Ask for Help

My sister and I were talking a few weeks ago about how we wanted to bring more scripture and more of our Christian faith into our homes and into the lives of our children.  As we were brainstorming we both came up with our own plans, which seem to be similar at heart.  We want to present the scripture in a fun way, not a forced way.  We want it to be routine but not 3 times a day every day no matter what.

My sister already has a family game night each week.  They don't make plans, they order pizza (so Mom doesn't have to cook), they play a game and sometimes watch a movie.  But they spend that night fully focused on their family.  Her kids are 7 and 5 now!  Whoa, that can't be possible.   Anyhow, she wanted to add a Biblical element to the night.  So she ordered a family devotional, I will have to get the name of it and her feelings on it this far.  It has daily devotionals that they are going to do weekly.  Then she is going to post the scripture on a new chalkboard she placed in the entrance/exit of her home.  She was hoping it would catch their eye and they would ask what it said.  She was right and it lent to a really nice moment of reading the scripture to her children.  As they leave for school in the morning they can read the weekly scripture, talk and pray about it.  Pretty neat idea!

One of the other ideas Angela and I had was to share prayer requests amongst the children.  Colton and Riley could give us things to pray about and Lachlan and Peter could share things with them to pray about.  This would not only teach them to pray for others but also to think of things to bring to God in prayer. 

For me I just kept thinking of the 2 boxes of Experience God curriculum that I haven't gotten to because I haven't made it routine.  My hope was to make it more routine than it is now.  So I have had the first lesson of the new month (we finally finished the first month, started in May) waiting for days.  Every time I pull it out Lachlan was grumpy, not in the mood.

So the lesson we finally finished today was called Ask for Help.  The question was: When have you asked for help?  Lachlan said "Uh Mom," like he was forming a question.  Then he told me that he asks me for apples.  I love their answers, not sure if he has ever asked me for apples.  Experience God had us write down letters on pieces of paper.  I wrote, L, P, T, and J, all of the first letters of our names.  All of which Peter can distinguish and tell me which family member they belong to.

I placed the letters face down on the floor and I picked one up with the letter facing out so I could not see it.  I asked Lachlan to "help" me figure out what letter it is but he can't tell me the name of it.  First he traced it in the air, then he formed it with his fingers, then I asked him what sound it made.  Turns out I had the letter T.  So then it was Lachlan's turn and there were three more letters.  He picked up J first and I traced it in the air and then I told him it was Daddy's letter and it made the /j/j/ sound.  "J" he exclaimed.

So the point of this little exercise?  To point out that we all need help sometimes and that we can always ask for help from God just like we asked for help from each other to figure out the letter.  The Explain strip through the middle of the page was actually a scripture verse.  Mathew 21:22 Jesus said to ask him for anything.  He wants to share his greatness with us. 

Wow, we can ask Jesus for help!  What do you think you could ask Jesus to help you with?  He didn't have an idea so I came up with some.  You could ask him to help you be patient and wait for Trick or Treating.  This is the first year Lachlan is getting this holiday and he chose to be a pumpkin.  I picked him up a super cute pumpkin costume at a children's resale store and he wears it all the time.  Always asking, when is Halloween.  Which is over a month away.  I gave him some other ideas, but this one apparently stuck.

A few minutes later he stopped me in the hall and said "I want to pray to Jesus."  Okay bud.  He started his prayer "Dear Jesus, I really want to wear my costume, I do, I just do . . ."  I thought hmm, he might need help figuring out how to finish this.  "Please help me to wait for Halloween."  He repeated after me and said "Amen."

It was so great for all of this to come together and for Lachlan, for the first time, think about how God could help him.  Not only that God could help him but that he could ask God in prayer.  He has prayed for things before but never thought through it quite like this. 

We finished up this time by sitting down and I had the boys each pick some colors they wanted to read from the Virtue Training Bible.  Another amazing tool for my family.  We read a handful of scriptures including one that called the Lord our God a fortress.  It was fun to tell Lachlan what a fortress was and how God can be our fortress.  It's been a good day.

Setting up the Virtue Training Bible - and a Giveaway!

Click here for my First thoughts on the Virtue Training Bible.  I am now at Step 2, setting up the Virtue Training Bible.

