Tuesday mornings with Joelle

Joelle and I met for the second time this morning.  The first time was last Tuesday around 6am.  I introduced the Bible study we would be using and walked her through the first couple of questions.  We worked on our study throughout the week and met again this morning before all of my other children got up.

Can I just tell you how much of a blessing this has been to me?!  I am so glad I started doing this with Joelle!  I decided to use the "Basics for Believers" study because I already had it on hand.  But I'm so glad we're using it because it's so basic and establishes the foundation of our faith.  It's also very clear and easy enough for a young person to understand.  

We used a tally system for memorizing our verse.  We drew a little chart at the bottom of the page labeled with the days of the week.  Each day our goal is to say it at least three times and make tally marks.  This is such a good method if you feel like it's hard to memorize verses.  It also makes it very "doable"...like less of a mountain to climb.  Each day I answered two or three questions and it took me about five minutes.  Which means I can still continue to study other things.  In other words this whole venture is adding so much to my life rather than taking away.

And a little confession...I realized this morning how rarely I pray with Joelle one on one.  Especially how little we pray together when there isn't a problem we are dealing with.  Wow...so thankful for our time this morning.

We were able to talk about so much in the space of an hour.  Here are a few highlights...

~only those who have the Son have eternal life (1 John 5:11-12)  You either have him or you don't (by faith)

~falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) is like shooting an arrow and missing the bull's eye.  We all sin and fall short.

~what it means to repent of sin

~we still sin as Christians but it should grieve us and we should desire to turn from it.  God is always willing to forgive (1 John 1:9) and he promises to cleanse us.

~according to 1 John 5:13 we CAN KNOW that we have eternal life if we have believed in Jesus.  

~we spoke about prayer...confessing our sin to God and how we take our frustrations and annoyances to God and ask him to help us...which led to talking about building our "house" rather than tearing it down (Proverbs 14:1). 

Because really it's one or the other.  Every thought, every action, every word.  Are we building up or tearing down...brick by brick...

I was so edified by this time with my daughter.  And maybe, just maybe...she was edified too.

Oh, and I'm really excited about a little trip to Hobby Lobby with her today.  We've both been ill lately so it'll be great to go out together!

Maybe there is a little something more you could do with your children?  

Even if you keep it simple and start small...

Go for it!  You won't regret it.  Our time with them is so short.