Sunday, August 23, 2015

God's Alphabet for Life

Here is yet another treasure I found while at the AFHE conventionGod's Alphabet for Life - devotions for young children written by Joel R. Beeke and Heidi Boorsma.  This is our main daily devotion for each day.  It's an ABC book with a scripture that starts with the Letter the week.  One to two pages of a story/lesson follows each verse.

My children love memorizing the verses and reciting them each morning or throughout the day :)  They usually take turns so they can show how well they know them.  Even my two year old recites them.  I give her the first word and she says the rest along with most of the reference.
Ex. Ask and it shall be given you.  Matthew 7:7a
We memorize them in a sing-songy voice to help recollection.  Songs are an excellent tool for memorizing.

The first day, the children recite the past verses followed by practice of the new verse.  Then, I read the story/lesson that goes along with the scripture.  We discuss the lesson as I read.  Following days will not always include a reading of the lesson.

Within the lesson, is a prayer.  I highlight the prayer.  This prayer is added to our morning prayers for the rest of the week.  Sometimes we include past prayers in our morning prayer time also.

Along with our morning prayers is a prayer we pray often throughout the day:
"Jesus, put smiles on our faces, love in our hearts, and joy on our lips.
In Jesus precious name, Amen."
We also each decided on two things for which we need prayer.  I wrote those prayers on a construction paper for us to refer to each morning or more often if needed.  The children like praying for themselves when we get to their prayers.  This helps show the children that mommy and daddy have things they need to work on also.  We are never too old to learn or too 'good' to stop growing in Christ.

The following is our morning devotion order:

Prayer - 'smile', two things each, devotion book prayer
Recite scriptures - taking turns, help when needed
Devotional book - reading/discussion
The Person I Marry: Things I'll Think About Long Before Saying "I Do" by Gary Bower            (We just read the first page during devotions.)                                                                     Reading - review main ideas so far, read a few pages with discussion and using the dictionary, drawing pictures of what was read today, explaining pictures

I try to keep each devotional time to within 30 minutes.  On the first day, I may do the Reading later in the day as to keep the children's interest and keep them from becoming fidgety.

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As I sit here so late in the evening and type, I realize that my goal of one blog per day may cause too much stress and lack of sleep of which is not good.  However, I will still strive to type each day, but it may take me a few days to complete one blog.  Blessings :)

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