Category: Family

God Can Restore the Years the Locusts Have Eaten. Thoughts from Joel.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Joel 1-3

Twenty years have passed since I first heard Bev Bradley’s talk titled, “Loving and Teaching the Difficult Child.” I was in the thick of homeschooling my two oldest children along with taking care of a toddler. Mrs. Bradley shared from her heart about how much she had damaged her son (and her relationship with him) through harsh words and critical attitude.

I remember how often I reacted with sinful anger when my child absolutely, positively refused to obey my commands. I remember how often I spanked and shouted and screamed in anger, sin upon sin, in my attempts to get this child to comply. I walked around with a perpetual chip on my shoulder. I was angry at my husband, angry at my child, angry at the world. And underneath it all, I was angry at God. 

Why had He done this to me? Why had He given me this difficult, disobedient child?

I went to Mrs. Bradley’s talk looking for some tips for training my child to obey, and I left with a dagger in my heart. Her words brought conviction of sin. I finally saw the log in my own eye, how much my own anger was contributing to this ongoing battle between two very strong-willed individual sinners. It was a turning point in my life as a mom.

But I also remember
Mrs. Bradley’s words,
“The Lord is restoring the years that the locusts have eaten.”

At the time I wasn’t familiar with the book of Joel. I thought she was referring to the locust plague that God sent on Egypt in Moses’s day, but still, those words encouraged me that it wasn’t too late, that there was still hope.

So I began to pray for that. I began to ask God to do that for me and my child, my family, to restore and heal the barrenness that my sharp tongue had caused.

Lord, please, will You please restore the years that the locusts have eaten?

Give me a new heart. Help me to be patient and kind. Help me to discipline with tenderness and righteousness. Keep my tongue from evil. Forgive me. Do a new thing in our family, Father, please. I need You. My family needs You. Please help us!

I wish I could say that things changed overnight, but that wouldn’t be true. I was still struggling and so was my child, but year after year, the Lord has grown us both. He gave me beauty for ashes and seedlings have sprouted in a desert land.

God has taught us more about the nature of love – that love and forgiveness and grace are intricately woven together.

Mark 9: Fame or Faithfulness?

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Mark 9

And [Jesus and His disciples] came to Capernaum. And when [Jesus] was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”

But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve.

And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Mark 9:33-37 ESV

For as much as I love teaching and writing for adults, I think my true calling is to teach children. They have my heart. There is something so special about the childlike faith of a child, their wonder and interest in learning new things, that really gets me excited.

I’m afraid that in the past I preferred focusing my energies on adults because it was a straighter path to becoming “known,” to garnering a larger audience. Like Jesus’s disciples who were arguing about which of them was the greatest, I fear that I was looking for fame, rather than simply being faithful to the Lord’s call.

Which reminds me of the lesson I taught this morning to the 5th-12th graders at my local Community Bible Study class. Here’s an excerpt from the lesson I shared after our study on Joshua 1-5. I hope it blesses you.

So, this week we began our study of the book of Joshua. This year we have already studied Ruth, 1st and 2nd Kings, and Job. These five books feature some of the most famous people in the Bible, people like Ruth, King Saul, King David, Job, and now Joshua.

But what about the two spies whom Rahab hid… Their names were not recorded for us in the scriptures, but they were still vitally important to God. Those two men’s faith was just as valuable as Rahab’s. Or what about the priests who carried the ark of the covenant, or the 12 men who carried the stones, across the Jordan – was their faith any less remarkable?

What about the parents who circumcised their children by faith? Or all those Israelites who kept the Passover by faith?

According to Statista.com, in a 2021 survey, 3,670 American teens between the ages of 13-17 were asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

What do you think these top 5 professions have in common?

Our culture is way too focused on being famous and way too lax about being faithful, simply doing the next thing that God has called us to. We are chasing after “fame and fortune,” instead of  “God and goodness.”

If you have been born again, then you have been given the gift of the indwelling of the Holy spirit. The Holy Spirit of God dwells in you. Think about that.

