Hearts at Rest with Sarah Keeling

Connect with your kids as we share a short devotional time over how God is our guide.

A guide is a person that shows you the way to go.

God shows us the way to go. His word, the Bible, teaches us how to live in a way that pleases Him. But, the verse also says that He is with us. 

Knowing that God is with us to lead us and protect us is what helps us not be so scared when we go through dark or hard times.

Define guide - someone that shows you the way to go.

Define evil - bad, wrong, opposite of God.

Verses:

He guides me along the right paths

For his name’s sake.

Even though I walk

Through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

For you are with me;

Your rod and your staff,

They comfort me.

Psalm 23:3-4 (NIV)

Ask Your Kids:

• Share about a time when you were scared, but having someone with you made you feel better. 
• What could help you remember that God is always with you, guiding you and protecting you?

Engage Your Kids:

• Ask your kids to be your shepherd, and pretend to be a silly sheep that runs away.
• Discuss how God goes after us when we run away from Him just like a shepherd goes after his sheep.

Go Deeper 

• Visit my website for lots more prayer resources for your family.  

Spend a few minutes with your family thinking about how God speaks peace to His people. Big God on His throne is speaking to us, and out of His mouth comes peace. It’s like He’s telling you, “trust me, it’s going to be ok. I’m here with you.”

God is peace, and He speaks peace to His people.

Sometimes God whispers to us just like He whispered to Elijah, but we need to be still and listen so we can hear God.

Verses:

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,

For he will speak peace to his people,

To his saints, but let them not turn back to folly.

Psalm 85:8

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.  And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

I Kings 19:11-13 NIV

Ask Your Kids:

How could God speak peace to you?

How can you be still and listen to God?

Activity idea:

Practice being still and quiet and listening to God.

Resources:

Visit my website for lots more prayer resources for your family. 

Visit Blue Letter Bible for more about Peace.

Join Stacey and me for short and powerful devotion and prayer on how God is our shelter from her book, “Threadbare Prayers: Prayers for Hearts that Feel Hidden, Hurt, or Hopeless.” 

Stacey Thacker is a wife and the mother of four girls. She is the author of 7 books including her latest book called Threadbare Prayer: Prayers for Hearts that Feel Hidden Hurt or Hopeless. Stacey is also a Bible teacher with a passion to connect with women and encourage them in their walks with God. 

Verses:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I

will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91:1-2 ESV

Connect with Stacey:

Website: https://www.staceythacker.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialstaceythacker/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staceythacker/

Connect with Sarah:

Website: https://www.sarah-keeling.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahkeeling.author/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_sarahkeeling_/

Join us for a short, but powerful meditation on how God is our shield. A shield protects us from things that might hurt us, and God protects us from things that might hurt us too.

Does a shield work if we hold it far away? Nope. It needs to be close to us.

We need God to be close to us to protect us. We can be close to God by reading His Bible and talking to Him in prayer.

Imagine that you are carrying a shield, but it is God.

And He’s protecting you while you keep Him close to you.

Verses:

But you are my shield, and you give me victory and great honor. I pray to you, and you answer from your sacred hill.

Psalm 3:3-4 (CEV)

Ask Your Kids:

• What do you think it means that God is our shield?
• How has God been your shield and protected you?
• What happens when we forget to make God our shield?

Engage Your Kids:

• Create shields from Amazon boxes (you know you have them) and actout a fun nerf gun war using your shields.

Go Deeper:

• Join  “Finding Jesus in the Psalms: A Family Experience” for weekly handouts and other free resources connected with this episode.

Connect with your kids during a special time thinking about God as our fortress and place of safety.

God is our fortress. God is our place of safety.

That word fortress is like a mountain castle that protects you.

A place of safety is like shelter, or a place of hope.

God is like a mountain castle that protects you. He shelters you from storms. He is a place of hope.

When you are near God, when you read His true words in the Bible and spend time talking to Him, He is like a fortress surrounding you and protecting you. 

Verses:

Live under the protection of God Most High and stay in the shadow of God All-Powerful. Then you will say to the LORD, “You are my fortress, my place of safety; you are my God, and I trust you.”

 Psalm 91:1-2 (CEV)

Ask Your Kids:

• What is a fortress?
• How has God protected you?
• What is one way you can trust God right now?

Engage Your Kids:

• Make a fort out of blankets, chairs, pillows, etc.
• Throw some soft things at your kids while they are in their fort.
• Talk about how their fort protected them, which is like how God protects us when we are near Him.

Go Deeper 

• Join  “Finding Jesus in the Psalms: A Family Experience” for weekly handouts and other free resources connected with this episode.
• Read about the word fortress on BlueLetterBible.org. 

Join my friend Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young and me for a few minutes of Biblical encouragement and a quick time of prayer for you. 

