The other week I posted a picture of a dead snake on my personal Facebook page. Totally gross, I know. The caption was simply “What kind of snake is this?”

Mostly, I was hoping someone could tell me if it was a poisonous snake.

The comments started popping up quickly and before I realized it, I was being scolded for “killing a good snake. ” Never kill a good snake! They keep away the bad snakes and the rats! And so forth and so on.

These well meaning educational comments made me chuckle at first but then made me start thinking about how those comments were actually missing the purpose behind the post.

You see, my friends on Facebook only saw a very zoomed in section of what was most certainly a bigger picture. It’s so easy to miss the point when we don’t have a clear view of the whole picture. I did not kill the snake I posted a picture of. My two year old found the snake near our house and by the time I saw him, he was already squatting down with his face two inches from the snake’s mouth. Any sane mother would have panicked. Thankfully the snake was already dead or my child could have had his face bitten. The bigger picture is, we have seen several snakes around our yard this summer and we let them live because we know they are the “good” ones. Yes, I cringe every time I have to say “good” and “snake” in the same sentence. Eek! But we had never seen that particular kind of snake before and I was curious if it was something we needed to be on the look out for in the future. My boys roll around, wrestling in our grass all the time. They love exploring trails out in the woods. So it’s always on the back of my mind that they could be bitten by a snake. That was the real heart behind my picture of the dead snake.

Sometimes in kids ministry, I think we zoom in so much that we miss the big picture. What is the purpose behind everything you do in your kid’s ministry? To entertain kids so parents can have a break? To teach the kids some Bible stories? To play games and give them candy so they’ll want to come back next week? Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in just getting through the one hour that we are responsible for keeping the kids alive. Sometimes we mistakenly assume that loving the kids equals discipling the kids (have mercy, that’s a whole other blog post for another day!). Do we want kids to love coming because it’s fun but when they turn 18 they drop out because church is no longer “fun?” Or do we truly want to teach and train disciples of Jesus Christ? We need to regularly zoom out and see the bigger picture of what our Kids Ministry is trying to accomplish.

If we pull back and look at the bigger picture, I believe we need to see that our purpose as kid’s ministry leaders is to partner with parents to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Many of us know that is what we’re supposed to say is our purpose. We put it on our websites and brochures. We’re really good at saying it. But are we actually doing it? Do we even know how to do it?

I see such a huge disconnect in what kids do in their classes and programs at church and partnership with parents. There is very little communication and connection with parents. If this is something you feel your church is doing well, please reach out to me and tell me HOW your church is doing it! As a parent and a kids ministry leader, I want to learn to do better in this area.

Kids are going to learn, understand and retain what they are hearing so much better if you can get parents on board with continuing at home what you are teaching them at church. After all, parents are the ones who have the God-given assignment of primary discipleship of their children. Against popular belief, it’s not the church’s “job.” We cannot honestly expect that one hour of teaching every week is enough discipleship for anyone.

I should probably clarify at this point that I am a huge advocate for excellent kids ministries. I am in no way, trying to eliminate the responsibility of our churches to get our kids ministries right. Eternity is at stake for these precious ones. That is a serious matter.

However, our kids ministries will be so much more effective it we can teach, train, encourage and empower parents to step up and do their part at home. Parents are with their children so many more hours a week and have many more opportunities to pour Jesus into their children’s hearts.

With the one hour we may have with children each week though, let’s not waste one minute! You could peek in through the window of my classroom on any given Sunday and you may see us sticking fake flowers into Styrofoam blocks or see us finding plastic googly eyes in play dough or searching for things in a cardboard box with flashlights. From your hallway viewpoint, you may think we are either crazy (that might be fair) or “just having fun.” But if you could see the big picture of our morning, we’re making a garden with those flowers because Jesus prayed in a garden with his friends. We are searching for eyes in the play dough because we want God to give us eyes to see Jesus in every story in the Bible. We are using those flashlights to see if Jesus is still in the tomb after three days. We do not stop teaching until the next crew of volunteers show up and we are still telling those precious ones that “Jesus loves you and so do I” as we are walking out the door. And as hard as we try, those sweet little preschoolers are still going to go home and tell their mommy that they found monsters in that empty tomb. Bless their hearts.

