How to Encourage Children through Stories - Including Your Own

Who encouraged you when you were a little girl?  I bet you carry that person in your heart forever, her words coursing through your thoughts from time to time, his influence in your life immeasurable.  I have always been a lover of stories—stories where good triumphs over evil, where the broken are redeemed and restored, where the forgotten are remembered, where the strongest is the humblest and bravest.  I can remember sitting in my grandmother’s lap {for years} listening to great children’s books, the Bible, poetry, snippets of literature she had memorized, and stories from her own life all of which were gradually informing my view of God, myself, and the world.  We all want to be that person for another little girl(s) or boy(s), so here are a few ideas of how my grandmother’s stories encouraged me offered as a reminder of your own influence through story  . . .

1. I grew up thinking that God could use an ordinary person like me in his plan for redeeming the world if He could use people like Ruth and Rahab, Paul and young Timothy. My grandmother tried to give me that balance of knowing that I was special, the only me who would ever be, while also teaching me that I was just like everyone else and that God’s calling on our lives is not flashy but lowly—Jesus took “ the very nature of a servant” (Phil. 2:7).  Honestly, apart from her influence I’m fairly certain that I wouldn’t have been able to turn my back on “using” my master’s degree in order to be at home with my children (and she was gone to heaven when I did make that decision—her stories and influence stretching beyond her lifetime into my adulthood).
2. I learned from her life and her stories that God allows us to go through hard (sometimes tragic) things, but He is always good, and He gives us the grace we need right when we need it. Every good story has a conflict, a struggle, and you can’t appreciate the resolution without first going through the struggle.  I knew God would always supply the grace and strength for me to do hard things.
3. I also knew that despite all the heartache in the world, God’s love never fails, and His beauty is all around us.  She encouraged me to appreciate that which God calls true, noble, pure, lovely, and praiseworthy (See Phil. 4:8).

In short, her encouragement pointed my young mind and heart to the goodness of God.  Isn’t that what encouragement does?  It’s not enough just to encourage a child to believe in themselves.  No, God created our children to believe in Him.  A child who believes that God is good {no matter the circumstances} is prepared to face hard things, is blessed with the lens through which to see Him and His creation as good and thus enjoy the goodness of God, and has the confidence to live out the calling that God has placed on their lives.

I leave you with three practical ways to encourage children through stories:

1. Look for ways to point your children to the Gospel. There’s nothing more encouraging than knowing that the God of the universe loves them and saves them right where they are.  They don’t have to and can’t earn their salvation or His love by being “better.”   When our children mess up and are in need of forgiveness, let’s encourage them with the truth of the gospel.  Tell them stories of when you messed up, and point to God’s goodness then in your life.  My children LOVE hearing these from my childhood!
2. Affirm their identity in Christ. When you see them striving and feeling frustrated, talk about how God saved you from thinking you had to prove yourself and how he or she is an amazing person because God uniquely made them.  His fingerprints are all over their lives.   Their names are engraved on the palm of His hand (see Isaiah 49:16). You are proud of them just for being who God made them to be.
3. Use stories, music, the beauty in the creation we take for granted to point them to the goodness of God. You can use stories and children’s poetry every day to cultivate in them a love for that which is lovely to God and instruct them in godly character (versus ungodly character), beauty, hope, eternity (versus that which is not eternal), and most of all love.  (In homeschooling I talk about loving God with all our minds.  The more we learn, the more we grow in our love for God and others and in our ability to serve Him and appreciate how awesome He is).

One of the many reasons we chose homeschooling for our family is because we want to be a couple of the loudest encouragers in our children’s thoughts as they grow into the unique women and man God created them to be.  Of course, it goes without saying, you don’t have to be homeschooling to have this encouraging relationship with your children.

Mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, teacher, friend, you are a woman of great influence, so use good stories and your own story to encourage!

The Influence and Love of My First Grade Teacher

My five-year-old was reading aloud to me yesterday when she stopped herself and said, “Mama, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to read like you do.”  Relief and hope seemed to fill her when I told her, “Guess what?  You’re already ahead of me.  I didn’t even know how to read when I was your age.  When I was in school, most of us (including me) didn’t learn to read until first grade.  So you see, one day you are definitely going to be able to read as well as I can.”

