Celebrating the Launch of Tell God How You Feel

Launch day is almost here! Tell God How You Feel: Helping Kids with Hard Emotions officially releases on Friday!

This is my first children’s book and I’m excited to share it with you. Tell God How You Feel is a discipleship tool for parents to use to help their children learn to bring their emotions to the Lord in prayer. It helps children learn to identify and verbalize their emotions. It helps them learn that God cares about their emotions. It helps them learn to see God as their place of refuge in all the cares of life.

The book contains separate stories, each focusing on a specific emotion all children feel: fear, sadness, rejection, loneliness, and gratitude. The characters in each story learn about what God’s word says about these feelings. They learn about people in the Bible who felt those emotions. They learn how to tell God about their emotions and ask for his help. Each story contains discussion questions which help parents talk with their children about their feelings and about the God who loves and cares for them. If you are familiar with my book, A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope Through the Psalms of Lament, then you’ll recognize that this book is inspired by it. It plants a seed in the hearts of children, giving them a beginning understanding of what it looks like to lament to God all of their feelings.

We all have habits in how we respond to difficult emotions, many of which we developed as children. Some of us distract ourselves from what we are feeling. Others pretend we are feeling fine when in fact we are not. As a Weight Watcher’s commercial from a few years ago revealed, some eat in response to any emotion they feel—whether good or bad. Rather than develop unhealthy responses to emotions, my hope is that as children grow and mature, they will develop the spiritual habit of turning to the Psalms and using its prose to help them shape their own prayers and laments to the Lord.

Want to learn more about the book? You can view a sample here. It’s available for pre-order now and will officially release on Friday. Are you on social media? Be sure to visit my Facebook page and @christinarfox on Instagram this week to enter for opportunities to win a copy.

Life on Life Discipleship

When you hear people talk about Titus 2 discipleship, what image comes to mind? Do you picture an older woman standing next to a whiteboard, instructing a small group of women? Do you imagine an older woman sending out weekly emails to her mentees with Bible passages to read and memorize? Do you see it as being like a Bible study, just with fewer women?

Titus 2 discipleship certainly involves instruction, Bible study, and possibly even memorization. It’s not less than that. But it’s also more. A lot more.

When Discipleship and Real Life Meet

Two Christmases ago, my husband tripped over a piece of furniture and fell, breaking his ankle. Any broken bone is problematic, but a broken ankle almost always requires surgery. And his did.

At the time, I was in a Titus 2 discipleship group. I shared with my group what happened and requested prayer. My group leader and spiritual mentor was a nurse. She checked in with me during the weeks leading up to my husband’s surgery to learn how she could pray for him and for our family. She used her knowledge as a nurse to advise me in his care... 

To read the rest of this post, visit Revive our Hearts.

When We Pray With Our Children

From a young age, children mimic those around them. They hold pretend phones up to their ears and carry on one-way conversations. They play dress-up and pretend to take their stuffed animal’s temperature, fight a fire, or cook a meal. Sometimes, they even take on a parental tone of voice, shake their finger, and correct the family pet.

This tendency to mimic others is seen in spiritual areas as well. Children learn from us how to pray by watching and listening to us pray. They fold their hands like we do. They say “Amen” at the end of prayers along with us. They learn quickly to ask God for help, healing, and provision. Because children learn by watching us, we can use prayer time to disciple our children in the faith. As we pray for meals, skinned knees, and discipline issues, we can be intentional in the words we use to teach our children more about God, who He is, and what He has done for them in Christ. Our prayers can be theological lessons that reach the heart of our young listeners, training them in the gospel of grace...

To read the rest of this post, visit True Woman, my writing home today.

Leaders Need Mentors

Have you ever heard children argue with one another? One says, "You started it!" The other says, "Did not!" The first child responds, "Did too!" And on and on it goes until a parent intervenes.

I had a conversation with an older woman in my church that started out with a similar back and forth exchange where she said, "You are a leader." I responded, "No, I'm not." She said, "Yes, you are." Thankfully, it didn't require a grown-up stepping in to keep us from going on forever like that!

A Leader Isn't Alone

What do you think of when you think of the word leader? Do you imagine someone who has it all together, who naturally knows just what to do in every situation? Do you think of someone who takes charge? Someone who is independent and can handle everything on their own?

Though some leaders have such qualities, the truth is God did not create us to be independent and solitary...To read the rest of this post, visit Revive Our Hearts.

Faithfulness in the Seasons of Ministry

I often say that I learn just as much during our home-school lessons as my children. And that has been just as true this year in our study of Botany.  Learning all the unique ways that plants grow, bear fruit, and scatter seeds is nothing short of amazing. The wonder and glory of God’s creative hand was magnified as I looked at the road map etched into the veins and midrib of a maple leaf and as we carefully dissected the carpel of a lily. Indeed, the plant kingdom is a testament to the power of our Creator God.

In exploring the plant kingdom with my children, I’ve seen many parallels to our lives. The seasons of waiting for growth, the seasons of fruitfulness, the seasons of scattering new seed, and the seasons of quiet and rest that occur in flowers and plants are found in our own lives as well. More specifically, such seasons are seen as we live out our call in ministry.

Whatever our ministry, whether it is to other countries and cultures, women in our church, children, our neighbors, our family, or wherever God has placed us, we will all experiences seasons in ministry. There are three main seasons I’d like to explore in this article...to read the rest of this post, visit enCourage, my writing home today.