“May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.” Psalm 90:16

We snuggled there in the dark gazing at the stars through his open window. Breathing in his little boy scent, wondering how many more nights of after dark cuddling were left between us, his profound question interrupted my thoughts.

“Who made the stars?”

“God did,” I quietly smiled hugging him a bit tighter.

“And who made the moon?”

“God did. And you know what?” I asked.

“What?”

“God made you, too. And He loves you more than all the stars in the entire world!”

As we marveled at God’s shining handiwork suspended above us, my thinker-boy asked more questions until, in his child-like way, understood God’s immeasurable love for him.

As a young mother, the idea of growing my child up in the Lord daunted me. How do you teach a child to believe in an invisible God? How do you explain that words spoken into space are heard by his Creator? How will he know Jesus once lived and died and lives again? Exactly how do you explain the unexplicable?

In other words:

How do you make God real?

·  Teachable moments – when an experience lends itself to the spiritual, use age appropriate ways to teach your child about God’s creation, character, and unconditional love.

·  Hard questions – welcome every question and answer them honestly. If you don’t know the answer, research it or ask a trusted expert or church leader.

·  Prayer – pray together often. Teach them the power of prayer by sharing God’s answers to those prayers.

·  God’s miracles – in big and small ways God still performs miracles in our lives and throughout his creation. Look for them together and thank God for his marvelous deeds.

·  Trust God – entrust your children’s lives to God. He created them, wrote the script for their lives, and will draw them to Him. For he promises:  

“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33 

How has raising your children up in the Lord looked like for you? In what ways or through what deeds has God shown he was real to your family? What words of wisdom would you offer parents or grandparents in raising children of faith?