Tips for Family Devotions Led by Mom

1. Start.  Yeah, sounds kind of silly, but that’s half the battle–getting going.  Decide right now while you’re reading this that you won’t let another day go by waiting for someone else to do it.  Then plan what you’ll do today.

2. Don’t make it hard – make it simple.  If the kids around your table are small, choose a Bible passage that is full of adventure and excitement like the story of Daniel or David before he became king.  If the kids are older, dare to read some passages that pertain to daily life like any chapter in the book of James.

3. Keep it short and to the point, especially to start.  Read a few verses or just one part of a story… keep them longing for more.  Choose a translation that’s easy to read and understand.  If you do just one verse, maybe read it in a few translations to see if there are any differences.  Read it, and then chat about it.  Ask good questions.  (Good questions do not have ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers.)

4. Have the kids act something out.  If you read a story, assign parts and have them act out while you read.  You might just laugh your head off, but that’s okay.  It’ll teach the kids that devos don’t have to be boring.

5. Make sure each person has a notebook or journal.  If they can’t write, give them one anyway so they can draw.  At either the beginning or end of your time together, have them write down one thing they want prayer for and the date.  Then spend time as a family praying for those things.  Watch over time for answered prayer.

6. Occasionally watch a solid Bible teaching on a DVD or podcast, do small segments of a Bible study series if the kids are old enough, or spend some time together memorizing a few verses (or even a book of the Bible).

7. If you have young kids, sit down and watch a Veggie Tales video with them.  Then bring out your Bible and compare it to the real story.  Ask them what’s different, what’s the same–and which one is true!

8. If you are worn out, sometimes the best thing to do is to turn on some praise and worship music as loud as your speakers will go (without disturbing the neighbors) and have everyone sing along.  Sing hymns and study the words to see which come from Scripture.

9. Do it when it works.  (See Deuteronomy 6.)  When you walk along the road, when you sit down to eat, when you wake up, when you lie down, when you drive in the car, when you cook dinner, when you are hanging out in the family room – whenever and wherever.  A set time is great and also necessary.  But it is not the only time.  If a few days go by and you didn’t get that set time in, not to worry if you are living a life of devotion with your kids.  A true life of devotion to God will bring you back to the joy of meditating on His Word and singing His praise because of your love for Him.

10. Remember that your goal is to help them be more devoted to Jesus.  If that means you tell your testimony and have them share theirs – do it.  It’s not so much about how you do it but that you do.  Show them Jesus in a way that they will love Him through His Word, be sensitive to His Holy Spirit and long for His return with a passion.

Here are a few cautions:

Don’t say to your kids, “Well, from now on I’m going to be doing family devotions ‘cause I’ve waited this long and apparently your dad is not going to.”  No way, José!  Helper, remember?  You are actually doing your job, not your husband’s.

Try not to look like the world just died and you are left to point the way to an impossible Jesus by forcing your children to endure Bible lessons that’ll taste worse than a cabbage and peanut butter sandwich.

Making God look like He gave you the job that nobody wants by saying, “God says I have to do this, so work with me, people” is not going to do anybody any favors.

Blog Carnvial: School Room Tour Update

MMCW is hosting a School Room Carnival! Share your blog posts and photos of how you organize your home learning environment. We will all be inspired by tips and ideas! Simply send the URL of your blog post to me at mentoringmoments@aol.com by Friday, July 30th. Yes, we’re extending the deadline to give everyone a few more days. You do not have to be a homeschooler to participate. The carnival will run on Thursday, August 5th.

Family Devotions Led by Mom

Family devotions can be one of the always-wanted-to-do-it-but-never-quite-got-to-it parts of a Christian family’s home life.  Many times mothers carry a pain in their hearts because we’d always hoped our husbands would be the spiritual heads of our homes.  We think that means our husbands should cheerfully lead the family without reminders (hints, kicks under the table, jabs in the ribs or ‘that look’).  We expect that the dark, tall and handsome, strong but silent macho man we married will become preacher extraordinaire, object lesson guru and prayer warrior of all time when it comes to family devotions.

We forget that God gave us to our fabulous man so we could be his conscience – oops, did I really say that?  I mean helper!  We think we need to be his conscience, and that’s why we say things like “Wouldn’t family devotions be a good idea, honey?”  Or maybe we don’t say anything at all but buy a great book entitled Family Devotions Led by Dad and leave it strategically on his bedside table or in the bathroom where he does most of his reading anyway.

