5 Ways to Encourage Young Children To Love God

 

Photo By: Commanderjaygold

Parenting is filled with many responsibilities. We are charged to not only take care of the physical needs of our children, but God also calls us lead our children spiritually. We are to teach them to love God and keep His commandments.  Deuteronomy 11:19 says, "And ye shall teach them your children, speaking to them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

In today's busy world carving time out for family can be a challenge, let alone, time for God. How do we encourage and teach our young children to love God? Here are 5 easy ways to daily share the love of God with our little ones.

1. Pray With Your Children: Make prayer an integral part of your day. Pray with your little ones when they wake, before meals, and even in the evening. When you can't find the lost keys or socks, offer a prayer to God for help. Also, don't forget to share prayers of thanksgiving when you find the lost item or any other blessings are received.
2. Attend Weekly Services Together: Attend weekly services together. There is a blessing that comes from fellowship with believers. Children receive this blessing as well. Attending weekly services and becoming actively involved in a local church with  not only allow your child to have christian friends, but foster a sense of community in faith.
3. Read and Study God's Word Together: It is important to ready and study God's work with your children. We have a time each night where we read God's word together as a family.
4. Sing and Memorize Scripture : Singing is a great way to memorize. I still remember the quadratic equation because my algebra teacher taught it to me in a song.  So putting scripture to song is a great way to get your little ones memorizing. 
5. Model Christian Character: Our children are always watching us. So we need to model christian character. We must remember to be kind, giving and loving not only to those in our homes, but to those we meet daily. 

What are some of the ways you are sharing your love of Christ with your children and family?

Keeping up with the Brownies

I hope this post finds you doing well. Things have been busy in the Brownie household and are expected to get busier. I have been juggling several projects along with the daily demands of being a wife, mother, and homemaker. I praise God for not only the strength He is giving me, but I also praise Him for the blessings He has given. Below is a list of updates and some exciting news!

1.) Our New Home: Many of you know that my husband and I are purchasing our first home. Our scheduled closing date is May 10th.  At this time, we will not be closing on time due to additional repairs that need to be made. Please keep our family in prayer as we complete the final steps in our journey to our first home. Click here to read more about our home buying process.

2.) Family Matters: Things are settling down after the death of my mother. I am finding it hard to juggle the demands of motherhood while grieving and making preparations for my Dad. I am thankful for the support of my loving husband and siblings during this difficult time.

3.) Food Allergy Awareness: May is Asthma and Allergy Awareness month. Next week, At Home With The Brownies will be celebrating Food Allergy Awareness Week. This is a cause near and dear to my heart. Catherine suffers from multiple food allergies. You can read her story here.  Next week you can expect the following.

• Food Allergy Safety- An Interview with the Director of Services of Kids R'Kids Overland Park.
• Motherhood Chronicles- Stories of mothers of children with food allergies
• What You Can Do- Ways to get involved.

4.) New Opportunities: I've only been blogging for five months and I love it. It has become a new passion and ministry for me. With every post I hope to encourage, uplift, and inspire my readers to be the best they can be and bring glory to God. Today I received word that I have been selected to be a guest contributor to a popular blog I follow. I am excited about this new opportunity to reach a broader audience. I can't wait to share more information about my new partnership soon.

5.) Maybe a book?: With the recent death of my mother, I have been reminded just how short life really is. James 4:14 says, "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."  With the blessing of God I have fulfilled many of the dreams I have had in life, but a few remain.

My mother loved cookbooks and read them like novels. She passed her love of cookbooks and cooking onto me. It was always a dream of ours to write a cookbook or own a bakery together. Although she has passed, the dream lives on. So here I am,  prayerfully considering writing a cookbook. Please keep me and my family in prayer as we seek the Lord's will in our lives.

Hope in the Midst of Sorrow: Miracles Do Exsist

 

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At this time, many of my you know that my mother passed away April 5, 2013.  The last three weeks have been filled with sorrow and grief, but it has also been filled with many blessings from on high.  Through it all I have seen the hand of God working in my life and lives of my family.

