A prayer for my children: Deliverance

Lord God, there are many deadly influences around my child. The world's system, which is dominated by the evil one, will destroy the souls of children who are unprotected. But I claim the blood of Jesus over my home and my offspring. I believe CHLOE & ALLIE will be preserved from evil for "the eye of the Lord is on those . . . who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death" (Ps. 33:18-19). In the name of Jesus, amen (let it be so)! 

"It was the first Passover in the land of Goshen. In the early evening thousands of Israeli men dipped hyssop in lamb's blood and applied it to the upper doorpost and two side posts of their homes. The destroyer would visit Egypt that night, and every firstborn son would die. But God promised His people, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exod. 12:13). The next day wails were heard all over the land. The Egyptian sons were slain, and great grief, like swelling waters from the Nile, flowed through the streets. But the Israelite sons were delivered. 

The men of Israel had no idea their act of applying lamb's blood was prophetic in nature. They were actually making the sign of the cross, prophesying of another Lamb yet to come who would deliver His people from death-not only physically but spiritually and eternally as well. In a way similar to this grand biblical event in Exodus, we must mark our homes, claiming the blood of Jesus as a protective covering over our seed. As many young people succumb to the deadly influences of a society that is becoming increasingly evil, it is our responsibility as parents to make a prayerful, prophetic statement in our homes that heaven will honor. " -Promises from God for your child Day 2

A prayer for my children: Life

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20 NLT)

Lord, I claim this promise from Deuteronomy 30. Because I choose to live for truth and for God, I believe spiritual life will be passed to my child. I pray that he/she will continue the family tradition of choosing life and be filled with the very life of God. In doing so, CHLOE & ALLIE will escape the destructive results of a life of sin. I confess that the life-giving attributes of God's nature-love, joy, peace, righteousness, and goodness will fill our home, our lives, and our relationship. Yes, I choose life for myself and for my offspring. In the name of Jesus, amen (let it be so)! 

"Deuteronomy 30:19-20 can be seen as a promise of a long and prosperous physical life. (See Psalm 91:14-16.) But more importantly, it refers to life in the mental, emotional, and spiritual sense. Anger, pride, lust, depression, fear, rebellion these attitudes will take you and your children away from God's best for your lives. A home dominated by these attitudes is very dark and full of death indeed! When parents choose life, they tend to walk in attitudes that are the polar opposite: love, humility, selflessness, joy, faith, and obedience to God. These life-giving attitudes of the heart are then passed on to their children, and the life of God embraces them also."

A prayer for my children:

The last few weeks have been a wonderful whirlwind of answered prayers for our family! Last night in class, one of the Ladies shared how her friend prayed this scripture over her children as they were growing up. 

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower CHLOE & ALLIE with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in CHLOE & ALLIE'S hearts as CHLOE & ALLIE trust in him. May CHLOE & ALLIE'S roots grow down into God’s love and keep CHLOE & ALLIE strong. And may CHLOE & ALLIE have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May CHLOE & ALLIE experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then CHLOE & ALLIE  will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than CHLOE & ALLIE might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT)

Praying scripture is something that is a little new to me but I love how personal it makes God's word. In this prayer, You simply replace your child or children's names in place of "you". It has inspired me to take a journey the next 7 days with a daily devotional called "Promises from God for your child." I will share these prayers with you for the next 7 days. 

Happy Happy Happy

Our family is a Duck Dynasty family! When it is on TV we record ever episode (even re-runs)! Last week we listened to Phil Robertson's (the patriarch and creator of Duck Commander) audio biography book! This last month as been a regular difficult one.Chloe has really struggled with the upcoming move and because of some recent events I have been homeschooling this month. There as been a lot of tension between us, but I know that God' purpose will prevail.  I decided to ask the girls it they wanted to listen to it because we are now in the car 2 hours a day and they were very excited! Once again God was in the middle of our storm of life! Phil's book "Happy Happy Happy!" Is his story but more importantly God's story of redemption and healing in his life! 

