Talking about God with your children

I am totally baffled by this...What seems like it would be the easiest thing in the world for me is the hardest and most awkward...

At my house you didn't talk about God much at all..The only time I heard about hell was if someone was telling someone to go there or my dad was blanking it all to there [whatcrazy]

Sooooo....now that I'm on my own with this...Seeing how hubby generally only brings up the lord when he's referring to him* "screwing us" :( I don't know how to do this...

Once Angela was lying alot and I stopped her, talked calmly, and we looked up the ten commandments and how its not right to break them and when we do we have to ask God for forgive us..Then I started teaching her hymns and basic Bible stories we're all familiar with..

From that she had to deal with alot of deaths all at one time and began to ask about heaven and asked me if I knew the way to heaven...We looked up John 3;16 and Ps 23 and after a long talk she asked Jesus into her heart...

Now I too did this at a young age and later rededicated my life when I had a better understanding...so I let her go with it and didn't try to stop her...I figure when she gets it, she'll get it..kwim??

So now I'm teaching her how to church hop :oops: and how to be utterly terrified at the thought of church :oops:

No really, we have a Bible curriculum book that we study (most days) and I have bought her a Bible of her own and taught her how to look up verses in the NT and OT...

But as far as just talking about God...Its a very unnatural process for me... [whatconfused]

Soooo...how exactly do those of you who mention always talking about God and Bible and stuff......how do you do it [whatquestion]

[stephwhiz]

We pretty much talk about God in everything we do. We ask each other now is that how God would want us to act? or is that what God would want us to do? We sing lots of Christian songs at home too and Trent is constantly playing them on the piano or organ or listening to them on his CD player. He likes to karoke with them too. Last week when our dear Tasha (our dog of 11 years) was suffering we prayed that God would take her on. That was SO hard for us because we loved her so much but the kids understood why I was doing that and they prayed too. We pray before every meal and before bed and if we hear or see an ambulance, we pray for the person it is going to treat. We pray about everything (even rain!!) and praise God even when things don't go our way. I told them last week when Tasha died that God is so good and not to be mad about her passing but to praise God for the 11 years we had her. I try to turn bad things into something good because God has a plan for everything and even though it is hard to not question him as to "why" we are to have faith in him. I hope this helps a little! Stephanie :D

[love2bmom]

CHILDREN CAN SEE GOD IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. WE DON'T NEED TO SIT AND HAVE A BIBLE STUDY WITH A TWO YEAR OLD, BUT THE LITTLE THINGS WE DO ARE ALWAYS A REFLECTION OF GOD. THE WAY YOU ACT TO OTHERS THE LANGUAGE YOU USE, OR EVEN THE PROGRAMS YOU PERMIT IN YOUR HOME. BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR PRAYER TIME. WE KEEP THE MEAL TIME AND BEDTIME PRAYERS SIMPLE "GOD IS GOOD"... SO HE RELATES. WE HAVE A WONDERFUL PROGRAM IN WAUMBALAND THAT TEACHES CHILDREN "GOD MADE ME". EXPLAINING THAT GOD CREATED EVERYTHING. KEEP IN ON THEIR LEVEL & REFLECT IT IN YOUR ACTIONS.

[luvmy4sons]

" Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto thee" The key is YOUR heart Lis. [heart] As you grow more and more in love with your Savior you will naturally bubble over with thoughts of Him and praise for Him and the wisdom you find in you own personal study of the Word will naturally flow out as you teach her and live with her moment to moment. :)

The power to be a Christian lies not in our effort but the Holy Spirit within us. The key is to 1.) KNOW that you are a child of God. 2) Commit your life to Him. 3) Grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Savior through prayer and His Word and sitting under sound biblical teaching while gathering with other believers.

When you do this then it is such a part of your life that your child sees it. The Spirit will fill you and flow through you and you will then naturally show your daughter God through evidence of Him in YOUR life.

This is a process. It takes time and devotion. But it WILL come. Seek ye first the kingdom of God...God promises to be found by those who seek Him. " Knock and it shall be opened" "Ask and you shall receive" " If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God who gives generously without finding fault and it will be given to him." " Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me." :D

" And you shall seek me and find me if you seek me with all your heart." [heartbeat]

Ask Jesus to help you seek Him. Keep Him in the center of YOUR life and then...Angel will see this and God will guide you.
"And your ear will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way walk in it, when you turn to the right and when you turn to the left." God is the author and perfector of your faith! He will do this. Draw close to Him. That is the key and be patient while He molds you into His image!
[girlsmiley] [lovingsmiley]

[love2bmom]

So perfectly put Leslie!

