitude and linking up with Multitudes on Mondays at Holy Experience, Sol Deo Gloria at Finding Heaven, and Homemaker By Choice.

Five Minute Friday :: Backwards

I'm linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Friday with the writing prompt:

Backwards...

Go

I had one of those days yesterday. I woke up with good intentions then just felt blah all day. "My time" did not seem to fill me whatsoever. Nothing really went right...one of those days where I had a hard time being present to my children and then wondered if I am enough for them.

Not everyday, just one of those days.

I find that I put a lot of weight on my parenting. How I parent. How I can parent better. How to raise my children perfectly well. Teach them right from wrong. Protect them from harm. Save them from the evils of this world. 


I see an off day as a failure.

Today is a new day and His mercies are new every morning. I wake up and begin reading a book I just started, Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus.  I consider its premise - our primary focus for our children to "be good" is unable to save them and powerless to change them. Grace is what they need - and I think of myself.

In trying to do good - be good, I've got my thinking backwards. Because we are not good. We are born into sin. Only because of Christ and through Christ can we do anything good. 

When I feel I'm failing, maybe there is purpose in it.

My failing as a parent (in life) is meant to crush me (my confidence in self)--

and drive me to Christ,

and make me realize--

I need a Saviour...

and my children need one, too. 

That which is not me.

Stop

Now it's your turn. Give it your best five minutes!

How Children Look After Orphans

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

I tell my oldest son to look after his brother and sisters all of the time. It might look something like making sure they know what they are doing, remind them of what they need to be doing, help them, defend them, show kindness to them. Ultimately, looking after his siblings requires an act of love.

So what would looking after orphans in another country look like?

This is what about a dozen children made today, at our house, for the Craft Hope Project 12 - Orphan Outreach in Russia.

Bracelets.

According to Craft Hope, more than one million orphans are waiting for a home in Russia. Craft Hope is partnering with Orphan Outreach to take bracelets, handmade by our children, to the orphanages in Russia this coming August.

This is our part. This is how children today, at this house, look after orphans. By putting hands to beads. Selecting and thoughtfully creating - a bracelet that they may just cherish themselves, but then put in the pile for that orphan in Russia, who may cherish it instead.

These children look after orphans through this simple act of love.

 Thank you Amy Sullivan for the awesome idea!

For more inspiration, go to Internet Cafe Devotions for Word Filled Wednesday and Katie Lloyd Photography for Scripture and a Snapshot.

When Your Answer is Yes {Featured today at (in)courage}

It’s just before the event, which several of us are diligently and prayerfully working on, and I anticipate all He is going to do and I am in awe of His glory. I’m in awe of how the process is unfolding, how my faith is being strengthened, how He is proving faithful and I don’t need to see the outcome to know He is up to something big.

I close my eyes and begin to imagine.

My thoughts, for a moment, take me beyond the event to another area of my life I feel God working in and the anticipation, in that too, is overwhelming.

“Lord if you show me any more of your glory, I may just fall prostrate before you!”

That feeling…that overwhelming feeling of all that He is and is capable of doing in and through me has a history of causing me to withdraw. It’s too much…what? I don’t know. Just, too much.

Could it be fear? Fear that I will have to give up too much to withstand the next call? This present experience is amazing, yet surely anything more He asks of me will put me way out of my comfort zone.

Or is it doubt? Do I doubt that He would use me for any more of His glory? Would that be too muchfor this small girl? Am I worthy?

Might it be pride? Somewhere deep within do I believe my way is better, more palatable? That the filling of the Holy Spirit might be too much for the taste? Do I feel satisfied with self?

The other day my son, Drew (2 1/2), runs to hide from me. As I approach, he skids to the nearest chair, throws himself down to the floor, plants his face in the carpet, and submerges one arm as far as it will go under the chair. I can see him. Yet, somehow he believes that his escape is successful. Since he can’t see me, I must not be able to see him.

It begs the question, what will happen so terrible that I, like my son, would resort to running and hiding my face in hopes I am not be seen?

I begin to envision what might happen if I do not withdraw; if I do not run from His presence. If instead I race toward Him, skid at His feet, and throw myself down before Him, face planted – not to hide, but to seek.

What would happen?

I would surrender to the call. I would say yes. I would go. I would take His refined touch in me and I would not look back. I wouldn’t recall that doubt that holds me back. I wouldn’t give voice to the fear. And His work would multiply in and through me.

I imagine peace, joy and rest.

I imagine this through the challenges, through the discomforts, through the doubt. Even the pain. Even the suffering.

Whose pain? Whose suffering?

My eyes begin to open.

It’s not about me.

I throw myself before Him in all of my unworthiness because He tells me His grace is sufficient. He tells me His power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Cor. 12:9)  And I whisper the words that are required to, once again, leave the old behind so that the new may come.

“Yes, Lord. Send me.”

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” Isaiah 6:8

{I would be so humbled and delighted if you would follow me on over to (in)courage to read the full article...and leave a kind comment there if you feel so inclined}

***

#40-50 of thanks to God for

small cheeks to fill the cup of my hands

children's imaginations "going to Narnia"

cool nights and warm days

the way the new season and the sun beams reveal a newly painted canvas out the window every day

new life and baptism

summer break beginning today

summer planning and good intentions

togetherness

family get-together's for the nineteen of twenty-two cousins (at our fingertips)

planting (hearts and gardens)

I'm working my way to One Thousand Gifts and beyond of gratitude and linking up with Multitudes on Mondays at Holy Experience and Sol Deo Gloria at Finding Heaven.