Miss Pam taught me how to read.  She is the one who unlocked and opened wide that door for me—and not only for me but for probably about a thousand children.  My first grade teacher is retiring this year after forty-two years of teaching first grade.  Let me say that one more time—FORTY-TWO YEARS TEACHING FIRST GRADERS—always first graders since August of 1973.

And I bet we can count on one hand how many times Miss Pam raised her voice in those forty-two years.  You know when you’re about to experience pain, such as getting stitches or a big shot, and the nurse tells you to think calming thoughts (like thoughts of the beach)?  I could just think about Miss Pam’s voice—kind and calming.  I can still hear her reading Charlotte's Web to us at the end of the day, her voice, like gently rolling waves, rolling over little malleable hearts.  Everyone with whom I grew up knows that voice.  When I hear preaching on the balance between love and discipline, grace and law, I think of Miss Pam.  She held that balance beautifully in her voice (and in her heart too, of course).

Even though I couldn't yet read, I walked into that first-grade classroom with a good bit of six-year-old confidence because I had known Miss Pam (or she had known me) since I came out of the womb.  She was in our church family and was married to Cousin Morgan.  Since her husband and I shared the same name (that of his father as well as his great-grandfather who was my great-great grandfather Morgan Adams), I was feeling pretty good about the fact that I was going to be special to my first grade teacher right off the bat.  And that’s what every kid wants—to feel particularly noticed and loved by their teacher.  While I felt especially loved by Miss Pam every day of that whole year, I know that every little child in that classroom felt especially loved too.  That, my friends, is a spiritual gift—to be able to encourage children of every temperament and leave each of them feeling valued.

In short, Miss Pam lives the gospel day in and day out for her students.  What does it mean to live the gospel?  It means you show love, as Christ did, to a whole lot of undeserving “knuckle heads.”  Or as the Apostle Paul would explain, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘LOVE your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14 NIV, emphasis mine).

I’m sure she would shake her head in disagreement, but Miss Pam’s character gives me a precious glimpse into the character of Christ.  When I read these words in Philippians, I think of her:   “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.   In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus . . .” (Philippians 2:3-5 NIV).

Miss Pam is truly humble and joyful—not selfishly ambitious or overly concerned with herself but always genuinely interested in the other person, comfortable in her own skin and finding true contentment in loving the children to whom God has called her.  I said it back in 1988, and I’m still saying it:  “I want to be like Miss Pam when I grow up.”

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”  He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me . . .”
(Mark 9:35-37a NIV).

What Are We Doing this Summer?

Every teacher LOVES May, right?!  When I was teaching in a traditional school setting, I remember the joy of finishing grading that last stack of essays and final exams, lots of goodbye hugs to students headed off into their own summer bliss, and the feeling of freedom heightened by the spring breeze and the sun on my face.  Even though the students I teach now don’t “leave” for summer, I still have this “May optimism.” A change in the routine is coming.  We can now make time for some new things in our homeschool days.  Before my non-homeschool readers check out of this, I’d like to remind the moms that all moms are “homeschool” moms in a sense because we are all teaching our children new things, introducing them to new ideas, sparking their creativity, and engaging them in conversations.  (And by the way, we and our children retain and learn much more through conversational learning than lectures any day!  So my point is that you are, of course, teaching your children!)

So here’s our summer homeschool plan:  (For new readers, my children are ages 1, turning 4, & turning 6 this summer.)