But that’s exactly my point. Kids may not remember everything you tell them dozens of times on Sunday morning. But if mom and dad follow up with them all week long talking about the same story and the same verses and the same main truth, the chances of them remembering are so much greater. It also gives kids a chance to process what they are learning and ask questions. Parents have more time to talk about the application of what their kids are learning. It might be at dinner time or bed time or driving in the car. If parents make it a priority, they will find the time. But if parents don’t know what their kids are learning at church, they can’t follow up during the week. Are we even asking parents to do this? Are we helping them know how to do this? Too many parents are depending on the church to do all of the spiritual training for their children. I have in fact heard Christian parents say they don’t even know how to have a Gospel conversation with their own children. Houston, we have a problem!

How can we partner with parents? Our church sends take home sheets with pictures, scripture references, key points and review questions. Maybe an email each week to the parents could help connect leaders and parents. Is there a smart phone app that parents can use during the week? It is so important for leaders to be in regular communication with parents.

Regularly zoom in and make sure every detail of your kid’s ministry is pointing kids to Jesus. But also, regularly zoom out and make sure the whole picture is being pieced together to actually partner with parents to raise disciples of Jesus Christ. Don’t miss the bigger picture.

My sweet kiddo and I had such a special moment on Sunday morning. He is in kindergarten now and at our church that means that either he can go to kid’s church or stay with mom and dad in the worship service. So far, he has stayed with us in the worship service and I could not have been more thankful to have him by my side this week.

Our lesson during life group time had been about the Last Supper. We washed each other’s feet, we “broke bread” with our friends like Jesus did and we shaped our play dough into loaves of bread and grapes. We had so much fun! Our children learned not just the facts of the story, but how this meal was ultimately pointing to the sacrifice that Jesus was about to make to once and for all allow us a way to be reconciled back to God. As the Lord would have it, we also shared the Lord’s Supper with our church family during the worship service that morning.

This was only Mason’s second time sitting in the service with us. When they announced that we were doing the Lord’s Supper that morning, my heart whispered “oh Lord, how perfect! Thank you!” Our kids just talked about this in their small groups! Now Mason gets to observe as we celebrate together what Jesus has done for us. He had so many questions. It was the sweetest time being able to explain him about what was happening, answering his questions and explaining to him why he couldn’t participate yet but that someday, when he’s ready, he can participate too!

I have struggled over the last few weeks of feeling like I’m not enough. I don’t have a seminary or education degree, how can I teach and disciple children? I’m not old enough to have the experience and wisdom to know what is truly best for my child. What if I make the wrong decision? What if I don’t point my kids to Jesus enough? What if I fail?

Sharing in the Lord’s Supper with my church family, sitting beside my wide-eyed and ever curious child was a huge blessing and encouragement to me. God reminded me to keep doing the hard things. Don’t take the easy way out. It’s worth the extra effort to teach and train our kids. Each week as we sit in the service, it’s worth the extra whispered reminders to not kick the chair in front of him, answering all of his questions and the extra minute it takes to make sure I have a treat for him at the end of the service. It’s worth it.

I am so grateful for those few moments with my boy to whisper into his heart such precious and eternal things. God is so cool like that.

Anyone who has heard my heart over the last few years knows that I am passionate about making the most of every opportunity we are given to pour Jesus into young hearts. The time and years we do have with our children fly by. I believe we have to be intentional and prepared to teach children the gospel.

I have spent hours each week over the last two years trying to encourage and equipt volunteers (specifically preschool volunteers) to take the time and be prepared to teach children when you are given the opportunity. For the most part, my efforts are met with grateful hearts. I have taken my fair share of eye rolls and excuses and bad attitudes as well. People have told me that one year olds can’t learn the Bible. Two year olds won’t understand, they won’t remember, they won’t sit still and listen. Three year olds can’t memorize Bible verses. And the list goes on.

