Author: Katherine Pittman
Located in: Richmond
Submitted: October 07, 2021
Tell us a little about yourself. I'm a homeschooling momma of 3, blessed to be married to a gifted man of God. I'm passionate about Bible reading with my kiddos, learning the word, and really just discovering new ways pass things along all with kiddos by my side. I loved studying and memorizing and digging deep into the word long before I had kiddos, but for the first few years after the Lord gave us children, I felt almost paralyzed, not knowing how to find time to read or study with the constant barrage of interruptions.
And yet having these people by my side 24-7 has taught me so much about Christ and allowed me to see aspects of his love for me, his delight in me, his limitless forgiveness, so many things. And yes, eventually, the Lord began to show me so many ways I could still study or memorize the word, just by bringing my kiddos alongside. Most of my sharing writing and sharing, and even the burden for Write the Word on my Heart, all stemmed from this place.... to continue my pursuit of the Lord, while still faithfully raising and pointing my children to him, too.
What was your motivation behind this project? This book stemmed from my desire to memorize the word with my children. I was encouraged to memorize early on as a Christian, and I've always appreciated the blessings that come from scripture memory, but when I became a mother, I began to appreciate them even more. I'd be up late nursing a baby, or brain-fried and barely there, yet the Lord continued to feed me from verses memorized years earlier. Time and time again, the Lord gave encouragement, hope, conviction--sometimes even a verse to help someone else, all from verses stored up in my heart long ago. As I increasingly realized the deep value of scripture memory, I longed to be able to pass this down to my own children.
But our days were so busy. We were very involved in church life, hosting the saints and traveling often. And sometimes, with days so full, those things you have in your heart to do get neglected. I knew if I really wanted to be consistent with Bible memory, I needed something that was open-and-go. From this burden arose the idea of WTWOMH--to encourage consistent Bible memory in our home - “even on the busiest days.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? My heart is for parents to get into the word with their children; for the word to be living and active within the home again; and for our children to open their Bibles and know and believe, "God has something in here for me, too!" Many of us are familiar with the famous verses in Deuteronomy 11:18-20, to fix the word on the hearts of our children, teaching it to them when they lay down and when they rise up, when they come and when they go, ... but we don't always know the verses that proceed these. In the beginning of Deuteronomy 11, God tells the older generation: you've seen the might works of God, but your children haven't.... How do we, as believers, help our children see and understand and experience the mighty works of God? It begins by fixing his words on their heart. That is the burden behind the WTWOMH project.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: Our pursuit of him doesn't have to stop when little ones come along. By God's grace, we bring them along into it. When a child interrupted the Lord's preaching, he just brought the little one to his side and continued. And, "He who receives this little one, receives *me*," the Lord tells us. The book of Acts gives us examples of children in the church prayer meetings, and present when the church sent off the apostles. And in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, his instruction specifically for children, "Children, obey your parents..." indicates there must have been children present, that God had something to share that was specific for them.
Too often, when we begin our life as a family, we're tempted to slow down. Amidst tiring, weary days, it's easy to slow down from reading the word or hang back from church gatherings. I know this experience, ... but when I discovered that I could bring my children alongside, in prayer, in reading the word, in memorizing, even to a church prayer meeting ... it was such a joy and a wonderful revelation. Of course, we'll fall many times. Our Bible reading will sometimes be interrupted by screams, the word memorized sometimes, with drudgery ... but as we're faithful to hold Christ before our children, day after day, maybe--just maybe--by God's grace, our children may see something of the glory of Christ. May it be.
