[SPEAKER_02]: Hey everyone, welcome back to the Christian parenting podcast.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm your host, Steph Therling.
[SPEAKER_02]: As Christian parents, many of us feel pretty confident teaching our kids Bible stories.
[SPEAKER_02]: We can tell them all day long about Noah and David and Esther, Daniel, but somewhere along the way, it gets tiny bit harder to help them recognize God in their own lives.
[SPEAKER_02]: So how do we teach our kids to notice God's presence?
[SPEAKER_02]: Here is guidance and build a really real everyday relationship with him.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, today, I'm joined by Bible teachers and authors, Jen Weaver, and Gayle Vitt and Heimer.
[SPEAKER_02]: And together, they've written a new middle-grade mystery series called Kingswell Kid Detectives.
[SPEAKER_02]: In these books, help kids explore what it actually looks like to pray, trust God, ask questions, and experience him in the middle of ordinary life.
[SPEAKER_02]: So whether you have young kids or pre-teens, I think this conversation will encourage you that you don't have to have all the answers.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes the discipleship starts with simply learning to ask good questions together.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I hope that you enjoy this episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hi, Jen and Gail, welcome to the Christian Parenting podcast.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hi, thanks for having us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm really excited to have you guys here today.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to talk all about recognizing God's presence, trusting his guidance in our life, how to disciple our kids well, a little bit discernment.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be a really good full conversation, but I want to go first to introduce yourselves.
[SPEAKER_02]: People can get to know you a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you want to each kind of tell us who you are, tell us what your family, tell us what you do,
[SPEAKER_02]: Jen, you want to start?
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Jen Weaver, and I'm a Bible teacher and a mom with two young boys.
[SPEAKER_01]: My kiddos are currently 8 and 11.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the fact that my house is quiet right now was very much on an intentional choice to be ready for this conversation.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm married to my best friend, Jared, and living in the North Texas area.
[SPEAKER_01]: And everything that I get to do is helping people experience daily
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm being intentional in helping raise my kids that way and wanting to share resources with other people, whether it's on podcasts or on the U-version app where I get to share content regularly and in what we get to talk about today, which is the Kingsville Kid Detective series looking at the practical lived in parts of our faith and what it means to go through daily life with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I feel like there's so many things I could say about me, but I also get to do this with Gail, which is why it's so fun that we get to do this interview together.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I'm Gail, Vaightenheimer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a Bible teacher, also seminary trained, and my heart is discipleship as well, especially for kids, which is where the kids series comes in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am a mom of four grown children, six grandchildren, and two on the way in September, so seven and eight
[SPEAKER_00]: girls.
[SPEAKER_00]: I host the Christian Grandparenting podcast where I encourage grandparents in how to practically share their faith with their grandkids and hopefully come alongside your parents and support you as you just cycle your kiddos.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I am so glad to have you guys here today.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I liked the idea of this conversation, because I think so many of us grew up believing this idea that dot exists.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's out there, but he's this man far away in the sky and not involved in our everyday lives.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like our math tests or our baseball game or whatever it is that kids are going through.
[SPEAKER_02]: and I know that you guys are passionate about talking about that with families and so you created this Kingswell Kids Detective series and I know the series Jen kind of came out of some difficult conversations that you had with your boys after losing your mom.
[SPEAKER_02]: What did that season kind of teach you about faith in conversations and how to talk to your kids and what the types of conversations that they actually want to have to.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, one of the things that it really taught me that surprised me was how ready they were for the more in-depth conversations.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when my mom passed away, she was a believer.
[SPEAKER_01]: She loved Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it was really easy for my kids, especially at that point my oldest was eight.
[SPEAKER_01]: is really easy for them to be like, yeah, grandma's in heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got that, but what about this?
[SPEAKER_01]: And how does that apply here?
[SPEAKER_01]: And something that I have learned even in my own journey is as adults, we can kind of compartmentalize our faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's certain things that are spiritual and there's certain things that are,
[SPEAKER_01]: tangible or physical or everyday life, whatever box as we put that into.
[SPEAKER_01]: But for kids, they see them all as the same.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything in the world is new and exciting and they're exploring so many things, even we see it in the way that they get fascinated by the tiniest little things, like a metal bottle cap when they never seen one before.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so their curiosity, their wonder, their openness to the things that are beyond their own understanding is already so well established that they are primed for these conversations about, okay, well, how does life with God actually work in this situation?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that started me exploring, okay, what are books that I can find online to help me,
[SPEAKER_01]: talk with my kids about practical faith in real life, real faith, real life circumstances.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I found resources that talked about different aspects of grief, for heaven, I found resources that talked about morals and values and Bible characters and church history.