1. Spanish: I have been thinking about this one all year.  With all the other school things we’ve been doing, we haven’t been able to squeeze it in during the regular school year, so “summer Spanish” here we come!  Macki helped me find a great deal on this curriculum Spanish for Kids: The Complete Collection that we think will be great for little ones.  (We also got the flash cards and the lesson plans.)I’m really looking forward to this because my Spanish has gotten lost in my brain files somewhere over the past twelve years.  When I spent the summer in Spain, I could carry on whole conversations with Spaniards (because of course, I wasn’t going to make it for a summer without being able to talk to people, so learning the language for conversation was a must  – haha!).  Now, it’s much like all my atrophied muscles that I once used in sports—if you don’t use it, you lose it!
2. Unit studies based on the girls choosing: I typically try to do this when we are not in our “regular” curriculum year with our homeschool program with which we are members (and sometimes then we do this too).  For example, I ask them, “Girls, what do you want to learn about next week?”  Most recently, my oldest had just seen a bird nest full of newly hatched birds, so she responded, “Baby birds.”  We went to the library and found fun storybooks as well as science books on baby birds to study.  We will watch YouTube videos about baby birdies, and we will probably try to build a bird’s nest out of pine straw (that was her idea).  (She will quickly learn that birds are much better at building nests than we are!)  She loves to draw too, so I’m sure she will be drawing pictures of birds every chance she gets.  Of course, we will be looking for birds and trying to classify them when we’re outside.  Unit studies are my girls’ favorite thing to do, and it’s so inexpensive!  (Pinterest is a huge help with this too.  You can check out my Pinterest boards to see what we did for our farm unit and igloo unit.)
3. One hour (at least) of playing outside per day: Some of this time involves directed things from this great resource Slow and Steady Get Me Ready.  This book is amazing for developing fine and gross motor skills for babies up to five-year-olds.
   
4. One hour of reading per day:  Most of the reading will involve me reading to them.  We do a mix of levels—mostly picture books.  (At the library I just learned that there's a "My First Little House on the Prairie" series for young children.  You can check it out here:  A Little Prairie House.) My oldest is a beginning reader, so she will be reading aloud to me as well as to herself during her quiet hour (a/k/a baby nap time).
5. Memory Work (this takes about five minutes): During our regular school year, we do Bible verses, poetry, and other things from our homeschool program such as Presidents, geography, books of the Bible, etc., so now we are back to focusing on our catechism and learning hymns (particularly because we go to a contemporary church where they don’t hear them often enough to know them by heart).  An added bonus of the hymns is learning new vocabulary and fun theological discussions.  (My children love this cd The Kids Hymnal: 80 Songs & Hymns.)
6. Phonics and math games: Both curricula that we used this year came with MANY games, so we will be playing these all over again for review and added help!
7. Letter writing: My girls love to send mail to people, and my oldest needs to work on her handwriting, so letter writing is my sly, coercive plan for slipping in handwriting practice!
   
   
   

I recognize that I’m a little ambitious, and I’m not planning to do all seven items every single day.  (In fact, the playing outside and the reading are the only daily ones. I alternate every other day prioritizing outside play or academics, but I try to do both.) Of course, there are many summer days that will involve other things when we won’t do any of these, but hey, it’s important to have a goal, right?!  I also have a list of things around here that need a good deep cleaning, those things all during the school year about which we say, “I’ll get to that this summer!”

When Your Mind Is Reeling with Questions, Here's One Simple Daily Question We Should Be Asking

It was a startling slap across the face and a knee punch – right there in the pit of his stomach—and I watched my husband double over in pain and heave sobs.  A mentor/teacher/coach/friend, his boss with whom he’s worked side by side for over seven years took his own life.  Took.  His. Own.  Life.   A week later our heads are still spinning and our hearts aching for the loss (especially for his family), and I watch my husband vacillate between anger and sadness, frustration and devastation.

When all the talk has been talked, the prayers lifted, and hope revitalized because we know the ultimate victory is ours in Christ, the practical, real-life day feels a little different these days.   Ironically, in the wake of confusion, many things have instantly gotten simpler—at least my perspective has.  There are so many things that DO. NOT. MATTER.  Isn’t that what life-altering things do to us?  The punch in the gut somehow cures our bad vision.  We can now see with greater clarity what’s eternally significant and what’s not, what’s loving and what’s selfish.  (Side note:  I wrote a whole post on why the little things do matter, but what I mean is that there are some things –both big and little—that we get worked up over that simply have no eternal value.)

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians has become my prayer—for myself.  “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.  For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return” (Phil. 1:9-10 NLT).

What really matters is what Jesus boiled it down to when a cocky Pharisee tried to trip him up:

“Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it; love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV).