Helper… helper… helper… that’s what God said we were to be! “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”” (Genesis 2:18, NIV)

Helper does not mean nagger, manipulator, director or conscience.  It actually means helper.  Strange, huh?  According to Webster’s Dictionary¹ helper means:  “One who, or that which, helps, aids, assists, or relieves.”  Are you surprised that it actually means to help?

There are a dozen reasons we might not want to be a helper in the area of family devotions, and I’m not likely to know half of them.  However, one of the reasons that we want our husbands to do it is because we don’t want the responsibility.  What if we do it and the kids don’t like it?  What if we do it wrong?  What happens if we do it and they choose not to follow God as adults?  Will we be to blame?

Big questions – probably the same ones dear hubby is asking and part of the reason he doesn’t volunteer for the job.

Not to worry though!  Moms, you can do a great job.  This is your opportunity to be the helper your kids’ dad really needs.  Sure he loves your cooking and maybe the paycheck you bring home, but what a privilege to be his helper in the area of leading your kids to Jesus!

Perhaps the very reason God allowed you to marry the special man in your life is because you were the helper suitable for him in this exact area.  Who knows?

Join me back on Friday–I will be sharing tips on how to start family devotions.

What are some favorite devotionals your family has used?

School Room Carnival

MMCW is hosting a School Room Carnival! Share your blog posts and photos of how you organize your home learning environment. We will all be inspired by tips and ideas! Simply send the URL of your blog  post to me at mentoringmoments@aol.com by tonight. You do not have to be a homeschooler to participate. The carnival will run on July 28th.

Putting Your Spouse First

Here are five simple suggestions to help make loving your spouse a top priority, second only to your relationship with Christ.  Remember, giving your marriage the time and attention it deserves truly matters to God. He will help you implement these steps if you are willing to order your life and marriage according to His will.

1. Pray together before the day begins.
As we learned earlier, couples that pray regularly together experience less than a 1 percent divorce rate. Daily bring your marriage, children, financial needs, spiritual obstacles, and other concerns to God together in prayer. The Bible assures us heaven is always open: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Making prayer a priority in your marriage will invite God’s love and presence into that day’s events. It will glue your hearts together as you worship the God who created your marriage.

2. Act out love to experience feelings of love.
One of the mysteries of keeping a softened heart is that we must continue to act that way even when we don’t feel that way. When our emotions are upset or difficult to control, we need to still speak and act with a softened heart. Even if we are out of sorts, our feelings will eventually catch up with our right actions. Love is an action word in Scripture, not an emotion: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God’s love was demonstrated by His actions, not His emotions. The same is true for us. If we will act and speak lovingly, our hearts will overcome our feelings, and love will carry the day.

3. Spend thirty minutes a day in a shared activity and intimate conversation.
It’s a truism that men communicate as the result of a shared activity, while women view communication as the activity itself. For example, if you want your husband to talk to you, then you should both engage in some simple activity such as walking, biking, or working on a project together. You’ll find that sharing an activity with your husband will open him up to interact with you in a way he doesn’t when sitting at the kitchen table. Make spending thirty minutes together a top priority so that you can stay connected through intimate conversation.

4. Give your spouse the right to access you any time day or night.
One of the important ways to communicate the priority your spouse is in your life is to allow them to interrupt your schedule. When I (Bob) was a pastor, I gave my secretary instructions to put my wife’s telephone calls through any time day or night (and that of my children as well). Regardless of who I was meeting with, I was willing to take at least thirty seconds to talk to my wife. It was my way of communicating to Cheryl and everyone else that my marriage and kids were the first priority of my life. Of course, there were moments when I had to ask Cheryl if I could call her back later, but the important point had been established that she comes first.

5. Submit your time decisions to the fifty-year rule.
It’s a good idea to stop and evaluate the way the two of you allocate your time each day. The fifty-year rule simply asks, “Fifty years from now will we be glad or regret the way we used our time today?” Will the two of you make wise choices regarding your use of time? Or will you let the tyranny of the urgent drive your schedule? How we spend our time is perhaps the surest indicator of what we value most in life.

