Besides Jesus, who should we follow?
As I am teaching JellyBean to read, she only wants to try it when its her primer. She doesn't want to read the cereal box, or smaller words in her chapter books, or her math story problems and don't pause Star Wars for her to sound out words, she about has a convulsion.
I try to explain to her you have to try all the time. Not just 15-20 minutes a day. Anything and all you see around you has words in it, and once you find that joy in reading on your own, and cuddling up with a book, oh...I just can't wait for that for her!!
We can go to church on Sundays and read our Bibles every morning and label ourselves "Christian", but what we choose to do, watch, read, listen to, wear, all comes down to, how is this influencing myself, my family, and is this pleasing to God? We can spend a few minutes or an hour on Sundays trying, but what about the rest of our time during our days that are flying by? Just like I want to encourage JellyBean to read as much as possible, I, myself want and need to be encouraged and inspired all day, every day.
The bible is full of scripture telling us to sing praises to Lord, and to make joyful noises, so are we currently listening to music that would please Him, or do we like the beat and the words and how they flow, but in the end we are singing about lust, envy, violent acts, hate, you get the idea...
What about the books we read on our own time, when no one is around? I firmly believe that some people may feel convicted by God to not read something that maybe I see nothing wrong with and vice versa, but I also know that blasphemy is blasphemy, there is no gray area. Those books are not for those who claim to love the Lord.
What about TV Shows? When the kids go to bed, are we filling ourselves up on shows/movies that inspire us, give us hope, or are they dark, disrespectful, and fill us with unrealistic fears?
Are we dressing like we respect our bodies, especially Moms and daughters? Taking marriage classes and just attending church, you will hear how pornography is such an addiction, men are very, very visual, where women want to connect more emotionally. You will see it in movies too, for example Rio. The end where the guy is drooling over himself and the camera takes this long moment for CHILDREN to soak in the sight of the woman in risque carnival clothing. Like he only noticed her when she was half naked, and the only time he commented that she was pretty. I see my 2.5 year old son watching this and my stomach turned. I wanted to smash the movie to bits.
I noticed what I see on social media can affect my mood as well, I sometimes feel like a chameleon, if someone is happy, yeah! me too! If someone is down or worried about something then I too think, oh man, should I be overly worried about this random thing too?
I can wake up with God, praise Him before I get out of bed, go through my prayers, get up with my coffee and my bible and read and study, but the rest of my day if I am reading/watching/listening/dressing like He is farthest from my mind, what am I being inspired by?
Knowing that I am like a chameleon, it is so important that I emerge myself all throughout my days thinking of Jesus, what joy and hope He brings and to pass that on to my children. I read books that might not always mention God, but I definitely will re-shelf one that blatantly goes against his sovereignty. I listen to mostly christian radio stations in the car and in the house, {one of my favorite things to do while opening up all the blinds in my house is to turn on all the radios in the rooms on low, but enough so when I am in that room I get to hear a testimony or a song written about Jesus's amazing truths} and sometimes I will flip through stations in the car or search Pandora during workouts. I got to the point where I asked myself these things when listening to music: does this inspire me or bring Glory to Him?
Watching TV and movies have been by far the hardest to navigate. There is always, ALWAYS alot of skin in tv shows. And not just shows, COMMERCIALS! How can we watch anything right now with trailers of Darker Shade of Gray popping up! Or the gore they will show for the TV crime series trailers. We couldn't even watch Amercias Got Talent Holiday Edition because the commercials were so awful. And I know I sound like a hoity toity,{spell check just sent off an alarm} but I always ask myself, Do I want Peanut, JellyBean, or Little Man to watch/read/listen/wear this? Do I want my 11 year old to watch this and think this is how she should behave or that this is what life looks like? Its easy for kids to one day say TinkerBelle might not be real, however I do have to navigate the waters of crimes that do happen-the real darkness that is present in this world, and the way God sees marital intimacy and how the world views sex.
We cannot keep ourselves or our children in bubbles their whole life, but I firmly believe we can help guide our children by example, in what they are exposed to. I was told by my fantastic counselor when I had to unload my entire life to her in 2 years and she helped me realize, in the end I am responsible for all my choices- the GOOD and the BAD, but my environment played a big role in those decisions. Meaning my friends, my peers, my family, what I listened to, read, and watched influenced those decisions, the GOOD and the BAD.
In a super-connected world I think we can be influenced greatly and not so greatly by whom we 'like' or 'follow' and what we listen to, read, and watch. I'm sharing who I follow on social media and usually get tv/book recommendations from family, friends at small group, church or other homeschooling moms. Peanut has learned from the Hubby and I looking up movies on common sense media or plugged in has all the pros and cons and she can decide for herself that its not worth watching a show that she heard was 'cool' but goes against her beliefs.
Here are my instagram favorites:
Christian ladies who spread so much love and inspiration: lauren_daigle, heidistjohn, nataliegrant, charlgambill
Bloggers: photogramommy or Living Out His Love // Sara Jo Poff Healthy Families for God
Homeschool/Education //maandpamodern or ma and pa modern // wildandfree.co or Wild and Free // readaloudrevival// Ginny Yurich 1000 Hours Outside //
I try to explain to her you have to try all the time. Not just 15-20 minutes a day. Anything and all you see around you has words in it, and once you find that joy in reading on your own, and cuddling up with a book, oh...I just can't wait for that for her!!
