Category: Relationship with God

Why a Bible-Shaped Life is Vitally Important to Any Parent

If you truly want to have a lasting impact and raise your children for the Kingdom of God, the Bible must have a foundational, central, and overarching role in your home and heart life.

Read it, speak it, sing it, pray it, write it, discuss it, study it, and memorize it.

“And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”

(Deuteronomy 6:6-7, NLT, emphasis mine)

Look for ways to honor and invite Scripture into your life and thoughts and routines until it becomes like second nature, your native language, completely familiar and beloved.

Because it’s going to be hard to tell your kids how crucial it is to them if it’s not essential to you, first. Kids are smart. They won’t buy hypocrisy, and they’re watching to see if it’s the real deal to you. So make it real!

Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to make it so addictive to you and so attractive you can’t miss it without missing it. Ask Him for creative ways to include it in your daily routine. Ask Him to help you with memorizing it. Ask Him to help you love it. Ask Him to help you make time to read it.

Then obey. Make time for reading it. Even if you start with only five minutes in the morning.

Busy moms still snatch a few minutes to eat throughout their day. (I know because I’ve been doing it for years.) Even if it’s later than everyone else, I still find a moment to eat something so I can keep going. I still make time for those two minutes of making my small cup of espresso each morning (and oh, the joy that creamy, deeply-rich-and-dark coffee brings my heart), so I know that I can also choose to take a couple minutes to crack open my Bible, quiet my heart, and let the words inspired by the Holy Spirit wash over me and feed my soul before I get into the flurry of a busy day with many little children. And often at the end of the day, I choose to spend a few more minutes with Scripture, as a comforting grace to hold in my mind as I drift off to sleep.

Time with the Bible shapes my thoughts and sets my heart in the right frame to handle my day with grace, courage, and intentional choices that lean toward righteousness. In parenting, I need this. (I’m guessing you might, too.) I can sure tell the difference on the days I miss my Bible time!

If you truly think you can only manage five minutes, perhaps start with just one chapter of the Gospels a day. Begin with the Gospel of John. When you get to the end, start Matthew, then keep moving through them. 

If you make more time, read one Psalm a day as well. If you accidentally skip a day, ditch the guilt and pick it up again the next day without hesitation. Keep going. Don’t stop – if you don’t feed your soul with the Word of life, it will starve. What this world has to offer is temporary and unsatisfying at best. Nourish your heart with what will truly sustain you, grow you, and transform you.

Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

(Hebrews 11:6, NLT, emphasis mine)

The Bible should so permeate our thoughts, words, and behavior that we are known for being people of the Word anywhere and everywhere we engage with others. It should carry a certain lingering fragrance and presence that wherever we go we are noted for leaving the undeniable tang and strength of a life steeped in and shaped by the Scriptures.

The Bible is our tangible link to knowing and understanding who the stunningly loving, all-powerful, glorious, terrifying, and holy Spirit-Being who created our universe and our human race is – and why He deserves our adoration and obedience:

Because He, in spite of His perfect power and glory, became a man, and suffered and died a horrible criminal’s death to bring us life – demonstrating His love by paying the cost of our wrongdoing. Then by rising again, alive forevermore, He once and for all broke the power of sin and death, demonstrating His power, authority, and worthiness of our love and allegiance.

And this story and revelations of His character, as well as clear guidelines for how to live our lives as well, are found in the inspired Holy Bible. This is not something to hold with little esteem.

  • Here is where the Holy Spirit can speak to us each day.
  • Here is where we can find hope for our lives and the future to come.
  • Here is where we recognize the beautiful kindness of God’s love that suddenly seems to gleam from so many aspects of our own lives.
  • Here is where we see the mercy of God in the histories of other broken people, and find inspiration and courage for our own.
  • And here is where we find the wisdom to teach and lead our children in a way that truly points them toward God and a life lived in His love.

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

(Hebrews 4:12, NLT)

Time spent prayerfully with the Bible is time allowing God to transform us into the godly people He desires us to be. It is time that gives us the strength to overcome the long-term sins and temptations we struggle with. It is time coming to know and love more deeply our One, Truest Love. And that will give us the deepest, most delightful, pleasurable joy we can ever experience this side of Heaven.

I may daily come short of adequately demonstrating the holiness and beauty of my God, but His Word never will. And I would rather faithfully stumble toward Him and daily fight to pursue Him than carelessly dance on my way in a life full of shallow pursuits, low standards, and vain regrets. He is worth my all, and His Word is worth every moment spent with it.

How many minutes will you spend reading the Bible today? Will you commit to reading it at least five minutes a day for 30 days? (If you miss a day, just keep going on the next!)

May a love and a desire for the Holy Word of God be ignited in our hearts, and an earnest pursuit of time with it be vibrantly evident in our homes and lives.

Walking with you in this!

– Maria

Surprise! How to Look at Teaching Anything in Life

Have you ever noticed how sometimes you think you know something, but then you have to explain it or teach it to someone else, and as you do, that’s when you realize that it is suddenly clear to you for truly the first time?

For me it’s like a shot of excitement and even adrenaline as I experience the joy of learning. My kids sometimes just stare at me as I get enthusiastic and start waving my arms around, coming up with all kinds of (sometimes kooky) metaphors and analogies to get them as excited as I am. 
(I guess I’m making it clear that I am a total nerd. Often.)

The act of teaching it to someone else helped me learn!  I’ve read that this is a common experience.

