All in Discipling Children

Every year as we pull out the decorations and recipes and ornaments, we also rediscover our favorite Christmas books! Most of these books are missing their dust jackets, the edges are worn, hot chocolate drops can be found on certain pages and some of them are even from my own childhood. But reading books together at Christmas is one of my very favorite traditions! Here are a few of our favorites...

t may be the most wonderful time of the year but if we're not intentional, it can quickly morph into the craziest, busiest and most stressful season of all. My antidote? The K.I.S.S. Principle.  What's the K.I.S.S Principle? An easy acronym meaning this:

Keep It Simple Sister.

This time of year less really is more. Less stress, less commercialism, less money spent, and fewer expectations equals more time with family, more chance to appreciate the wonder of the season, more peace of mind and enjoyment of all this beautiful season has to offer.

I'd like to think I'm an expert pray-er. I can clearly see how my prayers changed things. For example, I have three little kids—not birthed from me—running around my house who are examples of that. Yet the way that my prayers changed the future is different than you think.

God is not a genie in a bottle. My prayers weren't effective because I figured out the right words to make God do what I want to do. I used to think that. As a young Christian I'd try all sorts of things:

  • praying in the morning
  • praying at night
  • praying on my knees
  • praying out loud
  • journaling my prayers

I wouldn't admit it out loud, but I believed deep down if I said the right things, at the right time, in the right way, that God could be swayed.

I’m right in the middle of this sanctifying, exasperating, exhilarating job of raising children.

I don’t quite qualify as a Titus 2 “older woman,” so I’m not going to tell you what you’re doing wrong (smile).

But now that I’m past the preschool years and diving into the teens, I’m seeing some fruit of my early-motherhood days...

The good and the bad.

As I think out loud about what I wish I could adjust, I pray you’ll find encouragement. And if the Holy Spirit nudges you to make any changes... well, my advice is listen, so you can look back on these years with joy rather than regret.

The first change I'd make?

I know most of us here are Christian moms but we want the same things as every other mom right? Every mom wants to keep her kids safe, help them grow up healthy and strong,  protect them from monsters and let them believe they’re super heroes, agreed?

All mothers can pretty much agree on these points but as moms following God, we have different standards and we see a bigger picture. We see beyond keeping our children safe to making them holy vessels fit for the Master’s use. We see far past our children’s temporal lives and gaze into their eternal futures.

If you’ve ever seen the first Hobbit movie, you might remember this line:

Our children are in a stage of shaping and growing while under our care. They have so much potential and we have so much influence in this season. Often we have goals and ideals for our children that we want to implement but aren't sure how to do that in a practical way.

And sometimes I think we can overcomplicate something that can really be quite simple. Sometimes it's not always easy making the hard decisions for our children, but the Bible gives us some great direction as parents.

So here are 4 things you can do to reach the heart of your child.