[SPEAKER_01]: All really great stuff, but not exactly what I was looking for.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to find stories that helped my kids experience what life was actually like to go through
[SPEAKER_01]: and a hard circumstance or in every day moment, relationally with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's part of what started the conversation with Gayle because we knew each other in a writer's group and I had never even considered writing for kids before.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I knew I wanted this type of resource for my kids and I knew that Gayle already had been writing some of her resources were for kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we started talking together about exploring this because our kids are ready.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not dented by the possibility of exploring their faith in greater ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: They want it to be real.
[SPEAKER_01]: They see it as real.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then as parents and grandparents and invested adults, we want to foster that for them too.
[SPEAKER_01]: We want to help encourage them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it is real.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yes, you can experience it in real and deeper ways, even now at your young age, whatever age that is.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I feel like so many Christian parents.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're really good at teaching our kids Bible stories.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like we can tell them about Noah's ark all day long.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, like those are stories that we can just repeat and we can either read in the Bible or its story book Bible where we can just tell them and it's so easy to do that.
[SPEAKER_02]: But it gets a little harder to talk about how is God present and working in my story and in your story in the world around us.
[SPEAKER_02]: So how do we start those conversations with our kids and then how do we help our kids to
[SPEAKER_02]: learn to involve God in their stories, in their ordinary moments and in their lives.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you don't mind, I'll take that one, Jeff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one thing that's so fun about this series.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had Jen and I were talking as a parent you want good reading material.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a fear that there's going to be something bad in the book that the kids are going to want to try.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we've flipped that with our book.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have good stuff in our book that we want kids to try, and specifically in the mystery of the missing falls, it's prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, as a parent, all you have to do is join the conversation because our two kid detectives
[SPEAKER_00]: are struggling with the same types of prayer questions that we as adults have.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do I talk to God?
[SPEAKER_00]: Does he have time for this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't he busy doing other things?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why would he listen to me?
[SPEAKER_00]: And what prayer do I use?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do I just talk?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do I need a prayer that we use in church?
[SPEAKER_00]: How does this work?
[SPEAKER_00]: How do I know if I'm hearing him correctly?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same
[SPEAKER_00]: And as children read, they experience those conflicts, those questions with our characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one of the strengths of being able to use Christian children's literature to disciple, because as they go through the story, they experience those same things with the characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there are a lot more likely to give it a shot in their own lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it doesn't require any teaching,
[SPEAKER_00]: any Bible study, it's woven in, and they're ready for a conversation.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I feel like it's interesting because it almost, as a parent, like it feels like there's this expectation that we shouldn't, we shouldn't have to use fiction books to teach our kids about having a relationship with God like we
[SPEAKER_02]: We should just know how to do it on our own, and we should be able to just talk about it.
[SPEAKER_02]: How have you seen the fruit of using books like this, like this series, like fiction works to teach kids about their faith, because it's such a gift, it's such a good resource.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think we almost have this like, wait, we just feel like we're supposed to know it all.
[SPEAKER_02]: And no one does.
[SPEAKER_01]: no one does.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't either.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I think about the discipleship moments I can have with my kids, oftentimes those are me modeling things to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's me modeling going to God and prayer when I feel overwhelmed or I don't know what to do or we need God's provision or direction.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's me modeling for them asking for forgiveness when I mess up.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's me modeling for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you asked a really great question here and I don't know the answer to that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's
[SPEAKER_01]: what we can find in the Bible, let's go look it up together.
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes that pressure off where when we feel like, oh, I really should have it all together often times that can cause us to shrink back instead of press in and try something kids don't need a perfect parents to be disabled as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: They need parents who are daily walking with the Lord and seeking to know him more and be made more into Christ's image and they need kids that and parents that make space for their kids to learn that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's in it of itself discipleship.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to kind of take some of the pressure off with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, we have a model in Scripture, and we have a model even in the way that God made our brain to work that sets us up well for stories.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Gail, I love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the way you talk about that, we share about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, God has wired our brains for story.
[SPEAKER_00]: 40% of Scripture is narrative, and that's not by accident.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all familiar with how Jesus use parables.
[SPEAKER_00]: But an interesting thing happens in the brain when you present to any of us, facts, figures, stats, are left brain acts like the guard at Buckingham Palace in it filters it, and some things that just flat out stops.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you take that exact same information and put it in story form, it's like a backstage pass at a concert.
[SPEAKER_00]: It goes right in.
[SPEAKER_00]: By passing, you're Buckingham Palace guard.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's how God designed us.
