Play friend and insight

So recently God has been convicting me through His word and through blogs of friends who are great mothers, that I am SERIOUSLY dropping the ball when it comes to raising my children. WOW, that is very hard to say. I have been finding myself searching for strategies and ways to get 'control' of my children and their behavior. In the last few days I have been convicted of several things, 1. The TV is on WAY too much at our house. 2. I spend WAY too much time in front of the computer instead of with my children. 3. We eat WAY too much in front of the TV!


With all of this, I decided it was time for a bit of change. We turned the TV off today, except to watch 30 min so that I could shower at 10am, and at lunch we watched Franklin. The great part about digital cable is that we were able to listen to music all day, with the TV on....it was great. The imagination of my children came out in spades.

I am getting some cleaning done, and I hear Perryn tell Teagan they need to go for a ride on a rocket ship. Cool, I thought. Then comes the next 30 minutes of getting ready to 'leave' on their rocket ship (that is actually our empty dinosaur sandbox). Talking to God, having him 'control' the wind to either let them 'take off' or to let them 'land'. I waved good-bye, I gave them 'phones' to call me when they reached Maw-maw and Paw-paws house. The next thing I know, they are talking to God on their phones. Sending Him messages. I stopped mopping and thanked Him for 'playing' with my children today. They especially were trying to 'direct' God with regards to the wind gusts. Oh, to be able 'to play' with God...how cool is that? Yes, we did have to talk about how God is everywhere, we weren't going to leave Him here to play alone while we ran errands, and they were really excited about that. I found myself realizing I need to foster this fun relationship that they have now with God, yes they will need to 'fear' Him, but right now they need to have fun with Him, respectfully.

So, we started BSF last week (Bible Study Fellowship), Perryn, Teagan, and I go on Wednesdays to a Bible Study. The fun part is we are all learning the same chapter at the same time. Well, we came in on Matthew 24 with the prophecies of Jesus' return...whew..what a time to get into a Bible Study. What I like about this Bible Study is it is helping me be able to talk to Perryn about God and Jesus. I don't really know how to do this and I am not sure why. Anyways, back to what we are learning... this week we studied the 3 parabels in Matt 25..the Ten Virgins, the Talents, and the Final Judgement. Everything that could happen last week did so that I could not get my lesson done until the night before, as opposed to doing it daily like I was supposed to. Today I reread my notes from lecture yesterday and it FINALLY hit me, after 20 years, it's about my personal relationship with Him!! duh.. I am to speak to Him daily, I am to include Him in all things that I do, I am to learn His word so that I am prepared for His return, I am to 'play' with Him.

How foolish and short sided I have been to NOT truly understand this until now. I have always known somewhere in my head that my relationship with Christ is all personal, but it took my children 'playing' with Him to really and truly see and understand it.I find myself with minimal head knowledge, but lacking in the deep heart knowledge. I often ask God to make things crystal clear for me or to hit me over the head with something as to not have any doubts...He hit me with a crystal clear 2x4 today!! WOW.

I now am challenging myself to show my children what it looks like to learn from God, reading the Bible daily, talking to Him more than just at meal times. To become unplugged, to read, to imagine, to spend time together as a family. Please pray for this really take root in our family. I have a tendency to really start off strong, but then get bored with what I am doing and need some change...I find it happening right now with my weight loss, I am gaining instead of losing because I am tired and bored of counting points. Please just pray that I am able to really stick to showing my children who, how, and what to do to learn to be closer to God.

Also, please pray for my sister and her husband, they have hit a rough patch today. They need strength, guidance, and peace about some things that are going on. Thanks.