Lynn Cowell - how one girl gets things done

A couple weeks ago I shared with you how my seriously productive writer friend Marybeth Whalen gets things done. This week I invited my P31 teammate Lynn Cowell to tell us how she gets things done.
 
I know that Lynn pours intentional time and effort into shepherding her teen girls and young women. So I asked her how she makes room for that among all the other duties in her life. Below is her response in her own words.

Lynn and her girls

 
Last night while I was folding laundry, while cooking supper, while helping my daughter with her homework, while waiting for my husband to come home…I took a very deep breath. I felt that weight that comes when life is spinning with so many things to do.

I’m sure you know how it feels…you probably felt it last night too.

With the pressures we feel as moms, daughters, wives, employees and all our other titles, “discipler” (I know it’s not a word, but let’s pretend for today it is) is the one thing that often gets thrown to the side. Instead of doing it ourselves, we hope that the youth director, youth pastor or the Bible teacher at school is covering that one for us.

For too long, I would crawl in bed each night, feeling like I had failed again becasue my children were no closer to understanding the Bible than they were the day before. God calls us to teach our children God’s Word, and I just wasn’t making that happen. I knew I had to do something to change that.

So over the past few years, I have begun to disciple my girls in three different ways:

1.     Read God’s Word over Breakfast

Breakfast is a great time to read God’s Word to your children because you have a captive audience! While they fill their stomach, I fill their hearts and minds with God’s truth. Some days it is a few verses from Proverbs. Other days it is a word from a devotional. I then pray over them, making them aware that the Holy Spirit will walk with them as they go through the double doors of their high school.

2.     Small Group Study

Every Monday after school, my youngest daughter and four of her friends from softball get together at my home. Gathering around my kitchen table, we chat about the day while we munch on a snack. Then we study the Bible. We might go through a book, or study a book of the Bible together. Right now we’re studying the book of John. This is a great way to not only invest in my girl, but in my girl’s friends as well.

3.     Just Chat

Any chance I get, I share with my kids what God is doing in my life. It might be a prayer that was answered, a surprise gift from Jesus, or a sin I tripped on and had to ask forgiveness for. I try to have a mix of it all. Isn’t that the way our life is anyway? I want them to see Jesus in my life – indeed that Jesus is my life!

This is how I get done the calling to teach my kids about Jesus. My girls don’t know every story in the Bible, nor can they quote many verses with the reference too. Each day, though, they are having their hearts filled with God’s unconditional, perfect love.

When could you find time to pour God’s truth into your child? Is over breakfast a good time? Or, over dinner? Maybe as they crawl into bed, or maybe in the car on the way to school is a better fit. The time of day is not important. What is important is that we find the time in the day.

 

So that's how Lynn, as a mother, gets one of life' most precious tasks done.  How are you dicipling your child?

PS. Lynn’s new book, Devotions for a Revolutionary Year might be just the tool you are looking for to invest in the lives of the young women close to you. She also has some free resources at her website - just click here.