Blog Archives - ESP Character Training(Explain, Show, Practice)

Feeling God in Prayer

7/31/2012

On the last day of our quiet time study we discussed feeling God
in our prayer time.

As the four girls sat closely on one couch I asked if they could
“feel” each other’s nearness. Did sitting close “feel” different than sitting scattered around the room? Can you “feel” me as I come near you? Do you“feel” the “warmth” of the girl sitting next to you?

James 4: 8 “Come near to God and He will come near to
you.”

**This is a promise; we can expect God to be near us when we
pray.

Psalm 145: 18 “The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth.”

Prayer is fellowship with our Creator. He wants us to draw near—to sit on His lap—to talk and to listen—to “feel” His closeness.

Just as the satisfaction of hanging out with a good friend can
bring us a warm fuzzy feeling, so God wants to warm us with His
presence.

Luke 24: 32 “They asked each other ‘Were not our hearts burning
within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

We prayed: Father, today as we fellowship with You through prayer, we expect You to be near. We desire to feel Your warmth satisfying our deepest needs. We anticipate being energized by being with You. Amen.

Seeing Through Journaling

7/30/2012

Eph. 1: 18a “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you,”

If something comes into our view that we don’t like all we have
to do is close our eyes. There are times that people have even been sharing a particularly yucky story that I have closed my eyes in order to try and not “see” what they are saying. At other times, I can look at something and not even see it. A glance at the clock doesn’t register; I still have no idea what time it is. Ever been caught with your eyes open, yet somewhere else in your mind? We call that sleeping with your eyes open. Eyes are necessary to see, but just because we have eyes doesn’t mean we will see.

Sometimes when we see a deer across the lake, one of us will ask, “Do you see the deer?” Others will ask, “Where?” and the original viewer will try to direct them to the site. Although the second viewer has eyes they need a little help seeing what is there to be seen.

Journaling is a help like that. Journaling is a step that aids us
in thinking through what we have read in the Bible. As we write down what hit us in our reading, God helps us “see” what He is saying to us personally. Often this leads to our “seeing” how we can apply God’s Word to our day to day. This “seeing” what we’re reading and applying it to our lives is also referred to as meditating on God’s Word.

Psalm 1:2 “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His
law he meditates day and night.”

Before we went off to our personal times with the Lord we prayed: Today, Lord, as we read and then journal—open our eyes to see what You want to show us. Open the eyes of our heart to see how You want us to apply Your Word to our day to day.

Tasting - God's Word

7/28/2012

In day two of our quiet time study we focused on reading our Bibles and tasting. Our key verse was: Ps 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Our discussion started with talk about breakfast. Wasn’t breakfast yummy? Was it satisfying? Would it have tasted as good if we would have had it right after supper last night? Why not, it would have been the same food?

Just as food taste better when we are hungry so God’s Word is
more satisfying when we come hungry. In order to taste the Lord’s goodness we must seek and pursue Him. Think of searching God’s Word liking raiding the refrigerator. When we are hungry we open the door and look and look until we find something to fill our tummy, so we need to hunger for God’s guidance and search and search until we find what we need.

In the same way that we break our fast of food in the morning by
eating breakfast; we are breaking our fast of fellowship with our Lord. After eight to twelve hours without food we’re hungry. As we renew our fellowship with Lord He wants to be our strength for today. Phil 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”

Before we headed off to our personal times with the Lord we prayed: Just as our tummies were hungry for breakfast this morning, we want to come to Your Word hungry. As we taste and see Your goodness we expect to be filled and fueled for the day. Thank You, Lord for feeding us. Amen

Discussing Quiet Times with Twelve Year Old Girls

7/27/2012

This week at girl’s camp we talked about quiet times. I asked:
what is a quiet time? How often do you do it? Why do you do it? And are there rules to follow for having a quiet time?

There was great discussion, we concluded that a quiet time is
taking time and being quiet with the Lord. It is a goal to do quiet time daily, knowing some days will slip by. We realized there were no scriptures about quiet times so the concept must come from Jesus example. (Lk 5:16, Mk 1:35, Matt 14:23, Lk 6:12) Over all there are no rules for a quiet time, just whatever helps a person to focus on what they are reading and learning.

After this ground work we set up a goal for our four days
together. Although there is no right way to do a quiet time for this four days we planned to spend five minutes on each of three parts: reading, journaling and praying. Each day we would focus on one element of our quiet time, with each element being connected to one of our five senses and that is what I am going to
share the next few days in these posts.

