amy q's....but not from amy...God time with my kids...

what does your bible time look like with your kids? do you have a specific routine each day?resources?

i'll start by saying that some days are better than others in this area...we don't have a really specific routine - but sort of! i think "bible time with my kids" is alot like alot of things in my life -- there are some structured parts with lots of freedom to do things however feels best on that particular day.

a "ps" before i even really start -- it's so good for me to think about things like this (so i'm glad someone put this question out there!) - i appreciate the challenge to think about what it is that i'm doing....and to be able to realize "hey, i'm doing ok in this" or "wow, this needs some work." (or a mixture of the 2). in thinking about this, i'm realizing that there are 3 really important concepts that are core to teaching my kids about God and spending time with Him (there are probably more....but these are the 3 that are really sticking out):

1 - listening to God is more important than talking to God - what He has to say to us is more valuable than what we have to say to Him (but isn't it amazing that He still wants to hear what we have to say!?!)

2 - having a "set time with God" is important - and very very valuable...but it doesn't end there. God has so much He wants to show us and teach us and tell us ALL throughout the course of our day...not just in our "time alone with Him."

3 - my "goal" in teaching my kids about God could be summed up into 3 things -- that they would KNOW God and His love....that they would love Him back...that they would share His love with others.


on to the actual....the part that could be considered "structured" is that most days (ideally) we start our day with "God time" -- first thing after breakfast we each pick a spot (with my kids being 5 and 4, we pick spots in the same room...i can imagine one day everyone having their own spot all around the house. emma's spot right now is the pack and play with a few toys) and each child gets to pick a "God book" (see list below)-- they can read/look at their Bible or some other book that specifically talks about God. i also remind them to listen to God - to ask Him if there's anything He'd like to say. i usually sit with my bible and read a psalm or just pray for my kids. after about 5-7 minutes or so i put on a worship song...sometimes we just listen to it...sometimes we sing...sometimes we talk about what we just read/looked at/heard. then we usually read some sort of devotion together. the point of this part is more about teaching them the habit of being still and quiet with God - of having time where our focus is on nothing except for Him.

the parts that would be considered "unstructured" but very important and a part of our daily/weekly life:

--scripture memory and review. we do this all sorts of ways...some weeks we have a verse that we're working on as a family....some days we review the verses they already know (i keep a list on the inside of a kitchen cabinet with the reference and first few words of each verse). sometimes in order to "get" what they are asking for (candy, gum, to watch a particular video), they have to pick and say a verse (but it can't be 1 john 4:8 or philippians 4:4...those are their go-to verses that are too easy!!). some days as part of eli's writing i have him copy a verse that may pertain to something we've been talking about/dealing with. as part of our "curriculum" last year we had a verse each week that went with the letter we were working on - i would write the verse on notecard...so now they each have a set of 3x5 cards with verses on them - we add new verses to that and use it to review old ones.

--we use the take homes from their classes at church on sunday....and talk about what they are learning on sundays throughout the week...

--seeds family worship scripture songs play most of the time in their room...(i love that God's word in soaking into them whether they are actively realizing it or not!)

--nick and i share what God is teaching us - sometimes this is just in a conversation between the 2 of us at the dinner table (the kids just happen to get to listen in on it). sometimes it's directed to them.

--we pray (sounds so obvious...but it's a key element!). alot of our prayer time happens in the car - we pray for others...or for whatever we're heading to....or for nick....or for one another.... i try to make it a point to ask them if there's anything i can be praying about for/with them (sometimes they have an answer...sometimes they don't). something else that i'm thankful for is that i'm learning more and more to pray in frustrating situations....when i feel like i'm losing my patience we just stop and pray. OR i ask them to pray for me. ("eli, will you pray for me to be patience and peaceful?" "caroline, i'm feeling frustrated and i don't want to. will you pray for me right now?")

so that's that. one random thing that just came to mind is that "if you fail to plan, plan to fail." i don't really like cliches....but they are cliches for a reason. i know that if you don't have some sort of plan in mind for spending time with God/leading your children in spending time with God it's not going to happen...our lives and schedules don't naturally lend themselves to sitting still or being quiet or giving God our attention.

just this past week i "figured out" a new way to get the kids really excited about spending time with God...i spend my time alone with God first thing after they are in their rooms for rest/nap time....so on thursday i told them that it was time for them to rest and i was about to spend time with God. sweet caroline says "can i spend time with God with you, too??" and of course eli chimes in that he'd like to, too. you can't refuse that!!! well, i guess you can refuse that....and, in the future, i may end up redirecting them to their rooms to spend time with God on their own rather than sitting with me...but for the moment, pushing rest time back a little and letting them sit with me was the right thing to do...and it was a sweet time! eli was reading something in the old testament and saying things like "mama, did you know that such and such was 65 feet high?!" and caroline was looking at her precious moment bible - she has 3 pictures that are her favorites....she was thanking God for them and using them as prayer guides. it really was a beautiful time. i'm thankful for the times when God reminds me that He is more important than schedules and routines....He shows up in the sweetest ways when we make room for Him (and sometimes that's in the midst of a schedule or routine if we're paying attention!).

God books/favorite resources right now:
Fun Devotions for Boys: Gotta Have God (also good for girls!)
My Big Book of 5 minute Devotions - Celebrating God's world
My First Bedtime Bible (has neat pictures!)
Precious Moments Bible (has lots of neat devotions in it)
Little Visits with God
Berenstein Bears "Living Lights" series
What is God like? (Beverly Lewis)
We also have 2 felt play story books (one is Noah...one is Creation) - they used those early on for God time.

honestly, i'm not sure you can "go wrong"....i feel like i could walk into a Chrisian bookstore and randomly pick most anything and God could use it to bless us and teach us....but i've never actually tried that...but i've also never been intentional to get anything in particular - except for "fun devotions for boys," the books we have/use have all been given to us.