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Renee Swope

Encouraging and equipping moms to parent with God's grace and confidence.

Read An Excerpt: Chapter 1 & 2

God’s Treasures of Truth

Welcome to my “Month of Encouragement for Moms” sponsored by D6 and Proverbs 31 Ministries. If you found your way here from my P31 devotion, I’m so glad you stopped by. And if you’re one my regular blog readers, thanks for being here each day. Your comments encourage me when I don’t know what to write; your thoughts and thanks let me know it’s making a difference. I am loving this journey with you as we find practical ways to connect spiritual truths with everyday life experiences – for us and our families.

In last Wednesday’s post, I talked about God giving me hope as a mom by giving me a new perspective of parenting. He challenged me to stop focusing on my kids’ habits and invest in their hearts by looking for ways to notice and nurture their character. From that day forward I looked for ways to learn and live God’s truths in everyday life lessons. Today’s devotion came after that commitment. One day I was reading about Davids passion for treasuring God’s Word in His heart, and thinking about my kids passion for a treasure hunt. I decided to combine the two and encourage my boys to approach reading the Bible like looking for a treasure in a field, and find ways to share that treasure with others. One night around the dinner table, we talked about the character trait of KINDNESS. Here’s a little family devotion I wrote as a result:

Todays’ Treasure of Truth:1 Thessalonians 5:15, “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.”

Kindness means being nice to others with your actions and your words.

The Map of God’s Word:Read John 1:43-49. While Jesus was walking down the road with his disciples, Philip saw his friend Nathanael. He was so excited to tell Nathanael that they had met Jesus. Nathanael’s first response was sarcastic and unkind. As soon as he heard where Jesus was from, Nathanael said, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Instead of returning Nathanael’s comment with an insult, Jesus responded with kindness. When He saw Nathanael coming toward him he told the others that Nathanael was a person of character, true on the inside and out. Nathanael was surprised by Jesus’ kindness. He wondered how Jesus knew about him. When Nathanael saw the kindness in Jesus’ heart that formed the words on His lips, his sarcasm turned into faith. He returned Jesus’ thoughtfulness with kind words of his own.

A Nugget of Wisdom:Kindness is easy when others are being nice to us, but Jesus wants us to be kind no matter what.

Making Character Count:Developing God’s character isn’t just about doing good things; it’s about being Christ-like in our attitudes and actions. Talk as a family about the importance of having a heart like Jesus, remembering that before we can offer others what God has given us, we need to take time to acknowledge and thank him for His kindness towards me and

Prayer: Jesus, thank you that your love is patient and kind. Please help us to be kind to each other and those outside of our family. Help us to think of ways we can show kindness each day. And please remind us of how kind you were with your words and actions to those who were not kind to you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Ways to live and give the treasure ofKindness:

  • Say thanks when someone does something kind or gives something to you.
  • Say please when asking for something.
  • Offer to help a friend or sibling with homework.
  • Tell someone else what you like about them.
  • Let someone in line before you.
  • Be friendly by saying hello and smiling at people.
  • Give a thoughtful gift to someone for no reason.

Copyright 2009, Renee Swope – All rights reserved.

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Today’s Mom Give-Aways

Today we are choosing winners from the comments and giving away two D6 mom resources – a copy of my “Mining for Gold in the Heart of Your Child Chart and George Barna’s “Revolutionary Parenting”. Please include your email so we can reach you if you win.

We’ll be giving away gifts every weekday, so be sure to come back for more mom encouragement and resources from D6 and Proverbs 31 Ministries!

