A Woman of Intention

I want to be a woman of intention, one who manages her time well - with purpose and diligence. I want to be a faithful steward of what I have been given and I want to be remembered as someone who served as Jesus did. I am slowly learning about forethought and what it really means to redeem my time well, because the days are evil and fleeting. I may not be the most organized girl on the block, but this girl does love lists. I like a plan and a goal, but at the same time I want to be fun, flexible, able to offer grace, and able to make the most of every opportunity that presents itself. We decided early on that part of the "plan" would be a diligence to model the Gospel to our kids, to purposefully teach them about Jesus, to shepherd them the way Christ does, to walk in the Truth that we claim to believe, to offer them a clear picture of repentance, reconciliation, and restoration, etc., etc., etc…..We don't always do this well, but by Gods great grace we do make it a daily priority.

I want to build Truth into my kids, not because stories save, not because scripture saves, not because anything I tell them or do with them saves, but because when and if He reveals Himself to them, all of their knowledge ABOUT Him will make sense, it will become a knowledge they can CLAIM in light of the person of Jesus and His atoning work on the cross. So with my little congregation of three at home, I disciple them and point them to Jesus because I want them to one day experience the riches of His glory, and I want to be obedient to what the Lord has called me to (Deut. 6:4-9, Psalm 78:1-7, Matt. 28:18-19).

Here's what I try to accomplish daily, and some new additions for summer:

1. Scripture - I read a snipet of scripture every morning during breakfast. Either something from Psalms, maybe something that we've been reading during community group, whatever. Do they sit like perfect angels and listen? Almost never. The one day that I don't read over them do they ask me to? You bet. I never think they are paying any attention, but you wouldn't realize how much they retain. I want them to become familiar with biblical language, and I want them to hear words they haven't heard before and question them - as they do almost every morning. Even one simple scripture read over them can lead to great conversation.

2. Children' Desiring God Curriculum - I absolutely ADORE this!!! Luckily, our church recently adopted John Pipers OT curriculum for kids so it makes it easy to integrate into our home during the rest of the week. So every day during bible time, we read back through the story they covered the previous sunday. In addition I try to do a craft, but for summertime I am going to start having the boys dictate back to me what they heard in the story and draw a picture of their interpretation of the story. What has been fun is to see all the OT stories build on each other and to look back through their notebook of coloring pages and let them tell the stories back to me.

3. Community Group - Our group recently became so large that it split, leaving our kids as the only kiddos (with the exception of a newborn). What's been really special is the boys are able to sit in group with us and listen, learn, and understand what it looks like to treasure community, the Word, and even what it looks like to wrestle through Truth together. They can see The Body at work. Now, not every week goes smoothly, but I try to allow them to sit in as much as possible because, like I said, I want to walk in light of what we say we believe, and community group is a excellent place for them to see it!

4. Memory - When I set out to teach my kids to memorize scripture a couple years ago, I had no idea how easy it would be for them to recall long passages of scripture (I wish I had their brains!). However, I've learned to be careful to really spend a good amount of time on each passage we memorize and allow them time to question what they are reciting. So we will sit on Ephesians 2:8-9 for the entire summer. We will ask questions such as:

-Does God love us because we are "good"

-Are we really "good"?

-Where does any "good" in us come from?

-What is faith?

-Who gives us faith?

-What is grace?

-Does God accept us because of our behavior or because of Jesus?

5. Prayer - I want to be the kind of girl that intentionally covers her family in prayer. Up to this point it's been quite random. My game plan this summer? I've written very particular scripture out for each child and for Scott. Either something that's been on my heart to pray over them, or scripture that speaks to a trait that I hope is cultivated in them, or maybe a passage that is relevant to what we hope to see change in their hearts. See pics below.

In addition, I am hopeful that over the summer we can integrate some kid friendly service projects. On my list includes:

Visit and elderly home

Send care packages to the troops

Visit a halfway home

Participate in a run that supports a great cause

Realistically, this stuff doesn't go off without a hitch, never ever. I can't do even the smallest bit of this on my own. But I struggle in HIS strength, and I live in the grace that covers me when I mess it all up - and every day I am a complete mess up. And then of course we have sick days, we have school days, we have too busy days, we have tantrums, we have it all. But through the planning and through our intentions I hope my kids see Jesus, I hope they come face to face with grace, I hope their eyes are open to a clear picture of what Scott and I treasure and where our hope is. Even if the day to day isn't perfect : )