[SPEAKER_00]: He designed us to learn three story.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's one of those little secret weapons that parents need to know about.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is an easy way to cultivate character and virtue through quality children's literature.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with our bug, we're trying especially to show real faith in real life in real time.
[SPEAKER_00]: What does this look like?
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a, I have a, I have a fun testimony actually about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we, Galen, I have talked this whole whole process of working on the series together of what we are hoping a kid will do while they're reading the book.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what we hope a kid does after they're done reading it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so our hope for the mystery of the missing falls is that they'll finish reading a chapter and they will go and talk with God more that is our hope that is our prayer when we get together to work on the book we pray over all of the readers, the families, the parents, the invested adults every time we get together we pray and so I'm in the process right now of reading aloud the mystery of the missing falls to my kids and it happened just last week where the same day we read one of the chapters in the morning,
[SPEAKER_01]: Later that night, I'm checking them into bed and one of my boys was like, Mom, I was asking God this about tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think he's going to say?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, Oh, let's look to see how his how he's going to answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: What how do we know he answers?
[SPEAKER_01]: And he always he says yes, no, or he says not right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's look to see tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: How he's going to answer that prayer.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that moment just came from us reading the story together.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't have to prompt it, I didn't remind it, and even looking at the time span from earlier in that morning to bedtime, or him to be thinking about it and practicing it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, Lord, you're so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're answering this prayer, and I'm getting to see it already in my own kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the dream, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the dream of every Christian parent to have your kid feeling empowered to grow in their relationship with God on their own.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, and I think what's cool about the concept of story, too, is that you have amazing resources, but we can also share own stories.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think sometimes we're a little hesitant about that like how much because there's obviously why it's how age appropriate stories for your kids and you know your journey is your own.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you have to tell them in bits and pieces but like we can teach our kids so much about our own faith by the way we've handled life situations in the way we've leaned on God in the way it got us when faithful in our lives and just sharing our own personal stories can be so so powerful.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm also, so you kind of touched on this a little bit, but I kind of want to hear a little bit more about what do you think keeps kids from maybe recognizing God's present or his guidance in everyday situations like you're kind of said like oh if I pray is he too busy or you know some of those questions like does he actually care about that like what are some of the questions you feel like kids have around
[SPEAKER_02]: communicating with God and leaning into him.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then how have you worked through that with your own kids or in this book?
[SPEAKER_00]: Gale, when I say I think they have the same questions we do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Does God hear me?
[SPEAKER_00]: How will he answer?
[SPEAKER_00]: How do I know it's him and not me or someone else speaking?
[SPEAKER_00]: What do I say?
[SPEAKER_00]: Can I mess this up?
[SPEAKER_00]: What if I get it wrong?
[SPEAKER_00]: What if I think you said this and he really said this then what?
[SPEAKER_00]: And we walk through
[SPEAKER_00]: a lot of those scenarios in the mystery of the missing falls where our two kid detectives Amber is very has a very familiar relationship with God and she speaks to him very easily.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luca is quite a bit more liturgical.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he needs structure, he needs
[SPEAKER_00]: Evidence, he needs a lot more clarity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's fine to see each of their arcs because Luca learns to pray a little more freely.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet Amber also learns how much God treasures Luca's reverence.
[SPEAKER_00]: that she doesn't quite have yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we weren't through a lot of scenarios in this first book.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jen, you want to add to that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: We wanted to approach it from different perspectives.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that I see even serving adults is there's a lot of ways we can disqualify ourselves from knowing that the way that scripture says we can.
[SPEAKER_01]: And one of those lies
[SPEAKER_01]: only I had a different personality.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I hear it from people that are complete opposites from each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: If only I was more liturgical than I would have more discipline and I would show it more regularly and I would I would have more off God.
[SPEAKER_01]: If only I was more expressive or charismatic and I would feel him differently or if only I could.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like
[SPEAKER_01]: There's all of these lies that our misconstrued about what could limit us to connect with God, simply based on our personalities and our likes and our dislikes, but none of that is true because we all are created for life with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are all
[SPEAKER_01]: created to have this relationship with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so through Jesus, we all have access to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's leveraging the ways that God has crafted us to help us draw near to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we want to model that also with our kids, characters and Luca and Ember drawing near to God in their own ways and talking about it together.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things where we're hoping to model is for kids to feel more comfortable, just talking about their questions.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, okay, you say here, God, what does that mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: And, oh, that can mean different things to different people.
[SPEAKER_01]: And God even uses the things that we like or the things that we're drawn to to catch our attention.
[SPEAKER_01]: And talk to us, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, there's this freedom in it we're wanting to share this ease of the invitation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it's not easy, it requires practice as we're learning to hear God's voice.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the more we practice, the more we respond to him,
[SPEAKER_01]: the more we hear him and even us talking with one of my kiddos the other day.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, okay, you say God talks to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So like, you hear him with your ears.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, no, that would be so cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would welcome that.
