When the World Comes Calling for Your Child's Heart

Empty. Her cupboard was completely bare. She was desperate. The debt collectors were at the door. The payment required was her two sons. They were going to be taken from her to serve as slaves. She had already lost her husband, and was still grieving. Where was she going to turn? Who held the answer? Who could truly help?

​Elisha was her best option. He was a prophet who knew her husband and she knew he served the One who could truly bring relief and help to this dire circumstance. She rushes to his presence and pleads her case. 

​What would be his reply? How would he respond? Would he just send her away? He was the only one standing between her and more loss and despair. ​I surely can relate to this mother and her heart for her boys. The world comes calling every day. Pressing and pursuing my children’s hearts. 

Desiring to trap and enslave them into a debt they will never be able to repay. Sin and temptation are there for the taking. I have nothing to ward off the world’s allure and vices. It preaches freedom all while holding bondage behind its back.

​I have tried all the other things: quality time, church attendance, family devotions, sheltered and secured environments, and they are not enough. They are sufficient for a time, but their value is not enough to keep the world at bay. Desperate and emptied of all resources, I seek the only help I can find. I run to my Savior and say, “Lord, I am all out of options.”

Elisha’s answer to this mother’s request was both unusual and unconventional. He asked her a simple question, “Do you have anything left of worth?” Her response was a helpless admission. “I have a cruse of oil.”  

This same question challenges my thinking today. What do I have left?

My mind races frantically. "Lord, I already said I am running on empty. My spiritual cupboard is bare. There is nothing of any value left in me."

“What about My Word?” He says. "Isn’t it more valuable than rubies, more precious than gold?"
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Psalm 19:7-10 says, 

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” 

His Word is:

• perfect, reviving the soul
• sure, making wise the simple
• right, rejoicing the heart
• pure, enlightening the eyes
• clean, enduring forever
• true and righteous altogether
• more to be desired than gold
• sweeter than the honeycomb 

Just as the prophet commanded the widow to go and collect as many vessels as she could find and keep filling the vessels with her last valuable thing on this earth, God requires me to do the same. I must take His Word and pour it out into my heart, my prayers, my actions, and my thinking. 

​I can’t leave it on the shelf knowing it has worth but treating it as a prized possession that dare not be handled and used.

It is only beneficial and effective if it is poured out into every area of my life and my children’s lives. ​

In this account, the amount of provision was based on the widow’s faith in the gathering of vessels. The same is true of my life.

• Do I gather all the circumstances of my day and pour over them the oil of God’s most amazing Word?
• Do I take time in my life to collect all the matters of my daily walk and allow for the Word to be poured into them, filling them with truth and wisdom?
• Do those I come in contact with see a life overflowing with provision and purpose as one who has received a miracle that is eternal and without end?

The widow spent the rest of her days free from the worry of debt and dearth. She was able to live out her life with an ability to see a cupboard full of provision and promise. How much does God desire that for each one of us?

​He has given us His Word as a way to always live with a full cupboard of all that He is and can do in our lives. When the world comes calling for my children, and even for me, I can just open up the cupboard door and say, “I have riches in full supply.”

​​Gather up those vessels of truth and pour them out today. Don’t worry about tomorrow, because the supply will never change. ​

Friend, are you gathering all the circumstances of your day and pour over them the oil of God’s Word? Are you taking time to collect all the matters of your daily walk and allowing for the Word to be poured into them filling them with truth and wisdom? Do those who you come in contact with see your life as a life overflowing with provision and purpose? Do they see you as one who has received a miracle that is eternal and without end? Do you see your cupboard full of provision and promise today?

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The 3 Minute Gratitude Journal for Kids

​A Journal to Teach Children to Practice Gratitude and Mindfulness

The 3 Minute Gratitude Journal is a guide to cultivate an attitude of gratitude for children. It is a self exploration journal designed to focus on being thankful for what we have, the big things in life, as well as the simple joys.

Each. well-designed and kid-friendly, daily spread contains space to list three things you are thankful for, a person who brought you joy and how you felt about your day.

If you start each day by writing down three things you are thankful for—a family, a favorite teacher, starting a good book—you begin each day on the right note.

Do it daily and make it a habit to focus on the blessings you have been given! Grab a copy for your kids today and share the journey together!

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