Challenge

This is one of those nights that I'm tossing and turning (it is 4:30 am), so I had to get my thoughts "out of my head" so to speak. So here goes...

Last time I posted, I mentioned the Ladies Retreat. I had a blast! I met some new friends and got to know some other friends better. It was the perfect mix of having fun, relaxing (not so much during the game of "spoons" but it sure was a lot of fun!) and being challenged too. One of the people/things that our speaker Jodi talked about was Corrie ten Boom and the book "The Hiding Place." Jodi mentioned that when Corrie was a child she was grounded in God's word. She was taught from a young age to hide God's word in her heart. (Jodi said much more than that...but that is one of the areas I was challenged.) It really got me thinking about how much I focus on that with my own children. Why do we take time for other things...but with something so important, we don't intentionally make it a priority?

Fast forward to this past weekend...we were supposed to go down to Indiana (Scott had Friday and Monday off from work) but it didn't end up working out. We still wanted to so something fun with the kids, so we took them to Binder Park Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. At the entrance, I took two maps. When you have six children - two maps are not enough (we'll leave the sharing lesson for another time) so I asked if I could have one for each of the kids. They were generous and gave me four more and we had six happy kids. It was very cute to see Jenna trying to "read" her map as she walked. She was so serious about it...but obviously not able to read it! (Video clip)

Yesterday, my friend Jen mentioned on her blog that she went to the Selah concert on Sunday. I love Selah's music and listen to them often, but I pulled out one of the CD's I hadn't heard in a while. One of the songs on it is called "You Are My Hiding Place" (on my playlist below) and it says:

You are my hiding place

You always fill my heart

With songs of deliverance

Whenever I am afraid

I will trust in You

I will trust in You

Let the weak say

I am strong

In the strength of the Lord

The words kept going through my mind during the night. I think that as a parent, sometimes I underestimate or do not emphasize enough the importance of my children's OWN relationship with the Lord. Yes, we pray with them at meals and before bedtime, read the Bible with them (not often enough), and work on AWANA sections. But do we intentionally (make it a priority) to teach them to hide God's word in their heart so that God is their "hiding place." I'm sure when Corrie ten Booms parents grounded her in God's word they didn't know just how important that would be for Corrie in the awful days she had ahead. I obviously don't know what lies ahead for my kids future...but it will be just as important that they have God's word hidden in their hearts. Just like the map at the zoo, Jenna can't read it on her own...but she is not too young to learn! All that to say...I have been challenged to work on hiding God's word in our hearts!