Memory Monday: I Blew It (1 John 1:9)

I spent Friday and Saturday night at our church's women's retreat. The theme for the retreat was "Rejoice!" I came home Saturday night tired but feeling refreshed and renewed. Then I promptly blew it as a parent.

I met my family at my oldest daughter's indoor soccer game. She had played an outdoor game in the snow earlier in the day, and her indoor game finished about the time she usually goes to bed. I was exhausted from staying up late the night before and teaching twice on Saturday. She was clearly exhausted from the sleepover she'd had while I was gone and playing two games that day. The combination did not end well.

As we were driving home from soccer my girls took turns telling me about the past two days. My oldest daughter told me she had forgotten to take the stuff to school for her science project and had gotten a 0 for the assignment. She also told me that her friends had given her some of their stuff but when her teacher asked her if she had brought her own stuff from home, she told him the truth and got the 0.

Did I take advantage of this opportunity to praise my child for taking her lumps even though a small lie would have saved her grade? Did I take a moment to encourage her for telling the truth instead of taking the easy way out? Nope. I took the opportunity to lecture her on responsibility, and after she went to bed, I wanted to smack myself.

God had given me a moment in which I got to see how everything we've been trying to teach our daughter about honesty has paid off. He offered me the chance to support and encourage her to do what's right even when there are no rewards. And I passed it up to focus on the less important issue.

Sure, my daughter needed to be reminded of the fact that she needs to be responsible for her homework, but what she really needed was to know that she had done the right thing in telling the truth. She looked to me to provide that for her, and I blew it.

So, what do we do when we mess up? Because it is inevitable that we are going to blow it on a regular basis. We pick ourselves up. Ask for forgiveness and move on.

Yesterday, I apologized to my daughter and offered her the praise and encouragement I should have offered her in the first place. We did talk about how she needs to be responsible for her assignments, but we didn't dwell on it.

I also asked God to forgive me for completely screwing up the opportunity he had given me and asked him to continue to offer up situations for me to teach my kids. The wonderful thing about God is that He forgives us and separates our sin from us, if we ask. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Memorize this verse this week and know that God is faithful, even when we blow it. If we ask, He will forgive us and offer us new opportunities.

So, if you've blown it with your kids this weekend. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, ask both God and your kids for forgiveness and be intentional in looking for the next opportunity to love and guide your children.

Lessons I Learned from My Daughter's Hair

If you're like me, you woke up this morning to the news of a huge earthquake in Japan and a possible tsunami on the West Coast. Please take a moment to pray for those in Japan and those in the path of the tsunami. Everyday Truth has some regular readers in Japan. Pray for them as well. If you're one of those regular readers in Japan, give us a shout out to let us know how you're doing and how we can pray for you.

Some of you will face questions today from your kids about why God lets disasters like this happen. Check out this post on Explaining the Unexplainable for some tips on talking to your kids about tragedy.

My youngest got something in her hair yesterday. Now, that might not sound like a big deal, but my youngest has thick, corkscrew curly hair. To make matters worse, her hair is in desperate need of a haircut, which means it is at its thickest. Some mornings, it's tough to get a pick through it, much less a fine-toothed comb. Top that off with a tender-headed kid, and you can imagine how my afternoon went yesterday. By the time we got done, she was in tears and I was frustrated.

After everyone was in bed last night, I started thinking about how sin is a lot like the stuff my youngest got in her hair. It gets stuck in our lives, and sometimes it's really hard to get out. Once Satan gets a foothold in our lives through sin, he doesn't want to let go easily. And unlike the nasty stuff in my daughter's hair, sin can masquerade as something nice. It can be enjoyable and tempting. In the end, though, it will lead us to the same result I experienced yesterday -- frustration and sadness.

The other thing about sin is that it rarely stays in just one area of our lives. Once it gets its claws into one area of our lives, it wants to spread to other areas. And then it's even harder to get rid of. The only way to get rid of it is to turn it over to God, and let Him work on it. Psalm 103:12 tells us "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." But, we have to ask God to forgive us for our sin and to help us stop sinning. 1 John 1:9 promises "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Help your kids understand what sin looks like in their lives and how it can spread if we don't confess it to God.

• Give your kids a coffee filter or a napkin. Drip some water with red food coloring in it on the coffee filter or napkin. Watch the stain spread. Talk with your kids about how sin is like that water on the coffee filter. It starts as a little spot, but if we don't get rid of it by confessing it to God and asking for His forgiveness, it can start to take over our lives, just like the red water spread across the napkin.
• Take a square of fabric or an old T-shirt and use a permanent black marker to draw on it. Then ask your kids to get the stain out. Give them some soap and stain remover and have them scrub the stain. Talk about how it's impossible to get the stain out ourselves. Sin is like that. We can't get rid of our sin without God's help. When we repent and confess our sins to God, He removes them and forgets about them.
• Read Psalm 103:12 with your kids. Get out a map of the United States, show your kids how far it is from the West Coast to the East Coast. Talk about how God separates our sin from us even farther than that because east and west will never meet; they just continue on into space. Ask your kids how that makes them feel to know that God forgives us and doesn't hold our wrong actions and thoughts against us.

Sin keeps us from getting close to God, just like the stuff in my daughter's hair kept the comb from going through it easily. But God has a simple remedy for the sin that gets stuck in our lives. Repent and confess it to Him, then stop doing it. Ask God to show you where sin is stuck your life. Then ask Him for forgiveness and the strength not to repeat it. Don't let sin keep you from enjoying the abundant life that Jesus promised.

God Who Sees (Memory Monday)

Each day in November, the Everyday Truth blog is looking at a different name for God and providing a family devotional for you to use with your kids. The goal is to keep our hearts focused on giving thanks to God during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.


Can you imagine what it would be like to be blind? You would never know what anyone looked like. You wouldn't be able to see with your eyes the beauty of the world God created. You would have to rely on other people to be your eyes for you.

Sometimes we act like God is blind. But He isn't. The Bible tells us in Genesis 16:13 that God is the God who sees. A woman named Hagar was running away from her problems. She was ready to die in the desert, but God spoke to her. When He was done speaking, Hagar said "'You are the God who sees me,' for she said, 'I have now seen the One who sees me.'"

Sometimes when we do something that we know is wrong, we try to hide it -- from our parents, our teachers and even God. When you stop and think about, that's silly. God sees everything. We're not hiding anything from Him. All we're doing is not allowing God the opportunity to forgive us for the wrong things we've done.

The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:9 that "When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So, even though God can see everything, He waits for us to show Him our sins, so that He can wipe them away. Memorize this verse this week to remind you that God is waiting for you to confess your sins to Him, so He can take them away.

Grab a white board and a dry erase marker. Write down something that you have done wrong recently. Now, take the eraser and wipe it away. That's what God does when we confess our sins to Him. He wipes the white board clean. Psalm 103:12 tells us that God separates us from our sin "as far as the East is from the West." That's about as far away as you can get.

But God doesn't just see our sin. He sees us as the wonderful creation that He made. He knows the number of hairs on your head. Sometimes we pretend to be different than we are so we can fit in with a certain group of people, but God sees us for who we really are. And, you know what? He loves you for exactly who you are. He doesn't want you to be anyone other than the person He made you to be.
Be thankful today that God can see the real you. On your thankfulness leaves today, write down things that you are thankful that God can see about you. Are you thankful that He knows the number of hairs on your head? Maybe you're thankful that He knows about the trouble that you're having with a friend at school.
 
Pray together and thank God for being a God who sees. Thank Him that He is willing to wipe the white board clean of our sins. Thank Him for seeing you for the wonderful creation that you are.