The first element was HEARING. In preparation for our quiet time
I wanted us to take a minute and thinking about what we have to do in order to hear. For example, if I ask someone what time it is, they tell me and then I realize I still don’t know what time it is…what was missing? I didn’t listen. I heard them talk, but I didn’t listen to what they said. Matt. 11: 15 says, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

As we headed into our own times we took a minute to pray and to
ask the Lord to open our ears to hear what He was going to speak to us that day. We went into our fifteen minutes with the focus of listening and expecting to hear from the Lord.

After the alone time, we came back together and shared what we
had each written in our journals; what we had heard the Lord speak to us.

Desires of My Heart

7/22/2012

Girl’s camp starts tomorrow: two moms, two twelve year olds, each with a friend, four days and three nights. We will be hiking, biking, swimming…doing devotions, crafts and cooking….sleeping in a tent one night…making memories.

Because I am not 100% physically yet I am a little nervous going
into this time. Nevertheless, in our weakness God is made strong, I must lean on Him.

Otherwise, I think I am as excited as the girls about this time.
I am so thankful I get to be one of the moms attending. The other mom that is hosting this camp is a planner and a doer. Although I am doing a few of the activities she planned the whole time and organized it, I just get to ride along.

In the past, I have heard of neat things families do like, cousin’s camp, grandparent’s camp and day trips that I thought sounded amazing. Organizing travel activities is overwhelming to me, so I didn’t think that would ever be something we would be a part of.

So often though, God surprises me and gives me the desires of my heart even when I don’t think they are possible. Here I am doing something I didn’t dream would ever happen. Thank you Lord for this opportunity and for bringing me a friend that had the talents I am lacking.

So mom, if you have desires that you don’t feel you have the gifting to accomplish, lay them at the Lord’s feet. Ask Him to lead and to provide at His perfect time. Let go and wait. Watch and be amazed how the God of Heaven fulfills your desire in His creative way.

See you in five days!

Cool Breeze of Friendship

7/21/2012

God puts people in our lives to refresh us. Sometimes this feels
like a challenge and other times like a cool breeze on a summer day. When I think of refreshing, I think of being better because of the time spent together. Although difficult relationships can accomplish this, it is those cool breeze friendships I am thankful for today.

As I ponder the friends God has blessed me with I can see how
they refresh me in different areas. Some revive me spiritually. Like my friend Cheri who says, “This morning as I prayed….” She inspires me to bring everything before my Jesus. Or Kathy and Julie who talk with me about what God is teaching them as naturally as most women talk about what they are making for supper.

Danyel and Diana ask questions about parenting yet, often spur me onto wanting to be more like them. They have questions because they are seeking to lead and guide their children. Their burning desire is to have children that honor God.

Cynthia is quiet, yet, bold in her honoring of her husband. She
speaks well of him and is quick to say she will have to ask her husband about that. In general conversation, she will quote her husband and share how they had just been discussing that matter. Her respect for husband encourages me to want to go home and seek Todd’s wisdom. My sister on the other hand is bold; she will
call it straight. If I need adjusting she is the one that will make sure I hear what I need to hear. My marriage is better because she has been willing to tell me when I am wrong.

All of these women, teach me about being a friend. Friendship
doesn’t come naturally to me. I tend to be a loner and find relationships difficult. Thankfully God has given me faithful friends that have overlooked my weaknesses and been patient when I have come up short. These women love me even though they have seen my worst. Amazing. Today one of these friends stopped by with a note and some treats for my birthday. Her birthday was before mine and I still haven’t gotten her anything. She loves me anyway, incredible.

Their friendship speaks the Gospel to me. John 3: 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever should believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life." ...For these friends so loved Kim that they give of themselves....a cool summer breeze blows stronger, I am refreshed.

As I thank God for each of these women in my life, I am also challenged to be a better friend. For me that means putting action to my thoughts. A phone call, a text, a note or a get together is a start. Making an effort to maintain and let them know how much I appreciate them. So friends of mine, thank you for loving me, I thank God for you often!!!

Cause and Effect Parenting

7/19/2012

My husband has a sweet little four year old friend. She is adorable. The two of them enjoy doing anything together and she will make sure they sit next to each other at meals.