I’ve found myself in this reflective state the past week when I interact with my children, my husband, my friends, strangers even, asking myself, “What does love look like here?”  And whatever the answer to that question is, is where I want to be, how I want to respond.  (Of course, we cannot possibly be all things to all people.  Even the most energetic of us are limited by time, space, physical needs.  But what matters is that our hearts are tuned to the Spirit who shows us where to give our loving attention if we listen.  I certainly don’t want to heap guilt on any of us for feeling like we’re not being “enough” because we will never be “enough.”  Instead, we are to be His.  And He is always enough—more than “enough” for us.)

If we’re late to choir practice (again), if our socks don’t match, and our kids' shoes are on the wrong feet (again), if the kids wouldn’t eat any vegetables (again), if we missed the sign-ups for t-ball (again), it’s really ok.  Breathe.  What does matter is how I talked to my kids, how I listened, how I reacted, how I loved.

This experience has also reminded me that people of every age, of every walk of life, are so very fragile, as fragile as each of the tiny babies I’ve brought home from the hospital, utterly helpless and dependent on their mama to love them and to keep them alive.  Though flesh and bones grow larger, the fragility of humanity is always there.  We’re all utterly dependent on God, whether we know it or not.  We often don’t know what struggles are behind smiling faces or angry glares.  I simply want to be cognizant of the fragility behind the facades.   As C.S. Lewis says, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal” (The Weight of Glory).  I want to look into the eyes of the people with whom I interact and every time remember I am looking into the face of an extraordinary, immortal soul with the imago Dei (image of God) stamped on the human heart . . .   

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (emphasis mine)

Ideas for Celebrating Easter (For Children but Really for Anyone!)

I tell my children, “Easter is just as important as Christmas.”  And while I mean that, it’s hard to make quite the fanfare about Easter that we do about Christmas when the culture around us isn’t throwing Easter parties, listening to Easter music, taking a two week Easter break from school, or having Easter parades.  But if we have anything to throw a party about, it’s this—the resurrected Christ defeated my sin and my death, out of the riches of his mercy and grace gave me the ultimate gift, took on himself the punishment that was mine, made a way for me to live forever with God, gave my life purpose, and enabled the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that His very presence and power continue on in the world through you and me!  Easter should be the party to end all parties—meaning you won’t find a better reason to throw a party than Easter (this side of heaven at least).

As I preach this to myself, I’m thinking that what I’m about to share with you is rather anti-climactic in light of the glory of the resurrection of Christ, but I’ll share nonetheless.

Here are a few ways I try to make Easter memorable for my children.   Children LOVE traditions and remember them even when you forget them (one of the many things I love about my tribe).  (FYI – these are not my original ideas, and if I knew whom to credit, I would.)

1. Resurrection Rolls – On Easter morning get the children to help roll marshmallows into canned crescent rolls (1 marshmallow to 1 roll) and talk with them about Jesus being wrapped in burial clothes and placed in a borrowed tomb (See Mark 15:42-47). Then when you take them out of the oven, the marshmallow is “gone”!  Talk with them about the significance of the empty tomb!  (I’ve been doing this for two years, and this year, my five-year-old said, “Mama don’t forget to buy those rolls that we put Jesus in…you know the ones!”)
2. Plant an Easter garden. We did this last year and our garden is still alive (which is quite MIRACULOUS considering that I killed an asparagus fern that had previously survived the Pascagoula floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina).  Use a pot turned sideways with moss on top (or a big rock with a hole drilled in it) as the tomb, and use play-dough to “seal” the tomb.  Use small succulent plants to make the garden.  I got this idea from my friend Ann.  Check it out here.  (Ok, she doesn’t know we’re friends, but we are.  You’ll notice in my sidebar of recommended books that hers is one of my favs.)  My children had fun planting and watering the garden.  (P.S.  Ann's looks way better than mine! ha!)
   
