In spite of the face masks, rules of hygiene, social distancing, on-line or in-person school \u2013 I\u2019m asking God for His favor on this year with so many blessings and great accomplishments for our children AND even for you moms and dads. What a breath of fresh air it has been to see such optimism on my FB feed lately of photos of kids going back to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those precious children make me smile with great hope for the beginners, the teenagers and college ones in their dorm rooms. Wide-eyed wonder and excitement about a new year of meeting new friends and having great adventures. No doubt, there will be certain challenges along the way, but I choose to believe it will open their minds to all the possibilities and rewards of being a winner and an overcomer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I loved my dear friend\u2019s comment to me that of all the concerns she had, her kids are so optimistic, contented and settled into their dorm or school already. Now, she\u2019s optimistic, contented and grateful to God and expecting to be an overcoming mom! I\u2019ve seen many optimistic parents making bold confessions of faith for their kiddos. I\u2019m praying that the first of this school year reveals tremendous resolve and determination because of how last year\u2019s school-year ended \u2013 with resolve and determination of you stay-at-home parents who CONQUERED! I loved one mom\u2019s prayer: \u201cMy prayer tonight as my boy takes his first steps into high school — above everything — that being a Christ-follower is at the top of his desires.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the attitude we should all have for our children and grandchildren. Of all the knowledge they acquire, all the common sense experiences that they will learn from — the single most important achievement is to be devoted followers of Christ in their friendships, in the decisions they make and their problem-solving with God\u2019s wisdom leading the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke 2:52 mentions four areas Jesus grew in as a young boy: \u201cAnd Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.\u201d Our Lord grew wiser and He physically grew. His relationship with His Heavenly Father continuously grew and was strengthened. Jesus even gained favor with people who saw Him day to day. I love the simple sentence that precedes this: \u201cHis mother kept all these things in her heart.\u201d We never see Mary worried and anxious. She pondered about her son, but she didn\u2019t allow her heart to become rattled. And neither should we.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May we all strive to be like Mary, turning our anxious thoughts into treasured prayers, kept safe and held fast by our loving Father \u2014 the One who knows our hearts and loves our children even more than we do. When a concern pops up in our mind, we carry that concern to God. When we start to fear for our child\u2019s future, we petition the One who knows what the future holds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heavenly Father, I pray for all these precious children that are starting a new school year. Protect them, encourage them and fill them with strong minds to learn and grow. Help them to be a great friend and to have great friends. I pray moms and dads can turn their concerns and worries into prayers, knowing You are in control. Please help them to treasure each moment with their children as they grow in wisdom and stature and favor with others and You. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philippians 4:6-7, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving; let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In spite of the face masks, rules of hygiene, social distancing, on-line or in-person school \u2013 I\u2019m asking God for His favor on this year with so many blessings and great accomplishments for our children AND even for you moms and dads. What a breath of fresh air it has been to see such optimism…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18339,18338,17748,18340],"tags":[16008,1891,1210,18335,1769,17738,3244,18337,40,1898,542,18334,2084,5096,16865,6770,1493],"class_list":["post-13001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2020-school-year","category-back-to-school","category-face-masks","category-favor-with-god-and-man","tag-16008","tag-back-to-school","tag-blog","tag-bold-faith","tag-christian","tag-face-masks","tag-favor","tag-hygiene-rules","tag-inspiration","tag-luke-252","tag-mary","tag-on-line-school","tag-optimism","tag-school-year","tag-social-distancing","tag-stature","tag-wisdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13003,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13001\/revisions\/13003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}