Stay tuned for a huge giveaway tomorrow!
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We want our Christian faith to enter every-day-life…
Not compartmentalized.
Not just on Sundays.
Not only when it come to the label of spiritual.
But in the every day.
Like when we’re at the stoplight and see a man with a sign asking for food.
Like when we’re at the market and the cashier seems slow.
Like when we’re knee-deep in school assignments and patience is wearing thin.
Like when I’m trying to decide whether to surf the Internet or read my Bible.
Now.
That’s real-every-day-life.
Tonight was LHOTP night.
We get Subway sandwiches and watch Little House on the Prairie every Thursday night.
And tonight was about The Faith Healer.
Such a perfect follow-up to last night’s–
Family-study-with-close-friends,
Of Luke 4.
Last night my husband asked…
“What does it look like when Satan whispers temptation in your ear?”
Lots of examples from the kiddos and then tonight–
A perfect example in the context of a TV show.
Faith healing (not that I think God can’t heal if He chooses to),
But a man who accumulates money on the basis of a prosperity gospel.
And my husband paused the show,
Because this is when faith gains legs-for-walking.
We told them of the time when their sister Selah was so sick.
And how we were pursued by those who felt–
If we just had enough faith and went to the right healer…
She would be healed.
But Selah was born for Heaven.
As we all are walking towards Eternity.
She just went sooner than we’d longed for.
And while it doesn’t remove the pain and hurt and grief and heartache,
After all medical resources were exhausted,
We held fast to knowing that–
Everything, including sickness, is sifted through the fingers of God.
And we grieved, but not as those without hope…
So…
Tonight we stopped the movie to turn to 2 Corinthians 11:23-29.
Real-life-conversation intersecting with God’s Word.
For Paul’s plight denies the gospel of–
“Turn to God and you will face no hardships”
Which is a false gospel:
23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—
with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.
Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers,
danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city,
danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night,
in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
All that to say…
My husband is much better at every-day-talk than I am.
And when our family studies Luke, he lets the questions meander quite a bit.
Because they are real questions,
About real life,
About our Real God–
Who is close to the hurting and humble of heart.
And when real life tragedies occur–
Like cruise-ships-that-capsize,
Or laws that excuse the murder-of-babies-in-the-womb,
Or heavy rains that bring flooding,
We trust God’s Word to be relevant–
In the here and now.
When we talked at dinner about how in-a-moment…
Eternity becomes real.
Heaven and Hell become real.
And our son, convicted by the Father–
Chose eternal life.
On that very night.
It’s in the every-day.
God is present in our now.
And this is what we want to communicate to our children.
My prayer for you–
Dear mothers who truly want to pass along a heritage of loving Christ…
Is that you will look for God,
And speak of God,
And communicate God’s Truth-
As it intersects with every day life.
*An excellent resource to encourage and develop this practice is the book,
Everyday Talk by John Younts.
Kara is married to her husband Jason, and they have five kiddos, four here and one in heaven. They also have a muppet-like-mess of a dog, non-breeding Madagascar Hissers (who have had over 100 babies), and a whole mess of stick bugs. Kara writes mostly about family, adoption, grief, education, traditions, literature, organization, Heaven, and most-importantly- her love for God. You can find her family adventures at
The Chuppies and at
The Better Mom.
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