And now He is calling you to just do the next thing, do the next deed of faith.

That may be as simple as reading your Bible and completing your Bible study lesson and then coming here and sharing with your classmates what God taught you that week. That may be as simple as sitting next to or striking up a conversation with someone you don’t know very well. That may be as simple as telling the truth when you want to lie.

Whatever it is, I want you to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow Him. He will never lead you astray.

He might ask you to step out in faith someday, to follow the example of Rahab and hide a fellow believer who is being persecuted for their faith.

He might ask you to step out into your own Jordan River in sharing the gospel with someone, whether a stranger or a friend, trusting that He will keep His promises to be with You as you take that first step.

Your name may never appear on any timeline or any top 10 of anything. You may never be a world-famous athlete or gamer or musician. You may never be a social media influencer or have a YouTube channel with millions of followers and you may never invent anything world-changing.

But, oh think of it, think of this, your name, YOUR name, can be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life! And if your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, you can KNOW beyond any doubt that He has a good plan and purpose for you!

Heavenly Father, I pray that You will raise up more parents and more teachers who will invest their lives in training up children in the way that they should go so that the next generation will place their trust in You. Please, Father, stop us from this crazy pursuit of becoming rich and famous, and help us instead to be faithful to do the next thing. By Your grace and for Your glory. Amen.

What Final Words Would I Share with My Children on My Final Day? Reflections from David’s Last Words in 1 Kings 2.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: 1 Kings 2

David knows he is about to die, so he calls his son, Solomon, to him. What did David say to this son who will be the next king of Israel?

  1. Be strong.
  2. Show yourself a man.
  3. Keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and keeping his commands as it is written in the Law of Moses.
  4. Deal wisely and justly with Joab, Barzillai, and Shimei.

Now I’m not (and never will be) the king of a nation but I (like everyone else on the planet) will one day draw my last breath. If today were my last day, what final words would I want to share with my children?

What would I say to my children
if today was my last day?

  • I love you. I’m proud of you. You are a gift to me. I’m so thankful you’re mine. God made YOU on purpose, and He has a purpose for your life. Fear not. He’s not finished yet. God is on His throne. He doesn’t save people because they’re good. They’re not. None of us are. He saves them because He is merciful and has a purpose for them. You are saved by your faith in Jesus Christ, not by your works. (Psalm 139:1-16; Romans 3:10-12; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:3-8; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Romans 6:23)
  • Trust the Lord with all your heart. He is good. He is wise. Turn away from evil and do good. Choose to do the hard things out of love and trust for the Lord. (Proverbs 3:5-7; Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37)
  • Love is both an emotion and an action. Love others as God has loved you. Bear with others. Forgive them, remembering how much God has forgiven you. He loved you while you were yet a sinner, loving you even to the point of death, death on a cross. Remember that love is patient and kind. God is patient and kind with you, and He is calling you to be patient and kind with others. Love is not arrogant, rude, boastful, or envious. Love does not insist on its own way. The Lord of the Universe humbled Himself for you, and He is calling you to humble yourself for Him and His creation. Love never ends. Love endures. Love bears all things. He has loved you with a never-ending love. Love others like that. (Colossians 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Philippians 2:1-8; Romans 5:7-8)
  • Children are a blessing from the Lord. Fill your home with them. Pour into them. Enjoy them. Train them up in the way they should go. Teach them diligently that they, too, will know and love the Lord. (Psalm 127:1-5; Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Psalm 78:1-8)

So, how about you? If today were your last day, what final words would you want to say to your children and loved ones?

Heavenly Father, How thankful I am for the hope that I have in my Savior, Jesus, who poured out His blood for me. How thankful I am to have the assurance that my last breath here on Earth is just the beginning of eternity with You. I pray that my children and grandchildren will have that assurance. I pray that You will strengthen me to be the mother and grandmother that You want me to be. Give me Your wisdom and lead me in when to speak and when to be silent. Make my words, Your words. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Make me a beacon pointing my family and my community to Him. For His Honor and for His glory I pray. Amen.