It's been interesting setting up the Virtue Training Bible.  Interesting in a good way.  Originally I thought about the Bible I had stored away in the garage for setting up as the Virtue Training Bible.  It wouldn't cost anymore money and it was here in our house, somewhere.  Sadly, our garage is a mess.  The box is who knows where and it dawned on me that it would take forever to track it down.  My next thought was, well I will just go buy a new Bible at Wal-Mart or somewhere, it can't be that expensive and it would be worth it in order to get this started.  We were visiting my in laws at their home and I thought I should at least ask my mother in law, Grandma Norma, if she happened to have an extra Bible around that they don't use.  Turns out, she had bought me a Women's Devotional Bible for Christmas and had it stored away in the closet.  When I asked, and told her what it was for, she was happy to give me this gift a little early.  Yay!  I have a Bible.

It's a beautiful Bible with a pink flower and bright green binding.  Not that aesthetics matter all that much when it comes to Bible's but I did think the bright colors of the Bible would go nicely with the bright colors of the tabs and highlights.

So that night I got to work, I couldn't wait.  I read through the instructions, the first time I had done that they seemed a bit confusing, but there was a lot going on at the time.  The reality is, it's not that complicated, you just have to get started.

See how the card on top has colors wrapped all the way around it?  That is the VTB (Virtue Training Bible) key.  It is to be glued or taped into the front of the Bible.  It tells you which colors cover which virtues and where they are located.  The cards below it in this picture are called "Tabbers" by Mindy at VTB.  They are simply used for the set up.  You start with the Tabber with colors striped across the top.  You start at the binding and then work from Revelations to Genesis, back to front.  On the Tabber, under compassion, the first virtue, it has all the versus you are to look up and highlight and then mark with a tab.  Then you move on to Contentment and do the same, before you know it you are on your way.

I think my Bible's pages are a little smaller than the 9"x6" size that is recommended.  The cover is the right size but the pages are not.  So I really had to make sure the colors were tight together, even over lapping some.  You can see the red compassion tabs are really tucked into the middle by the binding.  As it gets out to the end I had to overlap Gentleness and Goodness, the purple and pink.  But it's going to work out just fine.

As I was going along I discovered a few things.  One, when the pages are open and you stick a tab even with another tab of the same color so they are all lined up, then you close the Bible, they shift with the page and aren't in line.  So you have to put the tabs in place when the Bible is in an almost closed position and just slide them in there.

Also, some of the highlighter colors are so dark when you actually highlight over the words you can't see them.  My husband said he used to underline the words.  So when the highlighter colors were too dark, that is what I would do.  Red was one of them and blue.

Here is a page with 2 colors highlighted.  You can see the red is just underlined.

I have all the top tabs done and am just beginning on tabbing on the edge.  So far it has been a great journey.  At first I thought, there is no way you can highlight verses with out reading them at the same time.  Well that's not true.  You can very easily watch for the numbers and highlight with out reading.  I have done some of it this way, but I don't recommend it.  Reading it as you go is how you get the most out of it.  I had no idea I had as much envy in my heart as I did, until I started reading the Contentment verses as I was highlighting.  I was definitely reminded to be happy with what I have.  For me, it's mostly the strong desire for comfort, not riches.  I don't want abundance I just want to be more comfortable.  But even just wanting comfort it's hard not to be convicted when Paul can write Philippians while in prison and say these words: I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:11-13

I think I can find a way to be content in my home, with my food on the table every day, my friends and few enemies, my gadgets and gismos a plenty and my beautiful family.  We all have our moments of despair, but that's the power of God's word.  It can lift you out in an instant.

Yesterday was a particularly tough day for me and my husband.  In those moments I always turn to prayer, that's easy, but I seldom turn to the Word.  Yesterday, I grabbed my half finished VTB.  I looked at the Virtues and said Lord I need a little Courage and I need a little Endurance.  So I flipped to those colors and started reading.  A few verses in I read this:  "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33  A peace washed through me and I could feel the burden being lifted.  You may read this verse and you may not feel anything, but for me in that moment it was what I needed to hear and it was what God was speaking to me.  How precious a gift.  

I appreciate you taking this journey with me and reading this far!  I can't help but be long winded about this subject.  But I have good news!  Virtue Training Bible is offering a giveaway.  If you are interested in taking this same journey and having this same tool in your home please enter to win.  You won't be sorry.  

