I am determined to not let my busy schedule get in the way of leading my children to Christ!!!

It’s so easy to put off devotion and prayer time.

It’s so easy to send the kids to read their Bible on their own.

It’s so easy to let the Children’s Ministry do all the work.

But no more!

I’m determined! I’ve decided! This was a decision that I made before my children were born.

What’s happened to me? What happened to my priorities? Geez Louise! Get it to together girl!

All that to say, I’m determined to get focused and get back to the basics - daily time with God with my children.

Has this happened to anyone else? How did you get back on track?

Have you ever tried to explain this concept to your children?

We have a little devotion book that we started and the lesson for today was from 1 Thess. 5:19 “Do not quench the Holy Spirt of God.”

What was helpful was the boys were told to get dressed for the day and they were disobedient and didn’t follow directions.

After they got dressed, we did our devotion on Quenching the Spirit. I asked them if they ever start to do something and then hear a still small voice telling them to STOP? They all said yes. I told them that’s God’s way of directing them to do what is right.

I told them that quenching the Holy Spirit would be disobeying that still small voice of God and ultimately making God sad. This was the best application of this verse that I could think of - can you think of anything else?

I then asked them why we want to make sure we don’t make God sad. And Brandon, my 6 year old said “Because he made all the clothes even before we were born or any of the people were born - he made all the clothes in the world.”

Huh?

Oh well, at least he got the first part.

We ended with Bralon praying that we listen to the voice of God when he gives us directions.

“Mommy, we need a real Bible.”

That’s what my two sons told me after Sunday School on Sunday. Their teacher told them that they needed to bring a Bible that they can look up scriptures in.

“And these Children’s Bibles don’t have books and chapter, they just have stories.”

So we are on the hunt for a good “Real Bible” for them. I’ll keep you posted.

Today I am thankful for my family.

I’m pretty sure that I have the BEST husband in the entire world. I just love this man and I thank God that He brought us together. We met in college and when we look back on our lives, we always think about how we could have easily gone other colleges - but thank God he ordered our steps!

And I’m also thankful for my 3 wonderful children. They are the light of my life. They are loving, funny, just plain ole adorable and I thank God for His wonderful gift. I am honored to be their mother.

Thank you God for the wonderful gift of my family!

Today was an awesome day. Today, I would like to focus on being thankful for the opportunity to praise and worship God.

In my small group Bible study we are reading the Bible in 90 Days. We’ve been reading about the ordinances of the sacrifices, and how only certain people were allowed into the Holy of Holy.

I don’t think about it often, but it is truly an honor to be allowed into the presence of God. Just to be able to speak with Him and to hear Him speak to me.

I am so thankful for that opportunity. I don’t have to tell anyone else, I can go straight to my Creator and praise, worship, and offer supplications with thankgiving right from my lips to His ears.

Praise God!

Today, I thought I would call my oldest son over to share what he’s thankful for. He’s seven, so this could be interesting.

Here’s what he had to say:

“Food.God.trees.air.bodys.friends.AND   FAMILYS!”

He typed it himself and he’s pretty proud. He put the last part in “big letters so everyone would notice it.”

What are your children thankful for? For a minute, I didn’t think he was going to say his family!

Have your kids share what they are thankful for in our comments section.

We’ve been working on a spirit of gratitude lately. I’ve been extra careful to make sure they are saying thank you to each other and thanking God too.

We’re going to work on our Tree of Thanks this weekend. We make one every year and post it on the wall until the leaves fall off because the tape will not stick anymore. Each leaf has a word or phrase that represents something we are thankful for. I’ll post a picture when we’re done.

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions in your family? Please share them with us - we’re always looking for new ideas.

“God’s been so good to me. Everyday He’s blessing Me. Take the time to glorify the Lord today!”

Today, I am thankful for God’s provision.

I sat and thought for a minute about where he’s brought my family over the last 8 years and I was just totally amazed.

When we were first married, we had nothing. A sofa that was given to us by one of my co-workers, a chair we were given when a dorm at our old college was remodeled, and a set of mismatched dishes and pots that my parents gave us. We did have some wonderful wedding gift gadgets, but that was about it.

It was such a humbling experience. We were both dillusional and thought that since we’d gone to college, we would be instantly wealthy. But of course, that’s not how it happened.

I remember one time when we only had $5 to last us an entire week. My husband boldly lead me into the grocery store and loaded our basket with eggs (6-pack), bread, lunch meat (that 50 cent, extra thinly sliced kind), a pack of hot dog weiners, spaghetti and a can of tomatoe paste. And we ate nicely that week as we waited for payday.

Those times help me remember where God has brought us from. He’s been with us the entire way, ordaining and orchestrating circumstances to mold us into who He would have us to be. If we never had valley experiences, it would be harder for us to realize when we are on the mountaintop.

So today, I want to thank you Lord for your hand of provision, your favor and loving hand of guidance.

What are you thankful for? Press the comments button and share with us.

“I have so much to thank God for - so many wonderful blessings and so many open doors. A brand new mercy, along with each new day! That’s why I praise You! For this I give you praise!!”

In the spirit of the season, I thought I would take the next seven days to list 7 things I am thankful for.

