Do You Desire To Bring Your Child Into The Kingdom?

It's hard enough to be a Christian parent in this world. How do we combat the forces of evil while at the same time raise our children to desire to walk in God's light? By seeking His face, His Word and inspiration from each other as we stumble through this parenting process together. You will find all the instruction, encouragement and resources you need right here at The Greatest Mission Trip You'll Ever Take to help you be the most effective witness to your child that God would have you be. Look around and come back often. Let's learn together.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Preparing For Thanksgiving

photo by StarMama

I have a lovely friend named Diane Harris, author of Stepping Into The Light, who recently tagged me with a meme. I’ve always thought it would be great fun to do one of these, but I’ve been leery about wandering too far from the stated mission of TGMT - encouraging and equipping parents to be missionaries in their own home.

This meme in particular seemed self-focused, something I’m not used to doing, or at least spend very little time doing (who has time to be self-focused, I’m a wife and a mom!). But after I sat down and began playing with it, I saw tremendous potential for sharing this with other family members and helping everyone prepare their hearts for the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration.

So, here’s the meme: Name eight things I love about myself. Sounds self-focused? Not if you understand that all good things come from God and that any gift or blessing given to us is an opportunity to glorify Him and shine the light of Christ to others. So, here goes:
  1. I love how I love my family and that God has blessed me with being a wife and mother.
  2. I love teaching and I especially love that God allows me to have used His gift in so many ways. I hope to be teaching until He takes my breathe away!
  3. I love my servant’s heart, although sometimes that gift is utilized to the point of saying ‘yes’ too many times and overcommitting myself.
  4. I love my positive outlook. Christ is coming back, and that’s the most positive thing I look forward to!
  5. I love that I am kind. I will go out of my way to avoid confrontation, and when I hurt someone - ugh, I feel terrible for days, even after I’ve apologized.
  6. I love growing older. Yes, I know that’s unusual, but I choose to accept each day as a gift from the Lord and to be excited as to how He’ll use me with each new turn.
  7. I love the work God has placed before me and that I said ‘yes’ to doing it. And I love that I enjoy doing it so much!
  8. I love that I’ve made God my all in all. He is the most important part of my life, above husband, above children, above gifts and blessings. I love that I chose to be His child.
This was actually hard for me to do, but once I started into it, I found my heart swelling with love for the God of the universe and thankful for all the many things He is and that He has blessed me with. I feel ready to enter into the thanksgiving holiday with genuine praise in my heart.

Can you see the potential for using this as a teaching tool with your family? Ask your child what he loves about himself, then explain that all good things come from God. Discuss the meaning of Thanksgiving and watch what happens.

Tag, you're it. I pass this meme off to four women (are there any men who'd like to do it?) whose answers I'd love to see: Lynn Mosher of Heading Home, Sue Finley of Liam's Grandma, Karla Meacham of Empowering Christian Women (I know you can't get to it right away - get well soon!), and my daughter, Rachel of Way of Shiloh.

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