Gratefulness Prayer Song for Your Family

Happy Thanksgiving!

When our kids were growing up, dinner time was a crucial time of day for us–so much so that we made a protocol of “family all home together at least four nights per week”! Yes, it was that important to us.

Prayer before meals, reading Scriptures and devotionals, and having meaningful conversation at the table were highlights of our day. We often had specific questions set to ask the kids so we would have meaningful conversation. We sometimes had “affirmation” meals–where we went around the table and said affirming things about each other and to each other.

(And yes, we also had toddlers throwing down food, children who had to be removed and sent to bed, and cranky parents! But those things never stopped us!)

One of the things we loved to do at dinner or during family worship after dinner (before fun and games or just before bed!) was singing Scripture songs. To this day, our kids can sing dozens of Scriptures from our time together as a family singing the Bible.

One of those songs (though not-Scripture per se) was a prayer song. It began with the chorus of a popular song forty years ago, “Thank-You, Lord, for Saving My Soul.” From there, I added another verse to make it a mealtime prayer song.

I love this little prayer song! It brings back so many good memories–and there are times in the morning when I first wake up when I begin singing gratefulness songs before my eyes are fully open–and this little prayer song springs forth.

So I wanted to share it for this holiday season. It’s a powerful chorus to sing together before meals. It is also a reminder to our children that everything we have comes from God.

And…It is actually a really cool tool to use in situations with unbelievers as well. Even if our extended family members didn’t want to pray, they were delighted for our kids to sing this prayer song before we ate.

So here is the graphic–and below that is the link to the PDF so you can print it off for all of your guests or family members to sing together! And keep it handy for family meals after Thanksgiving too! It is simple to memorize and can become a wonderful family tradition in your home as well! It isn’t just a holiday prayer!

 

 

Click HERE for PDF download

Love and hope,

Donna…

…who is immensely grateful that God sought me and saved me 42 years ago when I was seventeen–and gave me children to raise for Him!

P.S. If you’re too busy right now, pin this for later here!

More Often Than Not—The Secret to Consistency Without Defeat

More Often Than Not: The Secret to Consistency Without Defeat

Earlier I introduced Gregg Harris’ “attachment” principle for doing the many things that are important in our kids’ Christian upbringing. (Read Attaching Important Things To Your Schedule here.)

Today I want to introduce another paradigm that has kept us going in all of the myriad Christian training endeavors: If something is important to you, you will do it more often than you do not.

Simple, really. But it has kept us going when we felt defeated, overwhelmed, or unsuccessful in our parenting. No matter what was happening, we tried to follow that principle. When one of us got discouraged, the other would remind the first that we were, indeed, doing what we were supposed to be doing.

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Christmas With College & Adult Children: Tips for Keeping Traditions with Grown Children

 

In a previous blog post, I discussed the importance of finding out those traditions that mean a lot to your college and adult kids so that they do not feel left out of the things you are doing in your home – especially the things that you used to do when they were little. In another post, I talked about the invitation versus obligation. (Read that here…that’s important!)

 

This post will focus on the latter. We try to continue many traditions with our high school kids and our college kids living at home, but at the same time, we don’t want to leave out the adult children who are away from home–or impose upon them either. This is a fine balance. Because of this, we recommend that you invite them to some of those things, but be sure that they do not see those things as obligations.

 

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Christmas With College and Adult Children: Our Family Decorating Night

 

One thing that draws high school and college kids like nothing else is food. Seriously. Food. Especially boys.

As I’ve already mentioned, preparing and/or buying kids’ favorite foods and treats is a great way to their hearts. Smile (See Kids’ Faves worksheets available here for free!)

And, as I’ve already mentioned in our “Continue With Earlier Traditions,” we always invite all of the kids over for our decorating night Thanksgiving weekend.

Here are some tips from our decorating night:

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