fear

I just ran across this list of "The TOP 10 Fears for Teenagers In America"  in an article by "Tomorrows Leaders "( not a christian group) They surveyed over 100000 teens in America to get these stats.  Some of them really surprised me, especially #6, and #10. Thought I'd post so you could see.  Fears can be so crippling.

A prayer for this week... God help us to really KNOW our kids hearts. Help us to be keenly aware of what they fear and struggle with so we can show them and help lead them to the freedom You have for them. The freedom that comes from trusting You and Your plan for their lives.


#1. something bad will happen to my family

#2. I won't get into a good college

#3. I won't be able to make it financially

#4. I or someone I know will be a victim of crime

#5. I'll give in to peer pressure

#6. I can't tell right from wrong

#7. I can't find time to do everything

#8. I feel like I need to have sex to be accepted

#9. someone I know will die

#10. I will never have a happy marriage or family

lol...idk...jk...haha :):):)

Question for any of you moms out there on a touchy subject???( FB me, or txt me if you don't want to leave your comment)

"How do you feel about texting? What freedoms/restrictions have you allowed in this area of tech, and what have you found helpful/harmful in managing cell phone use and limiting privacy for a teen????"

Dear Jesus, Thank you for our food....

Any of you that have strived to teach prayer to your children will probably relate to the struggle in what I am about to share.

It is hard to teach a child what Godly prayer is, but it is a job we are called to do. First of all, how do you begin to convey who God is to a six year old, or a ten year old? or how do you explain that He answers prayer according to His will and not just our desires? Through the years the kids have asked me questions like, why do we tell God things He already knows about? Why does He take so long to answer? How do you know He can hear me? How do my prayers change things?  Being honest, sometimes I have asked some of the same questions as an adult.

This burden to see our kids learn the importance and habit of conversing with their Father is something I have struggled with for many years.  I don't want our prayers to be calloused. I don't want them to be empty. I don't want it to be difficult or forced. I want it to be real. But, sometimes our prayers have sounded more like a list you'd give to Santa than words spoken to the God of the universe. How do you make sure prayer is more than a routine that ends the night or starts a meal? ughhhh.

When they were about ten, we started alternating praying. Pete and I would pray, then we would have them pray. This was good, but still, I continued to feel desperate to see their understanding for who they were talking to expand...for them to "get" that the God of the universe wants relationship with them, not just a token habit.

I know much of this understanding has to come from them growing in their own personal walks with Jesus,,,,but a few days ago, I had an epiphany. Or maybe it was that the Holy Spirit impressing something on my heart.

Jesus reminded me of how He taught the disciples to pray.

 Matthew 6:5-13
"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray,  go into your room and shut the door and pray to you Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father nows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not in into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."

He also reminded me that the most powerful and life changing prayer times for me have been when I have prayed through, or prayed back scripture.

So, I started praying through the Psalms with the kids and we are crying the scriptures back to Jesus. When we finish with the Psalms, we will just continue with other scripture. IT IS AMAZING! There is such power in HIS WORD. and like He says in 2 Timothy3:16 "All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness." What is so incredible has been getting to see how God is using His word to glorify Himself. The passages have been timely and relevant to our days happenings. The word is spurring on repentance and praise. I see a freedom that is being unleashed and the Spirit is revealing to them and to me more of who the God we are praying to is.

So, I had to share this. Could it really have been this simple all along? Just pray the Word and watch the Spirit do all the work?  The cool thing is that whether you have a two year old, or a 12 year old or a 22 year old, this practice will change their lives....It's changing mine!

Bre

Submitting + Surrender + Silence = Strength

I took a bit of a blogging break, (well really a big break in general) over the holidays to spend some time re-organizing, re-prioritizing and seeking God in a lot of areas.  Pete and I have been desperate for wisdom to know how to structure our home and daily life as we have entered the High School stage. During the past two years, a hobby has turned into a full time job for me, and I have found myself really struggling with how to be everything I need to be to everyone who needs me.
As moms, I think we have a special God-given ability to recognize when the balance of our home is out of sync. But if you are anything like me, maybe your first reaction is to fix, change, or even just "man up" rather than to pray and wait on God for direction.
"Strength will rise as we WAIT upon the Lord".
It is such a rare concept for me to wait rather than to act, but God is showing me the freedom that comes when I am completely surrendered to Him. He has also been teaching me how important it is for me to trust Pete's leading. (Sometimes that means more waiting....which by now you've figured out, that I stink at. :)

