Smile!

Hi, I’m Laura.  My husband Ryan and I have two incredible kids, Matthew and Jordan.  Matthew is two years old and Jordan is 10 months.  It’s an awesome privilege to write on this blog.  I heard it well said before, “We are all kids under construction.”  YES WE ARE.  But the good thing is we are God’s kids and He’s the Foreman.
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The other day I went to the Blessed Ministry at church – a ministry for moms with kids from 0-5years.  Rosemary Barnes taught and if you’ve ever heard her speak, you know how the Lord loves to speak through her.  He did that day too.  The Lord spoke to me concerning the topic of legacy – what I had already been preparing in my heart for this blog!  And then the next day, my devotional from In Touch ministries taught about the SAME THING!  Legacy.  Or as they put it, “A Faith Worth Passing Down” with the reading from 2 Timothy 1:3-5.  I heard it on the radio as “the legacy we are leaving behind.” 

So, what are we doing to make choices today for the betterment of our kids’ tomorrow?  What is the faith-legacy we are leaving in our kids’ minds and hearts about who a real follower of Jesus is?  Oh, most days I feel like if I’m the only Jesus they see, they wouldn’t want to have anything to do with Him!  So to be more like Jesus is where I stand, but I know I’m not Jesus so I’ve got some work to do.  Here’s just a few things I’ve been working on. 

Words – I wrote a verse from Ephesians 4 on a sticky note and put it on my fridge because I noticed the negativity that keeps seeping out of my mouth.  “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” – Ephesians 4:29  We can adjust our speech to reflect the hope we have and encourage others around us, like our kids. 

Smiling – The other day I was putting our 2 year old son, Matthew down to sleep for the night and he reached out to touch my face and started feeling my lips and cheeks.  I realized at that moment that I needed to let him feel me smile.  My thoughts were: “Had I smiled that day?  Had I smiled at him at all or was I busy putting him in time-out, making breakfast, lunch and dinner, folding the clothes, answering texts, wiping diapers and runny noses, and so on.”  So the whole time he did that, I smiled –real wide.  Teeth and all.  He could go to bed knowing that mommy actually did smile that day.  It may sound funny, but every now and then I take a moment to literally stop and smile at him giving a good thumbs-up gesture too.  My confession is that sometimes smiling hurts my face!  Yikes!  But the brighter side is that the other day we had a break-your-face-cause-your-smile-is-so-wide contest.  It was great.  (Gosh, I get teary-eyed just thinking about his awesome smile.  Maybe God gets teary-eyed too when His kids smile at Him...)  We can add Scripture to our smile too, like “Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I will say, rejoice! –Philippians 4:4.

Prayer – We were given this great bookmark card at Blessed called “31 Biblical Virtues to pray for your kids” by Bob Hostetler put out by www.praymag.com that is a great prayer help.  Praying alone, with our kids, and encouraging our kids to pray too is so important.  …Most nights, after praying and singing with Matthew before he goes to sleep I tell him that he can pray to God at any time because God looooves to hear him pray.  That sweet boy prays with his eyes shut tight and in tongues too (or it’s just his 2 year old mind making up words but he says them with such conviction each time he prays…).  The other day my husband Ryan came home from work with a boo-boo on his head.  Upon seeing the wound, Matthew simply stretched out his hand, put it over Ryan’s boo-boo and began to pray for healing (and it was a long prayer).

God is at work in our kid’s lives ladies and if we will be the example to help guide their way, He will take them the rest of it and the generations will be forever affected in the name of Jesus.  That’s a legacy of faith worth passing down.  Are you working on anything?  Let me know.