Jesus Archives - Embracing the Call

4 Activities To Help Build Your Children’s Prayer Life

September 5, 2017

Recently, I discussed essential reasons to build our children’s prayer life. I also believe that giving them ways to apply prayer makes their communication with God more enriching.

Today, I am sharing four activities that will build your children’s prayer life:

1. Memorizing The Lords Prayer. This foundational prayer is a great place to start. This is the model of prayer Jesus gave to us! When we pray The Lord’s prayer we can be confident in how we how we present our praise, concerns, and requests to the Father.

Here’s a printable of The Lord’s Prayer I created for my children to memorize, you can grab your copy here.

2. Encourage them to lead family prayer time. This teaches confidence in praying publicly and it also gives them the opportunity to focus on the needs of others.

3. Create a prayer list. This is such as encouraging activity! We started this a couple of years ago. The prayer list includes prayer request, date, when the prayer is answered and the date. It’s so delightful to watch our children witness their prayers being answered!

Click on this link to get a copy of our Prayer List template.

4. Encourage prayer in everyday life situations. During bad dreams, struggles, hurts, victories. losses, etc. inspire them to develop a habit of prayer throughout life’s circumstances.

Lastly, being an example is the best model we can give to them. When we demonstrate a consistent prayer life, they will learn from us.

As the old saying goes more is caught than taught.

What ways do you encourage your children to apply prayer in their lives?

Practicing The Art Of Simple

July 21, 2017

I hope you are enjoying your Summer.

After three months of being challenged physically, mentally and emotionally, I am finally enjoying mine.

Practing the art of simple

At the beginning of this year, I experienced a missed miscarriage that turned our world upside down. However, we were able to stay afloat even during that devastating and arduous time, by putting our trust in God and clinging to Him as life had to continue.

In the end, He showed himself mighty as my Healer. This experience definitely elevated my faith. I am going to stop here, and share more in a later post with the hope of encouraging others.

After that experience, I realized I needed to reflect on my choices. Life doesn’t stop when we are going through hardships, but sometimes it takes a conscious effort to slow down and choose simple.

We have been influenced to believe that

Packed schedules

More Activites

Numerous Projects

Is the way to live but honestly, it’s not living. I am not saying that we shouldn’t pursue certain things, just that doing all the things doesn’t help anyone.

After finishing up a week of vacation bible school and attending two block parties, I was getting anxious about what to do next with my children and myself, will it be art classes, swim lessons, library programs, finding a new playground, arranging a time with friends, a new blogging project, etc?

All these things are good, but are they immediately necessary? Were they compensating for something else I needed?

Jesus gives us the answer in the story of Mary and Martha. Martha invited Jesus to their home and she became anxious in her preparations, but her sister Mary did the opposite. Martha was not happy about this. Here’s what happened:

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)

What is the good portion? Being in the presence of the Lord, studying His word, praying and seeking Him is a good place to begin.

My desire to be busy also created anxiety that caused me to take my eyes off of Jesus who provides me with the peace I need, along with the wisdom to do the next best thing.

But our Lord came to them [the disciples] taking the spiritual initiative against their despair and said, in effect, “Get up, and do the next thing.” If we are inspired by God, what is the next thing? It is to trust Him absolutely and to pray on the basis of His redemption. -Oswald Chambers, Utmost For His Highest (emphasis added)

I am giving myself permission to choose simple.

Are you anxious over your life circumstances or plans, will you choose the good portion through Jesus Christ?

10 Simple Easter Activities For Young Homeschoolers

April 5, 2017

Easter is right around the corner. I am sure you’ve noticed the bunnies, candy, and baskets that are vying for our attention during this time of the year. These items are fun and yummy, but I have purposed to look beyond the bunny and teach my children the real reason for this season.

As a Christian and Mom, it’s my responsibility to teach my children about Jesus and the purpose of Easter.

And why not have fun doing it?

Homeschool is a great opportunity to incorporate lessons about Resurrection Sunday.

Here are 10 simple Easter activities for young homeschoolers:

Coloring pages are a great art activity for young learners, these pages can provide a visual as they a learning about Jesus.
The Jelly Bean Prayer is a yummy idea to help children learn a beautiful prayer that shares the story of Easter.
The Stained Glass Easter Cross is an artful way to display the Cross in your window during Easter, or all year long.
The Easter Story Wreath is a wonderful way to teach older children about the events that lead up to Resurrection Sunday.
Resurrection Eggs takes the fun and tradition of an Easter egg hunt while adding a more meaningful approach to the activity.
The Cross Fingerpaint Craft is a fun, colorful art project and Bible lesson for children young and old.
The Easter Story Game is an innovative way to tell the story of Jesus.
Story Books are a great way to teach the true meaning of Easter.
Easter Bingo is a clever way to use a classic game to tell the story of Easter. The website suggests using jelly beans as makers.
Videos that are based on the story of Jesus are another way to illustrate and teach our children.

