When I began homeschooling with four small children, I have to admit, our morning devotions were difficult and sporadic.

It wasn't until I found Leading Little Ones to God, and devoted myself to training the children to sit still and listen that our quiet times took off. Soon after we began this special time each morning, I began to see fruit in their lives. The fruit was evident in the way the children spoke to one another, the way they spoke to me and in how well they did both in school and in completing other tasks. I realized that the fruit I was seeing was the result of the sowing into their hearts with God's Word each morning. It wasn't just the reading time that touched their hearts, it was the deeply spiritual discussions we had as we read from this little book of rich truths for young children. I never did the songs or any other of the activities in the book, we only did the reading - which often led us right into the Word of God where we parked for a long time. Years before I had worried that we would never have time for school if we spent so long in morning devotions. What a sad testimony to my mindset at the time. It was as if I believed in my heart of hearts that academics were going to offer my children the kind of life I wanted them to have, when in reality it is only the Word of God that can give to us anything of value. I was delighted to discover that the time we spent discussing the Lord and His Ways actually gave us more time for academics. It was as if the Lord multiplied our time. When a child's heart is attuned to the Lord, they are much more likely to finish the work set before them without grumbling, complaining and falling onto the floor in a heap, crawling under the table to bite their brothers leg - or whatever else they might do when the flesh has rule over their hearts.
Unfortunantly, when Leading Little Ones to God was completed, I couldn't find another devotional that would take them to the next level. Most of the things I found were too elementary - written for children that didn't have a strong foundation in Biblical principals, were too legalistic - giving children more of a foundation in legalism and rules than in the grace and freedom from flesh that God offers us, or were not appropriate for homeschooled children, dealing with boyfriends and other subjects unrelated to our lives. So, I decided that each morning, I would write a devotion for us to do. From this was born In His Words.

I am hoping that posting it as a blog will inspire me to continue the project even when life gets hectic and I have other book deadlines to finish. I also hope that this is something your family might enjoy as well.

I will be posting chapters in the right hand column as I edit them.