We need to take this advice of Scripture to heart,
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
(Psalm 90:12)

Our marriages all come with an expiration date. We may have only this day to connect our hearts; tomorrow may not come. We need to ask God to give us the wisdom to see our marriage as He sees our marriage. Once we do, we will make it the first and highest priority in our lives after our relationship with Christ.

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…”

Lord Jesus, thank You for making it so clear in Your Word that my marriage relationship is to be among my highest priorities, second only to my devotion to You. I ask You to forgive me for allowing other things to confuse that divinely ordered plan. Today let my marriage be a clear example and message to the world how much You love Your Church. Use my softened heart toward my mate as an avenue to draw people to the gospel. Let our heart connection in marriage make it easier for our children to come to a lifelong faith in You. Finally, may our home be a small foretaste of the joys of heaven. I ask this in Your Name, Lord Jesus, the One who is soon returning for us, Your bride. Amen.

Excerpt from The Marriage Miracle, by Bob and Cheryl Moeller.

Copyright © 2010 by Bob and Cheryl Moeller, published by Harvest House, used with permission. All rights reserved.

For more information visit www.bobandcherylmoeller.com

Organizing School Supplies

When our oldest was born, I would fold clothes slowly as he slept.

Slowly because I was watching intently to make sure he was breathing.

As you can imagine, not much got done during those days. Between watching him sleep, working full time and folding those clothes, it seemed like there was no time for anything–especially an organized home.

Fast forward sixteen years, three more children, add on homeschooling, music, sports, and writing for Mentoring Moments and Oasis. I laugh when I recall those early first child days–I was clueless to what the phrase I have no time really meant.

Back then I thought of myself as an organized person, maybe because I could stand in the container aisle of Wal-Mart and think up innovative ways to store things. Always on the lookout for ways to save space, you could have called me the Queen of Rubbermaid.

These days, organization is not a pastime, it is a necessity. The saying is true–the more children you have the more organized you have to become.

In a matter of weeks our kiddos will be going back to school. That means school supplies can easily get misplaced and find themselves spread out all over the home. My command central is our supply closet…

Supply Closet

Finding a way to organize all of our school supplies and books proved easier than I thought when I found these plastic drawers at Wal-Mart. Drawers are purchased individually, so one can stack as many as needed. I was able to fit five large drawers for craft supplies, office supplies, art paper, notebook / loose leaf paper, and a pencil/pen/glue/crayon/marker drawer. Two smaller plastic drawers hold computer software /audio CDs and math manipulatives.

If you are a grandmother,  these drawers make a great spot for crayons, paper, Play-Dough, Barbie dolls, doll clothes, race cars, Legos, and more. The drawers do slide out, so they can be transported elsewhere in the home and put back when finished.

Stores are ramping up their school supply aisles right now and preparing for back-to-school sales. Save money by purchasing enough to last the entire year and store them in your supply closet. To get the best deals, purchase only the necessities for the first week or so of school, then stock up later in August when stores will offer deeper discounts. I normally purchase upwards of 12 packs of both college-ruled and wide-ruled paper, for example, which means I shop only once for paper a year.  Instead of running to Wal-Mart at 10 pm for  paper, I send the kiddos to the supply closet. Other items I stock up on are magic markers, glue sticks, boxes of pencils, erasers (we go through them like crazy), construction paper, index cards, poster board and art supplies.

Another nifty organization idea…

Closetmaid.com
My friend Michelle shared this link with me. You can enter your closet dimensions and receive plans for a professional remake you can do on your own.

Let’s keep this going…

MMCW is hosting a School Room Carnival! Share your blog posts and photos of how you organize your home learning environment. We will all be inspired by tips and ideas! Simply send the URL of your blog  post to me at mentoringmoments@aol.com by July 23rd. The carnival will run on July 28th.

Question: How do you organize school supplies?

Is it Possible for Prayer to Protect Your Marriage?

Did you know that 1% of couples that pray together, divorce?

But, do you find it difficult to pray with your spouse? Maybe the words come awkwardly or not at all. Let us make a simple suggestion that could turn things around. To start with, why not begin each day by praying the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew, chapter 6 together?

Matthew 6: 9-15 “This, then, is how you should pray: ” ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’” Amen.

What will you be doing in this prayer?

1.  Telling God He is your Father
2.  That you desire to do His will.
3.  Asking Him to provide your family with your daily bread.
4.  Confessing that you need to forgive each other, to be forgiven.
5.  Imploring God to deliver you from temptation that could ruin your relationship.

