I have not done a “Faith Things” post in a month!

I have so much to say about how God has been working in my life lately, but I don’t know where to start and I don’t have time to share it all at once. So, every time I come online to write a post, I end up not doing it.

It seems like if I just started doing it each time, I would be done posting all of it by now!

I’ll just start with yesterday and work backward, I guess.

I have a song in my head from the Summer Kids Week at our church (aka VBS). We just got the CD of music that they used.

It’s an R&B style song, sang by a trio of women. The chorus says:

Don’t worry ’bout a thing,
not a single thing
Don’t worry ’bout tomorrow
and what it may bring
Don’t worry ’bout a thing,
not a single thing

The song is based on Matthew 6:25-34 and makes references to various things in that passage of scripture.

The one part that is stuck in my head says:

Seek Him first
And what you need will
come to you

Ahh, seek Him first
(ev’rything ya need)

It’s very catchy.

So, I’ve had this song in my head a lot the past two days. And then yesterday morning, I decided that I was just going to seek Him first.

To backtrack for a moment, I will fill the rest in later (in another post), but I just have to point out that I have been really struggling - we all have been struggling - to get a long with The D. He is going through a major rough time. I intend to do a full post on it soon, but trust me when I say it has been HARD!

So, back to yesterday morning. I decided to seek Him first.

I picked up a Bible and just started reading to the kids. I started at the beginning. They quickly informed me that they have read the beginning a thousand times. (Haven’t we all? It seems like a good place to start.)

So, I asked, then what did God make on the first day?

They went through and told me what God made each day. Wow! They did not learn that from me or at church. They learned that themselves, by reading the Bible on their own! I was amazed at the way that God really puts it on their heart to seek Him.

After that, we started talking about the spiritual realm. I wanted them to realize that it existed before the Earth was created and will exist after it is gone.

Gone! That was cause for alarm!

So, I ended up looking at Revelation in order to paraphrase. I ended up reading from Revelation 4 (I skipped the letters to the churches) all the way to the end.

They were completely enthralled, albeit a little taken aback that it was so graphic and, as they said, harsh.

There was a real teaching moment, though, when in Revelation 16, The Seven Bowl’s of God’s Wrath, the people refused to repent and turn from their sinful ways.

The boys commented that the people were “so stupid” to not turn from sin and worship God.

I explained that there are times when they have disobedience in their hearts so strongly that no matter what punishment I threaten them with (and carry out), they still refuse to admit that I have authority over them (ie do what they were told). This is similar to what was happening with these people.

We also talked about the fact that sometimes when bad things happen, people want to blame God because He didn’t stop it, or He let it happen. This attitude turns people away from God, like in this passage, where they curse God for the plagues.

I added that it is important to be faithful and remember that God is good, no matter what happens to us.

This might not strike you that I, a Christian homeschooling parent, had a Bible discussion with my children instead of doing school work. The reality is, I don’t normally have Bible discussions with my children. (That is really a whole post by itself.)

Back to “seek Him first.” I would like to say that we were so filled with the Holy Spirit that loving kindness ruled my home and the boys did everything they were told.

Not so.

But, the day was markedly better than it has been. The boys did get along much better. I was filled with much more love and patience, and better able to handle the struggles of the day.

Most importantly, I realized that we need to seek Him first. I need to stop trying to do this on my own.

I just wish I didn’t have to keep re-learning that lesson!