{ children's books }

If you are looking for some great children books, these are my absolute favorites! Check them out!

 

The Prayer that Makes God Smile

The Prayer that Makes God Smile was given to Harper as a gift and I did not realize how amazing it was up until last week! Its long, but friends…it’s a precious guide to understanding who God is and Salvation through Jesus.  I love when books point kids to Jesus!

  

Psalms for Young Children 

Psalms for Young Children is such an amazingly illustrated and paraphrased version of scripture. The first time I read this book was at a Vineyard Conference and I can honestly say that I cried when I read it. It helps kids truly connect to scripture (and adults!). Its a great bedtime book.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

This last one is the Jesus Storybook Bible. We promote this in JAM and I absolutely adore it. Awesome illustrations and the wording is easy to understand. Just love it. That’s all. :)

These are just a few of the books that I love to share. If you have any other books that I should look at to share with other parents, please let me know!

 { sara }

 

{ come to me, all who are weary mothers }

I'm in this season of trying to find true 'rest'. I automatically go to the thought, "maybe I need 'me' time", which seems to include thoughts of getting my hair done, maybe an eyebrow wax, how about shaving both legs for a change before my baby screams bloody murder for me? maybe I could use my hairdryer this week, or possibly buying jeans that actually fit me, or even shoes that fit my now larger feet from pregnancy?  I would like to think that shopping would help, but yet today I bought a scarf, and here I sit with the same emotions prior to purchasing the scarf...and I'm now short $10.17 from my envelope system...

I just know in my heart that this kind of stuff is not what God is wanting me to do to find rest. That as a mother, in order to find true rest, I need to soak up scripture, pray over my family, work diligently, love deeply, listen intentionally and maybe pick up my house occasionally (for sanity sake during my Jesus time).

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

God, may we as parents take on your gentleness & humbleness. Help our souls find rest so that we can love our children, and most importantly, be content in life! AMEN.

{ sara }

{ words }

Submit Yourselves to God- James 4

 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people,don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?"


Coming out of years of depression was HARD WORK. Looking back, I see that prayer is what truly was my freedom. I cried out. I screamed. I whispered my pleas to God. Words are a BIG DEAL. Speaking things into your life is real. 

Joel and I are very careful what we speak out loud. We are careful what people say in our home, about us individually, about our marriage, our daughter...etc. Many times when someone speaks something about us or our daughter that we do not wish upon ourselves or Harper, we renounce word for word what they said, and declare a Truth to replace it.

A small example is this: If I say "watch our car not start again..." Joel immediately will respond with "no, Sara...our car WILL start in the name of Jesus!" And I will agree with that and we move on.

I think it is so easy to forget that Satan is real. Spiritual warfare is real. Just like in the verses above, he is out to get us, whether or not we acknowledge it. We need to acknowledge it. Satan takes our words and, in a sense, shoves them back in our face. Taking our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) is so important. Our minds are sensitive, and we need to realize that we are in control of our thinking! 

Every night, I declare protection, health and rest over our family. And it happens! Every morning I declare that Harper will have a great day with whoever she is with, and it happens! I declare financial protection over our household, and it happens. I declare that I will not crave pop..and it happens :) I am not saying "look at all I have because I declare it". I want us all, as followers of Jesus, to realize the power that He has given us to speak Truth over our lives, and over the lives of others. When we pray, declare Truth and healing in the name of Jesus over those who need it. 

"...in the name of Jesus we declare healing"
"...in the name of Jesus we declare protection"
"...in the name of Jesus we declare wisdom"

Your words can be your fight. Your words can declare to Satan that you are serious about living for Jesus, and you are not one to be messed with. Start declaring Truth into your life and see where it takes you! 

{sara}

{ peace }

As we all know, there are TONS of articles out there about what we want for our kids, what we hope for our kids, what we dream about for their futures....

but what do we PRAY about? Praying over our children can be the most powerful thing we ever do. Ever.

Joel and I are really big on trying to make sure we are careful with what we speak into Harpers life, and our lives for that matter. Speaking truth over Harper has been such a powerful turning point for my life. My worry for my child is gone. My hope in my Saviors hand over her life is so real. My desire for her soul to find rest in our loving God is more stronger than I could have ever imagined.

Dear Parent, God loves our babes more than we ever will.  Jesus will pursue your children just like He has pursued you. He desires a relationship with them just as He did you. We need to make sure that our children know about God's continuous pursuit of their hearts.

I am so grateful that my God is big enough to know my child even more than I know her. She is in good hands, and because I know that, I have peace.


{sara}