H – Heart for God | Serving From Home

This past week we’ve been reading chapter 1 of How to Have a H.E.A.R.T for Your Kids.

This chapter focuses on the “H” in HEART – Having a heart for the things of God.

Rachael has really touched on so much that I can relate to in my own life, these past almost 7 years of being a mother. She talks about needing to RESPOND, instead of reacting to situations – and our basis of response should be in faith, knowing that God is in control. Our children are watching us – something that frightens me and at the same time spurs me on toward an example that is pursuing honour and modeling Him. They’re little copy cats, as I have seen far too often – especially in my oldest, who has a unique tendency to react to situations in much the same way I do! (hmm, wonder where he got that from :D). We are the best model that our children will follow – it is scary, but at the same time encouraging, because if we pursue God in our relationship with him and prayer, seeking after the things of God, he will honour us, change our hearts and lives, and give our children an example they can follow.

In the past year I have really grown a LOT – in my desire to know Christ, to spend time in the Word, to be in prayer and fellowship with others, encouraging and growing in faith. I hope and pray that this example of seeking, desiring, worshiping and obeying is conveyed to my children – the more I do it in front of them, the more norm it becomes.

Discipleship is so important – the time they spend in the word through church programs isn’t enough – it needs to BEGIN and develop at home, with their parents, leading them through God’s word and his plan for creation all along – salvation through Jesus Christ.

God has given me a deep desire to teach my children TRUTH of his word, to disciple them in his word, to help them see just how awesome he is, how he has blessed us and what he has done for us – but it took years of me fighting and doing my own thing to get here. And I know I’m not doing a great job of it yet – I hope I am always striving to do better, seeking more wisdom and understanding from God’s word!

It’s easy to talk about how awesome God is when you’re observing a chickadee up close, eating out of your hands, or watching a beautiful sunset on sparkling snow. It’s more difficult when I’m tired, or stressed out, too busy, distracted, or things aren’t going well – yet these are the times when it is most important for me to set my mind on things above, to turn mine and my children’s thoughts to his great love, forgiveness and wisdom – to set an example for them of seeing and seeking God and being content in any and every situation.

Rachael also talks about how, when she first started homeschooling, she thought she had everything under control – curriculum, schedule, etc. I can relate! I thought I had it all together and took great pride in the decisions we had made and how well the kids were progressing. However, it wasn’t long before things started to fall apart! Without spending time in prayer before planning, I found myself jumping like a frog from one thing to another, with no clear direction or vision of where we were going or what we were doing. Fortunately God brought me to my knees in desperation and not knowing where to go next and helped me to see my error in not seeking him FIRST. And he still blessed our year and made it a joy to learn and grow in our homeschool journey.

I have since learned that it is THE MOST important thing for me to PRAY first, then plan. SEEK FIRST the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, then ALL THESE THINGS shall be added unto you. Whether it is school lessons, or daily instruction, or the future of our children. God knows what he is doing, and he has such an enormous picture that we can only BEGIN to see portions of it, when we seek him.

Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you did not know!”.

He has the answers you need! For any situation you can imagine or face, God knows what’s going on. Pursue him, seek his face, put him first over everything, and he will lead you.

Things to work on:

I want to spend more time thanking and praising, giving God the glory – every victory is his! Use the ACTS prayer to focus prayer time (Acclamation, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication)
Be grieved by my sin, see it as God sees it, ask his help to turn away from it
Putting priority on my relationship with God ABOVE AND BEYOND anything else, including precious relationships with friends
Give more thanks

Praise items:

The change I am seeing in the kids attitudes – obedience, willingness to listen, change of heart, compassion, gentleness increasing toward others, learning to help/work without complaining
Progress in our lessons, by the grace of God alone!

Prayer items: