Hide HIs Words

I was asked to be a guest blogger for our church children's minister, Katie Landress. We attend Graystone Church in Loganville. Here it is:

Proverbs 22:6 (The Message)
Point your kids in the right direction—
when they're old they won't be lost.

Psalm 119:11 (The New Living Translation)
I have hidden your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.

When I was growing up, my mom had Bible verses written in calligraphy (so 70's!!) in our rooms. We grew up reading these verses as we were passing through, or playing...just existing in our home. She never stood there and made us read them daily, she didn't have too, it's a natural response to things in a kids room. And she brilliantly placed them on our wall at a height we could read them no matter our age. As we got older, and a little taller, she would move them up. Genius.

I, now do the same in the rooms of my children, Max specifically right now as he is at reading age, and I feel at times, I am never NOT training him (I've heard this is how Kindergarten goes, goodness gracious!) Anyway, I know the things he struggles with. So I go to God's Word and find verses pertaining. I hang them low on his wall, then I pray. I mean, I pray a lot. That the Lord will have His Words penetrate the heart of my boy. That he will grow up only knowing Truth. That his heart will be so saturated with the Words of God that the enemy has a really difficult time getting to his heart.

I also read the Bible out loud to my kids when they are eating breakfast. Or a lot of times, I am grabbing 14.8 minutes in the morning to spend some time with the Lord before my peeps wake up. My boy, also an early riser, will tip-toe downstairs and I snuggle him up next to me and start reading to him.

My mother gave her heart to the Lord when she was pregnant with me. An older woman (Titus 2 in action) reached out to my mom. She saw a young woman with 2 daughters and one on the way, in an extremely difficult, and at times, violent marriage. A word of wisdom this lady, Mrs. Tannehill, gave my mom was to read the Proverb of the day, daily, aloud to my sisters and me. When my mother responded, "but they won't understand what I'm reading", Mrs. Tannehill wisely replied, "do we teach our children English, or do they learn it because it's all they've ever heard?"

Isaiah 55:11
It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.