These ideas would also be great for your family or a Sunday school class activity.

Have a wonderful Easter!

Beautiful Surrender: A Lesson From Mary

December 22, 2016

As the children and I have been going through our Advent calendar, I have been thinking about the life of Mary. There is one particular scripture that resonates with me, every time I read it. The story begins with Mary being greeted by the angel Gabriel, she is introduced to us as “a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph” Luke 1:27. Gabriel excitedly announces to Mary that she is the favored one, who will conceive a child that will be named Jesus, the Son of God! Luke 1:28-33.

I can imagine Mary being surprised, scared and a bit confused by the news. She was to be married to her beloved Joseph and now she’s pregnant by God! Who would believe her? Will Joseph believe her? What would others think of her? I would even suspect, that she had been ridiculed by those who did not believe nor wanted to understand.

The most amazing part of this story, is her response in Luke 1:28:

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

No matter how she felt, or the current circumstances; she decided to yield to the Lord. She gave her life, her rights, in exchange for His will.

How can we learn from Mary today?

Are we willing to obey God, even if it’s uncomfortable, and we risk being mocked by others?

Are we willing to surrender:

The number of children we will have?

In our marriages as a godly wife?

How we raise our children?

Our health?

Our role at home?

Our thought life?

Our dreams and aspirations?

Our words?

Our relationships?

Our lives to God?

___________________ (You fill in the blank).

We know the rest of Mary’s story, ( you can read about it here, here and here) her journey was no cakewalk, but she continued to trust in the Father. Through all of her trials, she became the mother of the Savior of the world!

We can take note from Mary, although this life can be unpredictable, challenging and God may be calling us to do that unpopular thing…let us exercise our own sweet surrender, by repeating the words of Mary:

Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word… Luke 1:38 (ESV)

Sweet friend, let’s not miss the beauty in this verse! When we give our lives to God, we are not missing out, we are actually gaining an abundant life in Him!

Jesus assures us of this in Matthew 10:39 (ESV):

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What will you surrender to God today?

How to Make This Christmas More Meaningful

December 8, 2016

I love this season. The beautiful decorations, sipping hot chocolate with the kids, holiday parties, classic movies, church events, and gifts all make for a festive time of the year!

Now that my husband and I have a young family of our own, we are responsible for creating traditions that will welcome this season with anticipation.

meaningful-christmas-post-graphic

Please note affiliate links are mentioned in this post, visit my full disclosure policy here.

To be honest, pioneering your own traditions can be daunting. At the start, I was pretty overwhelmed with coming up with new ideas that reflected a Christmas focused on Christ.

I was used to the overabundance of holiday activities and decor available for my pleasure and convenience; but now, we’ve decided to become deliberate about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

You may be considering this as well.

Today, I’m sharing how you can make Christmas more meaningful this year:

1. Incorporate Christ-centered holiday decorations. Our family favorite, is this kid-friendly nativity scene . You can also include an Advent calendar (its not too late!), a wall art decal or window display

2. A Bible Study. Choose a time to gather together as a family or have your children read aloud, the story of Jesus’ birth in Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-23. Discuss, and ask your children questions about what they have learned.

3. Give to others. There are those who are less fortunate than we are. Participate in feeding the hungry, at a local shelter or community kitchen. Provide gifts to others through programs like Angel Tree, Operation Christmas Child and Compassion International to name a few, or give those in your own community.

4. On Christmas Day, attend a church service. Begin your day, by preparing your heart and mind with the Word of God.

5. Host a holiday party. Express the gift of hospitality by inviting friends and family, serve them and honor Jesus.

6. Serve (and Think of) Others. Christmas isn’t a magical holiday for everyone, some people are dealing with not-so-good memories of the past or the loss of loved ones. Invite them over to enjoy Christmas day with your family or bake treats and deliver them. Most of all, let us keep them in prayer during this season.

7. Read Christ-centered children stories. There are several books available that tell the story of Jesus’ birth. For the last few years, we’ve been reading this one.

8. Make Crafts. Creating fun projects for your children can be another way for them to learn more about Christmas.

9. Play Christmas music that focuses on Christ. Check your local stations or find your favorite Christian music on apps like Pandora, ITunes or Amazon Music.

10. Create a special holiday menu. Developing a specific holiday menu for this time of the year, can be exciting for everyone! For example, Christmas cookies with the kids, honey baked ham, Red Velvet Cake, fudge, French toast, etc. Enjoy, a feast in honor of the birth of King Jesus!

I pray these ideas will help you create a more purposeful holiday.

How do you make Christmas more meaningful? Name one family tradition you plan to include this year?