Family Journal with Mary DeMuth: February 2009 Archives

How has God been for you in the past six months? How has He encouraged you in your marriage? Your parenting? Read this verse: "Do you see what we've got? An unshakeable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander" (Hebrews 12:28, MSG). Write a prayer to God, thanking Him for His specific encouragement. If you'd like, ask Him to show you how He's not an indifferent bystander in your life.

--Mary E. DeMuth

This is part of Mary E. DeMuth's guided journal, "Creating the Family You Always Wanted," a 12-week journey in Christian parenting. Twice a week, you'll receive a new journaling prompt encouraging you to think about your family--and God--in new ways. Use these prompts in your own journal or in group discussion. If you're joining this journal mid-way through, you can start journaling at any time, and stay subscribed at the end, when the journal will restart and you can receive the prompts that you missed.

We live in a world of consumption, where life consists more in what we have than who we are. How do you want your children to view materialism? Psychologist Mary Pipher, author of The Shelter of Each Other, observes, "The propaganda that life is made much happier by purchases encourages adults and children to make bad decisions about their time and money. Children alternate between the belief that products will make them happy and a deep cynicism about the promises of the adult world." List five counter-cultural ways you can steer your children away from consumption and toward relationships.

--Mary E. DeMuth

This is part of Mary E. DeMuth's guided journal, "Creating the Family You Always Wanted," a 12-week journey in Christian parenting. Twice a week, you'll receive a new journaling prompt encouraging you to think about your family--and God--in new ways. Use these prompts in your own journal or in group discussion. If you're joining this journal mid-way through, you can start journaling at any time, and stay subscribed at the end, when the journal will restart and you can receive the prompts that you missed.

Dr. Ross Campbell, author of How to Really Love Your Child, touts the importance of parents giving this type of attention: "Focused attention is giving a child full, undivided attention in such a way that he feels without doubt that he is completely loved. That he is valuable enough in his own right to warrant parents' undistracted watchfulness, appreciation, and uncompromising regard. In short, focused attention makes a child feel he is the most important person in the world in his parents' eyes."

Write about a time during your childhood when an adult gave you complete, focused attention. How did you feel? What did his/her attention communicate to you? On your calendar, schedule dates with each of your children, nieces, nephews or other young family members.

--Mary E. DeMuth

This is part of Mary E. DeMuth's guided journal, "Creating the Family You Always Wanted," a 12-week journey in Christian parenting. Twice a week, you'll receive a new journaling prompt encouraging you to think about your family--and God--in new ways. Use these prompts in your own journal or in group discussion. If you're joining this journal mid-way through, you can start journaling at any time, and stay subscribed at the end, when the journal will restart and you can receive the prompts that you missed.

As a parent, my tank sometimes reaches empty, unable to give from what's left inside. I forget that God wants to overflow me with His presence. Instead of making myself parent correctly, He wants me to tap into His available strength so I am able to cheerfully give to my children. Jesus said, "Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says" (John 7:38, MSG). Paul says, "Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7, NIV). We give out of the abundance God pours into us. What would it look like if you lived this way in your family today? Describe a day in the life of you living from your abundance, giving cheerfully.

--Mary E. DeMuth

This is part of Mary E. DeMuth's guided journal, "Creating the Family You Always Wanted," a 12-week journey in Christian parenting. Twice a week, you'll receive a new journaling prompt encouraging you to think about your family--and God--in new ways. Use these prompts in your own journal or in group discussion. If you're joining this journal mid-way through, you can start journaling at any time, and stay subscribed at the end, when the journal will restart and you can receive the prompts that you missed.

When I watch my children sleep at night, I marvel that God entrusted me with them. Not only are they a huge blessing to me as a mom, but their presence and need cause me to run to Jesus more. As Dr. Dan Allender writes in How Children Raise Parents, "Our children raise us to the degree that we are willing to receive them as the gift God gave us to mature us to be like him."

Not only does God give us children to help us grow into devoted followers of Him, but He gives them simply because they are a blessing. How have your children helped you mature in God? Write a note to each of your children expressing your gratitude for how God created them.

--Mary E. DeMuth

This is part of Mary E. DeMuth's guided journal, "Creating the Family You Always Wanted," a 12-week journey in Christian parenting. Twice a week, you'll receive a new journaling prompt encouraging you to think about your family--and God--in new ways. Use these prompts in your own journal or in group discussion. If you're joining this journal mid-way through, you can start journaling at any time, and stay subscribed at the end, when the journal will restart and you can receive the prompts that you missed.

Playing the comparison game can sap your verve for parenting. Dr. Tim Kimmel, author of Grace Based Parenting, says, "[Parents] often measure their effectiveness as parents by how they compare to others. They monitor other families and serve as a...

Play-acting at godly parenting doesn't bring life. First, we must run to Jesus, seeking His help, His strength, His perspective on life. His infusion into our souls changes our family life. Dr. Tim Kimmel agrees: "When families are committed to...