Praying the Psalms over our kids: The key to Thanksgiving
It’s the week of Thanksgiving and Psalm 16:2 gives us the most basic truth in these seven words: “Apart from you I have nothing good.” What a great starting place as we celebrate Thanksgiving by remembering that every single thing we have is from God.
Kayla Craig joins us today to pray thanksgiving over our kids. She also encourages us to consider the value of praying liturgies. A liturgy is simply a written prayer that helps us connect with God. I just started using liturgies as part of my prayer life, and it has been so impactful that I want to share a little bit about that with you today.
My prayer this week is for our hearts and minds to be filled with the gratefulness that comes only from knowing the generosity and abundance found in Jesus.
Preparing for Advent with Ruth Chou Simons
Don’t anyone panic, we’re not skipping Thanksgiving!
But we are chatting with Ruth Chou Simons about advent and why the posture of our hearts as we enter the holiday season matters. Ruth is hilariously practical and talks about her scrapbooking skills (or lack thereof) and her propensity to lose sight of what matters this time of year… if her perfectionist ways take over.
Ruth reminds us that there’s an opportunity to experience Jesus even during a time of year packed with family, parties, and preparations.
She also has the most BEAUTIFUL advent book available now—a 25 day journey leading up to Christmas. I’m going to be using this book all of Advent and would love for you to join me.
Today’s a fun conversation about holidays, family, and maintaining a posture that invites Jesus to be near in the middle of it all.
Resources from today's show:
Praying the Psalms over our kids: The key to our waiting
The times of waiting in my life have hands down been the places where I’ve learned the most about God. Knowing this, I’m excited to be praying this week for our kids to learn to wait well. Waiting patiently on God is a hard thing to grasp when you live in an Amazon-style, instant gratification kind of world.
Psalm 40 is our key Psalm this week and David suggests that when we are waiting on God to act, we are to wait actively and expectantly. Instead of sitting around in despair and hoping for the best, we’re to be crying out in urgency for God’s deliverance.
So often, the key to waiting in the most difficult places we face means simply remembering God’s faithfulness in the past, turning only to him for deliverance, and finding a posture of dependence and trust.
Join me in praying for our kids as we consider what it means to wait well on God.
All things Thanksgiving with Lauren Chandler
For the first time ever we have Lauren Chandler on Pardon the Mess!
Lauren is a worship leader, author, mom of three, and wife of Pastor Matt Chandler. I love this conversation because it’s all about Thanksgiving traditions, favorite recipes, and enjoying family this time of year. 🦃 🦃
She has an amazing heart for praising the Lord and gives us practical ways to foster a lifestyle of praise and Thanksgiving (even when life gets complicated). She also shares about her husband’s brain tumor revealed years ago on Thanksgiving day, and how that still impacts her today.
Take a few minutes to join us in preparing your heart and home for Thanksgiving!
Resources from today's show:
The Parent’s Guides to Social Media by Axis
Launch with Jamie Ivey & Lisa Whittle
Praying the Psalms over our kids: The key to our sin
David had an affair, murdered a man, and spent almost a year ignoring his wrongdoing before finally confessing his sin. Psalm 51 reveals his heart after such a significant moral failure, and his words are beautiful as he asks God to cleanse, restore, and continue to use him.
Our kids will sin too. This week we are praying they recognize it and repent, just as David did all those years ago. God cares so much about our right-ness with him that he sent Jesus to bridge the chasm between our sin and God. He’s the sacrifice that allows us right standing before God, even when we’re so prone to sin.
Join me this week in praying that our kids will have accountability in their lives (a Nathan) that will point out their sin. Let’s also pray they never feel defined by the places where they get it wrong, but instead know that Jesus is ready to give them a clean heart and full restoration—if they will simply ask.
Setting healthy boundaries with Lysa TerKeurst
Nothing makes you question the boundaries in your relationships like the holidays. Am I right?
Lysa TerKeurst is with us today to talk about relationships and the boundaries we often fail to put in place. The result? Chaos in some of our more challenging relationships. Like most of us, I haven’t thought a lot about boundaries and definitely not from a biblical perspective. But thankfully Lysa has so much wisdom in this area, talking us through the practicalities of setting healthy parameters and why that’s so necessary.
If you struggle with guilt, people-pleasing, and fear in your hardest relationships, this show is 100% for you!
Resources from today's show:
Praying the Psalms over our kids: Following the Shepherd
I think the twenty-third psalm just may be my favorite psalm of all. I used to think of it as just a funeral type psalm, or one for hard times—but now I realize how many nuggets are packed in there as we pray this over our kids.
I’m reminded that God is the provider for all things, and he’s oftentimes providing things we don’t even know we need. There are also verses giving us encouragement for the hard times and reminders of our ultimate hope—eternity with Jesus.
Just as sheep learn to follow their shepherd by knowing his voice, we’re praying this week that our kids do the same. I have a feeling you’re going to love Psalm 23 in a whole new way.
Real truth on fear with Louie Giglio
A Penn State study indicates that 91% of what we worry about never happens.
I don’t know about you, but this statistic holds true in my own life having worried about countless things that (thankfully) never actually transpired.
Louie Giglio is no stranger to fear and anxiety and comes today with a great word on how to deal with the inevitable worries we all face. He debunks the idea that we are “born worriers” with no control, and identifies the four lies that typically feed our anxiety.
Don’t miss the end of this episode where Louie talks about reconciling our suffering with God’s goodness. It’s so, so good!
Praying the Psalms over our kids: The key to being still
A discussion on being still seems especially relevant this time of year as we’re gearing up for the holidays while enjoying all the fun things of fall. Psalm 46 reminds us that being still allows us to better know Jesus. The Hebrew for “be still” means “to be weak, or let go, or to release.”
Who couldn’t use some of that this week?
We’re praying specifically that in a world that praises hard work and high achievement, our kids can be still and find peace from the grind of striving, performing, and controlling. After all, God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), and we will know him best when we loosen the reins and allow him to cover our deficits.
If Jesus used the words “be still” in Mark 4 to calm a storm and all creation instantly obeyed the very sound of his voice—I’m guessing we’d be wise to do the same. Let’s pray together for our kids today!