Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Angels Are Singing

I'll put today's big news up front so you don't miss it:

A week shy of his sixth birthday, my man-cub prayed last night to ask Jesus in his heart and invite him to direct his life!


The Back Story
My 2011 Colossians "memory" project has turned into a "meditation" project. It's not sticking, mostly because I'm spending the time to review verses only a few days a week. But I am continuing to meditate on each week's verses in my morning stupor, hoping to at least familiarize my brain with the words.

And it seems to be all about discipleship of believers; what's not to like? I've spent a lot of time promoting discipleship. Lately I have realized it starts closer to home than a published book. It even starts closer than my local church. Discipleship starts in my home. The rest may follow, but my children are job #1.

Part of the result of that awareness has included pulling my independent firstborn out of public school to homeschool. Also, for the past week I've been working extra hard to build routine with the kids. We have begun to incorporate Morning Meditation time as well as Bedtime Routine into our day.

Morning Meditation
Morning meditation time paid off first, in the most surprising way. I have a list of "31 Virtues to Pray for your Kids" which gives a verse each day to claim a given attribute for your child. On the 12th, the verse for the day was  Deuteronomy 31:6, about Courage. Miss Boo and I read through this together, discussed its meaning, and prayed through it for ourselves:

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." 

An hour later, a friend texted me that her husband was experiencing a physical spiritual attack. (This was follow up to something shared in small group the previous evening) So I stopped our school lesson and told Boo we were about to pray for our friend. We prayed that verse together; and I was able to respond to my friend not only that we had prayed that scripture, but that God had used the incident to give me a teachable moment with my disciple.

Incidentally, in Latin this week we learned that the word for student is discipulus. Fascinating.

Yesterday the morning meditation time paid off a second time, after we reviewed and prayed through a verse for peace. When another friend texted asking for prayer for a difficult decision she didn't want to make, I called Boo over, looked up and prayed through Isaiah 26:3 with her.

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you."

This unmistakable connection between making the smallest effort to disciple my child, and receiving the opportunity to apply the lesson in real life, has profoundly moved me. I think I struggle with actually doing this because the enemy pours molasses on my efforts to train my children. But God rewards those who earnestly seek him.

And I am humbled--astonished, really--to see how He has multiplied my feeble efforts, immediately.

Bedtime Routine
Last week I went to visit a friend for two nights. Her attention to order and structure within the home inspired me. For some reason, seeing their dinner-thru-bedtime routine in action suddenly helped me imagine such a thing for myself.

Since we returned home last Wednesday, I have worked diligently from dinner onward to get the kitchen cleaned up, get the family outside for exercise, bathe all the children, and read stories together before bed. We started reading Little Pilgrim's Progress in installments.

Last night, I was 6 paragraphs into chapter 4 when Rooster stopped me to ask, "What is heaven?" And the Team Captain had the presence of mind to follow up with him. Five minutes later, we were all curled up in the bed with him, except Boo who hung in from the top bunk, and I got to help him say the words:

"Jesus, I love you. Thank you for dying on the cross so I could be forgiven. Please forgive all the sins I have ever done, and all the sins I will ever do. Please live in my heart and be in charge of my whole life. Amen."

What a privilege.


I don't know what's left, or what to attempt next. Well, I do, but this now marks 2 of my 3 kids making the ultimate commitment to be Christ disciples. Now I just keep on with the discipleship, one faltering step at a time. I am feeling the blessing of understanding that when I simply obey, God works. It's a wild ride.

2 comments:

  1. What a praise and blessing, Krista! Thanks for sharing your joy with us.

    I love this thought, too: "This unmistakable connection between making the smallest effort to disciple my child, and receiving the opportunity to apply the lesson in real life, has profoundly moved me." That's living life together in Him. How amazing.

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