Comments

  1. I have loved your Proverbs 31 emails and have found them to be a wonderful encouragement and full of great truths. This is the first time I’ve made it to your site. The treasure hunt topic made me curious. I long for my children to be hungry and excited to read and apply The Word. For them to treasure Gods Word in their hearts… and have excitement doing it. Thank you for united passion and your resources(possibly free today!). I’ll be back to your site for future treasure hunting of my own.
    Holly
    mother of Megan 9, Nathan 8
    [email protected]

  2. Reading encouraging devotionals is so easy! Planning to apply them in your own, small life is harder, but really live them is difficult! But who doesn’t want to?
    I was praying for easy to follow ideas for my children Sunday School group … and today I found at least two of them … I would love to study them in more details and translate them in Romanian so the families around me would be able to have and enjoy them. I”m part of a big church with an increasing number of children … and the materials are not great, but the desire to raise Christ lovers is huge.
    Mining for Gold in childs life would be an increadible material for us to follow, and I would love to introduce in my next parent meeting of my group. Looking forward to the upcoming of the idea!

  3. Proverbs 31 Ministry is a blessing thank you. Please sign me up for todays give away Mining Gold in the heart of your child.

    Your sister in Christ,
    Angela Hink
    Kansas City, MO
    [email protected]

  4. Renee–

    This devo is so awesome! Is it one from the Mining for Gold or is it one of the family devotionals from D6?

    I love it, girl! The more I get to know your heart, the more I love it!! You encourage many!

    [email protected]

  5. Renee, I have to tell you what a blessing your comments on Kindness were to me. I have been doing a study on the fruits of the Spirit, and decided to do it with my kids at home, 21, and 14; then expand it to study other Biblical character traits using an online study I’ve used in the past. This info. from you gave me the encouragement I needed to start this study with my kids.

    I want to tell you to what I blessing reading your blog and your devotionals has been to me. I needed something like this when my kids were all little (the oldest is 30) Sharon

  6. You have so much wisdom to share with these young moms, Renee! Thanks for sharing such sweet nuggets of advice!

  7. Renee, my friend and I attended the girls night out in Houston last week and were inspired and blessed. Being the mom to three beautiful children and the wife of a minister, life can at times seem crazy and overwhelming. But, I know that my God is in the center of it and has anointed me for this specific time. Thank you for answering God’s call, saying yes to him, and sharing your heart with us!!!

    Leah
    [email protected]

  9. Renee, This was a wonderful lesson both for parent ,teacher and child. You find ways to reach the heart of a child and the adult as well. This month my lesson plan for school (for my 3 year olds) is loving kindness and finding was to show love to your friends and family. I am always blessed when you deposit nuggets I can use with my own daughter and the kids in school.Prefering others before your self is the message of Christ and teaching it to our children early is the beginning of training up selfless littles ones.

    Love in Christ Didi Gray
    [email protected]

  10. Thank you for today’s article. I am always looking for ways to bring my children closer to His Word. I, like you, want it to be a natural and enjoyable activity to live and learn more about the Lord. Thank you again.
    [email protected]

  11. Today is my first day reading your blog and I am very inspired. I am a stay at home mom who is trying to do the right thing with my little ones and I am always looking for the treasures. It is so important to teach them that Christ is the true treasure. Thank you and I look forward to much more inspiration.

    In Christ,

  13. Thank you so much for the reminder of kindness. I’ve been doing pretty well with my five homeschooled children, but my poor husband! He needs a little kindness from me. Thanks again for the devotional.

    Lisa
    [email protected]

  14. I would love to start doing this with my 5yr old son. It is easy to be kind when others are kind to us, but being kind when others are not so kind is the hard part. Thanks for your daily encouragement!
    Sarah
    [email protected]

  16. Once again such a timely blog entry. God has been teaching/ convicting me of my own tenancies to gossip, slander and fault-find. Teaching a lesson is such a great way to learn a lesson.
    Please enter me in the drawing.
    [email protected]

  17. I am striving to nurture a kind heart in my children and in myself….I want to model the selflessness of Jesus to those that don’t know Him, but boy, do i need His help!
    Thanks for blessing me today with your words.
    Cathy
    [email protected]
    Mtn. Grove,MO

  19. Renee, I have really enjoyed your recent devos! As a new mom of a 10 month old, the responsibility of introducing my little guy to Jesus sometimes feels overwhelming. I want to be a good mom and always lead him to the Lord, but am aware of my own frailties. Thank you for the reminder that God’s Word is a treasure and that we can encourage our kids to seek Him out!

