Today I want to write a little bit about my newest and most popular book and CD, “Words That Matter: From Scripture To My Heart.” This is a book with a companion CD currently being sold for $10.00 and covers 16 fun songs for kids and adults (although the price may change soon!). Contact me through my website or Instagram if you’re interested in a book and CD!
It is designed to teach very young children about biblical concepts using Scriptural language and a catchy tune. Each song focuses on one word or concept and is derived mainly from one or more Bible verses. These songs cover some key biblical ideas that children might encounter in the first years of their life in relation to their parents, siblings, relatives, and friends.
I started writing this book out of a need to help my son understand and remember certain life lessons. I believe the “Patient” song was one of the first. My husband and I had been studying parenting books and attending a parenting class through our local church and we had been working on using more Scriptural language in our house. We kept catching ourselves saying things to our toddler that sounded too humanistic, too psychology-based, and not quite in line with Scripture. We were starting to use words like “whiney, fussy, frustrated, mad” and realized…wait a minute. Those aren’t biblical words. Those aren’t sin issues. Those are more mild, grey, middle-of-the-road words that aren’t really dealing with the heart. We’re just saying “stop doing this and that” without getting at the root of the problem. And this was just after our son turned 2.
We knew we needed to stop and think about our language and get on the same page with each other about how we were going to parent. We wanted to follow the Bible’s teaching on parenting and set a solid foundation for how we were planning to raise our children.
And then one day it happened. We were sitting at the table eating lunch. I was feeding baby K, and N was…getting impatient waiting for his lunch. I was wracking my brain thinking “Ok, I don’t want to tell him to stop being whiney or fussy…or ask him if he was frustrated or mad…I want to teach him to think biblically! The heart of the matter is…he isn’t being patient! Instead he’s…getting angry!” The first Bible verse that popped into my head was James 1:19, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
Having been a piano teacher for 15 years I finally burst out in song, “I will be patient, patient, patient. I won’t get angry, angry, angry. I will be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” He immediately stopped what he was doing, listened, smiled, and said “Again!” I must have sung it 10 times in a row that first time – enough for it to stick in my brain as well as his! I repeated it enough to solidify a tune and there it was: the Patient song!
The previous year I had worked on memorizing James 1-2 and this verse came to me. Because I had hidden God’s Word in my heart, I was able to use it practically in a situation in life when I literally needed it most!
After 10 songs I realized that I needed to record these on the piano and sing along so I could play it again and again for my children both as a memory and as a learning tool so they could listen to it even when my voice got tired! By the time my husband and I finally got a chance to record it I had written 16 songs! And to date I’ve already got another 8 songs ready to go for Book 2!
It’s been such a blessing to my own little family to put together this book and CD and we’ve already been able to witness the change it’s made in ourselves in how we talk to our children as well as how our son N is already learning to respond to life and think biblically even in his small world. More than a dozen families are listening to my CD at home and ordering extra copies for family and friends, and I am floored that I am able to encourage so many children to love singing Scripture and help so many parents to learn to think biblically in their parenting and to help everyone use words that matter!