Spiritual Training

As a parent it is our great joy to train our children. What we train them in though can make all the difference!

As a family we have devotions after dinner most nights. Most nights we also have devotions with each kid personally in their bed. The reason we do this is because we want them to know the Lord and walk with Him. We believe that if we begin this training early it will be a natural part of their everyday lives.

Recently, I've thought a lot about Annabelle. She has professed Christ as her Savior and given her life to him. I started thinking about how at the age of 8 I made the same choice. As I grew though I didn't really know how to spend time with God. I didn't know what a quite time or devotional time should look like. I read my Bible here and there, but didn't know what to do with what I had read.

At the same time, I've been wanting to reward her for her great progress in reading. At first I thought about taking her to the Christian bookstore and letting her pick out a new book. Then I was talking to another Mom about teaching our girls about devotions and the Lord laid this idea on my heart...why not reward her for her reading with her own devotional that she can do by herself!

So on Saturday I took her to the Christian bookstore and told her that as a reward for good reading I know thought she was old enough to have a personal quiet time with God. She was THRILLED!!

I was so excited after I read the Introduction! It was exactly what I was hoping for this book to be for her.

She started yesterday and she is already on page 35 of the book. She has shared some of the pages with us and she is answering the questions honestly and with an open heart. It is so neat to see my little girl interacting with God!

Please see my heart--I share these things to encourage you dear parent who is training your child in the ways of the Lord. It isn't always easy, we are are imperfect parents trying to parent an imperfect daughter, but because of Christ we have His grace and He is helping us. The greatest gift I realized lately that I can give to my daughter is to help her create a habit of spending time with God.

I know she isn't grown yet, and we have a long way to go, but my prayer is that this habit like all habits will become a part of her daily life and thus she will walk with God daily. I know the secret to being content is in a relationship with God and I pray that as she grows she will begin to see this as well. I will continue to pray for her and encourage her in her walk all the days of her life.

Be Blessed!