If prayed sincerely, God will answer.

Remember, marriage is for better, for worse, and for keeps.

Equipped for the Workplace

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20 / Proverbs 13:12

Over 70 percent of our time is spent in the workplace, yet our training and teaching focuses on areas where we spend much less time. The workplace is the greatest mission field of our day, yet we do not train workplace believers how to effectively integrate their faith into their workplace. The wall between Sunday and Monday still exists. Most workplace believers do not understand that all of life is spiritual, not just life on Sunday.

A recent study found that 50 percent of Christians have never heard a sermon on work, 70 percent have never been taught a theology of work, and 70 percent have never heard a sermon on vocation. Why do we focus on the fringes rather than the center where most people spend most of their time–the workplace?

God is removing the wall of separation by speaking to pastors and workplace believers all over the world. A pastor recently shared how his church ordains their workplace believers for their calling to the workplace. Another pastor described the church’s commitment to integrating training for their workplace believers on the theology of work. Another told how they began a workplace ministry within their church for their workplace believers and even integrated Sunday school programs specifically geared to help workplace believers understand their calling in the workplace.

We are entering a new era in the Church when workplace believers are seen as a remnant of the Body of Christ who need to be mobilized and trained for the work of the ministry to their own mission field–the workplace. Are you one of the men and women God is raising up for this task? Pray that God will help pastors understand and affirm this calling, and that they will respond by training people in their churches for their own ministry to the workplace. When we reclaim the 70 percent, the remainder will be reclaimed automatically.

Reprinted by permission from the author. Os Hillman is an international speaker and author of more than 10 books on workplace calling. To learn more, visit http://www.MarketplaceLeaders.org

Looking for a Bride

Proverbs 31 captures the words of a mother contemplating a wife for her son. If the king’s mother had been writing her oracle today, it may have sounded something like this:

Where do I begin my son to describe the kind of young woman I am hoping for as your wife? First, know that she will be a complement to who you are. She should never take the place of your relationship with God. As you both grow in relationship with God, you will grow closer together.

You will be able to trust her with your heart and hold nothing good back. She will need to be a hard worker, willing to get her hands dirty. Money may be tight at times, so she will need to clip coupons, shop sales papers, and be at home whether in Macy’s or at Wal-Mart.

I pray she will be blessed with the gift of hospitality and make your home and table a place where all feel welcome. May she have eyes that see the needs of those around her, and may she have the capability to meet them.

I hope she will have a deep love for you and the children God will bless you with. May you work together to raise your children after God’s own heart.

I am sure her beauty will be a drawing card, but know that through the years outer beauty may fade, but the inner beauty will get deeper and richer as she grows in her relationship with the Lord. As she opens her mouth, wisdom will pour forth and you will be proud, my son.

Carefully search for this gift, my son, and don’t settle for the world’s cheap imitation. She is worth waiting for.

Father Knows Best

The early 1950’s introduced a television show to the world based on a working father named Jim Anderson, his wife, Margaret, and their three children: Betty, Bud and Kathy. The show gave the typical struggles most family faced during the course of life, but it showed Jim as a man with sensible advice and as a reasonable parent in the home.  Viewers enjoyed watching the interactions of this family because they could relate to the children.  The show created a desire for many to emulate the same atmosphere in their own homes.

Jim Anderson on Father Knows Best may have been the ideal earthly father and one many desired, but our Heavenly Father far outweighs anything Jim ever accomplished.  Jeremiah 29:11 relays to us the deepest love of our Heavenly Father’s desire for us when He says, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” NASB

Despite the valiant effort earthly fathers make to shield their children from the whirlwinds this life deals, they cannot prevent them from coming.  They may stand by their children through them and even strive to carry them through them, but in the end the future and hope from life’s storms come from the Lord. He knows all, sees all, and the power to bring about the best rests in the palm of His loving hands.

As we celebrate Father’s Day this year and reflect on the earthly fathers we’ve been given, may we focus on the truth that our Heavenly Father always keeps our best in mind when we journey through the valleys and mountains of this life.  We may not comprehend His plans for us, but we can know He is trustworthy, loving, and kind in all He does for us.  The final story still remains to be told regarding those moments that make no sense to us but formed the future and hope He had for us.

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