Hearts at Rest with Sarah Keeling

Connect with your kids as we share a short devotional time and prayer 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.  

Join us for a few minutes of peace thinking about how God is our shepherd and how sometimes he makes us rest.

God is my shepherd. God is your shepherd. 

A shepherd guides, cares for, and protects his sheep.

Just like a shepherd might make his tired sheep lie down and rest, God makes us rest too. Then he refreshes or restores our souls.

Define Refresh - bring back, make new

Define soul - the part of our body that you can’t see, and that lives forever (either with God, or without God)

Verses:

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul.

Psalm 23:1-3a (NIV)

Ask Your Kids:

• Share about a time that someone has made you rest.
• How do you think it feels for God to renew your soul?

Engage Your Kids:

• Have your kids pretend to be shepherds and lead you to a “quiet place” to rest. 
• Maybe you can get in a power nap! HA!
• Then reverse and have your kids practice being sheep.

Go Deeper 

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

Join us for a few minutes of sweet encouragement for tired moms with Charity Rios. Charity shares a SUPER SIMPLE prayer tip for busy moms, and she offers a wonderful prayer over moms that want to connect with God but are busy and tired. 

Charity is a Jesus follower, Wife and Boy Mama to 4 of the wildest, and squishiest sets of dimpled cheeks. She is the author of the children’s picture book “My Heart’s Garden” and companion “My Heart’s Garden Workbook.” Most days you can find her top knottin’ it, totin’ potties and rollin’ in the mini. The power of the gospel is her melody and unleashing women and children from captives into warriors is her passion.  She has a Masters in Higher Education and has been a Children’s Pastor, Church Planter and Teacher. 

Verse:

Above everything else guard your heart, because from it flow the springs of life.

Proverbs 4:23 ISV

Prayer Tip:

Pick a time when you are doing a task you don’t have to think about, like nursing the baby or doing dishes, and plan to pray during that time. 

Connect with Charity:

Website: https://charityrios.com

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

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

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 few minutes of encouragement, wisdom, and laughter. Christie shares a great prayer tip for when we don’t know what to pray, and she explains how we do not have to be equipped to teach our kids about God. All we need is to be with Jesus, and He does the rest. That is good news! 

Christie loves to help families grow deep faith roots through little faith habits that add up over time. She has 3 boys and one husband, and lives in Alberta, Canada. Her books include Quinn’s Promise Rock and The Mother and Son Prayer Journal.

Verse:

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled,

ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with

Jesus.

Acts 4:13 NIV

Prayer Tip:

Super easy prayer for tired moms: “Jesus, be the center.”

 Connect with Christie:

Website: https://littleshootsdeeproots.com

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

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

Connect with Sarah:

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

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

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

Join Stacey and me for short and powerful 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 Erin and me for a few minutes of encouragement. Erin shares a powerful verse that helped her through some hard seasons, a prayer tip for tired moms, and a beautiful prayer for you.

Erin writes about living with hope in the middle of brokenness. She lives in a small community in Mississippi with her husband and their three teenagers.

Erin is a fellow Hope*Writer and the author of In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life. 

Verses:

For you have been my help,

And in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

Psalm 63:7 ESV

Shadow means shade, defense, or place of safety.

No matter what circumstances are swirling around us, we can sing for joy.

We can rest and trust. 

Picture standing under the shadow of His wings and being close to God’s heartbeat.

Prayer tip:

When you tuck your kids in at night and pray with them, thank God for the qualities you see in them. Thank God out loud for giving them whatever good qualities they showed that day. It’s so good for our kids to hear us say the good things that we see in them. 

Connect with Erin:

Website: https://www.erinulerich.com 

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

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

Join us for a sweet time thinking about God’s faithful love in sending Jesus to save us.

God is faithful love. That means that His love or His kindness to us, doesn’t ever change or stop. It goes on forever and ever and ever.

The biggest way that God showed His love to us is when He sent Jesus, His perfect son, to come to earth to save us.

And Jesus showed us this same never changing, never ending love, by willingingly dying on the cross to take the punishment we deserved for our sins. Remember, sin is anything we do or think that is opposite from God and God’s word. 

The Bible says that we have all sinned, and we all need to be saved from the punishment we deserve for our sins by trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

In this episode we thank God for his never changing, never ending love.

We thank God for sending His Son Jesus to save us from our sins. That’s a big deal! 

We also thank Jesus for dying on the cross for you, and for taking the punishment you deserve.

Verses:

For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.

Psalm 100:5 (CSB)

Ask Your Kids:

• When was one time that you felt really loved?
• How have you experienced God’s love?

Engage Your Kids:

• Read John 13:1-17 together.
• Have your children cover their feet in mud.
  (They will love this).
• Wash your children’s feet.
• Say, “I am washing your feet, because I love you,
• Just like how Jesus washed His friends’ feet because He loved them.”
• “And just like how Jesus washes away our sins when we trust in Him as Lord and Savior, because He loves us.”

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 words “faithful love” on BlueLetterBible.org. 

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. 

Spend a few minutes with your family thinking about how God is Majestic.

Majestic means powerful, famous, noble, and used of kings.

God is powerful, famous, noble, and a King.

The Bible says that someday Jesus is coming back to earth, and He will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is so powerful and majestic!

He will be in charge of everything, and everyone, and He is going to make everything right. 

He is going to end sin and sadness, and He will bring His people ( those that believed in Him as Lord and Savior) to Himself.

Verses:

O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens!

 Psalm 8:1 (NLT)

On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Revelation 19:16 NIV

Ask Your Kids:

• What do you think it means that God is majestic?
• How does God’s majestic name fill the earth?
• How have you experienced God’s majesty?

Engage Your Kids:

• Create crowns using craft supplies from home.
• Ask your children to pretend to be king and queens.
• Say, “Kings wear crowns. Kings are powerful.”
• “God is King, and He is powerful.”

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 majestic on BlueLetterBible.org. 

Join us for a short, yet powerful time with your family thinking about how God is our light.

God is our light. He is bright. Light reveals things.

Imagine walking in the dark without a flashlight. 

You wouldn’t be able to see.

Now if you had a flashlight, that flashlight would help you see.

God helps us see things.

Just like a flashlight is much brighter than the dark room,

God’s light is much brighter than any darkness.

Verses:

The LORD is my light and the one who saves me. So why should I fear anyone? The Lord protects my life. So why should I be afraid? 

 Psalm 27:1 (ICB)

Ask Your Kids:

• What does it mean that God is our light?
• How has God been your light?

Engage Your Kids:

• Give your children flashlights.
• Go into a dark room in your house.
• (keep a nightlight on for younger kids).
• Say, “God is light - He is bright!”
• “Darkness is the absence of light.”
• Tell your kids to turn on their flashlights.
• Ask, “what did you notice about the dark and about the light?”
• Say, “God is so much brighter than our flashlights,
• Which means that nothing can hide from His goodness.”

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 light on BlueLetterBible.org.