I am a mom of two high energy young boys. I hear these comments and I get it. However, I must respectfully disagree. Even toddlers are learning. They are teachable. Their minds are little sponges that are going to soak up everything around them. In the little amount of time we are given with them each week in our kid’s ministry, let’s give them a whole bunch of Jesus to soak up.

I think if done in the right way, even the littlest of the precious children in our churches CAN begin at a very young age to learn about God and what it means to go to church.

Children can learn who God is. We can teach them that He is our Father who created us (and all things) and He loves us and cares about us.

Children can learn what church is. They can learn that church is a place where we learn about God, worship God, pray to God, sing to God and fellowship with our friends.

Children can learn how to pray. Sometimes my prayers with toddlers are as simple as “Thank you Jesus for our church and our friends. Thank you for the Bible. Amen.” But you know what, kid’s are learning that talking to God is easy. They can say whatever is on their little heart’s to Him because He cares for them. We are modeling for them how to be reverent, how to pray and we can give them many opportunities to practice.

Children can learn that church is a safe place. They learn that their teachers love them and want to teach them about Jesus. They can learn that no matter what happens at home, at school, at the park… that they are safe, cared about and wanted at church.

Children learn how to serve one another. We learn about sharing, taking turns and caring about each other.

Children, even the littlest ones, if instructed week after week can begin to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Each story we share about God and His son Jesus build on each other. Week after week, year after year we faithfully teach until children no longer see each individual story, but rather The Story of God’s redemptive plan for humanity.

Kid’s Ministry volunteers, it is worth your time and effort to point these kid’s to Jesus. Your time with these precious ones should be filled with playing and snacks and games. But make sure in everything, you are pointing them back to the One who loves them and died for them and wants a relationship with them. The littlest ones can and are learning. They can sit for a one or two minute story. They can remember things that you repeat over and over and over. They do feel loved and cared for. You can build relationships with them as they begun to trust, love and listen to you. Don’t miss an opportunity to pour Jesus into our youngest children because you think they are too little to listen and learn. To do so would be missing out on a chance to let God use you to speak into these precious lives for eternity.

 

My oldest child is a very practical, logical and literal thinker. He often has his brow scrunched up trying to understand something.

I was reading the story of Moses with him the other night. He listened very intently and unusually silent. (I usually get interrupted every other sentence with a question or clarification). After we finished reading, I was asking him some summary questions.

“Mason, why didn’t Moses want to go back to Egypt?”

Mason got a very annoyed look on his face, shook his head and dramatically threw up his arms.

“Well, I guess he was scared, mommy… but…

All Moses had to do was just obey God. Just go back to Egypt, do what God told him to do and God would take care of him. He didn’t need to be afraid. God would fight for him. God would handle the bad guy.” 

Obey God. Don’t be afraid. God would fight for him. God will take care of the bad guy.

The burning bush? The stick that turned into a snake? The water that turned into blood? Frogs… dead animals… locusts…? These are the things my #boymom mind thought he would be fascinated with. No. Instead, he was fixated on the fact that Moses just needed to obey God and God would fight for him.

For a child, it seems so very simple. As an adult, I’ve been asked to do some really hard things. Haven’t you? God has certainly not asked me to go talk to a pharaoh face-to-face, telling him God is mad at him and he should let all his free labor go. No, nothing like that. But some things sure do feel that hard at the time.

I have had many conversations with God though that sounded pretty similar to Moses’ conversation with God. But God… I’m too ___________. I can’t _____________. I don’t have ______. I ain’t the right person, God!

I have learned that God really will fight for us. We obey. He’ll take care of the rest. If He gave us His word, His promise, His plan…. we can trust Him to carry through with it. We don’t have to question His sovereignty.