And the Winner is . . . Sandy D.  I just sent you an email, so check your inbox!  

If you aren't the lucky winner, I highly recommend you head over to the Virtue Training Bible site and order your set now, it's only $9.00.  

Entry-Form

My first thoughts on the Virtue Training Bible

I contacted Mindy about her Virtue Training Bible.  I told her that I had heard a lot about this set and the Children's Training Bible and I was wondering if I could give it a try and write a review.  God bless her, she sent one out.  She warned me that she was just sending the set up instructions, that the Bible and all the labeling would be up to me.

So here comes the package in the mail. It's filled with brightly colored and beautifully printed instructions and little inserts you glue in or place in the Bible.  With hundreds of verses for you to color coordinate and highlight.  I set it aside and told myself I need to go to the store and buy the highlighters and Post-It flags.  Pretty soon time is flying by, we are talking months and I still haven't gotten to a store that would carry such things.  These months also happened to fall in my first trimester of our third child coming in February and busy summer months.  Feeling pretty guilty at this point I contact Mindy to apologize and get right on Amazon to order the additional needed supplies.  Finally my Amazon box arrives and I have all I need, minus the Bible, to put this together.  The Bible is packed away in the garage, it was mine as a teenager.  We will get it out soon. (I ended up using a different Bible, more on this later.)

So why do I tell you this pathetic story?  Well because it has what I think, is a good ending.  I was raised in a church where we didn't really crack the Bible very often to dig for scripture.  Now that was many years ago, so the years between then and now I can only pin on myself.  I have bought the already put together Study Bibles hoping that would help my exploration of the Bible.  Nope.  The best exploration of course, comes when I am a part of a Bible Study.  However, something has hit me in the last week or so and it's hit me pretty hard.

We had an amazing weekend about a week ago.  We traveled to Washington state, visited family and then stayed and spent all day Monday with Jeff's best friend, a fellow Christian couple and it was just rejuvenating.  Yet when Tuesday came upon both Jeff and I we were overwhelmed with a heavy cloud.  For me the trigger was looking on Facebook and seeing the news feed of senseless crimes, and lots of anger from all directions as well as stories of abortion which always way heavy on my heart.  I kept praying because this feeling was so foreign to me and I was continually comforted.  Reassured that we are in His hands, that even if the evils of this world touch our lives, He will carry us through.

I had this realization on that day that I need to bring more scripture into our home.  I really didn't fully understand why I felt this.  But it sunk it a little more when we had some Australian relatives visit on Labor Day.  I was sharing our story of the last few years and some of our struggles and how we took some leaps of faith, trusting God, not knowing the outcome.  Then Philip and Elizabeth shared their story and he made a point that resonated with me.  He said that sometimes we as Christians can be a little passive with our faith, that we can sit back and pray and trust that God will take care of us and protect us.  Of course he said there is nothing wrong with that sort of faith.  But he also said that we as Christians sometimes need to be more militant.  Or in other words, on guard, proactive or on offense, not just defense.  We were given a sword, God's word, we should use it.  Finally all my thoughts came together.

Why did I feel this need to have more scripture, more of God's word in my home after feeling so bombarded by the evils of this world?  To be on guard for my family, to be proactive and not passive with my faith.  How many times are we told this from the pulpit?  Yet we still don't take action.  I tell you all this to paint for you my thoughts on The Virtue Training Bible.  No longer do I see it as a chore to set up and prepare this Bible for my family.  I see it as a great responsibility and a great opportunity to dig through the word of God in a way I have never done before.  I think by having to set up this Bible on your own, rather than purchase it already done, you have to show your commitment and desire to truly have scripture at hand in your home. 

I am afraid this journey of setting up and using this Bible will warrant more than one, I would say probably more than 2 posts.  I do hope you don't mind Mindy.  I thank you in advance for the impact all your hard work will have on me and my family.

Lord, my deepest desire is for my family to be surrounded by your scripture.  Please open my eyes to the wonders of your word and help me to grow in awe of the sword you have given us.  I pray that I will learn to turn to your word not only on dark days but on days of rejoicing.  Help me to stay strong in this pursuit.  In Jesus' name, Amen.