Encouraging parents in their efforts to raise their children to be enthusiastic servants of the Lord.
Animals are a great way to teach children about God. Every animal has so many unique gifts God has given them. Just the sheer variety and beauty give glory to God. The scriptures are right when they say that creation is a testimony to God. (Romans 1:20)
Yet, atheists will try to use God’s creation to disprove God’s existence. We recently were blessed to meet a woman whose mission is to use animals to teach children about God. I think she put it perfectly.
One of my favorite books is Pride and Prejudice. I enjoy getting lost in the story, whether it’s the book or the mandatory BBC version (Let’s be honest. Collin Firth was born to play Darcy!) I couldn’t wait to introduce my daughter to the world of Jane Austin. Even though she could have read the words at a relatively young age, I waited until she was much older to let her read it. Why? Because until then, she had not lived enough life to really understand the beauty behind the story.
Children are concrete thinkers for much of their childhood. They understand the things they can see, touch, taste, hear, smell and experience. Abstract concepts or things outside of their experience are difficult for them to comprehend. This makes teaching them the Bible a unique challenge. Oh, they can remember the details they are told. They may even have memorized what they are supposed to learn from the story. Comprehending those same ideas is almost impossible for most children. Especially with the current ways we teach children the Bible in many places.
If your daughter is over 5’7″, has long legs and is thin, someone has probably suggested she consider modeling. To young girls, modeling appears to be a dream job. Who wouldn’t want to travel to glamorous places, wear beautiful clothes and make tons of money?
In Kylie Bisutti‘s book, I’m No Angel, she does a fantastic job of describing the life of a model from a Christian perspective. As Bisutti shares her story, the reader follows her through her early aspirations, her conversion to Christianity and her life as a model. Throughout the book, Bisutti slowly reveals the experiences and thought process which made her decide to walk away from her dream job in order to honor God.
Sixteen months. Sixteen MONTHS?! Yesterday, my daughter completed the last AP exam of her Junior year in High School. Which means (Lord willing) she will be leaving for college in sixteen short months. I am not a doctor, but my guess is the number one cause for hyperventilating moms is realizing they only have a few months left to “finish” full-time parenting.
I know a mother’s job and influence continues, but the opportunity to impact your child on a daily basis ends for most of us when our child heads off to college. While that’s a wonderful, exciting time in her life, it can cause a bit of panic in mine. I picture myself trailing after her towards her dorm sharing vital tips of wisdom – “Remember to cook that at 350* for 30 minutes”, “Never take any wooden nickels” (A favorite in my family, although I’m still not sure what I was supposed to do!) and “Wash your brights separate from your darks, if possible.”
As a mom of young children, many of your crisis times seem to hit during the middle of the night. Often the crisis is a sick child or a young one with bad dreams. Sometimes the crisis is only the anxiety that hits you once you finally have the time to lay still in a quiet, dark house. I was blessed to have relatives and strong Christian mentors nearby, some of whom accepted late calls. What about those times when I didn’t want to bother anyone? What about women who had no close Christian relatives or friends to turn to for godly advice? How would they get the mentoring they needed as quickly as they needed it?
Debbie Morris wrote The Blessed Woman with this woman in mind. At one point in her life, she was that woman who wanted godly mentoring, but had no resources. She turned to the women in scripture to answer the questions she had regarding living life as a woman of God.