Sometimes obeying in faith looks like picking up a sword and marching to battle – knowing God is in front of us preparing the way.

Sometimes obeying in faith looks like sitting there in silence, waiting and praying – knowing that God is working on hearts, especially ours.

Sometimes obeying in faith looks really crazy to the rest of the world – knowing His ways and His thoughts are higher than ours.

Friends, whatever it looks like for you to obey what God has called you to do, you do it in faith. Believe that if God gave you a word, you can cling to it and hold it close to your heart. You remember that promise as you take that first step out in obedience. There’s a whole bunch of us who are taking our steps of obedience in faith too.

Sometimes God uses my child’s faith to spur me on when I’m too tired/scared/weak to move.

Obey God. Don’t be afraid. God will fight for you. God will take care of the bad guy.

 

 

I’ve been reading a lot of books this year. They have all been good and have made me think differently about some things in my life. But I read one book that I just can’t stop thinking about.

I read Brian Dembowczyk’s book, Gospel Centered Kid’s Ministry.

Dembowczyk opens up the book with statistics that stabbed me right in my heart.

“According to LifeWay research, roughly 70 percent of young adults drop out of church.”

“Interestingly, the research also indicates about two-thirds of those dropouts return to the church later on – perhaps when they have kids of their own.”

“Here’s how your kid’s ministry breaks down right now:

20% of your kids will walk away from the church for good.

50% of your kids will leave the church for a season but return later on.

30% of your kids will stay in church. “

So I have spend this year with these numbers weighing really heavy on my heart. I have very young children. My husband and I take our job seriously to disciple them and we know this responsibility rests on our shoulders as their parents. These numbers drove me to my knees in even deeper prayer over my own children, but also for the children I know and love at my church.

I have also begun to think about how the Church does Kid’s Ministry. Are we taking this thing seriously? Thankfully, I can say with certainty that the majority of the kid’s leaders at my own church are serious about their calling to help disciple our children. That is a blessing to me as a parent and also someone that is passionate about kid’s ministry.

I know I’m being very bold in saying this. This is an area where I feel like I’m having to pick up my sword and fight for the souls of these precious children. Not just my children, but every child who walks in the door of our churches. Why? Because as Dembowczyk said, “Failure is not an option.” We have to get this thing right. And it’s a team effort.

It can be hard to keep pressing on when you feel like you’re too young, not educated enough, don’t have enough experience and no one is listening. Others can also say really hurtful things that wound. I feel like those discouraging words are from the Enemy.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

The Enemy has done what he can to discourage, distract and deter me. But some things are too important to give up on. Some things have eternal impact and should be taken seriously. I can’t give up fighting for what I feel like the Church needs to better focus on.

One thing I’m seeing in churches, is surface level teaching and mostly fun and games. It’s hard to challenge mediocrity. It takes guts. Sometimes I don’t want to do it because I don’t want to lose friends. Sometimes I’m afraid to question anything because people that are more educated and more experienced have spoken down to me. Sometimes those that have been given greater authority and responsibility choose to ignore me.

While I may not have it all right, I’ve heard and observed some things that I believe are worth questioning. I find it helpful to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. It’s easy to get caught up in the details (I’m a detailed person, myself), the work itself or we just get too comfortable. We forget what it feels like to carry the weight on the responsibility the church has to partner with parents and fight for the souls of these children. Are we missing the point, somehow?

I feel like the lingo we use such as “just show up” and “no preparation” and “just love Jesus” and “just love the kids” should be used with caution. Now, I have certainly said these very things myself. I’m not speaking as one who has it all figured out and has authority to speak into these things. I’m speaking as someone who is slowing learning the ropes and I’m speaking from what I’ve learned. Would it be more accurate to say that some kid’s ministry positions are “low prep” instead of “no prep?” I’m suggesting that maybe we give people a better picture of what their role will be when they sign on for kid’s ministry. I feel like every position within kid’s ministry requires some kind of preparation. There are many people who love kid’s ministry, but due to their schedule and life situations, they don’t have hours every week to do the hands on preparation work. Even if you don’t have to prepare a lesson that will be taught or an activity for the kids to do, shouldn’t you at the very least be preparing your mind and your heart? Are we encouraging and facilitating ways for our volunteers to be in serious prayer over our children and our ministries? We are expecting that when workers walk in the doors of our church they will be ready to jump right in and love on these kids?

