Applying Proverbs

We are almost half way through our journey in Proverbs this month!  I am amazed at the new treasures I find each day!  It is always applicable!  I hope you are staying on track and being blessed and filled with great truth.  If you have missed a day or two or three... there is grace in that!  Just pick up where you left off and move forward.  God has something for you.

The past few days my attention has been drawn to verses that can help me in my mothering.  These are verses I need to apply to my own life, model before my family and others, and teach to my children.  I wanted to share with you these verses and encourage you to incorporate them into your training and disciplining. Did you notice how many times Proverbs reminds us, "Listen carefully, pay attention, keep my words, keep my commands, gain understanding, etc."?  I especially love reminders to never let love and faithfulness leave us... to "bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."  Oh, this is a prayer of mine!  And another great cry of my heart is that the Lord's word would be hidden so deeply within my heart... but also in the hearts of my children.  At the core, this is where LIFE is found... in trusting Christ as Savior, following him and living a life of obedience because we have been compelled by His great love!  I have listed several verses to share, as well as a few tips that can help us remember, think more on and hopefully memorize these great nuggets of wisdom:

Proverbs 12:18
"Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."
Application: Teaching ourselves and our children to be gentle in how we speak to one another; to avoid raising our voices, yelling or using hurtful words.

Proverbs 12:22
"The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful."
Application:  God loves when we tell the truth!  This is a reminder for us to always speak the truth.

Proverbs 13:3
"He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin."
Application:  Similar to Proverbs 12:18; However I love how my study Bible expanded on it:
"You have not mastered self-control if you do not control what you say.  Words can cut and destroy.  James recognized this truth when he said, 'The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts' (James 3:5). If you want to be self-controlled, begin with your tongue.  Stop and think before you react or speak.  If you can control this small but powerful member, you can control the rest of your body."

Proverbs 14:12
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
Application:  I take this verse as quite honestly reminding me that my ways are not his ways... my ways are most naturally from my flesh... Sometimes I roll my eyes instead of practicing self-control and I also take short cuts in chores sometimes because I'm being lazy.  The right choice often requires self-sacrifice and even hard work.  This is a good way to lead into sharing how we need to walk in the Spirit!  Turn ahead to Galatians 5:16-26 and share the ways walking by the Spirit is contrary to gratifying the desires of the sinful nature.

Proverbs 14:17
"A quick tempered man does foolish things."
Application: Anger

Proverbs 15: 1
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
Application:  I think this one speaks for itself.... replacing anger with gentleness.

1.  Look at multiple translations of a verse you are wanting to learn with your children.  Better yet, read it in a Study Bible!

I usually read out of my New International Version (NIV) Bible & Study Bible, but also like looking at the English Standard Version (ESV).  A great paraphrase of Scripture in modern day language is The Message Bible.  I always enjoy re-reading verses in this translation.  Sometimes it helps me to understand them better and in turn will help me to explain them better to my children.


2.  Place the scripture you want to remember and bring into your parenting all around your house.

I started this in college.  It began on small notecards displayed along the edges of my mirror in my room. When I got married, I began to hang them throughout the house.  You can get as creative as color coding words in fancy handwriting and putting them on colorful paper with scrapbooking backgrounds OR you can just write it on a strip of paper with a magic marker!  Hang them on your mirrors, your refrigerator, tape it to the wall, or put it on your nightstand.  The possibilities are endless!  I like to change them every so often, but always keep my cards so that I can always pull them back out.

3.  Make a habit of reading the verses (maybe even aloud) as you see them throughout your home.

Before opening the fridge, pause and read the verse in front of you.  Maybe even ask your children to repeat after you as you read it and then talk about it.  I try to remember to not only talk about scripture just when I'm disciplining my children.  Talk through it with them like it tells us in Deuteronomy (5:4-9) as you sit at home, walk along the road (or ride in the car), at bedtime, meal time as a family, and when you wake in the morning.  Prepare them for how the verse is applicable by talking through scenarios or role playing how it looks to live it out:  For example, Romans 12:10 tells us to, "honor one another above yourself (Romans 12:10)".  I may have a conversation with my oldest about how she can honor her little brother above herself when he wants to play with a toy that she has.  She can choose to give it to him rather than keeping it for herself. Or when they are both wanting to sing a song for me or say the mealtime prayer, she can tell her little brother to go ahead and sing or pray first.  This is humility and honor.

4.  Pray Scripture for your children.

For example, if your child is struggling with telling the truth, pray Proverbs 12:22 for them.  It can be a prayer as simple as:  "Lord, you delight in truth!  I pray that my child would also delight in truth and only speak truth.  Help ______ to guard her lips from speaking lies."

~I would really love to hear any other ideas you have for us as we continue to read through Proverbs.  Also, please share any verses that you want to specifically use in your parenting.  I would love to hear how God is speaking to you!~

October Challenge

October has 31 days and there are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs... Join me in committing to reading one chapter of Proverbs a day for the month of October.  

I've done this a couple times before, both alone and with Ken.  If you can read it with your husband that is great but even to sit alone and think on the wisdom it offers is worth the time.  It is an amazing source of godly wisdom... living and active, applying to you and me today! It is great for all believers, especially for moms and dads as you are daily instructing and training your children in the Lord, really good for us women who tend to have trouble controlling our tongues (which has the power of life and death... sobering stuff) and maybe even nagging our husbands to the point of torture... also, money, pride, the ways of a fool, speaking truth, envy, being gentle, and forgiveness to name only a few treasures.  The last time I did this was in March.  I kept a journal and took notes daily as I read.  It can take as little as 5 minutes or much more depending on how much time you want to spend in there.  

