Things I’m Glad I Did While Raising My Kids- Part 3

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I grew up without being exposed to Scripture, so as a young mom (age 20) it was all still very new to me. I was under great teaching that helped me to realize that all the answers for life are contained in God’s Word, so as I began searching and learning it myself, I sought to find ways to teach it to my little son.

We began by hanging verses around the house and Rick and I started memorizing portions of Scripture together. By the time we had 3 little boys (all 18 months apart), Rick began recording Scripture for the boys to listen to when he was at work. It seemed he was gone for most of their waking hours, so it was his idea to record and explain Proverbs for them to listen to at nap time and bed time.

He gave example stories to explain the what it was talking about so the kids could understand. The results were far-reaching and amazing!! He recorded other portions of Scripture as time went on, and as the boys and then girls grew up, they spent MANY hours listening to Dad read and explain the Scriptures to them.

We often read the Proverb of the day- there are 31 days to the month and 31 Proverbs. Rick always told the kids to raise their hands if they had any questions when he read.  One day he began reading the Proverb of the day and the kids finished the verse before he had a chance to. It happened again and again. When Dad asked them how they knew so many verses, they said, “Well, you have us listen to Bible tapes every night and we just know them.” It was true!! It was incredible!!

Not only did they memorize it, it began to affect the way they thought. God’s Word does that! When they were faced with temptations, verses they didn’t consciously realize they even knew, would pop into their heads giving guidance in everyday decisions. Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” It is so true.

Continue reading Things I’m Glad I Did While Raising My Kids- Part 3

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Teach Your Children God’s Word

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Psalm 119:97 says, “ O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day”.

Kids need to be involved with God’s Word during the day.

Memorizing is the first step in meditating. Meditating has been compared to a cow chewing her cud. First she swallows it, then brings it back up, and chews it all over again.

In order to meditate you have to first commit the Scripture to memory by getting it into your mind and then contemplate it, think about it, and finally decide how to apply it to your life. That’s when it makes it’s way from your head into your heart and works out in your life.

Our kids need us to help them with this.

Do you want your kids to be wiser than their enemies? Then teach them God’s Word.

Psalm 119: 98 “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me.”

Do you want your kids to accomplish greater things than you do? Then teach them God’s Word.

Psalm 119: 99 “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation.”

Continue reading Teach Your Children God’s Word

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Scripture Helps us Deal With Temptations (Printable Chart!)

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When my boys were little, I chose these verses for them to learn to help them deal with struggles they were facing at the time. I made paper “Bibles” from construction paper and wrote the references on the front of the Bible and verse on the back. Then we covered them with contact paper. (A better option might be lamination.)

Each day we would work through the verses just saying them one at a time until each one was learned, and then we reviewed them all. Use whichever version you prefer.

If you would like, you can download a chart with all of these “When Tempted” scenarios and the verses that give us the weapons to fight the temptation!

When tempted to be afraid

  • Psalm 91: 10, 11  “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

When tempted to speak foolish words-

  • Ephesians 4:29- “Don’t use bad language. Say only what is good and helpful to those you are talking to, and what will give them a blessing.”( TLB) Or KJV version: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”

When tempted to think wrong thoughts-

  • I Corinthians 10:15 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

When tempted to feel like a failure- Success is promised to us if we practice this

  • Joshua 1:8.9- ” This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

When tempted to do wrong to those who do wrong to you. Do good to those who mistreat you

  • Luke 6: 27,28 – “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,  Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”

Continue reading Scripture Helps us Deal With Temptations (Printable Chart!)

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Building Loving Relationships Within Your Family-Pt1

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Building loving relationships within your family

Laying a Strong Foundation
One of the biggest advantages I’ve seen from homeschooling my family has been the lasting relationships that have been built over the years. My kids are each other’s best friends!
In the early years:  Lay a Strong Foundation.

You may wonder what some of these first points have Continue reading Building Loving Relationships Within Your Family-Pt1

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Cultivating a Servant’s Heart in Our Children: Part 1

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House additon straw and mud 007One of our priorities in training our children was to try to teach them to be others-focused, or in other words, to build within them a heart of service. This doesn’t come naturally. We are all more attentive to our own needs naturally. We need to train our children to stop and intentionally think about what another person is going through and what we might do to help them out.

Perhaps one of the earliest tools we created to teach them this principle was what we called the

Head to Foot Bible Verse Board. Our first one for our son Rickey was made from a crude piece of plywood on which we laid him down and traced his outline. As time went on, and resources increased, we took a picture of our child, had it blown upto poster size, cut them out of the picture and attached their picture to a poster sized piece of paper. I then looked up verses of how to use the various parts of their bodies for the Lord and attached these verses to the same paper the picture was attached to. The idea behind this was to illustrate Romans 12:1 (“ I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy , acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”) which we wrote on the top of the sheet of paper, explaining how our bodies are a temple of God to be consecrated for His purposes. We then placed it in a poster sized frame and hung it in their bedroom. Each night before bed or nap time, I would let the child choose a different part of the body and we would review the verse associated with it.

For instance:

Romans12-1KNEE- Ephesians 3:14 “For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

EYE- Proverbs 4:25 “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” (Here is a reminder to control what we look at and to use our eyes to honor the Lord and His ways and not to be distracted with things of the world. )

HAND- Proverbs 10:4 “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” (Hence an admonition to be diligent in all that we do for God’s glory)

FEET- Proverbs 4:27 or Ephesians 6:15

Head to Foot Bible Verse Download HERE

The idea behind this was to instruct our child that they were not here to make it a goal to amuse or please themselves necessarily, but to submit their body to God’s purposes and His ways.

I Peter 5:5 in one version of the Bible instructs us to wear the overalls of humility in serving one another. For this reason, I always took their picture while they were wearing overalls and told them this was to be their attitude to others- to put on their overalls of humility and defer to the other person’s wishes whenever possible.

It was just a baby step in teaching them to have a heart of service.

More next week!

~Marilyn

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