We can go to church on Sundays and read our Bibles every morning and label ourselves "Christian", but what we choose to do, watch, read, listen to, wear, all comes down to, how is this influencing myself, my family, and is this pleasing to God? We can spend a few minutes or an hour on Sundays trying, but what about the rest of our time during our days that are flying by? Just like I want to encourage JellyBean to read as much as possible, I, myself want and need to be encouraged and inspired all day, every day.
The bible is full of scripture telling us to sing praises to Lord, and to make joyful noises, so are we currently listening to music that would please Him, or do we like the beat and the words and how they flow, but in the end we are singing about lust, envy, violent acts, hate, you get the idea...
What about the books we read on our own time, when no one is around? I firmly believe that some people may feel convicted by God to not read something that maybe I see nothing wrong with and vice versa, but I also know that blasphemy is blasphemy, there is no gray area. Those books are not for those who claim to love the Lord.
What about TV Shows? When the kids go to bed, are we filling ourselves up on shows/movies that inspire us, give us hope, or are they dark, disrespectful, and fill us with unrealistic fears?
Are we dressing like we respect our bodies, especially Moms and daughters? Taking marriage classes and just attending church, you will hear how pornography is such an addiction, men are very, very visual, where women want to connect more emotionally. You will see it in movies too, for example Rio. The end where the guy is drooling over himself and the camera takes this long moment for CHILDREN to soak in the sight of the woman in risque carnival clothing. Like he only noticed her when she was half naked, and the only time he commented that she was pretty. I see my 2.5 year old son watching this and my stomach turned. I wanted to smash the movie to bits.
I noticed what I see on social media can affect my mood as well, I sometimes feel like a chameleon, if someone is happy, yeah! me too! If someone is down or worried about something then I too think, oh man, should I be overly worried about this random thing too?
I can wake up with God, praise Him before I get out of bed, go through my prayers, get up with my coffee and my bible and read and study, but the rest of my day if I am reading/watching/listening/dressing like He is farthest from my mind, what am I being inspired by?
Knowing that I am like a chameleon, it is so important that I emerge myself all throughout my days thinking of Jesus, what joy and hope He brings and to pass that on to my children. I read books that might not always mention God, but I definitely will re-shelf one that blatantly goes against his sovereignty. I listen to mostly christian radio stations in the car and in the house, {one of my favorite things to do while opening up all the blinds in my house is to turn on all the radios in the rooms on low, but enough so when I am in that room I get to hear a testimony or a song written about Jesus's amazing truths} and sometimes I will flip through stations in the car or search Pandora during workouts. I got to the point where I asked myself these things when listening to music: does this inspire me or bring Glory to Him?
Watching TV and movies have been by far the hardest to navigate. There is always, ALWAYS alot of skin in tv shows. And not just shows, COMMERCIALS! How can we watch anything right now with trailers of Darker Shade of Gray popping up! Or the gore they will show for the TV crime series trailers. We couldn't even watch Amercias Got Talent Holiday Edition because the commercials were so awful. And I know I sound like a hoity toity,{spell check just sent off an alarm} but I always ask myself, Do I want Peanut, JellyBean, or Little Man to watch/read/listen/wear this? Do I want my 11 year old to watch this and think this is how she should behave or that this is what life looks like? Its easy for kids to one day say TinkerBelle might not be real, however I do have to navigate the waters of crimes that do happen-the real darkness that is present in this world, and the way God sees marital intimacy and how the world views sex.
We cannot keep ourselves or our children in bubbles their whole life, but I firmly believe we can help guide our children by example, in what they are exposed to. I was told by my fantastic counselor when I had to unload my entire life to her in 2 years and she helped me realize, in the end I am responsible for all my choices- the GOOD and the BAD, but my environment played a big role in those decisions. Meaning my friends, my peers, my family, what I listened to, read, and watched influenced those decisions, the GOOD and the BAD.
In a super-connected world I think we can be influenced greatly and not so greatly by whom we 'like' or 'follow' and what we listen to, read, and watch. I'm sharing who I follow on social media and usually get tv/book recommendations from family, friends at small group, church or other homeschooling moms. Peanut has learned from the Hubby and I looking up movies on common sense media or plugged in has all the pros and cons and she can decide for herself that its not worth watching a show that she heard was 'cool' but goes against her beliefs.
Here are my instagram favorites:
Christian ladies who spread so much love and inspiration: lauren_daigle, heidistjohn, nataliegrant, charlgambill
Bloggers: photogramommy or Living Out His Love // Sara Jo Poff Healthy Families for God
Homeschool/Education //maandpamodern or ma and pa modern // wildandfree.co or Wild and Free // readaloudrevival// Ginny Yurich 1000 Hours Outside //
Toni Weber https://aheartforhomeschooling.blogspot.com/
I get book recommendations, tv recommendations, scripture writing, recipes, inspiration, and joy from these ladies, and gent. I would love to know who you are following - besides the Almighty, who gives you inspiration and joy?
I get book recommendations, tv recommendations, scripture writing, recipes, inspiration, and joy from these ladies, and gent. I would love to know who you are following - besides the Almighty, who gives you inspiration and joy?
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