[SPEAKER_01]: If any time God wants to talk to me, I don't believe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: definitely.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like nobody's not like that for me and I actually used one of the phrases that we have in the mystery of the missing falls.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like sometimes it's kind of like a text message to my brain where it's just this phrase pops up and I'm like oh that's not for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't think to do that because that requires obedience or trust or that's not that's not the way that I would normally say that or think that oh I think that might be from God and then I keep exploring
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it broadens their scope where sometimes kids can be so literal, the he's thinking, what needs to be an out loud voice, like the way that I talked to my friends, when we talk about hearing God and we talk about listening and responding to him, that can have so many different applications to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so one of the things that's great about kids again is they're learners.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are exploring the world and so getting to explore this at their age,
[SPEAKER_01]: our books are written for kids ages 8 to 12.
[SPEAKER_01]: So at that age, they are so ready to experience more of what Christianity can be, more of what relationship with God can look like.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like, okay, yeah, I'll try that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me, God, will you send me a text message to my brain?
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me listen, let me try and pay attention.
[SPEAKER_02]: Love the emphasis that these two characters are so different.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that day can experience God in life with God and the adventure of life with God in their own ways and both are good and they at the same time they can both learn from each other too.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I look at actually reminds me I mean both I have three kids, but one of my kids this past Sunday our church is doing over the summer this.
[SPEAKER_02]: like evangelism course for middle schoolers and high schoolers for the youth program and they're like this organization is coming in and they're going to teach you a quick view of the resources to spread the gospel and school.
[SPEAKER_02]: My daughter is not in middle school but she marched up to my pastor and was like I am one year away from middle school and I was switching to a public school and I want to spread the gospel and so I want to go to this course can I come and who's going to look better and was like yes yes you can.
[SPEAKER_02]: because that's her personality, like she's like, give me in.
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to go, you know, like, I'm just, I'm all in.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then my other, one of my other kids, one of my sons, he is also going to a public school from a Christian school.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he is like, I want to do this morning.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's been doing a morning Bible study with some dads and boys and his grade.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he just wants to stay doing that.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's like, I don't, I don't want to talk about it at school.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I don't want to go in guns blazing, but I do want to invite people to my quiet intimate Bible study.
[SPEAKER_02]: And both those things are good.
[SPEAKER_02]: Both of them are great.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I'm proud of them both.
[SPEAKER_02]: But they look, they're, the way they're going at it is really different.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's just the reflection of who God made them to be.
[SPEAKER_02]: And hopefully they, you know, can take a little
[SPEAKER_02]: of each other and learn but they're all made so different and so we're not supposed to do it the same way because if my son did go in and just was like send me and coach like it probably wouldn't go well because he wouldn't be comfortable and then it would be awkward and my daughter just can't be quiet so he can't hold her back
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, it's that's so true like we get to show up as we are like we're being we're being refined by the Lord We're being transformed or being renewed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes, yes, yes, and God made us on purpose the way we are and so there's there can be all these pressures That we can learn over the years that we have on our hearts that to hopefully help kids learn the opposite to learn what's true
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they don't feel like man only extroverts or only introverts can be evangelists or can be close to God in this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like no God made us all to know him.
[SPEAKER_01]: God made us all to participate in his ministry to the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that really it starts with the foundation of
[SPEAKER_01]: of knowing God, knowing who He is, and what He's like, and that cascades into all these other areas.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why we wanted to start with the mystery of the missing falls being about prayer and hearing God, because that then carries over into all these other aspects of relationship with Him is like.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: I would love to know kind of as we close out like from each of you reflecting on this book, this series kind of everything we've talked about like what do you think is something simple that parents could start with their kids this week or a conversation they could have to help their kids become more aware of God's presence to you know to go to him in prayer and to kind of start this journey of life with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know one question that Jen presented me probably it's been a couple of years is how does God tell you I love you and to explore that and and I did it was a fun place to explore with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me more about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: At the time, my husband and I really enjoy all the different birds in the backyard.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I grew up with a lot of Bible knowledge, but not a lot of relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the relationship with God for me has kind of late in life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so exploring questions like that has been a newer thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's really been fun to see how God answers.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so my husband and I had this bird output our phone that our green kids just love.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can turn it on and listen, it will listen to whatever birds are chirping.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then tell you what kind it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Cardinals are like super chatty, and we hear them all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then one day, not long after Jen had presented me with that question, it dawned on me.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's God saying, I love you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is the Cardinal Terps?