    Katherine

  20. I really do continue to enjoy your blogs since being introduced to Proverbs 31 and subsequently following the link here. I find comfort and inspiration in your words.

    Thank you!

    [email protected]

  21. Thank you for your encouraging post Renee. I am rejoicing today because I had an opportunity to share unexpected kindness and words of hope with a stranger in need yesterday – and it just so happened that both daughters were with me and so were the recipients of wonderful life lesson. It was even more wonderful when I was able to share with them after we were in the car and on our way home that I had just prayed that morning that the Lord would allow me to be his “hands and feet” somehow today. Gotta love it when prayers are answered so immediately! I am loving your posts this month…keep them coming!!

    [email protected]

  22. Renee, thank you so much for your encouragement and wisdom. I do so want my children to treasure God’s Word and hunger for it, but just telling them isn’t making it happen. Thank you for sharing the treasures God has showed you.

  23. I have been struggling with my ten year old and trying to motivate him to be the best he can be–as a Christian, student, etc. I receive p31 devotions daily, but our laptop crashed last week, so this was the first time I had time to catch up on my emails. Your devotion today speaks to me so loudly. I rarely go to “blogs” as I just don’t have the luxury of time, but today I found yours and look forward to your pearls of wisdom and your scripture baseed insight. Thank you God for sending me here today

  24. Thank you for the focus of kindness, this is something that is such a struggle in our house as my 6 year old son is “acting out” his frustration with circumstances that he is not haooy with on a daily basis. I am always looking for ways to help him tap into the kind boy that he is on the inside and your devotional really helped when I feel competlety depleted of more ideas of how to make the things I’m telling him, real to him so that he can understand. Thanks so much.
    [email protected]

  25. I so want to read through your whole chart! I think I need to do this whole thing just for me – I’m having particular trouble with the ‘kindness always no matter what’ thing this week. Thanks for the very timely reminder!

    [email protected]

  26. Renee,

    Your words always penetrate my heart and encourage me to go deeper with my walk with the Lord and even more important to teach my daughters about who God really is…….not just the words in the Bible but a living God who is more amazing that we can imagine.

    Thank you again Renee,

    You are a WONDERFUL woman of God…. and I am thankful for Proverbs31.

    [email protected]

  27. I try every day not living in the mommy guilt. I work during the day…sometimes long hours, and try not to blame myself for this! The way I get encouraged NOT to do this is to come to your blog everyday!

    Today’s devotion is so touching. Reaffirms things I try to teach and instill in my 5 year old daughter.

    Living life sometimes comes down to be nice and loving one another…thanks for the affirmation!

    Samina
    [email protected]

  30. I came upon your blog from the Proverbs 31 website, and I am so glad to have read your devotional this morning! I have an almost 2 year old whom I truly want to have God’s Beautiful treasures in his heart. That is my heart’s cry, that he would desire this more than anything this world would try to offer him. This devotional was such an encouragement to my heart. Thank you so much for your ministry.

  32. It seems sometimes that I am more kind to a stranger that my own family. Becoming impatient with my children’s antics or accidents, frustrated at another family member for some reason or another… I often read the devotionals on the Proverbs 31 website and thank God for the godly women who write them. Hearing another moms’ prespective sure helps in remembering to go to God early in the morning and praying that he would help us to be kind and helpful too everyone–especially our family!

  33. I just found your blog and I have been SO encouraged as I have explored past posts. I have been needing a ‘pick-me’up’ and Go dhas used your ministry to help me see me TRUE role as a Christian Mom- I am not just a SAHM- I am in Full Time Childern’s Ministry! 🙂

  34. Thank you so much for these words on kindness. You are such an encouragement and I appreciate the time you take to minister to all of us. Just think if we all used these principles on kindness, what a difference we could make.