Once, while visiting, this princess came bounding into the house.
As Todd caught her eye he asked, “Do you want to go for a boat ride?” She stopped in her tracks and held up three fingers, “I must get three consequences, eat lunch and then I can go for a boat ride.”

This is how a child that has been brought up with consistent cause and effect type parenting acts. She knows the routine and relays it as the facts; no need for fussing or drama. As a matter of fact, her declaration of needing three consequences was in the same sing song voice as going for a boat ride.

Now to say she was looking forward to the consequences would be
going too far. Yet, she was not begrudging them or dreading them either. I have said it before and will say it again; the hardest thing for a child to deal with is inconsistency. When the same thing happens as a result of disobedience, every time, it becomes a part of life for the child. I would even go so far as to say it becomes a comfort for them.

Now, I realize “every time” can be intimidating. When I heard
other parents say “every time” to us as we dealt with toddlers, it felt defeating. Yet, I use the phrase knowing we will at times miss things, but to spur parents on to NOT overlook or pretend they don’t notice a child misbehaving. Let “every time” be what God uses to spark you into motion.

Two Universal Training Tips

7/17/2012

Our friends that just visited received a phone call while they
were here. A young couple they hang with was in a panic. “Seventeen month old Jr. has started climbing out of his crib, what do we do?”

Much discussion happened that I don’t know the details of, nor
would I bore you with, but the final recommendation was fabulous and I do want you to hear that.

First, be consistent. This means all day long. A parent can’t allow a child to climb all over the furniture, climb up on the cupboards and climb out of their car seat, and then expect them to not climb out of the crib. Being consistent also means, once the child is put into bed, expect climbing attempts. Be ready. Stand by a cracked door and catch the child as soon as they do what they are not to be doing.

That leads into the second action item, move the boundary. Instead of saying “No climbing out of the crib” change it to “no standing in the crib”. Now, as soon as standing is attempted action is taken.

Isn’t that helpful! Two quick training tips that can be used for
most any scenario:

-- Be consistent, all day long. Look for other areas that are
feeding the unwanted action.

--Move the boundary. Stop the action one step before the one
wanting to be stopped.

School is Out; Education is Not

7/15/2012

A mom is seeing the need to help her daughter think before she
speaks. After having a few of her friend’s parents come claiming this daughter had hurt their daughter’s feelings, a pattern was starting to be noticed. Even at home this sweetie was saying things a little too straight, and needed to learn to soften her speech. For example, seeing some white specks on a friend’s
shirt this child asked, “What’s that?” A little embarrassed the friend said, “Oh, that’s dandruff”. Miss speak before she thinks retorted,“That’s gross”. Not the best way to win friends.

We have a daughter that was sounding and looking grumpy in situations I was sure she wasn’t feeling that way. As I observed her answer a co-worker with no eye contact, monotone voice and a serious facial expression, I knew we had a problem. When confronted she had no idea what I was talking about and assured me she didn’t feel grumpy. So for the next couple of days I continued to point out when she did this same type of thing. A little effort to respond with eye contact, cheerful countenance and a friendly voice is being worked on.

Another friend noticed her older children tend to expect the other to serve them. At the beach, one child threw a toy into the water to rinse it off and told the other child to get it. WHAT?! The second child responded, “You put it there, you get it.” Child number one, “Oh, just get it.”Second child bent over and picked up the toy. There we have it, another opportunity to teach and train.

This is education. Observing what a child needs to learn and then
teaching them that. In the normal educational system there are a certain number of days (with summers off) to learn. As parents we are given a lifetime to educate our children. Even as adults, children are still wise to seek the wisdom of their parents, knowing they have years of experience to draw from.

This type of education is not just the passing on of facts. It
cannot be measured with a multiple choice test or an essay. The education that God has called us to as a parent is the passing on of His wisdom.

Many of us are concerned that our child gets a good education, as
we should be, but what education is our Savior concerned our children get?

Just a little mid-summer reminder that just because school is
out, education is not.

Isaiah 2:17 “The arrogance on man will be brought low and pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

Quick Updated

7/12/2012

I just love those blue and white gowns that tie in the back, against the arctic gusts of the emergency room. Yes, I have been going downhill. Yesterday I needed a little IV help to get some liquids in. The good news is I also received a new diagnosis---Lymes Disease (a tick born sickness). Not that I am happy to have lymes, but I am hopeful to be getting better
now.

This then is just a quick update, to let you know I hope to be up
to posting again soon. Thanks for any prayers.