These commands that I give to you today are to be on your hearts. 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and your gates.
I was feeling a pull to talk about God with Nicole but I didn't really know how to do it. I began to regularly ask God to help me to talk with my children about Him and the truth of His Word so that their faith could grow. I expected to be snuggled up on the couch reading picture Bible's together or telling Nicole Bible stories while we built blocks together on the living room floor. In reality, neither of those things happened. But, to my surprise and delight I didn't need to recollect my Sunday school stories of old or to find the best picture Bible out there; I just needed to talk about God.
I still remember the very first walk we took together last January. As I pushed the stroller out of our driveway and onto the street I was greeted by a crisp blue sky and the friendliest looking clouds I had ever seen. Nicole and I started chatting about the landscape overhead and I took a deep breath and said, "God created that sky and those clouds." It wasn't eloquent, and it didn't go any further, but I knew I had assigned correct authorship to something we were both enjoying and that felt right. For the next month I pointed out God's creation everywhere we went and by the end of the month Nicole knew God as the Creator of all things. Our dinner conversations were peppered with a plethora of questions about creation like, "did God create our house?" and "did God create my stuffed animals?"
It wasn't easy to field all of the theological questions of a curious three-year-old but it was refreshing to watch Nicole begin to understand an aspect of who God is. Talking about God as the Creator naturally lead to countless other discussions about Him and His character.
One night as Shawn and I were putting Nicole to bed she expressed how much she didn't like being left alone once we said goodnight. I told her, "Nicole, you're never alone! God is with you and any time you're feeling alone, all you have to do is pray and ask Him to be near to you." She crawled into bed and as the door was closing Shawn and I overheard the sweetest little voice saying, "God, will you come into my room and be with me?" At breakfast the next day I asked Nicole how her night was and she said, "it was good. God and Jesus stayed with me until I fell asleep."
As I intentionally talked about God and His many attributes, I watched Nicole's faith grow. I saw her understand that God is deeply personal and wants to be in a relationship with her. I witnessed a transformation in her as she began to understand Gods presence and how she's never really alone. I observed her learning how to take courage in the face of her fears as she trusted God in the midst of them. There is a presence of faith in our home that didn't exist a year ago because we have collectively grown our faith and knowledge of God by talking about Him.
It didn't always feel natural to talk about God as we went about our days and the conversations we did have often felt more intentional than organic. But in the end every conversation planted a seed, and those seeds are already growing into something beautiful.
Love,
Erica
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