Families grow stronger with faith woven into daily life. As a mom, you can be a huge influence in your family’s spiritual walk. Be sure to take care of yourself and be prepared to bring out your best.
Grow Your Mom Heart Intentionally
Choose to observe your child and show your love daily. Pray for wisdom as well as for God to calm your anxieties. Take time to listen to your children and understand their hearts (Proverbs 2:2). You can more easily inspire a child when you discover what motivates and interests them and help them overcome what holds them back when you understand what discourages them. Use the H-U-G-S method to teach them.
H represents hope in God who will always guide you.
U is for understanding through asking questions and sometimes re-enacting a scene to discover what happened.
G is for guidance where you share how to make a better choice or reveal what caused a problem. S is for security that no matter what your love is unconditional.
Pray Together
Equip children for life by praying as a family and exploring prayer. Keep a family prayer journal to see how God responds to prayer. Do experiments to understand how prayer can be quick (like microwaving a snack) or take time (like baking bread or building a birdhouse). Vary the way you pray. Sometimes it can be reflective, with pauses to listen to God; other times it can be active, like taking a hike and giving thanks as you see wonders and prayer for healing the land as you find damaged areas.
Provide Kid Resources
Equip children with devotions they will enjoy. Consider your child’s interest and what grabs their attention. Find a devotional for each child’s age that taps into the interests. Chat about the devotions at meals or bedtime to praise them for reading, and listen to their thoughts and how they plan to apply what they read.
Build Bonds with Hands-on Fun
Interacting with children and doing activities together build bonds. The flops become treasured laughs, and the successes become great memories and inspiration for future success.
Craft fun that connects with Scriptures lets you share your faith while having fun. Paper, scissors, and glue can go a long way in creating cards, toys, games, gifts, and also adding words to express love.
Backyard fun, science experiments, and cooking, as well as trips, game nights, and day outings all provide opportunities to spend time together having fun.
Karen Whiting (www.karenwhiting.com) creates resources to help the whole family interact, pray, and grow stronger. HER LATEST BOOKS, SHOWN ABOVE, ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE OR PREORDER.
