Last Sunday at theVine David talked about the purpose of parenting. He said people become parents so they can bring their kids to God, and bring God to their kids. We’re supposed to pray with our kids and for our kids. As I’ve discussed before, the responsibility of modeling for my girls what it means to be a Christ-follower intimidates the junk out of me. They KNOW how I act behind closed doors. They know what decisions I make or don’t make, and how I spend my time. They know if I am a good steward of my finances or if I squander away the resources God has entrusted me with. They will end up modeling their lives after mine – good and bad – whether I intend for them to or not.
One thing I’ve been praying about for a couple of years – including before Tanner was even conceived – was that my children would have a passion for the Word at a very young age. I realize how much my life is revolutionarily transformed when I’m obedient and disciplined enough to be in the Word everyday, and how ALIVE I feel when I’m immersed in it…and I want them to have that! I want them to be one of those people who make you want to go be in the Word after you hang out with them, because it’s like they just ooze Jesus and make you crave Him! Do you know anyone like that? Anyways –
Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time is read the Bible every night with Katelynn. I’ll go ahead and admit it…I usually fail. It sounds like a good idea during the middle of the day, but by the time it’s bath-time, pack-lunches-time, wash-the-dishes time, I’m like “go to bed!” *insert regret.* Regret is worthless unless it inspires change. So, thanks to encouragement from Sunday’s sermon and my renewed determination to be disciplined (more on that tomorrow,) Katelynn and I got out her girls’ devotional book tonight. I’d already sent her to bed (*guilt*) and she got back up. Second chance. I went for it.
Guess what? She was SO EXCITED about reading scripture with me!!! In fact, the little devotional book said to look up two different verses, and she ended up reading four different chapters, aloud! And we talked about them!!! She knew way more about scripture than I thought she did. (thanks, Kidzu!) She was supposed to make a list of some animals God mentioned in the Bible, and I expected to hear about the cattle lowing at the manger…but she didn’t even mention that. She went to Genesis and read the creation story, and told me that she wanted to tell the story of Genesis today when her class was talking about creation. THEN she told me she also thought about telling them Psalm 139, and furthermore, she thinks Psalm 139 is awesome and she wishes I’d paint it on her wall. She found the story of Noah and read it to me, and included those animals on her list. She told me about Daniel in the lion’s den and Jonah and the whale. We talked about how Satan was portrayed as a snake in Genesis, and she read me the story of the fall. She even included frogs because of the plagues, and reminded me that there were plagues of bugs and insects, too. So, as my eyes leak, I’m here to tell you — God Answers Prayers!!! God is faithful, even in my unfaithfulness! I am so thankful that He loves my girls more than I do!
By no means am I sharing this story to say “yeay, Rebecca!” because that’s certainly not it. I fall short, every day, and am in desperate need of grace. I’m sharing this to encourage you to be in the Word with your children. Pray that they’d have a passion for the Word, and give them opportunities to be in it with you! If you don’t know what to do (I didn’t…that was a great excuse for me) buy some kind of children’s devotional book. They’re used to doing school, and it’ll direct their study in an age-appropriate manner. Christian bookstores have tons of materials like these. Pray that God would just grab their hearts through the scriptures they read and give them passion and excitement for sharing Jesus with their friends!
Make sure to join us this Sunday as we discuss “I’ve tried everything!”
