As a homeschooling mama, with an infinite amount of knowledge I can choose for my children to acquire and a plethora of resources available to me, one of the questions that I ask myself daily is…
“When my children leave home as adults,
what do I REALLY want my them to know?”
Always, my reply and what anchors me in my days that this ship is being battered by the storms, is what I believe will be the key when no one, not even Google has their answer, to the uncertainty, for the doubt, for the trouble, for comfort they desire, the direction they require, or any question they will ever have…
“That they will know who they are in Christ and
know how to seek and find God for themselves.”
The button I can sew, the toy I can click back together, a screw driver and hammer I am handy with, but when it comes to the heart of my child, I cannot create in them change, and I am unable to force their growth, or make them love God. It not my job. Mine is to serve, equip and rest in and rely on His grace. I can water and I can plant but no matter how much I dig, poke at, churn up the soil, check the seed and water, yell at it and preach at it or teach it, only God can cause the growth, only God can transform their hearts. I must yield and wait for the yield, and so I must be faithful, and I must be patient.
Nevertheless, while I have them home with me,
I will do my best to do everything I can
to cultivate, sow and water their hearts.
Sow righteousness for yourselves,
Reap the fruit of unfailing love,
Cultivate and break up your unplowed ground;
For it is time to seek the LORD…
Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.
Hosea 10:12
cultivate |ˈkəltəˌvāt|
:break up in preparation for sowing or planting
This is labor that is intensive and must be deliberate. It requires preparation and it demands a price. We stand as the doorkeepers of their hearts and watchman of their lives and to our posts we remain faithful. The authority we as parents exert over their lives, is not our most powerful stance.
It is the stand we take on our knees,
and tears we shed on their behalf,
where we will yield the greatest harvest.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
Psalm 126:5
One of the means of sowing we have always used, is memorizing the Word of God.
affirm |əˈfərm|
:to state as a fact and assert strongly
I love that as I look up what the word affirm in my Dictionary app on my Apple computer, that presented as an example is “we affirm that God’s grace is available to all.”
As we audibly assert these Biblical truths, and hear each other proclaiming, I believe our minds will be renewed, and our attitudes transformed as our FAITH will come by hearing the Word of God.
The list I have adapted from the book The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer.
I would like to share with you, and invite you to join my family and I in memorizing these truths. There are 70 in total and we have already begun with the first six. I will continue posting the list weekly, Lord willing, as we continue meditating, memorizing, reciting, and studying these Affirming Words, 2-3 per week, or whatever seems best for you.
You can print Affirming Words Week 1 & 2 from here, and take baby steps. Or if you like the big picture and to jump-all in, you can print the whole list:
Affirming Words-All
For as a man, or woman, or child thinks within himself...
So he or she is.
Proverbs 23:7