We all know that prayer is important – it’s how we petition the Almighty God with our requests. And the sheer fact that He hears us, and wants to hear from us, is incredible.
If we really knew and understood just how incredible this is, we would be praying all of the time. Which is probably why Paul tells us to pray…all of the time.
So here are some of my favorite prayer Bible verses and quotes to get us inspired to pray! At the bottom of this post, you’ll find printable four memory verse cards on prayer. If you want to read a devotional on prayer, click here.
For the busy mom: listen to an audio recording of this post!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
This week’s topic for our Fruit of the Spirit series is gentleness. “Gentle parenting” is a hot topic right now – but have you ever thought about who the originator of gentleness is? God is the ultimate parent and the founder of true gentleness. Today we’re going to look at an incredible story about how God parents the prophet Elijah with love and compassion during a difficult time in his life.
I have the hardest time being gentle when things don’t go the way I want them to. I mean, when everything’s going my way, I’m the nicest, humblest, gentlest person EVER! Ha…
But when people let me down, when they’re overly dramatic or annoying, it’s hard to be gentle. When I’m annoyed or frustrated, I’m dismissive, ignore people and am downright rude. Especially to my husband, and even to my children.
Recently, for my father-in-law’s birthday, my sisters and I made a craft for him from the grandkids. It was insanely adorable – and incredibly well received. (There were tears. That’s a win in my book.)
Unlike my sisters-in-law, I’m not a very artsy person. So I will jump at any craft idea that is simple enough for me to handle with my rambunctious boys. This one is very simple – and I made it even simpler.
Mother’s Day is upon us! This COVID quarantine is doing strange things to the time – it’s as if time is going faster and slower all at the same time. How is that possible?!
So, I asked and you told me what you REALLY want for Mother’s Day! Share this with a dad in your life – let’s spread the word about what moms actually want for Mother’s Day.
Talk to your wife or mom about what she would like. Ask questions like: What do you envision for your ideal Mother’s Day? You make every day special for us, how can I make your Mother’s Day special? What’s something we can do for you that would make you feel extra appreciated on this Mother’s Day? You can still add your own special touches, but I guarantee that your wife has something in mind that she would like for Mother’s Day. Work together with your kids to make that happen, and to make it extra special. It’s safe to say that you can’t ever go TOO overboard for Mother’s Day.
So you’re stuck at home during this quarantine and your kid is driving you crazy…what do you do?! I’m constantly in a state of searching for activities for my high energy kid, Finn. Aside from displaying the Gospel to my kids, it seems like my #1 daily goal is to get energy out of them! God did not grant me children who will sit quietly and color or read books all day. So I’ve had to learn the hard way how to get energy out of my boys through trial and error. This is some of what I’ve learned.
My strategy for the day is typically to feed them, get energy out of them, and then try to have some quiet time. I’ve found that they will play on their own more independently if those two needs are met. Our day starts with breakfast, a short devotional where we read a Bible verse together, and then trying to go for a long walk or some sort of activity (preferably outdoors) that will help Finn burn off some energy.
So, if you’re working from home because of this COVID pandemic, I highly recommend trying to feed and de-energize your kiddos before trying to get some work done. (Another helpful hint for working from home: try to get as much work done as possible BEFORE your kids wake up. Get the hardest tasks done first, right from the start of the day. Trust me. Try it. You can thank me later.)
A few helpful principles for wearing out your high energy child:
Utilize muscles that aren’t typically used – this is tiring for all of us!
Challenge them with activities slightly above their ability. If it’s too hard, they won’t want to do it. But if it’s too easy, they won’t burn off as much energy. It’s a balancing act!
Be okay with repetition – if something works, don’t be afraid to do it again and again…and again. You’ve probably noticed, kids love repetition.
When in doubt, go outside. Nature is somehow simultaneously stimulating and calming. God is amazing!
For the busy mom: listen to an audio recording of this post!
For this week’s devotional on the fruit of the Spirit, we are looking at faithfulness.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
The Greek term for faithfulness used in our key verse is “pistis” which conveys faith, belief, trust and confidence. This is the same word used when Jesus says things like, “Your faith (pistis) has healed you,” (Mark 5:34, 10:52) and in Mark 4:40, “Why are so afraid? Do you still have no faith (pistis)?” It is the same term used all throughout the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11.