I’m speaking from at least some experience on this one. I have a minimum of ten things on my to-do list at any given point in time. I have answered 286 questions easily from my own children before I get to church. I have my own personal issues and burdens. But if I make it a point to pray and prepare myself for those times I’m working with children, I find my experience to be vastly different than when I fly in at the last second and am flustered by the time I get to my assigned area. When I ask God to prepare my mind and heart before I go in, I no longer see my assignment as “keeping the youngins alive.” Instead, my eyes are drawn to the child that needs a little tighter hug that day, my heart is filled with compassion for that child I know is dealing with a tough situation at home and I tend to show more grace to that sweet one who is acting out because they aren’t getting any attention at home. God has a way of doing that for me. I begin to see my ministry to these children through His eyes and with a heart that starts to look a little more like His.

I think we say things without really thinking about it. We don’t really mean that the job is not important. We don’t mean that we don’t care. But we do need the spots filled and “no prep” and “easy” are code words to get volunteers to sign up quickly. As long as somebody has it together and has put in the time, energy and prayers, then everyone else can just show up.

I have heard so many times that all you have to do is love Jesus and love kids and you are qualified to serve in kid’s ministry. Yes, for sure. You should love Jesus and love kids if you work in kids ministry. That’s a given. But do you love to teach the kids about Jesus? Do you feel the weight of the responsibility to introduce these kids and lead these kids to their only hope in a savior? Is that where our focus truly is? Are we all really working towards the same goal or are we just focused on crowd control? Or are we just looking at kid’s ministry like it’s own little gig over here in the corner and we just need to get some adults who are willing to babysit for a while?

These are questions I wrestle with in my own heart. But I do believe it’s so much more than just saying let the little children come to me.  Oh yes, Lord. Please let them come! Let them come, so that we can introduce them to Jesus, help them grow in their walk with the Lord, encourage them, speak truth to them, love them deeply and absolutely, have fun! And let us be willing to do the work so that we are ready make this happen.

I’m going to keep pressing on as I strive for excellence in my own service. I’m going to keep fighting. It’s worth it. These kids are worth it. Families are worth it. Eternity with our Savior is worth it!

Someone asked me recently what kind of qualities I want to see in a leader. Of course I rattled off things like humility, decisiveness, being teachable and being approachable. There are so many qualities that great leaders have, but one has really stood out to me over the last couple of weeks.

I have worked and served under many different leaders in many different areas of my life. The ones who have earned the most respect and had the best workers underneath them though… were servant leaders. There’s something about seeing your leader come out of their office, pick up a shovel and get down in the ditch and help you dig that builds a level of respect and trust that is truly admirable.

My oldest just started kindergarten. I had already heard so many great things about the principal at his school. On the first day of school, the principal was standing at the front entrance of the school greeting children and families as they came in. She stands right out there in the afternoons too – not overseeing carpool – but helping run it. She waves cars through the line and opens doors for kids. I’ve seen her standing out in the rain plugging in carpool numbers on her laptop as parents pulled into the school. That is a servant leader, my friends. It would have been so much easier for her to stay warm and dry inside her office and focus on the administrative part of her job. And she would have been totally justified asking others to do the dirty work. But she didn’t do that. She’s not just standing out there with her staff, she’s serving with her staff. She is working the line and seeing firsthand what is involved, what is or is not working and how they can improve. And I guarantee you, she’s got some of the best and hardest working staff in the county. I have thought to myself multiple times, “I want to be like her.”