Dorina shares a wonderful devotion about waiting like eagles from Isaiah 40:28-31. This passage is often used for encouragement, but Dorina shares a few super interesting things that I didn’t know before. She also offers a beautiful and powerful prayer over our listeners, which you don’t want to miss. 

Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young is a "glory chaser,” who meets God running trails in Central California or near the Pacific Ocean. She is a speaker, spoken word artist, Bible teacher and mama to 3 passionate girls. She is the author of two Bible studies, Glory Chasers and Flourishing Together, as well as the award-winning children’s book, Cora Cooks Pancit. Dorina is passionate about helping people discover God’s glory on life’s unexpected trails. 

Dorina and her husband Shawn are also the authors of a new devotional book for runners, walkers, and movers called, Walk, Run, Soar, and the hosts of a podcast with the same name. The book and the podcast are like Spiritual pep talks for all people who are interested in moving their bodies.

Verses:

Psalm 40:28-31

Do you not know?

    Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

    and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

    and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

    and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.

Connect with Dorina:

Website: www.DorinaGilmore.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DorinaLazoGilmore/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorinagilmore/

Connect with Sarah:

Website: https://www.sarah-keeling.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahkeeling.author/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_sarahkeeling_/

Join Mack and me for a few minutes thinking about how good God is, and what that really means for us.

God is good, which means that He is kind, loving, and gracious. He always does the right thing.

We can experience His goodness when we know Him, when we read the Bible, and when we talk to Him.

Mary Poppins says that she is practically perfect in every way. God is perfect in every way. He is perfectly good. He is ALL good. There is nothing bad in Him. All good things come from God.

In this episode we spend a minute thinking about how good God is and thanking Him for the good things He has done for us.

Verses:

Psalm 100:5 NIV

Taste and see that the Lord is good;

    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Ask Your Kids:
How have you experienced God’s goodness in the past?

What is one good thing in your life right now?

Engage Your Kids:
Share a few of the good things God has done in your life.

Resources:

Visit my website for lots more prayer resources for your family. 

Connect with your kids during a short guided prayer and Biblical meditation on how God created our inmost beings.

God knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. He connected all our pieces together, and He wove us together to make something very beautiful. He knows every single thing about us, and He loves us so much. Before anybody else knew anything about us, God was right there creating us and loving us. Join me with my special guest, my son Mack, for this special time thinking about how God created each one of us in our mothers’ wombs.

Verses:
Psalm 139:13-16 NIV

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

    when I was made in the secret place,

    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

    before one of them came to be.

Reflection Questions:
Imagine God knitting you together in your mom’s tummy.

Thank God for creating you the way that He did.

Thank God for the special things about you that make you, you.

As a family, talk about what it was like when your babies were growing inside their moms’ tummies.

*If your kids don’t know their mom, this is a great opportunity to remind them that God was right there taking care of them and personally creating them.

 Resources:
Visit my website for lots more prayer resources for your family.

Join us for a few minutes of sweet encouragement for tired moms with Alexx Rogers. 

Alexx shares a verse that is SUCH an encouragement for moms stuck in the mundane tasks of everyday life. She reminds us that motherhood is Kingdom work, even in the mundane tasks.

Alexx is a young 30-something year-old mom to four kids, wife to a great husband, and owner of Clothed in Strength, a super cute t-shirt company.

She shares about Jesus through her business and play dates.

Verse:

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, not for me.

Colossians 3:23 ESV

Prayer Tip:

Use the time when you are struggling to fall asleep to talk to God.

Connect with Alexx:

Website: https://clothedinstrengthetc.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clothedinstrengthetc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clothedinstrengthetc

Connect with Sarah:

Website: https://www.sarah-keeling.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahkeeling.author/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_sarahkeeling_/

Join us for a short, but powerful time of prayer and reflection, where we think about how God blesses us.

God has lovingly prepared for you a beautiful dinner, and he fills up your drink up until it overflows.

This is important because God doesn’t just give you a little to drink. He gives you more than you need! 

God puts oil on your head. That’s to protect you, and it’s a very personal act. He has to come near to you and touch you to do it. 

The last part of this verse is a promise that we get to be with God forever! That’s such great news for us! Not just in heaven, but here on earth too!

Define “my cup overflows” - God gives us more than we need!

Define dwell - remain, live in

Verses:

You prepare a table before me

In the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me

All the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Psalm 23:5-6 (NIV)

Ask Your Kids:

• Share about one time when you ate food that felt like a feast.
• What could you do to help you remember that God gives you more than you need?

Engage Your Kids:

• Have a pretend feast with your kids and “anoint” their heads with oil. 
• You can also talk about how shepherds poured oil on sheep to protect them from bugs. Gross, but true.

Go Deeper 

• Visit my website for lots more prayer resources for your family.