CHRIST HAS INVESTED LIFE Therefore DISCIPLE RECONCILE ENCOURAGE NURTURE

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Well this has been some quarter! Since my last newsletter, I have been leveled by an unknown illness that has kept me out of work and out of life basically. So you will notice this newsletter is significantly shorter than usual. Thankfully, this illness is not lethal, but it is chronic. As my 5 year old told me when I was at my wit's end, "Mommy, maybe God has made you sick so you can be quiet for a long time." Paraphrase "Be still and know that I am God," Psalm 46:10. Out of the mouths of babes, I have been silenced.

You will also notice that the format is different as well. Good things have come out of being still. No more Winzip email attachments, no more long page downloads at the website. You can print and store this much easier than previously. Go to the website (www.childrenministry.com) and click on the "downloads" page to download this issue. I am in the process of converting the earlier issues, but be patient, it is slow going.

Now, on to the good stuff -- the theme of this issue. Many of you have commented in your survey responses that you want more information on how to teach God's Word to your children. Well the answer to that is not so easy. I have been praying about it for some time. There are a lot of helpful tools out there, which I will talk about in this issue. However, the bottom line is how do I spark a faith in my child's heart that will have staying power? We want them to have the faith that we didn't get or don't currently have. That is what we really want as Christian parents. For we all know "Christians" who can recite chapter and verse the stories of the Bible, but their hearts' are cold as ice. These people are called Pharisees and they are alive and well today.

In order to help our children develop a passion for Jesus and to plant His Word into their hearts, we must be passionate for Christ with His word bubbling out of our beings. This is where the rubber meets the road. This kind of faith takes time and effort, which means work -- Holy Spirit work. Most modern day Christians shy away from this type of work because it means allowing the Lord into those dark closets of our heart. It means allowing Him to roll away our tomb stones and to take off our grave clothes. It means in order to be a Christ-like parent, which is the goal of this ministry, our lives must be "resurrected" by Christ. Whoa, deep stuff, I know. I am currently living out what I have just described and it is joy, pain, peace, truth, and love all wrapped up into one incredible experience. And you know what, my kids are responding!

After they saw me wrestle with the Lord when He struck me with illness, after they saw me crying for an answer to prayer that didn't come, after they saw me relent to Him by saying, "though He slay me yet I will trust Him," they said "It's okay mommy, we will pray for you because we know God hears our prayers." I did not put this faith in their hearts by reading Bible stories or memorizing verses (don't get me wrong these are key activities). The Lord put it there because my kids saw a woman living out her faith in broad daylight, good days, and terrible days. They saw me talking with God (yelling at times), reading His word, and submitting to His will (not always cheerfully). And then, they saw me at last peaceful, joyful, calm, lighthearted, and trusting even though my external world was unchanged (or worse). This is what will draw your kids to the Lord, and you can't buy it in any store. So hitch your pony to the buggy, open your hearts to His truth, and don't allow fear to change your path.

 Headship: This isn't Going to Hurt a Bit

Let's look at a few words here before I get to the point. Knowledge or da`ath, from Hebrew means cunning (an ability), to know, or an awareness of something. In this case, it was the awareness of good versus evil. And just look at what awareness God was saving Adam and Eve from…

Single Parents: Out in the Cold?

 Now for some fun stuff after all that hard hitting reading. We all need help teaching God's word to our kids. Most kids do not want to sit still while Dad reads out of the Bible. Thankfully we have child and teen appropriate tools to help convey the meaning of God's love. This is not an exhaustive list but it will help get your "seeds" growing.

The best resource by far is Focus on the Family. Over the past few years in particular, they have been working hard to provide vast amounts of family and kid friendly material. You can find them on the web at www.family.org. Below is a limited list of their materials:

Heritage builders (www.heritagebuilders.com)

Veggie Tales (www.veggietales.com)

 1/2 hour videos and audio tapes, You've all heard about these funny Biblical veggies and their quality!

Children's ministry (www.childrensministry.com)

In honor of Mommy's Day I am reprinting my article published in the Christian Voice Newspaper (www.thechristianvoice.com).

There I sat watching the respirator pump as I saw my father's chest rise and fall. The ICU doctor entered abruptly; we began our introductions. My turn came, "Hi, I'm Jane the youngest, a pediatric resident at Emory." I thought my words would establish my medical authority for the family, but instead the reply was "oh, so you're just a pediatrician."

Just a pediatrician? Nowadays I hear similar words in a different context -- the mommy context. I hear them during congenial introductions. Some brave woman will say, "I am so-and-so, a stay at home mom." Nine times out of 10 the response is "oh," accompanied by silence that says "so, you're just a mother." The worst is "oh, so what did you before you were a mother?" As if being a mother is not valuable enough.

Imagine this, "Hi, I'm Sally, I'm a cook." "Hi, I'm Julie, I am a MOMMY." "Wow a mommy! That's great. You must have prepared a long time. Tell me where did you study?" "Well," says Julie "my parents started preparing me at a young age by modeling great parenting skills, and teaching me Biblical principles. Then I got a Bachelors in child development and married a Christ-like man." "Gosh, I wish I could be a mommy and hold the next generation in my hand," exclaims Sally.

Pipe dream? Maybe for most of us mommies, but not for our kids. We need to learn that being a mommy is valuable in and of itself. Somewhere along the line, though, a bitter woman convinced us that bringing up a Godly generation is worthless, that we are better off putting our children in 40 hours of daycare instead of raising them ourselves, that reflecting Christ from the earliest to the latest parts of childhood doesn't matter, that a career would bring more self-worth than mothering.

So, what have our children reaped from our confusion? Epidemic school violence, preschool ADHD, escalating teen-age suicide, and out of control school aged kids. Now of course, this is not all our fault, but we can do a lot to change things. We revolutionized the work place with our tenacity, so let us now revolutionize our homes. Imagine what our society would look like in twenty years if we attacked motherhood as we did our careers?

Does this mean that we cannot work and be mothers? Yes and no. Yes, because we all have bills to pay. No, if you are working because it props up your self-worth. No, if you are working to escape a child's behavior problems. No, if you are getting approval at work that you never got as a child.

"But what if I become a stay-at-home-mother?" What a joke, no mother stays home all the time. All joking aside, let us look carefully at why we leave home. Let's get out of debt, pray for humility, and make needed sacrifices in order to be home more. Make a plan, and then apply the same level of commitment and energy at home that you do at work.

Ladies, this Mother's Day let's take back our families! How do we do that? Well, we don't need permission, or excuses. We don't need to follow Working Mother Magazine, feminist gurus, or have-it-all matriarchs. We need to follow Jesus for the answer.

Jesus….. a mother's role-model? Yes! Remember Matthew 23:37

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent to you, how often would I have gathered my children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!"

Let us gather under His wings and allow the Truth to guide our mothering instead of fear and intimidation. Our Shepherd does not put us into day care for preschool believers, or cut us loose when we are adolescent believers. He stays with us into eternity. We would do well to mimic your Savior's parenting, and not the world's. Be of good cheer; be encouraged, for this is a winnable war with Him.

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