I wanted to share ONE area that God has been showing us we need to make changes in:
~SPORTS~
For any of you who know our kids, you know how much they love sports. And we love them too; love watching our kids play, watching them learn to lead, learn to fail, learn to work hard. Sports can be huge tools to help train kids about life. They keep us physically fit and teach us how to set and reach goals. They provide friendship and camaraderie. That said, sports can become idols. They can steal your time, your money, your devotion and thought.  They can distract us and pull us in too many directions. And even though they are activities we can do together as families, more often than not, I see them dividing families rather than bringing them together.
Because there are so many families we know who have been more devoted to athletics than we have been, I think at times we have justified our own commitments.  But with three kids, even just one team per child has at times pulled us in too many directions.
I'm not saying sports are bad, or that we shouldn't let our kids participate in them.  And I don't have the answer to the question of "how much is too much?" but, I know that God has impressed on Pete and I's hearts that for us, the schedule we have maintained is too much.
So as a family we have decided to take a year off of any traveling sport or club team and just play sports for the school. In this decision, I have had coaches tell me that we are wasting our kids' talent....even throwing it away. Some have even yelled at me and put huge amounts of pressure on the kids to "convince your parents otherwise".
So, I'll keep you posted on how this plays out. My hope is that we will be able to spend the year creating more memories PLAYING WITH EACH OTHER, RATHER THAN JUST WATCHING EACH OTHER PLAY.
My heart is that we would be a family submitted to God's heart and not the worlds' expectations.

So,  I'm just curious....have any of you struggled with this issue? Have you ever found yourself crying in a drive-thru during baseball season? Have you mastered the balance?
Please share...

.fetch.

We have a big golden retriever named Cooper.  We love our Cooper but he isn’t a very good retriever. We often take Cooper to the school down the street, into the back field where there is a huge open field to run and fetch a ball.

So here’s how it usually goes. I fling the ball. Cooper locks in, and sprints to the ball. Then I have to yell quick enough and loud enough at the very moment he retrieves that ball, so he will lock eyes with me and bring it back. If I don’t get his attention soon enough, he is off. He begins running in the opposite direction to chase a squirrel or see if the school kids left cheetos on the black top. The problem with this is that it is a huge field and somewhere along his journey to the cheetos he drops the ball and it takes me forever to find it again. But, if I get his attention right as soon as he scoops the ball into his mouth, if he locks eyes with me, than we are good and Cooper is flying back to me so we can do it again.

This past weekend Copper was the naughtiest dog he has ever been. No matter how loud I yelled, he wouldn’t lock eyes with me. He ran off. Way off. Apparently there was a smell in the mud that he had to rub himself in. But I was tired of trying to get his attention and so I let him go for it. Fine I thought, get all dirty and then you’ll have to have a bath. (which he hates)

I guess it got me thinking, because as he ran off, I actually said out loud to God, I’m Copper, huh?  The minute I take my eyes off of you, I am running full force ahead in a different direction. Call it squirrel syndrome, but what it really is, is the lust of my wicked heart that desires what Jesus says is not good for me. Mud puddles that might initially be fun to jump in but leave me all dirty.  When I lock into the eyes of my Father, I don’t run….I revel. I know God doesn’t give up on me, like I do on Cooper. I know He doesn’t desire a bath to be my punishment. But I do think sometimes He allows us to have our way and reap the consequences of jumping in the mud.  The amazing thing is when we crawl out, all covered in the filth of our sin, He is right there waiting to wash us off.

That said...  Romans 6:1 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

Oh my prayer as I write this, is that I would look hard and long into the eyes of Jesus.

That my eyes would FIX on Him.

That I would be CAPTIVATED by My Lord.

That the  gaze wouldn’t be broken every time I see a “squirrel” out of the corner of my eye or smell a “cheeto”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR7VOKQ0xJY (you gotta check this song out!)

Jesus, FIX my eyes on YOU,  the author and perfector of my faith.

.data entry.

I've been doing a lot of data entry this week. Data Entry into the minds of my babies. Here's the thing. Everywhere I turned this week, people were speaking to my kids. The TV, coaches, piers, songs, teachers. And all of them speaking into their lives.

Telling them who they are. Who they are suppose to be. Who they want to be. Who they should become.

Sadly, the cry of the masses speak so many things into their lives that I don't agree with. Actually, I more than disagree with them, I know most of what they are telling them is wrong. You are successful if you do _____, Happiness is ______,You are worth something if you_______, You need to be more. You need to be less. You need to be whatever. I'm sick of the lies!

The world wants to tell them who they are. Invite them on a journey to "find" themselves. Maybe I think too simply about this, but can't the answer to who we are be defined by just this?  We are what Jesus thinks about us. 

We are His. We were planned. We were created for His purposes. Created for His pleasure. We are His temple. We are precious in His sight. We are forgiven. We are new.  We were cleansed to walk in fellowship with Him. We are beloved. We are His bride. We are chosen. We are adopted as sons. We are permanent. We are dependent. We are Desperate. We are free. We are loved and clothed in the blood of the Most High's son, Jesus. That's who we are.

Ok, so how do I instill that in my child? Not a puffed up self-esteem, but Christ esteem?

I think it's this: He has to be the loudest voice they hear. Our job is to help make their world a place they can hear HIM. We need to silence the voices we can. Speak against the ones we can't. And mostly, we need to speak His word into their precious, hungry, impressionable hearts. I mean looking them in their eyes and telling them who Jesus has made them to be. Who He sees them as. Affirming the gifts we see in them. Warning them about the sins we know Jesus wants to rid them from. Speaking TRUTH into their life!

Data Entry.

.we hide in His wounds.

Sometimes a song says more than what i can think of to say....:)

Just copy and paste the links.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5EnizmtjcU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuSSi9eA94