How are family devotions working out for you?
If I’m honest, it wasn’t always easy to have regular family devotions. We dearly wanted to give our kids a strong Biblical foundation, but life can get busy. Can you relate?
We live in a busy society that does not value family time, much less family devotions. We needed to find a way to make this work.
But in the beginning, Steve was not interested in a regular, daily time for devotions. He wanted to “go with the flow”. Talk about it when the conversation rolled around to the Bible.
We both tell this story when we talk at home school conferences. Each version is probably a bit different . . . 🙂
I strongly believed that Steve needed to lead family devotions. Isn’t that what dads are suppose to do . . . be the leader of the house & lead family devotions or family worship?
So . . . I nagged him A LOT! And I’m sure you know how that worked – NOT very well!
Nagging, nagging, nagging! That is, until I heard James Dobson talk on Focus on the Family on the radio.
I can still remember the street I was driving down when I heard it. It’s about 6 blocks from the house, and I was by myself in the car. Dobson said, “If there’s something that you wished your husband would do, pray for him.” I was immediately convicted to change my tune, so I started praying.
I learned very quickly that God’s work doesn’t happen instantly.
It’s not instant pudding, instant oatmeal, or microwave this.
And Steve didn’t change in a week or a month or even a year.
It was several years before he saw the importance of family devotions. And now he teaches the importance of family devotions when he works with dads.
Did I skip family devotions during those years I was praying for Steve?
Actually, the kids and I would have our devotions “after” Steve left for work each morning. I didn’t do it in his face. I didn’t make a big deal out of it, even though I thought it was important.
While the kids finished breakfast, I led our family devotions.
Although I used a variety of resources, one of my favorites was Our 24 Family Ways. It was straight forward & very easy to use! Just open up to the page you were working on & it told you what questions to ask, what Scripture to read & what to pray for. I needed the “easiness” of this resource.
When Steve started leading devotions, we continued to have them during breakfast. He decided to tie family devotions to a daily habit. One of our habits is to eat breakfast every day. If we have devotions every day during breakfast time, then we know that we’re getting it done. Besides, Steve finishes eating quicker than any of us and has plenty of time to lead devotions while we finish our breakfast.
Steve began with Teaching Hearts, Training Minds. If you use this resource, your kids will have a firm foundation of Scripture & theology. I love these comments about Teaching Hearts . . .
I would pay 10 times the price! If truth be told, I may have gleaned more from it than my children. It’s not trendy, it’s not pop psychology, but it’s not boring either. I have bought a dozen or so copies in the past years as gifts for parents. I think it was one of the best things we have done for our kids. ~ E.Shipman
We also read through many books of the Bible. Steve read a passage & asked questions. A great way to generate discussions.
If family devotions is new to your family, find a habit that you do every day – like eating. Start having devotions during that time. Breakfast worked for our family, but you need to choose the best time for your family. Make it a daily habit.
With Thanksgiving a
round the corner, you might want to start with our Thanksgiving Family Guide.
At the end, you will find a few follow-up questions so you & your kids can apply the truths of eucharisteo. Be sure to let your kids do this study with you. Let it be your Bible in homeschooling this season.
To get your FREE Bible Study on Thanksgiving, just enter your email below and we’ll send it to you immediately.
When you sign up (above), you’ll also receive a link to Part 2 – A Short Study of Thanksgiving in Philippians.
Please share your discoveries as you study thanksgiving & eucharisteo. Your feedback will help us as you we publish more family devotions resources in the future.
NOTE:.
.Question: What’s your favorite family devotions resource to use? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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