It seems to me, that if there’s genuine servanthood starting at the top, it will trickle down into every other aspect of the organization. I think this goes for ministry in the church as well as the secular work place. I’ve worked for managers and leaders who sat in their office or stood over my shoulder and barked orders at me about how to do a job they understood very little about. My enthusiasm for my work suffered because of that. I’ve also worked for managers and leaders who came over, put some gloves on and said “show me how I can help.” Those are the leaders that I wanted to work harder and better for. A servant leader is going to make decisions that will benefit the team and help the team be successful. They are not nearly as concerned with self-promotion as they are with the welfare of their team.

There is great benefit that comes from getting a formal education and having that diploma hanging on the wall. Training in leadership and administrative skills is valuable. God can give understanding, discernment and direction through prayer and His word. If you really want perspective though, there’s nothing that can replace getting up out of the office and joining the work of your team. It is hard to respect decisions made for us by someone who has little to no understanding of the work we do and isn’t interested in finding out. Trust is built when we see that our leader has true concern, passion and a desire to move forward and improve the work. We tend to value someone’s opinion or decision more when we see them actively involved in the work. It’s hard to let someone speak into our life or our area of service who is not willing to serve with us.

It’s important for a believer to remember that whether in a secular job or church work, we are ultimately serving God and Him alone. However, a leader who can look past the numbers, the dollar signs and spread sheets and see the people, join the work and offer encouragement… are the leaders that people will follow.  Those are the kind of leaders that people will work hard for and give it their all for every day. That’s the kind of leader I want to work under and the kind of leader I want to learn to become.

Some of my family’s best (and most hilarious) conversations happen when we are in the car. Perhaps it’s because we are trapped and can not get away from the nonstop interrogation from our five year old.

We had spent a very hot and long July morning at the park. I was starving and needed a Dr. Pepper. I was really hoping that my children were exhausted enough to sit in silence until I could find lunch. Mom of the Year. I know. But as any parent knows, this is the perfect set up for a kid to randomly ask something like:

“Why is Jesus such a BIG deal?”

He continued…. “Seriously. Why? I want to be a big deal, mommy.”

Lord help us all. If that child only knew how much of a big deal he really is. Bless.

So I responded with the first thing that I could think of that sounded spiritual:

“Well, besides creating you and all…. I can’t think of anyone else who died on a cross for you, buddy. Can you?”

We went back and forth a little bit. He acknowledged that he really did love Jesus and he does think Jesus is a big deal. It’s just that my boy wanted to be talked about a little bit more and he wanted a little more credit for all the good things he did and… and… and… well, Mason Fescoe wants to be a big deal too.

I initially thought that the big issue there was that my child had not quite learned what it meant to be humble. However, I also couldn’t help but think, maybe, just maybe, by God’s grace… my husband and I are doing something right. Is it possible that we have actually made Jesus the big deal that He really is in our home? Have we talked about Him so much, turned enough conversations and questions into spiritual lessons and proclaimed our love and adoration of Him so much, that our children are really starting to see that Jesus. Is. A. Big. Deal.?

I don’t know. But everything I read these days seems to keep pointing back to this passage:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9

My prayer is that I continue to make sure my kids know that Jesus is a big deal and that following him is the most important decision they will ever make in their life. I can’t control everything about their lives forever and I have no control at all over how they will choose to live their lives as they grow older. But I can control how I parent them now and I’m determined to do my God ordained part and teach them God’s Word and how powerful it is. Oh how I hope that someday, my sons will be dads who have children that ask, “Why is Jesus such a BIG deal?”

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. –  2 Corinthians 4:7-9

I returned a few days ago from a mission trip to Hungary. My prayer during the months of preparation for this trip had been, “Lord, help me decrease so you can increase.” I needed His strength and His power to accomplish the mission.

If I had to summarize the trip in one sentence, I think it would suffice to say: God is at work in Hungary and I was completely humbled to be a small part of His work.

