Christian Reflection and Prayer

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the achings of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

God celebrates family

What was the most effective discipline you
have experienced?

Scripture:

Now his father, King David, had never disciplined
him at any time, even by asking, "What are you going?"
1 Kings 1:6 NLT

Rebounding skills

Suppose you get home from grocery shopping and
discover your six-year-old is eating candy you didn't buy.
It might be tempting to just scold him, send him to his
room, and let it go at that. After all, it's only worth a dollar,
and you're tired. But you'd miss an opportunity to turn this
"miss" into a second chance.

It would be better to take away any uneaten candy, put
your little shoplifter back in the car, drive to the grocery
store, hunt up the manager, and tell your kid to apologize.
Pay for the candy and deduct it from the child's allowance.
Then, if the culprit is truly sorry, be sure to express your
 forgiveness — and God's forgiveness, too.

You've just boxed out the opposition and put your kid in
position to rightly rebound. Because there will come another
time in that grocery store or when he's passing a coveted
pair of Nikes or — who knows?
Ricky Birdsong in Coaching Your Kids in the Game of Life

The Bible tells us that parents have the primary
responsibility for the spiritual development of our children.
And nowhere is the job given only to mothers and
grandmothers. As Moses told the people of Israel, "Repeat
[the command of God] again and again to your children"
(Deut. 6:7). Why not begin today?

adapted from Men of Integrity Devotional Bible with
devotionals by the editors of Men of Integrity magazine
(Christianity Today, Intl), Tyndale House Publishers (2002),
p 391

It is easier to build boys than to mend men.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Remember the First Commandment in its entirety?
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery" (Exodus 20:2). More importantly,
think about what is not said in this commandment. God
does not refer to Himself as the Creator of the world, even
though that might have been a more obvious choice.
Instead, He commands that we know Him as the God
who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. Why?
Because we are commanded to know God not just as the
Creator of the world, but as the Savior of our individual lives.

We are commanded to believe in a God who hears our
prayers and cares deeply for us. We are instructed to
believe in a God who can and will help us out of our own
personal bondage, our own trials and difficulties. So, can
God command us to be optimistic about life? Yes,
because to believe in the God who took the Israelites
out of Egypt is to believe that God can perform miracles
for us, too! He expects that level of faith and commitment
from us.

So next time you come across that proverbial glass,
don’t see it as half-empty or even as half-full. See it as
filling up and believe that it will run over! As it says in
Psalm 23: "my cup overflows" (v.5).

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein