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July 12, 2010 |
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JUN 29
Contrast: The New Legacy
By Julie Ferwerda
legacy ?
In the years since, I've found a theme emerging as I tried to raise my children according to God's plan for them. It is contrast . In almost every way that seems intuitive for raising my children to be successful members of society, I find that God is asking for counterintuitive. He's leading me to a new, seemingly nonsensical way of parenting.
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June 29, 2010 |
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MAY 31
Pulling Our Children to Faith Through Story
Guest Author: Stacey Thacker
I am reading a book called The Story Factor by Annette Simmons. She says, "Other methods of influence - persuasion, bribery, or charismatic appeals - are push strategies. Story is a pull strategy. " See I want to live my life in such a way to pull my kids to Jesus. Not push them. I want my life to draw them closer to Him.
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May 31, 2010 |
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APR 20
Obstacles to Living in the Vision for Moms #3
Guest Author: Joy Forney
The last in the series by our missionary mom...
Because we are too busy, we aren't able to have enough time in the Word (obstacle #1). Also, when we slow down, and we aren't running from here to there, it is easier to keep from getting overwhelmed (obstacle #2).
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April 20, 2010 |
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APR 17
Obstacles to Living in the Vision for Moms #2
Guest Author: Joy Forney
Continuing a series by our guest author...
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April 17, 2010 |
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APR 14
Obstacles to Living in the Vision for Moms #1
Guest Author: Joy Forney
We can take this gift that God has given and fully embrace it, or we can choose to fritter it away and just get by, make do, get through it. In Genesis 1, God commands Adam and Eve to take dominion and fulfill their calling by fully embracing the roles that He gave to them. And that is what we must do. We must take dominion.
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April 14, 2010 |
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APR 11
Big Vision for Young Moms #2
Guest Author: Joy Forney
Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not grow weary while doing good, in due season we shall reap if we faint not. "
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April 11, 2010 |
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APR 7
Big Vision for Young Moms #1
Guest Author: Joy Forney
It's in those most challenging moments as a mother that we find ourselves asking questions:
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April 7, 2010 |
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MAR 10
Dealing with Detachment-Moments that Keep Me Going
Guest Author: Karen Adair
Today's guest blogger is sharing about a situation that happened today with her adopted daughter, Anastasia, who suffers from attachment disorder. This is a very trying season for Karen, teaching her daughter how to love and how to feel, and I was moved to tears by her account. Karen says that "sometimes, love isn't enough." But I say, everything Karen and her husband are doing for this child is love, and one day it will all be a demonstration that "love never fails!"
Wow... where do I start ? The last few days have been tough. Healing hearts is a very tiring, hard, and frustrating job! When you adopt older kids you adopt all the baggage that comes with them. Many people don't know how hard it is to parent a child like this. Many people feel that you bring them in and "just love" them and that will be enough. Even with us adopting kids from dissolved adoptions many people around us think... all you have to do is love them. Well, I am here to tell you that "Love is NOT enough."
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March 10, 2010 |
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FEB 26
Thoughtful Bible Study for Families-A Review
Guest Author: Melissa Morgner
Sherrie Deaton is one of the most amazing teacher's I know. Seriously. She has an ability to encourage and challenge and get right to the heart of God's Word. When she speaks, you know she's spent time with Jesus. She recently launched a ministry called Standing in the Square
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February 26, 2010 |
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JAN 13
Teaching Our Children About Free Will
By Julie Ferwerda
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January 13, 2010 |
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JAN 7
New Slant On An Old Beginning
By Julie Ferwerda
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Check out the Hebrew picture language of this verse, reading from right to left:
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January 7, 2010 |
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DEC 23
No Problem Keeping Jesus in Hanukkah!
By Julie Ferwerda
The truth is, whether your family celebrates Christmas or not, it is a man-made holiday. God has His own calendar, and on it are seven major holy days He established called "Feasts," and no one has ever gotten them confused with any other human celebration.
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December 23, 2009 |
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NOV 28
Is Adoption Good for My Family?
Guest Author: Cheryl Railsback
About eight years ago, God began preparing my husband and me to "do hard things" with our lives by giving us a vision. Though we'd been raised "Christians," we could see that we had a fairly self-centered belief system that didn't challenge us to "do" anything outside of our comfort zone. Since then, we've adopted two special needs children from China, in addition to our own two biological children.
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November 28, 2009 |
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NOV 18
Laying A Spiritual Foundation for Your Family
By Julie Ferwerda
Continuing from part one, how do we begin laying the correct foundation that will help illuminate the Bible for our family and even make Books like Leviticus relevant and potentially exciting?
Learn the Feasts. This is not an education in picking which buffet to gorge on after church on Sunday. The Hebrew word for "feast" is the word "moed" and it means, "dress rehearsal" or "appointed times." There are 7 Feasts taught in the Bible, 3 of them major Feasts (Deut. 16:16), and they are all crucial for understanding God's unfolding plans for mankind. For now, we will just learn to identify the 3 major Feasts:
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November 18, 2009 |
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NOV 11
Laying the Correct Spiritual Foundation for Your Family Pt. 1
By Julie Ferwerda
I realized that I totally missed out on laying the correct Biblical foundation that my children desperately needed in order to make sense of it all.
The discovery? Learning the crucial early Jewish perspectives on the Old Testament, particularly Genesis through Deuteronomy. There's a treasure chest of learning to be unearthed by returning to the original teachings and oracles of which many (most?) modern day believers and teachers are unaware. But I believe in the "last days," God is leading His children back to their roots of understanding so that we might be prepared for the days to come.