God Disciplines His Children for Their Good. Thoughts from Amos 2.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Amos 2

Sometimes it seems that professing Christians think they are immune from the consequences of their sin. Indeed Jesus has paid the price for our sin by His death on the cross, but we still must endure God’s discipline for our good.

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Hebrews 12:4-8 ESV

All too many American children are being left without discipline, and our nation is reaping the consequences of it.

God disciplined the Israelites and He disciplines Christians. Not because He hates us, but because He loves us.

Oh, Heavenly Father, what a blessing it is to call You, Father. What an honor to be Your daughter. Help me to endure Your discipline with humility and gratitude and trust, fully believing that You are working to conform me into the image of Your Son. You are good. Always. Help me to learn what you’re teaching me. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord I pray. Amen.

A Father’s Love: Thoughts from 2 Samuel 18.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: 2 Samuel 18.

Even though Absalom had killed Amnon, David’s oldest son, out of revenge for him raping his sister, and even though Absalom had tried to take his father’s rightful place on the throne, David orders his army captains to deal gently with him during their battle against the Israelites (2 Samuel 18:5) And then when David finds out that Absalom is dead, David cries, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33)

That’s how a parent’s love is. It’s unconditional. It’s love with no strings attached. No matter how your child disappoints you or angers you, you keep loving them. As 1 Corinthians 13:8a says, “love never fails.”

“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11-13 ESV)

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:4-7 ESV)

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7-8 ESV)

“How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” (Psalm 36:7 ESV)

Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your steadfast, faithful love, love without end, love that never fails. You are good. You are worthy. Make us more like you. Conform us into the image of Jesus Christ, Your perfect Son. It is in His Name that we pray. Amen.

Coming out of the Closet. Thoughts on Gender Identity from 2 Samuel 5.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: 2 Samuel 5

Today as I asked God what I should write about in today’s blog post, I couldn’t shake the thought that I was supposed to write on the topic of genders. So, in fearful obedience, here it goes.

Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, the thought that there were anything beyond two genders never even entered my mind. My sister and I were girls. My mom was a girl. My dad was a boy. My cat, Bandit, who I’d adopted off the streets as a stray was a boy, too. I always wished that my mom and dad would have another baby, a boy, so I could have a little brother to play with and boss around. My world was made up of two genders: boys and girls, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, men and women, males and females.

Though I wasn’t a Christian and though I believed that the world and everything in it had evolved through a series of random events, it was still clear to my rational , scientific brain that everything that reproduced was either a male or a female. Roosters and hens, bucks and does, worker bees and queen bees, males and females.

In today’s chapter, 2 Samuel 5, verse 13 says, “And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.” David was a male, and every single one of David’s concubines and wives were female. All of David’s sons were male, and all of David’s daughters were female.

My dad and my cat both had operations that prevented them from fathering babies, but they were still male. In fact, my dad could have grown his hair long, and worn a mini skirt, heels and a stuffed bra, and it wouldn’t make him female. He could even have changed his name to something more neutral or feminine, and left my mom for a guy, but my dad would still have been a male. Why? Because that’s how he was born. Dare I say, that’s how he was made by His Creator? When my father was knit together in his mother’s womb, he received an x chromosome from his mom and a y chromosome from his dad, and he was born a boy.

This issue is especially personal for me for a whole myriad of reasons. I won’t go into all of them here but one of them is this: when my sister and I were young, my parents usually kept our hair cut short and dressed us in very simple gender neutral clothing. I liked climbing trees and getting dirty. I didn’t like playing with Barbies. My best friend most years was a boy. But did those things make me a boy? No. They didn’t. I was a girl, whether I liked it or not. That’s how I was born. That’s how I was made by my Creator. When I was knit together in my mother’s womb, I received an x chromosome from my mom and an x chromosome from my dad, and I was born a girl.