I think this is why God often allows our life to hold other people who need to learn something from us.  Whether it’s our children, our younger siblings, our colleagues, or our clients, He’s graciously giving us the opportunity to learn something well by needing to teach it to others.

In my life I am constantly humbled by how little I know – but because I am constantly parenting my kids, I am (usually) thrilled to find I have the opportunity to learn things alongside my kids each day!

For me I find these learning moments often come during our family devotional or Scripture-reading times, or when I’m expounding on some theological truth to my children – and I’m overcome with tears because an aspect of God’s goodness or beauty suddenly became clarified to me.

These are moments of God’s grace. This experience is like a little love-note from my Father, who never gives up on me and who knows exactly what I need, every single day.

I’ve decided, in fact, that pretty much every time my family has a devotional or reads the Bible together, it seems that God is more interested in changing my heart and helping me learn something from His Word than about me making sure my children understand each theological nuance.

And maybe that’s what’s important. 
Teaching may really be about learning.

I’m going to be in a better place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually if I’m staying humble and listening to MY Father. I appear to teach better – in no matter what sphere of influence – when I’m also an eager and listening student.

So what are the places in your life where you have been given the role of teacher? And have you found, too, that often those are the areas where you can be startled by discovering your own learning growth, even as you teach? 

I challenge you to ask God for a humble, learning heart. Give Him the permission to surprise you with a fresh discovery and brilliant illumination in a place in life or a topic you already thought you knew with your eyes closed.

The revelations come like a sting of joy. And it’s worth every ounce of the humble courage it takes to receive them with open hands and gratitude.

I’m so excited for us both as we continue to grow and learn and delight in fresh discoveries!

What’s something you learned recently that was surprising and unexpected in a good way? 

Send me your response and let me know!   Also, if you haven’t yet, sign up for your free set of 5 Parenting Reminder Cards printable and I’ll get those sent to you ASAP!

– Cheering you on in this!

Maria

How to Change When You Hijack Your Own Progress

If only they would always sit this still… I love cuddles!

Shoulders hunched, discouragement and defeat on his face, teary eyes lifted sadly, my little son told me he wanted to quit.

It was just too hard for him, and he couldn’t do it, he said. His math book was just too difficult and he needed to go back a grade level.

Then he cried.

I looked at him, too astonished to speak for a moment.  This is a child who is precocious, intelligent, and studies eagerly. He had achieved the level he was in by his own efforts, not because of my expectations or any pushing.

For him to suddenly collapse with defeat was startling, especially when he had been doing really well!

What had happened?

Then I discovered that he had been flipping through his book to the sections near the end, when his current lessons are still in the first third of the book. When he had seen problems and difficult questions he was unable to answer or even understand yet, he had collapsed in overwhelm, discouragement, and defeat. He told himself he just wasn’t able to do it – he wasn’t smart enough. And then he believed it.

But he was nowhere near ready to take those problems on yet – he had a lot of lessons in between where he was now and what he would need to know by then!

And then it hit me:

How many times am I like that? How about you? 

I can look ahead and see in the future the outline of a difficult problem or situation, and I freeze in fear. I have no idea of how to solve that problem! I don’t even know the first thing to do to cope with it!

And depression, discouragement, insecurity, and overwhelm set in. I listen to the story that I will never be able to overcome the challenge, or that when it comes I will drown in writhing defeat.

What if looking that far ahead in my current perspective was actually a major detriment to my progress? 

Like my son, I am self-sabotaging my own success by comparing my abilities NOW with what I will need THEN – without factoring in my own significant change in the process.

He who began a good work in me is FAITHFUL to complete it (Phil 1:6). He will unceasingly work in my heart and life (so far as I allow Him to have the authority), and He will not allow me to skip any lesson that He knows I will need for success later on!

My task for RIGHT NOW is just the next lesson. That’s it.

What is God teaching me in THIS moment, THIS day, THIS season?

That alone is all I need to work on for now.

He is the most patient and best of Teachers, the most thorough and kind of all Guides and Counselors. His loving wisdom to know exactly what I need when and in what timing is something I can absolutely trust in. 

And so can you.

I encourage you to look ahead – it’s what gives us inspiration and excitement! And carefully plan and excitedly dream and hopefully purpose.

But bring your wise and loving Teacher along with you in these moments. When you’re tempted to flip ahead too far and what you see overwhelms and scares you rather than inspires you, shut that flipping book. 

Grab your Father’s comforting hand, climb up and listen to His heart, and trustingly ask Him what it is He wants you to learn NOW.

Ask for the faith to believe He will teach you in the way you learn best.

And ask for the teachable, soft heart to learn it well!

Then ask the same thing each day, for the rest of your life.

And I think by the time we each get to the thing that looked so scary, we will have an entire assortment of experiences and lessons and understanding that will give us a more solid foundation for facing the challenge well.

And so we can hold onto hope!

Our God is filled with tender love, kindness and patience. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out (Matthew 12:20).

And I am certain that the next lesson He gives us is one that is one that He knows we are ready for. We can wholeheartedly look in His face and smile, trusting Him to walk us through it well. 

I hope you are well, my lovely friend. I will be praying that whatever lesson you and I face in this time finds us both with soft and teachable hearts, open hands, and trusting and uplifted outlooks.

Take a moment right now to tell God you trust Him. Ask for that teachable, soft heart. And thank Him for being such a patient and wise Teacher to help you learn what you need for today. 

I’m so excited for us! Best school day ever.

– Maria

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