3. The night before Easter make Resurrection cookies. (See recipe below.)
4. Sing Easter hymns and songs. We go to a contemporary church, so my children don’t hear the hymns as often as I did growing up, so I make it a point to sing and play them at home and on CD in the car.  I really like this one:  Kids Hymnal.  When “And Can it Be” comes on, my girls say, “Mama, this is your song.”   (See lyrics below.)  My children are hearing some great theology through the hymns, and one day I trust it will deepen their walk with Christ.
5. Make or buy resurrection eggs and read the corresponding Scripture with your children.  You can check out an example:  Easter Egg Set - 12 Resurrection Eggs With Religious Figurines Inside - Tells Full Story of Easter.
   (I made my own.  We usually do this on Saturday when we are waiting on the dyed Easter eggs to dry.)
   (This pic was taken last year.)
6. The obvious and easy one: Take your children to all the services that build up to Easter—Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, any Holy Week services your church has, and of course Easter Sunday—and sunrise services are just THE BEST.  Last Sunday my five-year-old asked me why our church didn’t have the palm branches (as we usually do) this year for Palm Sunday.  I didn’t even tell her it was Palm Sunday!  My point here is simply that tangible experiences help children (and adults) remember.  This Thursday I asked my girls what was significant about this day before Jesus died.   She said, “They [Jesus and his disciples] ate the Passover food together, and Jesus took the bread and said ‘this is my body’ . . .”  I don’t really drill this into her, but through a combination of teaching (church/homeschool program teachers/home) and experiences, she remembers.   I share all this not to brag on her, but to say that you never know when the seemingly small things make a big impression on their understanding.
7. Have an Easter party.  (I haven't done this yet . . . but one day!)Please leave a comment to share your Easter ideas!

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The Easter Story Cookies

You will need:
1 cup whole pecans
1tsp. vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
Ziploc bag
wooden spoon
tape
a Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Place pecans in Ziploc bag and let children beat them with wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Read John 19:1-3.   After Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.
Let children smell the vinegar.  Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl.  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30.
Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11.
Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand.  Let them taste it.  Put a pinch of salt into mixing bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.

Add 1 cup of sugar.  Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.
Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  Explain that the color white represents the purity of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.
Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons on to waxed paper cookie sheet.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid.  Read Matthew 27:57-60.  Put cookie sheet in the oven, close the door, and turn the oven OFF.  Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed.  Read Matthew 27:65-66.
Now go to bed!
Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.  Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 and 22.
On Easter morning open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter, Jesus followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9.

* Recipe given to me by my friend Vicky Waggoner (not sure who wrote it, but likely a wonderful Sunday School teacher or mom!)

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“And Can It Be”
by Charles Wesley

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies!
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love Divine!
’Tis mercy all! let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
’Tis mercy all! let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.
’Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness Divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

To the Little Rebel Who Cries Out, "I Don't Want To!!!"

One warm spring day in the first grade I remember having a smidgen of a headache. I was sitting at my little table in Miss Pam’s room with my little knobby knees underneath my cubbyhole.  Angela sat across from me, and two of our friends sat beside us.  That fat, orange-covered handwriting book lay open in front of me.  (Yes, I still remember the color of that loathsome book.)  The longer I stared at it, the more that little rebel inside of me didn’t want to do it.  Left-handed people should not be subjected to such nonsense nor their creativity confined to fitting letters between those straight blue lines.  That headache just got worse.

I went to Miss Pam who allowed me to go to the office.  I called and convinced my mother that I now had the worst headache of my seven-year-old life, and shortly thereafter I was happily lying on the couch underneath my favorite afghan (the one that’s on my couch now) listening to the loud hum of that old air conditioner at the home of two of the most unsympathetic grandparents you’ve ever seen.  (Of course, they were two of the kindest people, but sharp as tacks I couldn’t get much past them.  This is the same grandmother who when on her deathbed told my husband the story of the time that she spanked me for getting into the pecans she had been shelling.  When he said, “I know that broke your heart to spank her,” Beth’s warm eighty-nine-year-old smile spread across her face, her blue eyes lit up, and in her shaking, Southern gentlewoman drawl she replied, “No . . . I ratha’ enjoyed it.”)

I escaped handwriting that day, but as the saying goes, “I may have won the battle, but I would surely lose the war.”  (Thank heaven!)

It’s funny how I have found myself in that rebellious little place thousands of times since then—the bottom line is this . . . (imagine my whispering voice here – yes, I can whisper – maybe the loud church pew whisper of a blue-haired lady; nevertheless, I am capable of a whisper) . . .  I don’t like grunt work.  (Dear friend, before you roll your eyes, tell the truth!  You’ve complained once or twice about it too.)  Now, don’t get me wrong, I like a little manual labor here and there if it involves a beautiful finished product (or even just an organized closet), but if the ultimate goal isn’t something beautiful or if it’s not fun or interesting or maybe even hard and intellectually stimulating, then there’s a little rebel in me who still cries out, “RUN – make like the wind!  You don’t have to do this!!!”  I know, I know – I’m blessed beyond measure.  I would gladly do grunt work all day every day in this amazing free country that I don’t deserve.  I also know this attitude shows arrogance, pride, lack of humility, immaturity, and selfishness, all rolled up into one feisty redhead.

