Family reading:
For the past year and a half, we have been so
blessed by this special time together.
Let me tell you the details…
There are no specific nights set aside for
this. It happens about 2 nights per
week. We just see that there is some
time available in the evening...where all our chores are done, kids in
jammers(pj’s) and somewhat ready for bed, and Daddy is not off teaching
somewhere. We snuggle up and either Mama
or Daddy reads one chapter.
The current books of choice are Missionary Stories
published by YWAM and written by Janet and Geoff Benge, shared with us by the precious Hoosier
family.
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They are
wonderfully written “biography” type books about some faithful servants of God
who trusted Him fully and gave their lives to Him and for Him…for the glory of
His name among “the nations”.
They give our children a picture of what it means
to “go and make disciples”, and trust that “He will be with you”. We’ve seen it over and over again in each
book how the Lord has raised up a faithful servant and shown him/her His
faithfulness…what a faith builder for all of us!
We see in His word how often He shows His
faithfulness to many who fail Him…ummm…hello Israelites…
This is just another reminder for us and our children
that His faithfulness did not exist only in biblical times…but in the lives of
those missionaries we read about…and we also can recount His faithfulness in
our lives…over and over again.
One of the most
beautiful moments that just blessed my heart and continues to each time I
recall it was when we were reading “George Muller”. We were about halfway through the book and
George was in a time of need…and our son said, “Oh no, now what is George gonna
do?” then there was a pause….and he answered himself saying, “PRAY
GEORGE…that’s what he always does…he must Pray!” And if you know anything about George Muller…you
know that’s exactly what he did and God was faithful, yet again.
Maybe you have a busy schedule, maybe you are big
TV watchers, maybe your kiddos don’t typically like to sit perfectly in one
spot while you read aloud endless pages of a Grudem’s “Systematic Theology”….
Consider a night where you make intentional time to
not “be busy”, to turn off the TV and to let the kiddos build with lego blocks
in the floor quietly while you read a chapter aloud…give it a few chapters to
get everyone really “into” the book and see where it goes…
I think you won’t
regret it.
We began when my babies where
4 and 8…AND....Family Reading is one of our "Favorite Things"!
