Are you healthy?

I thought I knew what it meant to be healthy but I am learning that it is much more than exercise and eating vegetables. Being healthy means that there is harmony between my mind, body, and will and God’s intent for me.

For the last two weeks, I’ve shared ideas that I have been doing to become mentally and physically healthy. Today we will focus on healing the soul.

Soul

Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You

For several weeks I used the book Soul Keeping by John Ortberg to guide my Quiet Time. I am so thankful my friend suggested it as this book has opened my eyes to taking care of the “most important part of me.”

But staying healthy is hard because we are so busy… I get it!

Desiring to be a helpmate to my spouse, wrangling four kiddos, managing ABCJLM and this blog, and serving in many capacities with our church and 4-H, I found myself frequently depleted with nothing to give.

John Ortberg cautions against hurry and over committing. He states:

If I am always in a hurry to be somewhere else, it’s an indicator that my soul has not yet found its home. …When my soul is not centered in God, I define myself by my accomplishments, or my physical appearance, or my title, or my important friends. When I lose these, I lose my identity.

I am learning to take the time to be healthy because an unhealthy soul “will infect others.”

This book forced me to hear God ask, “Where are you in relation to me?”.

What I love is that this book isn’t about how to sin less. Instead…

God wants me to focus on him. To be with him. “Abide in me.” Just relax and learn to enjoy his presence.

Sounds peaceful. Safe. Joyful.

If you are not daily abiding, I encourage you to read my eBook “A Quiet Time, Worth the Time” to get started. Free for all blog subscribers. Also included in the eBook are quality devotional guides.

Our Children’s Souls

The key verse for this blog and the ABCJLM Curriculum is Deuteronomy 6:7.

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

We are to daily be laying a solid foundation of truth in the lives of our children. The following books are ones that I highly suggest.

Our Daily Bread for Kids Our Daily Bread for Preschoolers

Our Daily Bread for Kids: A few years ago my parents gave our children each a copy of the Our Daily Bread for Kids Devotional. I absolutely love this book. We use it at breakfast as a family but it can also be used independently for those who can read well.

The dated, 365 devos include a key verse, devotional, key point, fun fact, optional scripture to read more, and a discussion question or point. I appreciate how the devotional thoughts don’t water down the Scriptures. Instead the reading helps the child understand the Bible story or point and gives the child ideas to apply it to his/her life. This devotional is suggested for elementary-aged children.

Our Daily Bread for Preschoolers: An ABCJLM user informed me that now a preschool version of this book is available! Shorter and less details, this devotional is perfect to read at bedtime or during family devotionals.

Included in the 90, non-dated devos is a short Bible verse, devotional reading, and a prayer. One of my favorite aspects is the simple question to engage the child and encourage discussion. Sometimes the question asks for the child to look deep into the image on the page. (Fantastic for working on pragmatics!) Other questions help the child apply the key point of the reading.

Next week, we will finish this series and take the first step to getting healthy from the inside out.

Giveaway:

Desiring to empower families within the Our Out-of-Sync Life and ABCJesusLovesMe family, a generous couple approached me about placing quality resources in homes. The first of two giveaways, they have offered to provide two families with Small Deluxe Flannelgraph sets from BettyLukens ($190 value a piece).

If you use the ABC Jesus Loves Me Curriculum you know that I believe when done well flannelgraph is a wonderful Bible teaching tool for preschool through elementary-aged children. It is one way to give your child a foundation toward a healthy soul. More about Using Flannelgraph to Teach the Bible.

As we have discussed multiple times, flannelgraph isn’t for everyone. It takes several hours to cut out each of the 600 pieces and some people get overwhelmed in using it. Please, please out of respect for the generous donation, only enter to win if you know you will use this product. Please be honest with yourself taking your personality into consideration and decide if you will 100% use this amazing gift. If you have other products sitting in your closet unused, please allow those who would truly use the flannelgraph to have the opportunity to win a set.

To enter, click on the rectangular image below. This giveaway will end on Monday November 20th @ 12:00 p.m (CST). Two winners will be announced November 21st on this blog so be sure to come back and see if you have won!