I feel very much like a jar of clay. Simple, plain and fragile. But the message of hope and love that I carry inside of me is worth far more than any earthly treasure. Who am I that the God of the universe would trust me to help carry this message to a little town in Eastern Europe? I can take no credit for the message I carry. This surpassing power belongs to God alone. So many others before me have laid the ground work for the gospel message to be brought to Nagyhalász. I was honored to go with a team from our church and partner with our missionary friend to do an English Bible Camp at a local school. It was also an incredibly special experience to serve alongside my husband. I am so thankful to have been a part of this team and will forever remember these ten days.

There were certainly hard things to process from our experience in Nagyhalász. But I saw…

JOY in the faces of the children as they saw us dress up in silly superhero outfits and dance around to funny songs.

FAITHFULNESS in the eyes of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

LOVE for the Lord and each other as we worshipped with a Roma church.

THANKFULNESS in the hearts of the school staff members, parents and children.

HOPE as children shared with us what they had learned in Bible class, wanted to take pictures with us and smiled as they walked into our classroom everyday.

KINDNESS as I saw children helping other children with crafts, offering us some of their snack and wanting us to sit with them at the lunch table.

HUMILITY as poverty stricken families welcomed us into their homes and accepted gifts of food and toys for their children.

GENEROSITY as Hungarian children and parents gave us numerous hugs and gifts at the end of the week.

UNITY as a group of twenty people came together from all over North Carolina and combined with many Hungarian workers to organize an amazing week of camp and share the love of Christ with almost 200 children, their families and teachers.

and stunning BEAUTY as we toured Budapest on our last day.

 

With a grateful heart,

Lindsey

 

 

 

(PC: Archie and Teresa Jones, Candace Gottfried, Kyle Fescoe)

God’s been teaching me some things about encouragement over the last few weeks.

I am not naturally an encourager. I am a perfectionist and I lean more towards pointing out faults than praising others when they need it. I’m not making excuses. And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be an encourager. It just means I have to make a stronger effort and be intentional about encouraging others.

Recently I went through a period of about two weeks when things were going, oh so wrong. People weren’t cooperating with “my plan.” My children’s behavior was beyond what I thought I could handle. I was overwhelmed, disappointed, frustrated and confused. I was ready to quit everything and run away.

That’s when God strategically put people in my life at that time to encourage me. Some of them knew of the struggles I was dealing with, most of them did not. I was blown away as person after person reached out to me with the sole intention of encouraging me. No strings attached. No ulterior motive. Just to simply and plainly yet powerfully encourage me.

I received a very sweet, random card in the mail with a simple message of, “I’m proud of you. I love you. I’m praying for you.” I got an email from someone full of encouraging words that resonated with my crazy emotions of the day. I received a voice mail one day while I was sitting on the playground bench at preschool. I had to keep myself from crying in front of all the other moms. It was from a friend that I don’t know very well but someone who has met my energetic and exhausting children. She wanted to let me and my husband know that we were doing a really great job with our kids and she could tell we were great parents (although we honestly fail every single day at the godly parenting thing!) She mentioned that our kids were growing up seeing our hearts for Jesus and learning how to serve others. That’s the part that got me. I had literally just had a conversation with my husband the day before about how I wanted to include out kids as much as possible when we serve because I want serving others to be a natural part of our lives and something that they will joyfully do as they get older.

Each of these people felt some kind of prompting from the Holy Spirit to reach out and encourage me. I believe this because of the timeliness and specificity of their messages to me. And they listened to that prompting. They followed through. Each of them took the time and energy required to say or send me an encouraging word.

I want to be more like these friends. I want to be sensitive to the times I need to reach out and send a word of encouragement. I have felt those times before and sometimes I’ve been obedient but other times, I was too busy or distracted to take the time to encourage someone. I also want this to be a way of life. I want to speak words of encouragement all the time. Life is hard and the Christian walk can be tough. We need each other’s encouragement and prayers. Lord, help me be an encouragement to others like so many have been to me.

And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.  – Hebrews 10:24-25