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November 11, 2009 |
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OCT 26
The Benefits and Costs of Raising Disciples
Guest Author: Alan Melton
There are at least four components of what Jesus did:
1. Jesus told His disciples to follow Him, rather than unbelieving teachers [Julie adds: or the religious system/majority of the day led others away from simple devotion to Christ].
2. Jesus was with His disciples all day long.
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October 26, 2009 |
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OCT 19
Christian Parenting...or Indoctrination?
Guest Author: Rick Osborne
According to dictionary.com, the word ‘indoctrination’ means to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology etc. especially to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view. It goes on to say that indoctrination involves teaching someone to accept doctrine uncritically and that a synonym for the word is brainwashing.
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October 19, 2009 |
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OCT 8
Babel Reversed in the Home
Guest Author: Kim Anderson
What made the difference? Can we learn from these examples to transform the experience of releasing our young adults into the gateway for renewed fellowship?
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October 8, 2009 |
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SEP 28
Wake Up to the Richness of Life of Motherhood
Guest Author: Nicole Johnson
The following is an article interview featured in MomSense by Women of Faith comedian, Nicole Johnson.
In what ways has having a child changed your relationships?
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September 28, 2009 |
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SEP 22
Parenting and Spiritual Warfare
Guest Author: Brent Thomas
We are currently expecting our fourth boy. Lord willing, Eli Calvin will be here very soon. We are often overwhelmed by the weighty blessing that is raising children. This became all the more apparent for us the other night as we were watching television and came across a preview for a show called something like "True Dreams of a Soccer Mom" or something like that. I can't remember the actual name of the show, but the premise was that three women had "put their dreams on hold" to raise their families, but this television show was going to give them the chance to pursue what they really wanted in life. One was a fashion designer, one a police officer and I don't know what the other was.
I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this. Our culture understands children to be an interruption. They might be a worthwhile interruption, but in the end, they're still an interruption to what your life is really about, to what you really want. This is entirely antithetical to the way the Bible presents children. Consider Psalm 127 :
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September 22, 2009 |
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SEP 14
Is Homeschooling the Answer?
Guest Author: Anthony Kummer
Is homeschooling right for my son?
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September 14, 2009 |
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SEP 4
Get the Word into Your Kids
By Julie Ferwerda
disciples , not just Christians.
Discipleship is in essence training, not just teaching . The parent who trains, first explains to the children what to do (teaches), then shows them by example how to do it (models), then follows through to make sure the children implement and practice the behavior (holds accountable). Only when we follow this model can our children truly be empowered to become disciples.
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September 4, 2009 |
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AUG 31
The Fallen Arrows
Guest Author: Rev. Daniel Moses, Oman
"Then he said to his lad, "Now run, find the arrows which I shoot." As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, "[Is] not the arrow beyond you?" And Jonathan cried out after the lad, "Make haste, hurry, do not delay!" So Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master." (1 Sam 20:36-38)
David was in distress, fleeing for his life as he waited for Jonathan near a stone called "Ezel" which means "departure." When Jonathan arrived at Ezel, he shot three arrows in the air, sending a secret message to David. Because David understood the message and acted accordingly, he was able to see the fulfillment of God's plan in his life. Later in the course of time, he became a King and a Man out of God's own heart.
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August 31, 2009 |
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AUG 25
What Does an Arrow Do?
By Julie Ferwerda
Does raising arrows mean that all our kids should only pursue full-time ministry or missions?
Absolutely not! Raising an arrow of God means raising a child
"There is a difference between the man who goes into medicine because science, service, and humanity course through his veins, and the man who sees it as a lucrative career," Voddie Baucham, author of Family Driven Faith , explains. "One man is pursuing the best the world has to offer; the other is pursuing the best he has to offer the world."[i]
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August 25, 2009 |
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AUG 17
Arrows Are Made Not Born
By Julie Ferwerda
Arrows are made, not born. Raising your children as "arrows for God" is a time-consuming, tedious, intensive process. But I can surely say that the results are always worth it when the time comes to launch them and then you get to watch them soar and hit their target.
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August 17, 2009 |
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Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream (David Platt, 2010). "David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple—then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus. Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment --a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring. 
Reckless Faith: Let Go and Be Led, (Beth Guckenberger, 2008). When Beth and her husband Todd took a missions trip to Mexico thirteen years ago, they just thought it was an opportunity to do a little good with their summer vacation. But they couldn't forget a chance encounter with a forgotten orphanage, couldn't forget that transcendent feeling of having participated in something truly profound and like addicts they wanted that feeling again. A year later, they moved to Monterrey, Mexico. This is her inspiring story.
This is a simple, inspiring collection of biographies of great men and women of faith who have changed the world (great to read with your kids!).
The following is a book review from one of our readers:
If you're the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning: Your child [may be] following a "mutant" form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.
You're trying to raise world changers but you can hardly get through the morning without some act of defiance. How should you respond verbally (and non-verbally) to your children's behavior while disciplining them? The WAY you discipline your children will either lead to remorse or resentment. In our next video, find out what Dr. Foster Cline recommends to help your children own their behavior in a positive, life-influencing manner.
Many parents who visit this site have adopted special needs children. I think you will be blessed by the cohost of this series who has two special needs children as she gives practical advice on how she is raising her children with love and logic. However, the lessons provided here are great with any kids, not just kids with health issues!
One of my favorite, empowering parenting books when my kids were younger was Parenting with Love and Logic, by Foster Cline and Jim Fay. The timeless wisdom in this book spawned many creative measures in the way I approached discipline, especially in those areas that would cause any normal parent to want to give up and move to a deserted island. After this video series, I'll share a couple ideas that really worked for our family. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the ideas presented and be sure to read the book—it's a keeper!