Back in the ’80s, when I was teenager, it was shameful to admit that you had homosexual desires. A person was said to “come out of the closet” when they confessed to homosexual tendencies. Now here we are in the “roaring 2020s,” and it’s shameful to stand up for Biblical gender identities, but today I’m taking a stand. I refuse to hide in the closet, ashamed of the Bible’s very clear teaching that God gave David sons and daughters. David’s sons were boys and his daughters were girls. God created them male and female just like He’s been doing from the beginning of time and to say anything else is a lie, a lie that hurts both the Creator and the creature.

Will you join me in prayer?

Heavenly Father, I come to You with the deepest gratitude for making me to be me. Thank You for making me a girl and granting me the gift of being a mom. Thank You for giving me sons and daughters. I pray that You will encourage the people of this generation to love You as their Creator by accepting themselves for how they’ve been made – their hair color and skin color, their height and their gender. You don’t make junk. We do. We take what You have made and we ruin it, hurting others and hurting ourselves. And hurting You in the process. Forgive us, Lord. I pray that You will also encourage the people of this generation to stand up for what they know is true, what the Scriptures so clearly state, that You are the Creator and that You create male or female. Help us not to be ashamed of the gospel and not to be ashamed of the truth of Your Word. Please, Father, help us to defend our faith with gentleness, respect, and humility, for the glory of Your Name and the good of Your creation. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

A Prayer for my Children from Colossians 2

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Colossians 2

On Monday I’ll be beginning the second year of my Read Through the Bible in 2 Years plan. Get more information here. I hope you’ll join me!

This week we have a teenage international student staying with us while his school is on Christmas break. When I invited everyone to pray after reading our chapter in Colossians, he commented that he didn’t know how to pray. I remember what that felt like when I began my life in Christ as a new believer almost 30 years ago. I encouraged him to talk simply and honestly to God about whatever he’s thankful for as well as what he needs.

On that note, Colossians is a great place to learn to pray. I’m praying for my children, but you might be praying for yourself, your husband, your future husband, or someone else. I hope these words would help bend your heart and life toward God.

Heavenly Father, thank You for each of the children that You have given me as well as their spouses and children. Each of them is a gift from Your good hands. I pray that their hearts will be encouraged and knit together in love with one another and with You. I pray that they may reach all the riches of the full assurance of faith through the understanding and knowledge of Jesus Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Protect them from those who want to deceive and confuse them with worldly philosophy and plausible arguments. Give them insight through Your Holy Spirit and through Your written Word. Please, Father, be with them while we are apart and put strong Christians into their lives. Help them to walk faithfully in Christ, being rooted and built up in Him, established in their faith as they have been taught, with hearts full of thanksgiving. Grow their faith in Jesus Christ who is the head of all things and the head of the church and in whom the whole fullness of deity dwells. I pray that they would put off their fleshly desires and put on Christ, being clothed in His righteousness and made alive with Him. Help them to hold fast to Jesus from whom the whole body is nourished and knit together that they might grow wise and strong in heart, mind, and body. For the glory of God and the building up of the body we pray in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

A Prayer for my Children from Colossians 1

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Colossians 1

I’m so sorry for my absence. This Christmas break I have been enjoying sweet time with my daughter being home from college – in addition to five days spent with my two little granddaughters and the rest of my family. Blogging was the easiest thing to leave out of my schedule, but I have to admit that I miss it. Writing ministers to my own soul, and I hope that it ministers to yours, too.

On Monday I’ll be beginning the second year of my Read Through the Bible in 2 Years plan. Get more information here. I hope you’ll join me!

This week our family got to read through Colossians together. It has always been one of my favorite books of the Bible. Do you ever pray Scripture? Colossians is a great place to start.