We had so much fun listening to it and we were sad when we finished the book today. We all really listened as Phil told of how his youngest son Jep started going down the wrong path and how he came back to God. I am so glad Phil wrote the book because it really brought us together the last week! One thing that intrigued me (& there were many) is the fact that Phil often on the show and in the book refers to God as "The Almighty". I remember hearing older people use this word to described God but this time I wanted to find out what it really meant. I read several definitions online but these were the ones that I liked the best:

-having complete control and power

-extreme

-great

I then discovered that this word is used 58 times in the bible. I think my generation as made a relationship with God seem more of a friendship(which I believe to be true), ybut I think sometimes we have lost the idea of reverence and acknowledgement that is so much more... He is the Almighty! I definitely be using the phrase more often. I am sooooo thankful for a family is West Monroe, LA that has brought my family back together! 

LTC 2013

The last weekend in March we attended our 3rd LTC conference. LTC stands for "Leadership Training for Christ." The kids can pick from a list of events that they want to participate in and everything is centered around a book of the bible and a theme. This years theme was "Going the second mile!"

I will say the 4 months leading up to LTC get a little stressful with practices and deadlines but in the end it is worth it!

Chloe participated in :

Teaching challenge,

Service challenge,

Bible Quiz,

T-shirt design,

Puppets

Speech

Drama

Allie participated in

Service Challenge

Teaching Challenge

Bible Reading

Puppets

Speech

Drama

 

I think it is a great way for kids to discover their talents! This will be our last year to participate with Wilshire. Saturday night, I went down to the lobby to wait for Chinese food. I sat in the quiet and began reflecting on the blessing our time with our Wilshire family has been the last five years. We laughed a lot, cried a lot, & shared a lot. I am so thankful that although we will be leaving physically that we will always be "Forever Family!"

A Father, Father, and Daughter Dance!

Allie attended her first "Father Daughter Dance" a few Fridays ago. When she first came home with the information I did not want to influence what she would do. I assumed that she take either Misa or her dad but little did I know that she asked Misa to go and then asked her dad to go too. They both agreed to go and came together for Allie. I think the biggest thing I LOVE about this situation is that in her mind this worked and was not awkward at all. They danced the night away and Allie was the happiest I had ever seen her! She got all dressed up! We got her hair done at the salon and I even did her make-up! I am so thankful that the relationship exists between all of us and for the healing that only comes for God!

Allie is 10!!!

Well it is hard to believe that this little baby has now entered double digits!

 For her birthday we decided to invite a few good friends to Cici's for dinner, jumping at Elevations (the new trampoline park in town), and have the girls come back to the house for a sleepover! Her wish list for this years birthday was and Ipod, a Thunder Jersey, and money! She got everything she wanted!

Allie wanted Ms.Sue's Brownies instead of a cake this year!

Jumping fun!

Pink Chocolate pancakes for breakfast!

Allie, Nia, and Kamry

The next day Allie was itching to spend some of her birthday money so we headed off the the outlet mall to buy a pair of converse she had been eyeing for quite sometime! I was a little concerned because she had only had a few hours of sleep but she reassured me she wasn't tired. However after driving 2 miles I turned over and saw this:

One of the reasons she asked for money is she wanted to open a bank account! So we went to the bank later that afternoon and opened her one. She said her goal is to save $1,000 by the time she is 18!

To be honest, I cannot believe she is 10 years old! And with our new move she will be entering middle school in 5th grade! I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such a sensitive, kind, and funny girl. She loves God and with the "memorize and meditate" challenge (We try to memorize a verse a week and talk about it. We write it on the message board on the back of our front door and on the mirror in her room), we are doing this year it has been great to experience God's word together. She has asked that I leave "Don't worry about anything, pray about everything." on her mirror. This is something that we both struggle with and now we have created this accountability system where if one of us sees the other one experiencing "what-ifs", anxiety, or just worrying about something we say "What is the verse?"
I also love that Allie lives life as a musical!! This child sings all the time!!!
I love that she gets herself up at 5:45 a.m. because she wants to take a 30 minute hot bath every morning. She is a great kid with a great heart! For this birthday I prayed that she may always find her worth in being a child of God and that she always seek him!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIE B!!!