Hi Fam,
Welcome to a brand-new month where Miracles Await You.
Earlier this week, I was thinking about how we have the tendency to want the best for ourselves: we want to live in the best neighbourhoods, drive the best cars, work with the best companies, send our kids to the best schools and pretty much live our best lives. Our concept of what is ‘best’ varies from one individual to the other: what is best for one person might be just okay for another person (not good enough to be called best).
Now think of this, the word of God says in Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV),
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
If we are real with ourselves, we are sometimes wrong about what we think might be best for us. We often make wrong decisions though we have noble intentions. God, on the other hand, has great plans for us - way better than any plan we have for ourselves - and he has the bird’s-eye view of our lives.
As our loving Heavenly Father, He desires us to trust that He knows what is best for us. He expects us to surrender to Him as He works out his best plans for us. Provided we cooperate with Him, we can be sure everything will pan out amazingly well.
This month, my prayer for you is that you will experience the unfailing love and presence of God in a greater dimension than you have ever experienced in your life. I pray that you are constantly aware of the presence of God as you go about your daily activities, and you always remember that God is thinking about you. His thoughts for you are mind-blowing!
Curated Resources
Weekly Bible lessons for the kids
Our lesson for the kids this week is a beautiful assurance from God. “I will be with you!” Amen! What a promise!! I am not sure what season of life you and your family might be going through, but I want you to know that God is always there for you through all the seasons. As you study this lesson with your child, I pray you feel the warmth of God’s continued presence as he reaffirms this promise to you through this lesson. Sometimes, like the man in the ‘footprints in the sand’ poem I shared last week, we wonder where God is when we are in the midst of a storm. As we teach our kids this lesson, let us seize the opportunity to ask God for the grace to put it into practice - so that we can be living examples for our kids to see.
As you study the lesson for the week with your kids, feel free to come up with more examples (in the Bible and real life, too) of different scenarios where God’s promise to be with us always comes in handy.
You can check out the embedded video lesson for inspiration to teach your child using the free PowerPoint slides used to create the video and the activity sheets that go with the lesson. You can find other great Bible-based resources for your kids here.
Book recommendation for the kids
The book for the week, in sync with this week’s lesson, is ‘I see you’ by Christine Roussey. Get creative as you read through this book with your child. Help your child appreciate that God is always with us; He sees us even when we cannot see Him. He loves us, always listens to us and will never leave us. Such a blessed assurance to know that we are never alone because God is with us at all times!
Book for you
As an introvert, I am really terrible at talking about my achievements or even adequately articulating my personal value proposition. Growing up, the saying, “When you do good work, your work will speak for you,” was quite common, and I believed that gimmick for so many years. In the competitive world that we live in today, that narrative doesn’t fly. Those who get the best of opportunities are those who have mastered the art of articulating their value and showcasing it in a way that gets the right attention. I recently read Austin Kleon’s book, ‘show your work.’ If you are like me, this book is a great place to start your journey to liberation from this limiting mindset. Austin shares practical ways to stand out doing what you love without feeling like you are putting yourself out there - if you know what I mean. This is one book that I know I will read over and over again.
If you want to take things a notch higher, listen to his audiobook trilogy.
Until I come your way again next week, remain blessed!