Heavenly Father, I thank You for sending the Lord Jesus Christ for us. I thank You for the sure and certain hope that is laid up for us in heaven by faith in Him. I thank You for drawing my children to faith; this faith is a gift and I pray that You would strengthen it and give it roots and wings. I pray that each of my children will be filled with the knowledge of Your will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that they might walk in a manner worthy of You, Lord, living lives that are fully pleasing to You, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in their knowledge of You. Help them to study your word each and every day, that they know You better that they would love You more. May they be strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with hearts full of joy and gratitude for Your saving grace. If any of them have not yet fully trusted in You for salvation, I pray that You would deliver them from Satan’s domain of darkness and place them securely in the kingdom of Your Beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Strengthen them to continue in the faith, staple and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which they have heard from my own lips and from the pages of scripture. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

Our Past Experiences Impact Our Present Reactions. 1 Samuel meets Judges.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: 1 Samuel 11.

Once again I was reminded of the story of the Levite and his concubine which took place in Gibeah (Saul’s hometown) in Judges 19-21, particularly Judges 19:29 ESV, “And when [the Levite] entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.” Along with Judges 21:14 ESV, “And Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead….”

Saul is a Benjaminite from the city of Gibeah. He would have known these stories. In fact, his family would have been directly touched by these events recorded in Judges.

Now notice the connections in 1 Samuel 11. Nahash the Ammonite is attacking the people of Jabesh-Gilead — Was Saul’s mother from there? His aunt? His best friend’s mom?

Saul took the yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them to all the other tribes in Israel — Just like what the Levite had done with his concubine’s body. It had worked last time to get the people involved, and it worked this time for Saul.

Our family’s traditions, the stories we grow up hearing, the attitudes of people around us, they impact our lives. How I react to my husband, my children, and the cashier at Walmart is shaped by my upbringing. The takeaway for me in this is twofold. One, as a mom, I want to consider the impact I’m having on my children. How am I shaping them by how I behave and what experiences I invite into my children’s lives? Two, as a grown person, how are my actions today being shaped not by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God but by my past. How am I following my passions, instincts, and impulses rather than the Lord?

Heavenly Father, I love You. All Your ways are right. All You do is good. Father, I want to follow You all the days of my life. I want to be conformed into Your image. Make me more like You. I pray that all my actions would be led by Your Holy Spirit who dwells in me and Your Inspired Word that is a lamp to my feet. Give me wisdom as a mother to recognize how my attitudes and actions, what I let into my children’s lives, what I put in front of their faces, will shape their lives in the future. Help me to live for Your glory. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

A Prayer from Hannah’s Prayer in 1 Samuel 2

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: 1 Samuel 2.

Let’s pray and worship the Lord together with Hannah and believers around the world.

My heart rejoices in You, Lord, for You have raised me up from the ash heap and set my feet on the solid rock of salvation in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

I rejoice in You, my God, for there is none holy like You. There is none besides you, Father. Indeed, there is no rock like our God.

Keep me humble, Father. Let me not become arrogant or proud. Help me to remember that You are a righteous judge, knowing and seeing all things, both visible and invisible. Help me to see the log in my own eye. Keep me on my knees in humility before Your throne of grace.

Increase my faith, Lord. You break the bows of the mighty, and You give strength to the weak. You make the full hungry and the hungry full. You give children to the barren, and You take children from those who have many. The number of every man’s days are held in Your hand.

You have given Your only Son, Jesus Christ, that we may be forgiven and redeemed and receive the gift of eternal life with You. Make us ambassadors for Your kingdom, sharing the good news to all four corners of the earth and making disciples of all the nations.

You, Father, are the giver of every good gift, of children and wealth and power and wisdom. Help us to be good stewards of these gifts. Make us instruments of Your peace, blessing the needy with all that You have blessed us, our time, talents, treasures, and testimonies.

The whole world is in Your hands, Father. We pray for the leaders of our nation and the nations around the world. Guide them. Grant them wisdom. Give them strength. Humble and exalt in Your perfect wisdom and timing, and help us to trust and worship You no matter the cost.

In the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we pray. Amen.

Instruments of Your Peace