I have ideas in my head of what a Christian family looks like, of what they should act like. Sometimes my family hits the mark. Other times we are way off.
Am I the only one?
I want my family to grow closer to the Lord together, but sometimes I don’t know how.
Instead of giving up, we are trying some new things.
3 ways we are building faith as a family:
1. I’m letting go of the idea of what it should be.
This is not easy for me. I’d much rather look at my list of rules and get everyone to straighten up and color in the lines. (Yes, I mixed two metaphors there, but it felt right.)
God is showing me that “should” doesn’t come from Him. It’s from me and my own ideas. That means I can let it go to embrace His ideas.
We are loved, known, seen, and loved some more. We have endless grace given to us, so we can give that grace to others. We are human and that is a good thing. We can love in the way we live and help and see others.
These are the ideas we can hold on to to build our faith in the Father.
2. I’m making time.
We all know there are only 24 hours in a day, but that means there are 24 hours in a day! These are 24 hours we can use well.
When I pray for my kids at night I can take two minutes to say something meaningful.
When the calendar feels full, we can choose to keep the things that help us like church and family time and get rid of something else.
When I feel overwhelmed I can tell my family and ask for them to help me, to pray for me, to hug me.
Taking time to be real and present with one another fills our souls.
3. I’m doing the awkward things.
Those ideas I have in my head of a family that does devotions together and prays together and smiles as they walk into church together offer a glimpse into things my heart is longing for.
The truth is, these things feel weird because it’s not part of our current norm. But it doesn’t have to stay that way.
If I long to do devotions with my family, I need to do devotions with my family.
And that might not feel easy at first, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. So, we are trying.
I discovered a beautiful new book, Faith Forward: Family Devotional from Patrick and Ruth Schwenk, that is offering a start. There are 100 devotions that offer scripture, discussion questions and a simple prayer that is appropriate for the whole family.
It is beautiful and you can enter to win a copy HERE!
Another great resource is a ‘Called By Name’ Kids Live Devotionals. This video based devotional with Jennifer and her son, Beckham, is a great way to have a simple weekday devotion time with your kids.
Do the awkward thing until it feels less awkward.
There is no perfect. There is no magic wand. But there is showing up. There is trying little things, even when they are awkward, to help us grow closer to Jesus as a family.
We need to start somewhere. And these are great places to start, along with a few more of my favorite devotionals for the whole family.
How do you build faith as a family?
Check out these great sites I’m linking up with: Literacy Musing Mondays, Purposeful Faith, Tea & Word Tuesday, Abounding Grace, Tell His Story, Porch Stories, Let’s Have Coffee, Worth Beyond Rubies, Moments of Hope, Tune in Thursday, Dance with Jesus, Fresh Market Friday, Faith ‘n Friends, Blogger Voices Network, Grace & Truth, Heart Encouragement
I love this little post. Rebecca, and wish I had had it in my pocket years ago. I’ve yet to meet a family who had their devotional times nailed down to perfection. We tend to beat ourselves up over this.
There is so much grace mingled with longing here. And I can’t help think that’s what God desires … a longing for more of who He is.
I loved this post because you remind us all to start somewhere. Give ourselves grace and start again.
Amen! Starting is key. Continuing (no matter where or when or how) is what changes everything!
It always looked SO messy here. One Advent season, we managed to set a napkin on fire at the table because of those lovely purple candles.
Just recently my oldest son posted something on FB about carrying on the tradition of hiding the wise men for his own kids, saying he was grateful we had done that for him.
Amazing…
That must be so amazing to see your “messy” attempts come full circle to exactly what they should be. God has grace in all of our messy attempts toward Him.
We did family worship each night with our daughters…until they both entered high school :(. We had crazy schedules that didn’t match up (sports, my husband worked away from home many weeks). In retrospect, I wish we would have kept it up. Maybe we would have noticed problems sooner and had better coping skills for dealing with them.
It’s so hard to look and think about the “what ifs” and “if only’s” But God works all things for His good. Even those years when you didn’t worship together each night. I know I struggle too. Right now we have an advent book that we’ve read 2 entries in (and it’s the 11th). I’m trying to be grateful for the 2.
This is great! So very true.
Thanks Amy! So glad you’re here!
I am a big fan of “fake it until you make it”. Some things may feel awkward at first, but eventually, these habits will become your new “normal”. I remember when my kids were young, we used to go to the Saturday night service at church. My husband looked forward to going out to dinner afterward and it was just one less morning when we had to get everyone out the door – more likely to walk into church smiling, rather than harried!
That’s so fun! Love it!