  35. Thank you so much for the truths that you share with us. You give practical, simple, yet impacting examples of how to apply His truth & let Him love others through us. A friend passed on your "Finding God's Treasures" post from this morning, and I was really impacted by " I want my kids to see the Bible, not as a book of rules to follow, but like a map that leads us on God's great adventure." What a GREAT focus! Thank you! Nancy Kenaston [email protected]

  36. Wow! God’s timing was perfect this morning as I read your devotion. We are having an unusual amount of snow here in Newport, Ky, and just as I finished reading, my 8 year old son was next to me looking out our window. He said, “Mommy, look! My footprints from yesterday are covered up by the new snow today”! Instantly God gave me a beautiful example to share right then and there with Him about His perfect love for us and Jesus’ perfect sacrifice on our behalf. I explained to him that those old footprints in the snow can be seen like the sin in our lives, the lives that were intended to be perfect. And since we could do nothing ourselves to erase or cover up those “footprints”, God, in His amazing love for us, covered our “footprints” Himself, with Jesus, just like He covered all those footprints from yesterday with a new, beautiful blanket of snow. His eyes lit up as he really understood, and we gave thanks together for what Jesus did for us.
    So please, sweet Renee, keep writing! God is using you more than you know!
    Thanks so much!
    Sarah
    ([email protected])

  37. Hi, it’s my first time reading your blog but not the first time reading Proverbs 31-Girlfriends in God. I love it! It gives me hope in times when I just can’t take another step. I am thinking of using this message of kindness to my intermediate students in their next meeting at church. Thank you very much and may God continue blessing you!!

    lots of hugs

  39. I just started reading your blog and am excited about your emphasis on family and kids. Our family is planning on homeschooling because we feel our children need more time with us…our family needs to be united.

  40. Love the devotional you wrote on kindness. I want to share it with my family. I also want to keep your attitude of always looking for a way to make adventures, activities or anything in life relate to the Bible. I’m going to pray that the Lord will help me to do that. Thank you for your e-devotional! 🙂

  41. Renee,
    I loved your devotional today. Treasure hunting is an awesome way of looking at the Bible. Thanks again for sharing. I love all the time that you are devoting to parenting.
    I am enjoying a “snow day” with my kids as well.

    [email protected]

  42. Just want to say thanks! Found your site through Crosswalk.com and I will be back. As a single mom of 9 yr old twins I don’t always have time for lots of things, but your thoughts are always easy to put into use. Thanks again!

  44. I found your blog through the P31 devotional. Thank you for giving encouragement without making me feel guilty!

  45. I found your blog through the Proverbs 31 devotional. What a wonderful devotion this is! I will definitely be back… as I am the mom of 5 year old twin boys and I love the ideas you are sharing to reach our children’s hearts…

    Thank you and Blessings!

  46. Perfect for a devotional tonight! My 13 year old said they studied the Fruit of the Spirit at MYF this past Sunday night. His fruit was kindness! He said his group had to come up with examples. He thought his were lame. We talked about it on the way home that night. This will bring it home even more. Awesome!!!! Thanks!!!!

  47. I just want you to know how much I appreciate your devotions. Being the mom of 3 boys is challenging, and you always seem to have a word of encouragement just for me. I am trying to focus on the gold in my children. God is so good and He is always faithful. Thanks for sharing with us.
    Barbara
    [email protected]

  49. Renee,
    I have enjoyed your P31 devotionals for a long time and am grateful to have recently discovered your blog… I too often focus on the dirt in my kids, rather than the nuggets. Thank you for challenging me and encouraging me to help my kids see the Bible as a treasure map for living and a relationship with Jesus as the ultimate prize. Blessings to you and your family~

  50. I had to share that same lesson yesterday with my 11 year old son. He still has a hard time with people picking on him. He knows to act kindly but yesterday he decided to pick back. I told him it was wrong for him to stoop to their level and that when they say or do something ugly it is his chance to say something nice in return. God is so good to keep all of us on the same page a lot of times and is always sending resources to help. That is exactly what your blog was for me- a resource. Thanks!