Welcome to Heartprints

Welcome to Heartprints… Why Heartprints?
In my lifetime, I’ve had the opportunity to live out in the country two times and with life in the country come certain inevitabilities; one of those is field mice.  Much of my early married life was spent living on Offutt Air Force Base just outside Omaha, NE.  Not far from base housing a corn field provided certain field mice a pleasant home for the spring and summer months.  In early October, just after the first freeze, these furry little creatures sought warmer shelter indoors and inevitably, one or two found its way into our home. 

Welcome to Heartprints… Why Heartprints?
In my lifetime, I’ve had the opportunity to live out in the country two times and with life in the country come certain inevitabilities; one of those is field mice.  Much of my early married life was spent living on Offutt Air Force Base just outside Omaha, NE.  Not far from base housing a corn field provided certain field mice a pleasant home for the spring and summer months.  In early October, just after the first freeze, these furry little creatures sought warmer shelter indoors and inevitably, one or two found its way into our home. 

This would always be, of course, during a time when my husband would happen to be deployed for an extended period of time so I was left to deal with them on my own.  This became an annual thing for us and in spite of the sweltering Omaha summers, I began to dread that first freeze because I knew I would have to deal with these critters again and again.

I’ve had a certain ‘dislike’ of mice ever since.   I have heard it all (‘they are smaller than I am’, ‘they are more afraid of me than I am of them’) and quite honestly, I do not care.  I don’t like mice or anything that even resembles a mouse.  This fear/dislike of mice occasionally infiltrates my dreams.  Last night, I had one such dream:

I dreamt my husband and I were in bed sleeping when I was awakened by a mouse landing somehow (it was a dream after all) right by my right ear.  It seemed trapped there between my shoulder and my head and was frantically squirming to get away.  I wanted very much to move so that it could get away but was so afraid I could do nothing.  I was so overcome with fear that it paralyzed me.  Inside I was shouting to my husband, ‘roll me over, roll me over!’ but all my husband heard was mumbling so was completely unaware of my predicament.  My heart was still racing when I woke from the dream.

While this was only a dream (thank goodness), all I could think about was how paralyzing fear can be.  When we are overwhelmed by the tasks assigned to us; when we feel unequipped or unprepared for the tasks assigned to us, we become frozen and unable to do anything.  I have met many volunteer children’s ministry leaders and workers who, because of a lack of training and resources, found themselves somewhat paralyzed, stuck in the status quo and not able to move forward.  In working with them, I found many times, all he/she needed was someone to come alongside and help them take the vision for ministry God had given them as Children’s Ministry leaders  and make it a reality.  If you are that person, Heartprints is here for you.

The bible.org Children’s Ministry leadership team has assembled a panel of trained and educated children’s ministry veterans with many, many years of experience willing to share their stories and their lives with you.  We share your burden for children and recognize the significance of our call to teach future generations the truth of God’s word.  The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 78 “We will tell the next generation about the LORD’s praiseworthy acts, about his strength and the amazing things he has done…so that the next generation, children yet to be born, might know about them.  They will grow up and tell their descendants about them.  Then they will place their confidence in God.  They will not forget the works of God and they will obey his commands.” (4-7) 

 
It is our desire that as you take that journey of faith with the children God has placed in your care, it will be God’s print that you implant in the hearts of these little ones whom God loves so very much so that they may enjoy a lifetime relationship with God and they will in turn teach future generations about God.  This is why Heartprints exists.  May we be mutually blessed and encouraged as we share our lives and our ministry with children with one another through the Heartprints blog.
 

(I believe in giving credit where credit is due.  For this reason, I want to thank Carlyle McCullough, Director of Communications at Fellowship Bible Church Dallas, for his time and creativity in designing our Heartprints graphic.  I pray God will continue to bless him and the ministry of Fellowship Dallas.)