Here is a cool personal testimony as to why I encourage you to do this: 

On Monday, March 5 we found out we had lost our baby.  That same day I was two days behind on reading from the weekend and caught up reading chapters 3-5 that morning before going to the doctor.  When I got home after having what felt like the wind knocked out of me, I had to lay down and take a few minutes to process the news.  It was then I felt the Lord prompting me to choose:  to fall into a pit of great despair and sadness (which I felt myself sinking into) or to CHOOSE to trust him.  He was not telling me don't grieve, but he was asking me to let him carry me.  He was asking for me to step out and trust him in a moment when I had no control of the outcome.  He wanted me to step into rough waters, be willing to trust him wherever he might lead me.  He wanted me to ultimately find my rest in him alone. 


I knew what he was asking of me.  But I really wanted to just do it my way.  It was then he told me to get my Bible.  He lead me back to what I had read earlier that morning and so straight to Proverbs 3:5 I went (notice the date was also 3-5-13).  It reads, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."  To be honest when I read it that morning my attitude was wrong toward that verse.  I actually thought, "yea, yea I know that verse... I've heard that before... I want something new."  But then God brought me back to it and shined a new light on what it really meant to trust him when I did not understand, when I did not have control, when my faith was failing and my heart questioning him.  It was a time of awakening for me.  It was in that moment I decided to trust God even though I was grieved terribly and did not understand why this had happened.  As much as it meant giving up my way, it was an easy choice because I knew after all he had done for me I could not keep from giving him all of me.  It's really amazing to me how even when we don't understand our circumstances we can still choose Him and trust Him!  And now, looking back, I am sure that because of going through a miscarriage and making the choice to trust him I experienced the sweetest time I have ever had with the Lord.  

It was surely no coincidence I read that verse on that day and the date coincided with the verse he took me to.  The Lord has those same kind of treasures for you to find in His word if only we will chose daily to sit at his feet, dig into his word and listen.  

You have about a week to psyche yourself up for this challenge!  Hope you will! 

The Full Extent of Love

My daughter has been a little manic over wearing shoes lately. As soon as she wakes up she puts on a pair... even before bed she picks out a pair to wear until right before we tuck her in. She is shoe crazy! It's cute to see her prance around in a different pair every hour through the day. We laugh watching her go from ballerina to cowgirl to school girl with her rain boots on. It was real sweet... until the stinch began. Playing together in the evening, Ken always sniffs the kid's feet to kiddingly say “shew wee”, but this time it wasn't a joke. They really did stink! My husband and I started noticing a pattern of her feet being a bit stinkier than usual. Then, it hit me... she is prancing around the house all day in shoes and not wearing socks! New rule: Must wear socks with shoes. This hasn't slowed down her shoe shuffle a bit. She just knows now to put some socks on first.

So I was thinking today while the kids were napping about love... it is Valentine's Day after all! We've had fun this week making sweet treats and homemade Valentines for our loved ones but I have especially had fun talking about who love is. God is love (1 John 4:8). Love is not simply an attribute of God's character... it IS God. And I love sharing that with my little ones. I started thinking about the ways God shows His love and the first story that came to mind was the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet before the Passover Feast (John 13). I remembered that the Bible says this is how Jesus showed them the "full extent of his love". I love how he is intentional in all he does... nothing lacks in purpose. It's a beautiful picture of how Christ has washed us of all our sin through the finished work of the cross! It also demonstrates Christ's humility as a servant even to the point of death, death on a cross. It is an example he was setting for us...

“You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.... no servant is greater than his master.” John 13: 14,16a

Think about washing someone's feet... not the cute, sweet, little feet of your babies. Even though my daughter's feet were every bit of stinky, it was effortless and without second thought that I washed them and, truthfully, I'd probably even kiss them! Think instead of grown men's feet, dusty and dirty. Peter protested, “You shall never wash my feet (vs. 8).”  Seeing his Master behave like a slave must have confused Peter. But I love the answer Jesus gives, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”  What a heavy statement. Unless we are washed by the blood of Christ we can have no part, no fellowship with Him.  Jesus was the ultimate servant.  So much of our society tells us to be proud, to build up yourself, make life about you and what you want, what you deserve, after all we've worked so hard it is owed to us, right? It was even the “Word on the Street” on Sesame Street one morning... I turned that off quick. Pride is destructive.

Proverbs 16:18 says, “First pride, then the crash- the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.”

As believers, we should only boast in Christ and what he has done for us (Galatians 6:14). Jesus, himself, was the very opposite of prideful. He was humble. He put aside himself and out of love served.  My Bible went further in depth to explain it this way, “If even he, God in the flesh, is willing to serve, we his followers must also be servants, willing to serve in any way that glorifies God.” 

We can show God's love through serving others. The story is not just about washing someone's feet, it is about placing others above yourself, laying down pride, loving sacrifically. Whether it is inside my home (where it begins) or outside of my home, I am called as a believer to serve others. Love, himself, served.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his corss and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?'” Matthew 16:24-26