“Make a Declaration for Your Family!”

Summer before last  I saw all of these pictures on Pinterest of wall art people had made for their homes with these great sayings on them. You know the ones I’m talking about – most of them have sweet and clever phrases or scriptures or have family names or important dates painted on rough looking wood planks. Well, after seeing all of those super cute signs, I thought that maybe this was a craft I could actually make.

You see, I’m honestly not much of a crafter. Most of my crafts are definitely not “Pinterest-worthy.” My glue dries lumpy, my handwriting usually slopes upward; I can’t cut a straight line to save my life; I’m too cheap to buy proper supplies. Regardless, I still try to make things occasionally, especially in the summertime. As a teacher, summer is my time that I enjoy dabbling in crafts, redecorating my home, and doing all sorts of fun things with my three boys. I just love summer.

Anyway, my husband had just made a new fence for our family Golden Retriever, Bear, and he had lots of wood planks left over. I thought those planks would be perfect for one of those signs for our home. Then, I had to think about what I should write. I knew I wanted to write a scripture, but which one? I had a hard time choosing. I thought about where the sign would be placed in my home. I had the perfect wall for it, on a wall in my kitchen that I would look at every time I did dishes, and my husband and boys and I would see every time we were in the kitchen; the boys would pass it every time they would go up or down the stairs to their bedrooms, so we would all see it a lot. It would be a huge part of our lives.

I even prayed about it. I felt a strong direction from the Lord that I should use this wooden sign to make a “DECLARATION.”  It would be like our family’s slogan or motto or vision statement.

                This is how it turned out –

According to Deuteronomy 6:9, we followers of God should write His commandments on the “doorframes of our houses and on our gates.”  I love how the ancient wisdom from God’s word still offers up-to-date practical help for raising kids! This simple sign has done something profound in my children. I hear them read it aloud often. They are speaking God’s Word and a Prophesy over our family every time they do that! I love it! 

     

It’s almost Christmas! I love this time of year, and I’ve been thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus, for the past couple of days more than I’ve ever thought about her for some reason. One thing that keeps going over and over in my mind is this – Mary is a human delivering the King of Kings to the world – isn’t that exactly what we are all supposed to be?

We all have Mary built up in our minds as an untouchable, pristine, porcelain figurine of a person, but, of course, she was a normal, teenage girl. Have you ever thought that, as Christians, we are to be like Mary? Mary delivered Jesus to the world. Isn’t that one of our primary purposes as believers? To deliver Jesus to the world?

It’s my prayer that I can respond to the call to deliver Jesus the same way that Mary did. Mary responded by -

1.)             Saying “yes.” How many times am I guilty of saying “no” or “later” or “maybe when circumstances are better, when I’m not so busy I’ll tell them about you Jesus.” But not Mary. She just agreed.

2.)           Not being controlled by her fear. Obviously she was afraid, but she didn’t allow her fear to control her.

3.)           Receiving encouragement from a godly friend. The encouragement from Elizabeth was so valuable to Mary. Oh, how we so benefit from the encouragement from our godly friends!

4.)            She knew that she would have temporary pain, ridicule, persecution, discomfort, but she also knew the eternal rewards would far outweigh any temporary pain she would endure.

Lord, I pray that my words, actions, and attitudes would deliver JESUS to the people in my world!

Have a Merry Christmas! 

Love, 

Martha