Encouraging Dad

It can sometimes be difficult to just let your husband take care of leading the devotions or taking care of separating squabbling children, especially if you have been a single mom or if dad works on the road or long hours. Even so, that does not mean it is impossible.

The husband is to be the priest of the home, and the family is protected by his priesthood. Being cautious with the word priest, I am using it synonymous with spiritual leader here.

"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." - Ephesians 6:4 (KJV)

As wives, we are not to take the authority away from our husbands but to support and encourage them.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.." - Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (KJV)

It is the duty of both parents to raise up the family in the way of the Lord.

A word from Tricia Goyer on Encouraging Husbands.

P.S. Order Lead Your Family Like Jesus before March 20 and then you are eligible to receive a free bundle of downloadable resources! See the link in the sidebar for more information.

Keeping it Fun! Play time

One of the things that we have discovered with our family and you may have learned with your own is that most kids love to play games.

One of the most recent games that we added last year was the family edition of Apples to Apples and the kids, all six of them 8-18, enjoyed playing it once they figured it out. So, for Easter we are hoping to wrangle the Bible Edition for the family. (ssshhh! The kids don't know yet.)

Apples to Apples, Bible Edition Game By Cactus Game Design Expand your "core" knowledge of Christian history with this hilarious, award-winning game! Apples to Apples, Bible Edition brings the award winning card and party game, Apples to Apples, to the Christian community. Players will delight in the clever comparisons while expanding their knowledge of the Bible. Comparing people, places, things, and events, players match their cards with the judge's. The closest match wins the round. But you've got to be fast, because if your card is the last one on the table, you lose! Inside you'll find 432 Red Apple cards, 144 Green Apple cards, 2 card trays and quick play rules. Games are fast--about 20 to 30 minutes per game, and it's an easy game to learn. Recommended for 4 to 10 players, ages 9 and up.

above links will take you to an outside site from ParentsForChrist.com that are affiliate links.

With our family as large as it is, we try to have a special gift at Easter but we do not typically get all of the kids an Easter basket, we do live frugally. With our desire to live for the Lord and to raise our family in a God centered home this game looks to be a welcome addition.

This is of course in addition to focusing on why we celebrate Easter, or better suited Resurrection Sunday.

How do you have fun with your family? Do you have special traditions?

Do you have a varying ages that you like to include together when looking for a family game? What works for you?

Does your family have an EGO problem?

In the new book by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges & Tricia Goyer, Lead Your Family Like Jesus: Powerful Parenting Principles from the Creator of Families, EGO is addressed. EGO as in "edging God out."

It can be very easy to get caught up in what I as an individual can do when facing the daily grind, let alone the struggles that can become worrisome.

In the following excerpt from the book, we can see how important it is to skip the pride and "exalt God only" by finding peace.

LEAD YOUR FAMILY LIKE JESUS excerpt HERE

P.S. Order Lead Your Family Like Jesus before March 20 and then you are eligible to receive a free bundle of downloadable resources!

Being the Example

It is truly amazing how things can get away from us. As a friend posted the other day,

"Time is free, but it is priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back." 

This is very true. Time if not well spent gets away from us and then we are often times left with the regret of wasting it.

While I regret leaving out site off to the side and not a priority for the last few months and not being the best at up keep. I know that I had my priorities right because our family comes first. We do hope to be able to be a lot more frequent with updates and postings.

As always our goal has been to lead by example. Sometimes that is difficult to show online. When our children need to be shown how to put God before video games and television, we have to show them by being the example.

It is similar to when Jesus taught about the good Samaritan (Luke 10: 30-37), he used the parable to show the example of how we are to act towards our neighbor. This was also enforced by Jesus' own actions multiple times through out the new testament when He would associate with tax collectors, vagabonds, and other people that were looked at with disgrace.

If Jesus taught the disciples and other followers by examples, then shouldn't we?