Philemon (AKA Philomène / Jenna on Adwoff)

I mentioned in my previous posts that my main intent in writing a blog is to document my trials and errors as a mom. More specifically, in bringing God into not only the life of Madison, but into our relationship. God is at the center of my life and I pray that He will be at the center of Madi's. He blessed me with the magnificent gift of a daughter. It is not only my duty based on what I believe, but as a Christ follower as well to raise her in the instruction of the Lord.

"Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn - for he has done it." Psalm 22:30-31

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4 (Although I choose to substitute "fathers" for "parents".)

Now, for someone who was "raised in the church" this might be second nature. I can imagine that those parents have a plethora of stories, memories, and experiences from which to use now that they are parents. But I really don't have this background knowledge. I didn't grow up with the Bible and with instruction in the Lord. Don't get me wrong, I grew up in a very loving and caring family. Looking back, I know God was present. He was with us. But it wasn't until about a year and a half ago that I really knew the stories in the bible. And even now, I am still learning and processing...

What I'm trying to say is that it's been REALLY hard for me to bring Christ into our lives. For so long it was unnatural for me to have Him play a role in my life and now I'm trying to bring Him up in everyday conversation... Needless to say, it has been a struggle.

Here is a list of things I tried in the past:
1. Praying together before bed. -->This worked for about a week, and then for some reason it just fell off. I plan to bring it back.
2. Listening to the Daily Audio Bible for Kids in the car. --> The boy who was reading, bless his heart, is probably around 8 and sounds very young. It is adorable and I highly recommend this to anyone with young kids but for an almost 12 year old, it just didn't work.
3. Praying at dinner. --> I'm still currently doing this. I confess I am still slightly uncomfortable praying in front of people. Sometimes I just don't know what to say. I hear some people pray these beautiful prayers and I wonder how they do it. But then I remember that God still loves my prayers because they are from the heart and very sincere. Plus, I truly feel that I am to lead by example and if Madi (and my parents) can get anything out of my prayer then I am very happy. In the future, I plan to have everyone say something at prayer time.

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So I started writing this earlier this evening, and was then called away to check Madi's math homework (in which God taught me another valuable lesson on patience and that I need more). While I was checking her homework I also caught a glimpse at her bible verse for the week. (I don't know if I mentioned it or not but Madi attends Hill Country Christian School of Austin, hence the bible verse.) God then provided me with an "Ah ha!" moment. Or maybe, He was like "hello!? Pay attention!" In any case, why I never thought to talk to Madi about her weekly verse, I don't know, but that is going to change. In fact, it has changed. Here's what happened:

The verse for this week is out of Philemon, verse 6 - "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." (Amen and amen.)

So, as Madi was finishing up getting ready for bed, I came into her room with my Bible. I mentioned to her that I read her verse and was curious about it as Philemon is such a small book of the Bible. I showed her in my Bible, which is a life application Bible, how it gave background info on who Philemon was, who wrote the book, etc. She seemed genuinely interested!

She then started asking me questions about the Bible and I asked her questions about what she believed and thought. I can sense a little feeling of uncomfortableness when talking about God, but the breakthrough has been made! Praise God! I now know it is truly up to me to continue this with Madison. God presented this perfect situation to me and showed me what to do. He also showed me that I can do this. I can talk to Madison about Him without looking and feeling like an idiot.

Oh, and you want to know the funniest thing ever? I freely admit that I'm a huge nerd. So, I'm part of a wonderful forum called Adwoff (it's a forum for fans of Nora Roberts) and I've been a member since 2001, way before I even became a Christian. Well, my username is Philomène because I heard that name on a French movie called Amelie and really liked it. Little did I know that Philemon would be my introduction into instructing my daughter in the Lord... He really does work mysteriously...

"Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14