[SPEAKER_00]: And it floored me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was in tears because Cardinals seriously, guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cardinals talk all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had never had God's love present into me like that before.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it just floored me because, constantly, I was hearing Cardinals all the time, chirping, and it was just, it was a big moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, about you, John.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Gayle hit on a specific example of this, but asking questions, asking them questions, asking prompting them to ask God questions.
[SPEAKER_01]: So even one real simple example of that is it's easy to go to God with prayer requests, but we don't always have the follow-up to look at how to answer it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So even looking at a
[SPEAKER_01]: something that you as a family may have been praying about and how God answered it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It could be for your kid's boo-boo or something if you're considering a move or if you were asking God to open a door at church or even the example you shared stuff of your daughter stepping out and courage in that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like okay, what are the things that she's asking God to help her with now?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then what are the ways she's seeing the answer to that prayer?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it helps them practice noticing what God's answers can look like.
[SPEAKER_01]: And reflecting on it, I think about it too, even in sharing our own personal stories with them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, there's this really big thing happened that I don't know if you guys know about this testimony from
[SPEAKER_01]: our lives before you as a born or for my life when I was your age.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you're sharing testimonies of your own experiences with God and that broadens their awareness of how God is at work.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that often will spark ongoing conversations.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at how do you see this or have you shown have you seen God show up for you in that way?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then a real simple way is even just
[SPEAKER_01]: thinking him for things that you enjoy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It can be really easy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It can be easier to go with God, go to God with practical needs.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need this, we need this met law.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please help us.
[SPEAKER_01]: But sometimes we can forget.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be in speak to for myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can forget to go to God with the fun things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or I thank you for this moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you got for good ice cream.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, I think you, that our family can have this time together right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, I think you for this one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Will you help us have even more fun when we go on this family walk?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then look for ways that you might have a fun experience.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it could be the silliest little thing of, oh, we saw a possum on our walk.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've never seen a possum on our walk before, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: But just that awareness of ways that God is showing up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a track that do you have a way to track that with your family or like answered prayers?
[SPEAKER_01]: We do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to be more intentional with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So actually I have two different things that I use.
[SPEAKER_01]: One is I have a Bible that I bought for each of my boys.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't know about it yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you ever meet us and don't tell them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I track testimonies in it and sometimes they're really small little things but I'll find it's a journaling Bible until I'll write them next to different verses and I'll date them.
[SPEAKER_01]: So my plan is at some point when they hit some stage in adulthood, I'll give them the Bible where I have tracked testimonies of their lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we also have a family book of remembrance that we typically will bring out at Thanksgiving, but every once in a while we'll bring it out at different times, where we just write testimonies of what God has done, answered prayers, things like that, and then we can go back over past entries and celebrate together.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you sound pretty intentional about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: there's so many in the everyday where I'm like oh I wish I had more of a track record of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've heard of people that are like they keep answered prayers in the back of their Bible of just this like ongoing log of everything and I mean the beautiful thing is as we grow in life with God, as we walk in relationship, there are more testimonies than we even noted to notice that we have of his kindness and faithfulness.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I think you sound really good at it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I wish I was more intentional about it, too.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I liked the Bible idea.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's really fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: People would say people should go get a Bible and start it now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I wish I had it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, someone should go do it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's great.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, can you guys let us know where we can connect with you guys?
[SPEAKER_02]: And where we can get a copy of your book, all that stuff.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I can put it on show now.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the series website is KingswellKids.com and we'll have all of the links for all the places.
[SPEAKER_01]: The mystery of the missing falls is available at your favorite retailer, including Amazon and ChristianBucks.com and all the places.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then my personal website is TheGenWeaver.com and I'm TheGenWeaver on all of the places and Gale.
[SPEAKER_00]: GaleVightingHimer.com, also the Christian Grandparenting podcast as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: That covers me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, well I'll get all that linked out, and I just really appreciate you guys sharing your heart and writing what God put on your heart so that we can use your resources as parents.
[SPEAKER_02]: So thank you so much for being here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for having this stuff.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for listening today.
[SPEAKER_02]: I hope that this conversation encouraged you to remember that discipleship isn't having all the right answers.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's about walking with Jesus alongside our kids and inviting them to notice God's presence in every day life.
[SPEAKER_02]: If this episode encouraged you, would you please just take a minute to leave her rating and review, really helps other parents find this show.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can find Jen and Gilles, Kingswell Kid Detective series, and all of the resources we mentioned in today's show notes, so go check that out.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you again for being here, May God bless you this week.
[SPEAKER_02]: May you take the time to fully enjoy his presence in your life, and may you look for all the ways that he says.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love you.