Kruis Connection: September 2012

I have been blessed to read a number of great books this year and thought I should share what has been encouraging me. A good friend of mine started loaning me books from her collection and I have been so blessed by filling my mind with these books.

The first book that made an impact on my life this year was: Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr.

I had never heard of this author before but was convicted and challenged by him in the area of family worship. I had never stopped to think about the importance of setting aside time to teach my girls about the bible and the God we worship. The bible tells us to instruct our children in the word and teach them about Christ throughout our everyday lives (Deuteronomy 6:1-9). It helped me stop and think about what I was instructing my girls in the most during the day and at that point the embarrassing truth was Claire knew more about Mary Poppins and Barney than she did about Jesus Christ. Jason and I sat down and decided to write down a family worship schedule that we would follow for the next year. This is what we came up with:

1. Early Morning (6:30am)- Prayer time for Jason and I before he leaves for work everyday
2. Breakfast with the girls (8:30am)- Prayer time with both girls and read them one section from the 'Big Picture Story Bible' followed by a worship song
3. Dinner time with our family (5:30pm)- After dinner we read one chapter from the bible, we started off reading one Psalm a night and after we made it through Psalms we decided to work through Hebrews (this part is more for me at this point :). After reading the bible we sing a hymn or song that we are singing in our church to help familiarize the girls with the songs we sing each week.
4. Before Bedtime (7:30pm)- We sing a fun kid's bible song with the girls ('This little light of mine' seems to a be the popular one most nights) and then we read one chapter from the 'Jesus Storybook Bible', followed by prayer time.

It was challenging getting this routine started with a 2 year old and a now 1 year old but it was well worth it. The girls enjoy the routine now and we have seen Claire come so far in her knowledge of basic bible stories as well as the memorization of hymns. Her favorite hymn is 'Joyful, Joyful we adore thee' and she pretty much knows the entire thing.

Another book that really encouraged me was: Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald.

This book challenged me to embrace my role as wife, mother, and keeper of my home (Titus 2:4-5, Proverbs 31). It is so easy for me to want to be served and pampered in return for all my hard work taking care of my family and home. This book challenged me to stop living for my self and instead start dying to self by joyfully serving my family without wanting to be served in return.

I have needed so much encouragement on what it means to parent according to the bible and one book that really helped was: Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman.

This book challenged me to use scripture to address every area of disobedience in my girls' life. Instead of trying to just fix outward behavior it helped me instead try to address the heart or root of the behavior. Finding the sin that is already in the heart of my unbelieving children has given me plenty of opportunities to point my girls towards Christ and their need for Him in their lives.

Other parenting books that have challenged and encouraged me this year are: Give them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson,

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, and I am in the process of reading my first Lou Priolo book as well as Instructing a Child's Heart by Paul David Tripp.

Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss has also been a huge encouragement to me as I strive to model my life after Christ.

There were many lies that I was believing such as: My sin isn't really that bad, I don't have time to do everything I'm suppose to do, I can make it without consistent time in the word and prayer, I can't control my emotions, God should fix my problems, and I can't help the way I am. The author does a wonderful job of pointing out why these are lies and what the truth is according to the bible.

Finally, I just finished reading the book Radical by David Platt.

This book gave me a convicting mental beating as I read it. This book made me realize how comfortable and luxurious my life is living in Fort Worth, Texas. The book helped me see that everything I am clinging to on this earth such as a safe home, children, my husband, my material possessions, job security, etc. are but a passing mist (James 4:14-15). I need to be clinging to Christ and doing everything in my power to obey his word and follow his commandments, even the ones that tell me to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). After reading this book I can genuinely say that I will go wherever God calls me to go no matter how difficult or uncomfortable it will be. I just want to spend my life serving God and doing his will.