The God Chronicles is a place where I journal out the ways I have seen God working in my life. Because I believe in the importance of documenting this stuff for our children and their children, it is an open blog carnival - anyone can join in. For details on the inspiration behind TGC, read this.Write a post for TGC on your blog (or if you don't blog feel free to leave a really long comment), go ahead and use the graphic if you want to, be sure to link to THIS POST in your blog post (to send people back here for linking up and reading other TGC stories), then put your name and the URL for your blog post (please use the perma-link for your specific post, rather than linking to your whole blog - this makes it easier for others to find what you've written), and don't forget to leave a comment here and everywhere you visit. For all the specifics and rules and such, read this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of my favourite things is to see my children growing in their faith. I love seeing them raise their hands in worship, or talk about God like an old friend, or act in a way that shows me they have taken God's Word to heart. It gives me a warm fuzzy (or teary chokey) feeling to hear one of them say, "Jesus is my best friend! He loves me!"
Recently, Abbey (7) has been struggling with fear at night. She's afraid of a fire, and that they would not get out. She's afraid of spiders or other insects crawling on her as she sleeps. She's afraid of the shadows and the dark. The crazy thing is, I can see the fear in her - it's tangible, real, and powerful. It has been bringing her to tears and trembling at bedtime for nearly two weeks.
Pep talks are not helping. Ignoring it is impossible. Praying with her seems to offer only temporary relief (usually she's out of bed, nearly hysterical, within an hour). But we decided that we could not afford to let this fear gain victory in our home! So Pat and I came up with a strategy.
At bedtime, we pray with authority in Abbey's room and over her heart and mind. We renounce the enemy and seek His hand of protection. And then, we coach Abbey in speaking God's Word for herself. It's a repeat-after-me sort of thing from Joshua 1:9, "I AM strong and courageous! For the Lord MY God is with me wherever I go!" On the third night, Abs proclaimed it for herself, with no help from us.
Each night that we have gone through this process, she is smiling by the end of it - and you can tell she is feeling safe and strong. No night waking, no talking of fearful dreams in the morning. Absolute freedom from the fears that were practically debilitating her. Freedom because of God's Mighty Word.
-----------------------
Braeden (11) received a much-anticipated gift for his birthday. Bakugan. The creme de la creme of boy's toys. These babies are special...
When he went to school the day after his birthday, Braeden asked Shea (3) to babysit his Bakugan. When he got home from school, they were missing. Despite my assurances that we would surely find them somewhere in the house, Braeden was pretty broken-up - after all, they had not been uncovered after nearly an hour of searching.
At bedtime that night, Grandma prayed with him, and they asked God to help find the missing toys. Three minutes later, as she was tucking Shea into bed, it occurred to her to reach behind the bed. Low and behold - the precious Bakugan were tucked snugly where they had last been seen as Shea laid down for her afternoon nap!
Grandma was excited to share her discovery with Braeden, and had already forgotten that they had prayed about the toys. But Braeden - he remembered. He was shouting and clapping his praises to the God Who Answers Prayer, "Yay, God! Yahoo! You rock, God! Awesome. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, Jesus!"
| 1. Hope@Pinkadoodledoo |
Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.
As a grandma, I love being part of the heritage that you're building in your children - your stories are part of my God Chronicles. Like the bakugan story, I can so quickly forget what God has done or is doing in my life - but children of faith bring me back to joy of the Lord. I guess that's why God had such a soft spot for children - and wants us to come to him as little children - pure and full of faith.
ReplyDeleteAfter the bakugan incident I was sharing the story with someone and told them Braeden's response. I was asked, "and you didn't take any of the credit for finding them?" I could honestly say, absolutely not! God's word tells us that all good things come from him. Finding the toys was a good thing - and God allowed me to find them for a purpose - to again remind both Braeden and I how much he loves us. He cares so much about everything in our lives that he even helps us recover a lost toy. Praise God.
Grandma
I finally got mine up! I really enjoyed reading yours too. We have often had to pray over our children at night. I love that she is learning to do it herself!
ReplyDelete