But EVERYTHING to which the Lord calls me (and I believe calls all of us) involves “grunt work.”  He uses that necessary work to humble us and to refine us.  On the contrary, the enemy of our souls tempts us to be discontent with the “grunt work.”  If he can breed discontent (“I don’t like this work”), then he can breed in us a lack of faith that God is good and ultimately lack of faith in Him at all.  If he can breed arrogance and pride (“I’m too good/too smart/too old  for this work”), then he can breed idolatry (“I’m my own God; thus, I don’t need God.”).

When faced with grunt work this week, remember that God uses grunt work for our good.  Remember to silence the enemy who breeds discontent and instead listen to the One who is trustworthy and always good.  He is passionate that the spirit He has placed within you should be faithful to Him . . .

 “Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning?  They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.  And he gives grace generously.  As the Scriptures say, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’   So humble yourselves before God.” 
- James 4:5-7a NLT

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”- Colossians 3:23 NLT

P.S.  I never quite surrendered to that orange handwriting book.  While it’s legible, to this day, my handwriting is well – ugly.  On the contrary, Part 2 in this series will be about finding beauty in grunt work.

P.P.S. The picture above is of my little right-handed girl who will never get to use all of my left-handed handwriting excuses.  Bless her.  Teaching my child handwriting is one
frustrating hilarious prank on me!

An Idea for Your Women's Ministry

We had a “prayer brunch” for the women at our church on Saturday. “Prayer brunch” might lead one to think, “Women in their pretty dresses, bringing in warm breakfast casseroles, a lot of talking and maybe a little bit of prayer.”  Other than the “warm breakfast casseroles” part, the other couldn’t be farther from the truth.  We gathered, we ate, I read Acts 2:42, and I reminded them of why we were there:

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper) and to prayer…” (Acts 2:42 NLT).

(See!  The eating part is Biblical after all.)  Then, our leader for the brunch had each woman write on an index card how we could be praying for her (and leave it anonymous).  We threw the little cards in the same basket, and one by one a woman would draw the card out, read it, and then pray aloud right then and there for that woman whose card she drew.

I’m glad my friend was leading instead of me because I always do this thing in which I try to make everyone feel comfortable and say, “You don’t have to pray out loud if you don’t want to…”  But she didn’t say that.  She didn’t force anyone to pray out loud, but she also didn’t let everyone off the hook either.  Of course, the Lord’s hand was in it—emboldening weary or anxious women.  One by one almost every woman in the room prayed out loud—powerful prayers from seemingly timid souls.   Those small, perfectly lined index cards contained big, messy prayers from women believing in an uncontainable God.  There were spiritually bleeding hearts poured out on those cards—hearts begging for humility, for patience, for wisdom, for boldness in their witness, for freedom from addiction, for hearts that love their families and other people more than they love themselves.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . .
Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.–Matthew 5:3, 8 NIV

The Spirit of God fell and filled that little Sunday school room, and for a little Saturday morning get-together we enjoyed a great unity that can only be found in Christ.  I tried to wrap it up at 12:00 p.m.  I had promised the ladies we would finish at 12:00, but they didn’t want to quit, so for another hour or so we prayed – this time not for ourselves but for our nation – prayers of repentance, for our persecuted brothers and sisters in places all over the world, and for the dark culture that we live in – a culture that masquerades as fun and filling but leaves people abandoned and empty.

The whole thing was simply beautiful.  Young women, older women, single women, married women, poor women, rich women, feisty women, quiet women—I think the only common denominators for all of us were “women” and “Christian.” It was like being wrapped up in the most beautiful patchwork quilt you’ve ever seen—radiant hearts of unique individuals sewn together to make something beautiful, purposeful, and lasting.

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
(Jesus, Matthew 18:20 NIV)

To God be the glory!