God uses my daughter for my sanctification: today's example
Today I had a rough day. I was sleep-deprived, I couldn't find half the stuff I was looking for at the grocery store, I can never find things (mostly papers) I need at home because our house is so messy, Rebecca made lots of messes that I had to clean up, she didn't take a nap, and we got our first quote for having our roof replaced, which was higher than we were anticipating. (We originally had thought our roof was fine, but it turns out the hurricane damage was more extensive than we realized, plus our deductible was significantly higher than we realized, and we still have some questions about our coverage.) I also had to make two phone calls today that I shouldn't have had to, due to incompetent people at a doctor's office and our mortgage company (all resolved now, thankfully, but I hate having to take the time to fix other people's mistakes.) Also, Steve has been busier at work this past week than he has been all year, and he's had to work a lot of (unpaid) overtime. All this on top of the ongoing disappointment in and fear of the direction our government is going....
I know that in the grand scheme of things, my life could be much worse, but since my body is already physically challenged, it does not handle emotional stress well. The last couple of months I have actually felt better than I have in the last three years, but still not like a "normal"person, and now I feel like I'm starting to decline again....
Anyway, the point of this story was...I was in the kitchen making dinner tonight, with a not-very-good attitude, and out-of-the-blue, Rebecca asked me to sing A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Well, not totally out-of-the-blue...we did just sing it in worship on Sunday, and we have been trying to teach it to her; but we hadn't been singing anything or talking about God prior to her request. What a song to set my anxious and angry heart straight! The phrase "faith like a child" is becoming better illustrated for me all the time.
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing
Our helper, He, amid the flood of mortal ills, prevailing
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe
His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing
Were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He
Lord Sabaoth His Name, from age to age the same
And He must win the battle.
And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us
We will not fear for God has willed his truth to triumph through us
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth
The Spirit and the gifts are ours, through him who with us sideth
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also
The body they may kill; God's truth abideth still
His Kingdom is forever.
BTW, we sang this at my brother and SIL's wedding. :)
I need to keep teaching my baby girl more songs....
I know that in the grand scheme of things, my life could be much worse, but since my body is already physically challenged, it does not handle emotional stress well. The last couple of months I have actually felt better than I have in the last three years, but still not like a "normal"person, and now I feel like I'm starting to decline again....
Anyway, the point of this story was...I was in the kitchen making dinner tonight, with a not-very-good attitude, and out-of-the-blue, Rebecca asked me to sing A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Well, not totally out-of-the-blue...we did just sing it in worship on Sunday, and we have been trying to teach it to her; but we hadn't been singing anything or talking about God prior to her request. What a song to set my anxious and angry heart straight! The phrase "faith like a child" is becoming better illustrated for me all the time.
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing
Our helper, He, amid the flood of mortal ills, prevailing
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe
His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing
Were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He
Lord Sabaoth His Name, from age to age the same
And He must win the battle.
And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us
We will not fear for God has willed his truth to triumph through us
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth
The Spirit and the gifts are ours, through him who with us sideth
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also
The body they may kill; God's truth abideth still
His Kingdom is forever.
BTW, we sang this at my brother and SIL's wedding. :)
I need to keep teaching my baby girl more songs....
posted by Elisabeth | 5:35 PM
5 Comments:
Praise God for working through our children. I'm sorry you had such a bad day.
How do you teach Rebecca songs with so many words? I was wondering about this with Susannah...do you just sing it over and over? I'm so excited about teaching my little girl to sing great songs!
Heather,
With hymns, we are currently only teaching Rebecca two verses of each hymn she learns, and we only work on two or three hymns at a time. We'll probably add a verse with each year of age. With other shorter songs, I think you can work on more at one time. You have to find the right balance of familiarity and variety, which I think is different for each child, and at different ages. Young children generally favor repetition much more than adults do (same goes with books).
Our main singing times are before nap and bedtime, but we also listen to a lot of music in the car, and sing some while changing diapers or doing other household chores.
At first we'll just sing it and she'll listen. Then we'll leave off the end word in each phrase and see if she can fill it in. Eventually she'll start singing with us, saying the words that she knows and just mumbling the rest, and after several days she'll know all the words.
Our church publishes the bulletin online every Wednesday for the upcoming Sunday service, so we pick one or two that we know we'll be singing, so that she'll be at least somewhat familiar with them by the time we sing them in worship. (She stays with us until right before the sermon, after which she gets to go the the older twos class.)
My brother Stephen suggested that Rebecca was well aware that I needed to sing a good hymn, and that it wasn't as random as I made it sound like. I don't doubt it!
She's very tuned in to my emotions; she cries when I cry, and she's always commenting, "Mommy is laughing" or "Mommy is not being nice," or "Mommy is tired", and she's usually right, although sometimes she can't tell whether I'm tired or frustrated.
A couple months ago she asked me to sing "joyful heart" (A joyful heart is good medicine...) when I was in a particularly bad mood.
Wow, she's like your personal, in-the-flesh conscience! What a beautiful thing to see her tuned in to people's emotions at such a young age (said one of her two "feeling" grandmothers!). Love and hugs!
Post a Comment
<< Home