Selah - You Are My Hiding Place

This is a song that sings what my heart is feeling!

Be Flexible!

During the season of Lent, we have been doing a nightly Lenten devotion with our children.

On one Wednesday evening, the scripture was James 5:16, "Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."

We decided to go around the table and have each person confess one sin we wanted to work on... To read on, click here.  

School is NOT Over!

Most of us were perfect parents, before becoming parents ourselves.

Remember when you saw a child having a temper tantrum in a store and then thought, "If only they would just ..." We knew it all - before we were parents.

If you are reading this post, you are probably a parent. So how do you measure up today? For me, perfect parent, is not a title I would give myself. More like, totally and completely dependent on God! Can I get a witness?

Come on over to Titus 2 In Action to finish reading this post...

Thankful Thursday #63

I am joining with Greg C. over at Greg's General Store today for Thankful Thursday.   I am excited to be linking up with our new host this week!

Here's the list for me this week:

1) I am thankful for my daughter, Britt. It's her 14th birthday and she is a precious child. I couldn't have asked for a better first born daughter. She loves the Lord, her family and her friends.

2) I am thankful that my husband and I are walking hand in hand to see our first born turn 14. It's the little pleasures along the way that make my heart grateful!

3) I am thankful for our local Christian School. They are like a second family and where else can you find that? For a parent/teacher conference this week, I had one of the teachers actually come over to my house! I'm impressed.

4) I am thankful for God's Word. Studying the Bible gives me excitement and encouragement and peace at all times. I love His words.

5) I am thankful today that Greg has taken the Thankful Thursday torch and is going to be the new TT host! That blesses my heart!

If you are grateful today, then head over to Greg's blog to link up with the rest of us. We are singing God's praises!

Lent

Lent is the period of time between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. While I was not raised in the Lutheran or Catholic church, my husband and I have been participating in Lent with our children for several years now.


Why do we choose to celebrate Lent?

We enjoy taking this opportunity to focus for 40 days on the sacrifice Jesus made for each one of our lives. It's also a time for us to stay focused on God as a family.

This year, instead of only giving up something (individually) for Lent, we've decided to add something in as a family. We've agreed to all read the same scripture each evening, and then come together to discuss it! I'm so excited. Now that our kids are a little older (well, most of them!) we will be able to get into some great discussions.

I am curious, do you celebrate Lent? Why or why not? What are some good Lenten ideas you've had? Please leave a comment so we can all be blessed.

Thankful Thursday - A New Location

I want to thank every blogger who has ever linked up to my Thankful Thursday post in the past.  You are awesome, and God was glorified!

After taking a blog sabbatical, I felt led to let the Thankful Thursday post go.

Thankfully, God had led Greg over at Greg's General Store, to take the Thankful Thursday torch and continue with it (with a gorgeous new TT button, too!).  So please head on over to his blog to link up.

Today, I am thankful that God has provided a new host for Thankful Thursday, Greg!

Known by the Fruit

Matthew 7:20  "Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

What kind of fruit does a Christian produce?  I have spent many hours pondering that thought.  And in one moment, my sweet, young, four year old, Tiffany gave me the answer:

My Tuesday morning Bible study group had just let out for the day, so I went to pick up Tiffany from the childcare room downstairs.  Thinking ahead, I took her to the bathroom before running errands.  While there, she said to me, "Mom, all of the kids here are NOT Christians!"

This statement threw me and I said, "Sure they are."

"Look, Mom, let me tell you why they aren't Christians. First, when we went to the gym to play, some of the girls kept trying to tackle me. Next, one boy took my necklace and tried to keep it away from me, even after I asked him to give it back to me! So you see, they aren't Christians!"

There it was...The simple answer to the above scripture. If they were Christians, certainly their fruit would have been different. The girls would have been nice and the boy would have been considerate. I am amazed that at the young age of four, children already see the fruit of Christianity.

I most certainly had been trying to complicate the scripture when in fact, it was as simple as just treating others kindly.