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Making Disciples During Advent

Here are some suggestions for slowing down and doing some intentional things during Advent to help our kids really connect with the prophecies in Scripture that foretold the coming of our Lord as Savior. I have not used any of these (yet!). I found them in searching for something to use this year. If you have used any of them, please comment and let me know what you thought. Furthermore, if you order and use any this year, please also comment so others can have an idea for coming years if it was a good resource. Bless you all as you seek to "make disciples" at home.
~Katherine

Parental Rights?

Do you have the right to pass on your faith to your children? To decide what movies are appropriate for them? To decide when you want them to learn about alternative lifestyles and "the birds and the bees"?

If we want to have the freedom to answer the Lord's call to make disciples of our kids- we'd better be involved in passing this amendment! Tell your friends and family- post on your blogs- GET OUT THE WORD!!! We need to reject the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child and ratify the Parental Rights Amendment. Visit Parental Rights.org for more information and how you can get involved.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A friend was sharing with me tonight on email about a recent trip to a servant event/short mission trip to the GAIN Warehouse in Lancaster, PA. Here’s a little of what she had to say:

“a mission trip like this … really brought home to my kids and the others the poverty, the needs of people all over the world. The videos, testimonies that were given during breaks and lunch time really were touching and [my daughter] even wrote a three page essay today … on one story that really touched her that she heard at GAIN. I couldn’t have done that sitting here at home I don’t think. I am really impressed with GAIN and just the whole trip in general. My kids look forward to it each year. It’s very special and they really are hands on helping others in need. It’s so cool.”

Sometimes I think we need that real picture to drive home the concepts we’ve been teaching at home. Servant events, service projects, and missions trips are a great way to reinforce and bring some real life images to bear upon the truths we teach- “tis more blessed to give than to receive”, “To him who has much, much will be expected”, “I have learned what it means to be content in all things, whether in plenty or in want”, and so many more!

You don’t have to go halfway around the world to find this- try just going downtown right where you are. A food bank or a womens shelter are great places to volunteer. Or, maybe you would like to go around the world. If so, GAIN and other groups may provide a great opportunity for your family to get out and share the Gospel with a world in need.

May you be blessed as you seek to make disciples right there at home in the hearts of your children.

~Katherine

Quality and Quantity Time

I had a lovely afternoon with a good friend recently- and we were discussing quality time and quantity time. Not one versus another, just about them. Later, I was recalling our conversation and thinking about myself. While many have to make the limited time they have quality time- I have a large quantity of time with my children because I homeschool them. I began to ask myself- do I take that time for granted? Do I use the quantity of time I have and turn it into quality time? Sometimes, I do- when I do devotions in the morning- or intentionally read a book to the kids- but often, I confess I fail and do not. I am, like all mothers do from time to time, realizing how quickly my quantity time is slipping away. I am making a commitment to myself to not let quantity be void of true, lasting quality. As this blog is about discipleship- when I say quality, I mean relationship building and faith building.

How about you? How do you make the time you have with your children- regardless of whether you're homeschooling and feel like you have ALL the time- or whether your children are out during the day- QUALITY time. What things are you intentionally doing to live your faith in front of your children, and challenge, nurture, and grow theirs? I am challenged by Deut. 6 which implies that we should be doing it all the time.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

At home, on the road, when you lie down, when you get up- on your hands and foreheads and doorframes of your house--- is there any place that that does not cover? :) So, I take from that, that I need to make all my time with my kids, time to disciple them in the faith.

What do you find the most helpful ways to turn your time into quality, relationship-building, quality time?

The Kingdom of God in Your Child...

Sometimes we get so walkin' in the day to day of parenting, school, activities, even church, that we don't realize the miraculous and the Kingdom of God in our child (ren).

Matthew 19: 13Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

14Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." 15When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Matthew 18:1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

If we are to become like little children- we might stop to think they have something we need! We watched a video at church tonight that I must highly recommend Finger of God (DVD). In it, an amazing woman of God, Heidi Baker, said something like, "children believe in God and in miracles- they believe until they're told by adults not to- that God doesn't do miracles anymore."

I left the church tonight with a profound sense of the holiness of God in my children, who believe in the Lord Jesus. May I not be the one who tells them in words or in actions that God doesn't do these things today. May I instead, become like a little child- and enter into the kingdom of heaven- right here on earth!- the Kingdom of God that is at work all the time around us. And may I encourage my children- to exercise their faith, to be bold and courageous, to pray, to witness, and to love- with the love of Jesus. God bless you as you seek to do the same.

For more ideas on encouraging the faith of your children and the supernatural love and power in their lives- check out the book Here Comes Heaven!: A Kid's Guide to God's Supernatural Power.

©2008 Katherine Clark

Praying as a family for others...

I was emailing with my friend, Susan in IL, last week and realized we have a similar tradition in our families. This made it seem like an idea worth sharing! :)

Each December as we receive Christmas cards, we take the photo out and post in onto a bulletin board. The bulletin board full of photos of family and friends from around the country becomes a source of joy in our dining area- and also- becomes a springboard into prayer. We try to use the pictures as a prompt to pray, one picture at a time, for those we love at dinnertime. I wish we did it every single night- we don't-not really even close- but we are so blessed when we do! It is hard to take the pictures down when the new pics start coming- but we eagerly await the new ones- and this is renewing our desire to get prayin'! So, maybe you'll post your pics on your fridge, like Susan, or fill a cork board, like me--- or come up with a display all your own- but I hope your family finds the joy of regularly praying for others, as we have.