Today, I am thankful for peace.

My life has been pretty hectic the past few weeks and I things are finally starting to slow down. Things were so crazy, that I felt soooo overwhelmed and pressured. But I’ve been praying that God will lead and direct me in every area of my life.

After laying all my request at the feet of the Almighty and telling Him how much I need His help, I can say that I’m beginning to have a feeling of peace that passes all understanding.

Everything is still hectic - but I’m not on the verge of losing my mind anymore!

Praise God!

What are you thankful for today? Please share in the comments section. We can all praise God together!

I shared my thoughts on Halloween and what God has called my family to do in the message posted here. And I invited other parents to share their thoughts.

I thought I would share some of the feedback I received:

These scriptures certainly give me something to think about.  I have always enjoyed Halloween, mainly because it means Fall is here, or on the way.  I love to decorate for Halloween, too.  Most of our decorations are pumpkins, leaves, etc.  The girls have enjoyed putting their school art projects on the windows as decorations.  Since they are attending a Church Preschool/PDO program, none of the art is Halloween (ghosts, witches, etc.) specific.  I may need to rethink my tablecloth that is covered with carved pumpkins.  Interestingly enough, the girls don’t consider these “Jack-O-Lanterns”, but simply carved pumpkins.

I certainly recognize that Halloween has very Pagan roots.  But then so does Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.  We are very careful to test the girls the true meanings of Christmas and Easter, but we do write letters to Santa and hunt eggs.  They haven’t started asking specific questions yet, but I can see how mixing in the Pagan characters with our celebrations of Jesus’s Birth and Resurrection can be confusing.  The main difference with Halloween is that is has NO religious significance.  Hmmm…

Our usual Halloween plans involve wearing “non-scary” costumes: Meagan will be “Stefanie” from LazyTown and Lauren will be dressed as a kitty-cat.  We also participate in a Halloween Parade sponsored by my Mom’s neighborhood.  After gathering for snacks and a costume contest, all parents and children walk down the parade route and folks sit in their front yards to view the costumes and give out candy.  It seems pretty harmless to me, but again, you’ve given me something to think about.  Thanks for the insight.

- Amy

“We don’t celebrate either. And as my daugther gets older the questions are more frequent.  But we may attend “Hallowed Be Thy Name” this year at church.  It’s an alternative to Halloween hosted by our Christian Education Ministry.  The kids get to dress as their favorite bible character, play games, and have fun.  It’s inside and kind of like a festival…the enitre community is invited.  So I think we’ll give it a try and see how it goes.

-Felicia

We do not participate in Halloween either.  When our daughter was 4, we decided to no longer participate in it.

Our conviction that participating = celebrating.  How can you celebrate a holiday as a Christian, that epitomizes, ghosts, witches, goblins and such.

We are fortunate that the schools where we live do not have Halloween parties, so that has not been an issue.  And  our daughter (who is now 11), has used the opportunity to explain to her friends, and classmates, exactly why, we choose not to participate in Halloween activities. 

We’ve never had a problem with the candy, we simply go to the store and buy a bunch all year long!

We have found it to be a great conversation starter, when people ask us, “what is your child dressing up as this year?”  We can then share our faith with them.

-Tamara

I used to be wishy washy when my oldest child was young.  I always felt convicted, but I took her trick or treating anyways.  Now that I’m older and wiser, we do not celebrate Halloween at all.  My children are in a Christian school, so I don’t have to worry about them participating there.  We also go to our church for a Harvest Festivle, so we are not home to pass out candy.

-Sharon

Hey Chanda,

Here’s the other side.

I believe trick or treating,hanging your stockings and hunting for Easter Eggs all fall under fun Americian tradition.  However, before I had children I was a Christian preschool teacher and I believed in acknowledging Halloween but not teaching scary and spooky. As a school we did not do costume parades and such. We celebrated all the wonders of the Harvest season. The days before Halloween we always had a photographer bring his pony for pictures and all the kids could dress up cowboy/girl pony pictures. I talked with children about trusting in God when you are afraid and letting your light shine for Jesus.

My fav book are Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs and Halloween Is it for Real? by Harold Myra. Now that I have two children 5 and 7. We decorate and dress up but not spooky or scary. My children have always loved to dress up I love to buy them costumes because they play in them all year. I believe dressing up is part of good childhood development. I know my time is coming that all of the innocence will change but I pray my honesty and example will make that road easier to follow. This year we will be inviting our friends and neighbors to a Halloween Carnival at our church.

-Carrie

We do celebrate Halloween…. Did as a child and do now with our children.  We believe that the holiday is what you make it.  Halloween is a time to get together with family to enjoy the outdoors and neighbors.  The kids know that some people celebrate in a way that is not pleasing to God… It’s a great way to pass out tracts too.

-Nancy

Yes, I do allow my kids to go “trick or treating”.  Halloween is so commercialized these days.  It’s all about wearing costumes and going out for candy. 

These are my thoughts.  Hope this helps!  Have a blessed Fall Season. :) 

-Dorina

It was so great to hear what other Christian parents think. I hope you enjoyed this topic too. You can add your opinion by clicking the comments button below.

Have a blessed day!

Chanda