Last Friday my mother's oldest sister, Shelia Radford, was admitted to the hospital. Her heart was in aphib. The following day my husband, baby Catherine, and I went to visit her in the hospital. She was doing better and scheduled to be released the following day. Sunday afternoon, while driving back to Kansas, I received a call that her health took a turn for the worse. My aunt had been moved to ICU.

The doctors didn't know what was wrong with my aunt and she was quickly deterioating. I was discouraged. At this time, it had only been a week since I burried my mother and I just couldn't take the loss of another close relative. So I did the only thing I could do; I began to pray.  I prayed and called others to pray. My family in Dallas gathered around my Aunt's sick bed and called upon the name of Jesus. There is POWER in the name of Jesus!

Later in the evening, I received another phone call. My Aunt had stopped breathing and a code blue was called. My sisters called me as the medical team performed CPR for over an hour and thirty minutes. I was told the doctor wanted to stop CPR and the chaplain was called to give the last prayer. With prayers going up all around, the family asked the medical team to try one more time. I am pleased to say that my Aunt Shelia LIVES today!

Not only is my aunt alive, but her recover has been called miraculous by the doctors. After being out for over an hour, there are no signs of brain damage. I've been told she is awake, attentive, and bossing everyone around from her hospital bed.

This is not luck. It is the POWER of God.  I am here today to tell you that prayer works and that God is in control. It's not over until God says it's over! "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus" 1 Corinthians 15:57

It is a miracle! My Aunt still has a ways to go, but we are thankful for how she is recovering. We praise God for keeping her with us and give Him all the glory and praise.  God is good! Even in the midst of sorrow there are always reasons to give Him praise. 

Prayer Request

I hope this post finds you all doing well.  I come to you today with a heavy heart. I got news today that my mother passed away this morning. Please keep my family in your prayers. I won't be posting for a few weeks as I need to take time to grieve. Again keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Seeds of Faith: Finding a Home Pt. 3

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.Romans 8:28

On Sunday I said I had some exciting news. We found a home! We made an offer last Friday and it was accepted Saturday evening. I am so glad this process is almost over. We have the home inspection this week and then onto closing.  This process has been very emotional for me, but I give all of the praise and honor to God for making it possible.

All I can say is God is always on time. I know the last time I wrote about our home search in this post, I was down because we lost a home. I know now it was so that I could have a testimony. The promise of Romans 8:28, is true. Not only did we find a home with everything on our wish list, but it was priced just right, and in a better part of town than the house we lost. God always knows what is best for us.

Now that we have found our home the packing has begun. I have always tried to post at least 4 times a week but with the big changes in our household, I may only have time to write 2 post a week. I ask that you keep our family in prayer as we finish this journey and begin a new one.

Seeds Of Faith: Finding a Home Pt. 2

This morning my husband and I found out our offer was not accepted. I must admit that I am feeling disappointed and frustrated with the home buying process. The only thing keeping me going is my faith. I know that God has a plan for our family.Keep our family in prayer as we move forward in this process.

Ben Stein's Comments

I received the following message in my email last week. It was thought provoking to say the least.  I wanted to share it, but it has been siting in draft mode for days. After watching the news last night, I decided to share it today.

Last night I learned of yet another school shooting. This time it was on the campus of a community college in my beloved state of Texas (where I was born). What is this world coming to?

I am proud to say that I am a Christian, and I truly believe the only one who can save our world is Jesus. Although legislation is important, it is the love and power of Jesus that changes the hearts of men. Please pray for our country and our world. Many people are suffering. 

Please read and let me know your thoughts.

 
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession: 

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians.  I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.  I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country.  I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat...

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?  I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.  But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different:  This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. 

  In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc..  I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.  Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school...   The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself.  And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr.  Spock's son committed suicide).  We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.  I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.  Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.  Funny how you can send  'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when  you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think  twice about sharing.  Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. 

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.
  
If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did.  But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.  



My Best Regards, Honestly and  respectfully,

Ben  Stein