With everything going on in our world right now, it’s hard to be faithful. It’s easy to doubt what God is doing with this pandemic or in the various hardships he’s sending our way. Despite these storms, it is possible to have full faith in God – and not just blind, oblivious belief.
And just like that, Easter is upon us! Before having kids, I never thought I’d be into doing things like Easter crafts and Easter egg hunts. As a non-parent, I felt like those things took away from the power of the Cross and Resurrection. But now that I’m actually a mom, I can’t help it – we’re doing all the non-religious Easter activities! However, I still feel very strongly about not letting those things take place of what “Resurrection Sunday” is really about: Jesus.
My primary mission in being a mom is to teach my children about Jesus – whether it’s Christmas, Easter or the middle of June. We talk about Jesus all of the time, but Easter is a particularly special time to emphasize what Jesus has done for us.
So today we did a Jesus-centered Easter craft that was super simple and fun, and we also used that time to talk about God’s sacrifice of His Son and how much He loves us.
For the busy mom: listen to an audio recording of this post!
This week, for our Fruit of the Spirit series, we’re focusing on kindness and goodness. These terms strike me as nice, fluffy Christian words that depict a demure, smiling woman who writes a check for her local charity and doesn’t honk when someone cuts her off. But kindness and goodness are so much more than that – and, I believe there is an alarming shortage of true kindness in the world right now.
Before this pandemic, on Sunday evenings, I would meal plan for the week and put together my grocery order for the following day. With all of the craziness going on, meal planning and grocery shopping have been a nightmare. Who knew eggs, chicken thighs and toilet paper would be such a necessity in a pandemic?! We’ve been scouring every single grocery store within a 30-mile radius for these items. As soon as we find out that boneless skinless chicken thighs are available at the Costco across town, we’re in there like Delta Force trying to get what we need. (Because Heaven forbid we have to cook with chicken breasts instead!)
My reaction to this minor inconvenience made me consider what’s really important right now. What shortages does God care about? What deficits would get His attention?
I think God is looking down at our world and it hurts His heart that we have such a shortage of true kindness. Our goodness is apparently so rare that whenever someone does something exceptionally kind, it goes viral!
The good news is that as Christians, we can do something about that. Especially during such a turbulent time in our world, we can stand out and reflect these traits of God to the world on a daily basis.
With most of us on COVID lockdown these days, I thought it would be a good time to put out some sensory play ideas that you could utilize with your baby and/or toddler! Here’s some of our favorites. If you use any of these, make sure to tag us and let me know how it goes: @themommyofmayhem.
A word about activities with my 3 year old: they NEVER go the way I want them to. And I mean NEVER. And that’s alright. I think it’s all part of what God is teaching me through motherhood: that it’s OK to not be in control, that things will not go as planned and it will be alright. And sometimes, it’ll be even BETTER than I anticipated. Motherhood is messy, and at times turbulent, but I’m grateful for all the lessons God’s teaching me along the way.
1. The Smelling Game
This is one of my favorites, especially while cooking. I’ll take out different spices or ingredients and let the kids smell them (and, if they’re safe to eat, touch them). Our favorites are cinnamon, lemon, ginger, and coffee beans. When Finn was a baby, I had a spinning spice rack and we would put it on the floor and he loved to spin it around and shake the spice bottles. I would open up different spices and let him smell them. Now that Finn is older, we’ll play the “smelling game” where I blindfold him and he has to guess what ingredients I have based on the smell! He loves it!
2. Water beads
Water beads are so fun! They’re colorful and squishy, and it’s fun to watch them expand. I would recommend some caution with them, though, because they’re easy for little ones to ingest AND they can be messy. We only play with water beads on the porch these days. For Justus, I’ll put the water beads in a little plastic ziplock bag and tape it to the high chair tray so he can squish them around.
3. Painting (in a bag!)
Of course, you could just let your kids play with finger paint, but that’s really messy…
