Bedtime: FaithTales? Or FairyTales?
My kids have wild imaginations and LOVE a great big, magical story. My little one LOVES everything about fairies and Tinkerbell. She loves the moon and her mouth dropped to the ground the day she realized that the huge moon outside our house was the same moon her grandmother looked at every night.
You see stories stick with our kids. That’s why parents have been telling kids Bible stories for generations. It’s because they can remember a story like David and Goliath and imagine themselves in a similar situation. They can one day begin to think, “If God showed up for David in something so impossible – I bet he might show up for me.”
What if our stories of faith became our children’s bedtime stories?
My brother asked me this question and it struck me so deeply. So much, that I included it as the family activity in Chapter 5 of In This House, We Will Giggle. I just love this idea! Our kids will always have the Bible as the first record of faith. Stories that are true – not make-believe or fairytale. They can stand firm that these things happened in history.
Wouldn’t it be so encouraging if they knew their own heritage of faith?
In the activity, I encourage families to start a Heritage of Faith. This simply means a notebook or journal that records the faith stories of your family. It can go back generations or start with you!
Start with some of these questions.
- When did you know God was real?
- Have you ever trusted Him during a hard time?
- What is your favorite verse?
- When has He answered your prayers?
My prayer and hope for my kids and yours – is that WHEN (not if) they doubt their faith and have questions, we will be ready with answers. A heritage of faith – He has been around for thousands of years and He has certainly been present in our family. This is when your father trusted, your uncle, your mother. This is when God showed up. He is real. He isn’t make believe or a fairy tale.
Start recording the small and the big moments for your kids and generations to come.
Love this idea!
The family I grew up in, although believers, we very quiet about their faith. It wasn’t something that we talked openly about. So you can live a good majority of your life with people and never know these answers to these very important questions. I don’t want that to be the case with my husband and kids. This is a great way to start the conversation.
Yeeesssss!