[ThreeRedheads]

I wanted to add...
I have been reading a wonderful book about teaching the word of God to our kids. Using it in disciplining them..it talks about how we can refer to God's word to train up our kids.
It is called "Don't Make Me Count to Three". I can get the author for you, it is Ginger Plowman, I think.
It is cool how we can refer to the Bible and God in all aspects of our life.
The Bible tells us to come to Him like little children. The reason it says that, is because children are open to Him, ready to hear the truth and eager for it! We adults are the ones who analize, criticize and contemplate.
Hang it there..your heart is in the right place. We don't need to preach a sermon to our kids, we just need to live a godly life, the best we can. He will do the rest!

We actually do a Sunday School type scenario - we sit them down and tell them a Bible Story and then get them to play a Bible story (pretend to be the animals on NOah's Ark or something) or colour in.

I know Angela is too young for the above, but I know there are quite a lot of good books for tweens such as "women of the Bible" which are novel style bible stories for older kids, you could read it together and use it as an opening to talk about the Lord.

Also a devotion book for her age group could help if you sit down and talk about it with her after reading one a day.

You can also share your experiences with the Lord.

No one ever really talked to me about the LOrd in my home, it was always in an extremely negative context if they did, in the context of laying the guilts on me - but I am free of that now!! Praise God.

Good luck!

[SpiritFilledMomof2]

I have found the more I have grown in my relationship with God the more natural and comfortable it is for me to talk about him, especially with my children. Being Christians is our way of life now, not just on Sundays. It sounds like you are doing a lot of the right things. I also pray A LOT [prayer]. There are a lot of times when I have been stumped about something. I ask God to direct me and give me knowledge on how to lead my children. God knows what's in your heart. He also cares about your daughters heart as well. The fact that you are making an effort and trying says a lot. A couple of good books I have referred to are Teaching Kids about God by John Trent, Phd. & 801 Questions Kids Ask About God, (no author). I got them both from Focus on the Family.

[ThreeRedheads]

Another good one is, "Spiritual Growth of Children" put out by Focus on the Family.
One thing I don't want to be, which my kids will see right through, is a hypocrite. We need to live our life by example.
I need God's help every day. I can't do this parenting thing with out his help.

Thankyou everyone...I've drawn some ideas from your suggestions...

I remembered something last night...I was watching a young girl who kept trying to dance in the isles and her parents wouldn't let her...

I remembered that before, when Angela was maybe 3 or 4, she would watch me dance at our home when I listened to praise..She and I used to sing and dance and PTL all the time! Then she would go to church and do the same and I never tried to stop her...

So perhaps she's been so "disconnected" is because I have been so dead inside for the past three years...All that is different now....If I look past my exhaustion this morning, I'll find that I'm really quite :D

So living by example is the first item of the day :D

[ThreeRedheads]

Lis,
Well, I am going to pray for you today! Just know that we all struggle as moms. We will not be perfect examples for our kids. We will make mistakes. God loves us regardless. Hang in there and just love your kids..God will give you the moments to teach them about His love.
Peace!

I found 2 really cool books at the thrift store..One is " First Steps in the Bible" and the other is "Bible Heroes"...all together they costed me $1.39 and Angela just loves them! They have little stories and then easy questions to see if you were paying attention...I may be taking the easy way out, but aside from getting her to church and answering any questions she might have, I'd just assume read these stories to her..

[love2bmom]

Great I am so glad you were able to find something she can relate to and enjoy :D

[SpiritFilledMomof2]

I found 2 really cool books at the thrift store..One is " First Steps in the Bible" and the other is "Bible Heroes"...all together they costed me $1.39 and Angela just loves them! They have little stories and then easy questions to see if you were paying attention...I may be taking the easy way out, but aside from getting her to church and answering any questions she might have, I'd just assume read these stories to her..

No, you are not taking the easy way out! Sounds like God made those tools available to you and they are working :D For now if that is what is working for you then that is awesome! I was also thinking of something else I do is play praise music whenever I can. In the house and in the car. I have some childrens praise cd's that have kids bible songs. The girls really love to listen to them. It may not be exactly talking to them, but it is a way I can introduce Jesus to them and practice worshiping together with them.

Funny you mentioned that..Just as I clicked on this message, Angela asked me just out of the blue

What is worship?

Little opportunies like that just pop up from time to time..

[SpiritFilledMomof2]

Praise Jesus! [jesuschristsign] I just love the way God works sometimes [highfive]