As each new year approaches, I begin to think about what I want to do differently and ask God how I can be more effective and intentional in different areas of my life. One of the areas I have been praying about is how to be more intentional with my kids. As a mom, one of the most important assignments I have is to raise my children to know, love, and follow the Lord.
My kids and I have enjoyed listening to Discovery Mountain, a dramatized audio program that leads children closer to Jesus and God’s Word through its entertaining and impactful stories. We wanted to get a closer look at this amazing ministry, so I contacted Discovery Mountain to ask them some questions. I am very pleased to introduce you to Jean Boonstra, founder of Discovery Mountain. Thank you, Jean, for talking with us about your amazing audio program for families!
What do your kids love about Christmas? Mine love decorating the Christmas tree (my husband’s least favorite part), making, icing, and eating Christmas cookies, and spending time with their cousins… Christmas is fun and full of exciting activities, but with so much to look forward to, if we are not careful, it can become easy to loose sight of the main reason for Christmas.
Working in preschool ministry, I get an interesting perspective of Santa at Christmas time. Leading worship, it is my goal to encourage the preschoolers to get more excited about Jesus than anything else in their life. When I ask the preschoolers what they are excited about at Christmas time, this is what I often hear…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… a time we can bring God so much glory by enjoying the love story between Him and us. A story we want to share with our kids over and over every Christmas because it’s the greatest love story ever told- that the God of the universe would want to come down from Heaven and be with us!
Every year as Christmas creeps closer and closer, I am filled with anticipation for the joy of the season, but also anxiety sets in as I wonder if I will be able to get everything done in time. From preparing kids for Christmas plays, to hosting and attending parties, to determining the perfect gifts for each family member… it’s a crazy time of year!
With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s fun to think of something special to give our kids to celebrate the occasion. I enjoy giving my kids Thanksgiving books and books about thankfulness. Reading books together on thankfulness is a great way to encourage our kids to be thankful and get them excited about celebrating Thanksgiving!
One day when we were taking a neighbor boy home from school, my kids and I were talking about verses they were memorizing for homework. The preteen boy riding with us couldn’t understand why he needed to memorize Bible verses at school; after all he could just look them up on the Bible app on his phone, right? I knew this boy was a thinker, so I tried to explain to him why memorizing scripture is so important, and I hope it made him think. Many youth and adults feel the same way today.
One of my favorite activities during the summer months is reading chapter books with my kids. I enjoy snuggling on the couch as we read the next chapter and discuss what we can learn from it. There are some great, classic books out there, but lately I have been searching for some good Christian chapter books with a message of faith. We know a few, and I reviewed one of them below, but I asked some friends (and some of their kids) to tell me their favorites and why they liked them.
One of the most profound gifts that we can give our children is to teach them to pray. It is such an honor that the God of the entire universe wants to have a RELATIONSHIP with us. And this relationship can only happen through prayer, communing with God… I believe one of the best ways we can encourage our children to have a relationship with Jesus is to teach them to pray. And the best way to teach them to pray is to pray with our children.