Seeds for Growth*

Writing your own faithbook is somewhat like listening to music. Where one person might prefer listening to classical music, another may enjoy jazz, and another a more upbeat type of music. It is all music; the rest is just style and taste. The same is true in faithbooking. The only ingredient that is necessary for a faithbook is faith. Everything else is just style. There are basically two options I use for creating faithbooks. One method I use is to create albums exclusively dedicated to faith stories, usually created around a specific theme. The other method I use is to incorporate "faithbook" pages with my "everyday" pictures and memories that are in my more "traditional" photo scrapbooks.

Creating "Theme" Albums

My "Baton of Faith" album contains stories of God's divine intervention that directly affected my children even before they were old enough to understand who God was. The theme of this book shows that God was working on their behalf to bless them. I began this book as my first faithbook, so I included the story of the vision the Lord gave me for building a "memorial" for my family. This is the first page:

After sharing my story, I continued the book with a very special event that had been one of my motivations for actually starting this book - my daughter Amanda's salvation. I had a picture of her daddy praying with her to receive Jesus Christ as her Savior. In combining my journal entry with my pictures, I was able to reinforce this very important decision in Amanda's life with a visual image, as well as a written record detailing how the Lord led her to this milestone in her life. This is her story as represented in my book, as well as other stories showing God's hand on my children's lives.

My "Fingerprints of God" album covers the Lord's hand upon my life during the year 2000. This type of album is easier for those who don't like to spend a lot of time journaling. I used a calendar grid as one page. This page was used to write a few sentences of how the Lord intervened in my life that day, or share Scriptures the Lord used to bless me. I used the opposite page to expand upon some of those entries.

During the month of February 2000, the Lord was speaking to me about the power of the tongue. In order to highlight this truth, I used the picture of my daughter Amanda with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, as well as the picture that was given to me showing clean water flowing beside dirty water. This layout reinforces Luke 6:45, "For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

Incorporating Faithbook Pages - "Rite of Passage" Layouts

In Romans 15:4 it says, "For everything that was written in the past, was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope." These pages are added into my chronological books to weave in God's stories throughout the events that happened in our family. Psalms 78:4 says, "We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praise worthy deeds of the Lord, His power and the wonders He has done." These pages record the spiritual markers in our lives. They show that the Lord is alive and active in the Shedd family on a regular basis!

One of the spiritual markers that I have highlighted is Amanda's 13th birthday. As I had been reading the One Year Bible, I was surprised to see how many times God commanded His chosen people to have festivals, ceremonies, and celebrations. Being a person who loves parties, this truth really excited me! I also learned that the ceremonies were there to help the Israelites remember something that God had done for them. Passover reminded them of when He delivered His people out of bondage. So, I decided to start thinking of how I could take regular celebrations and turn them into life changing ceremonies. That is when I decided to have a "Rite of Passage ceremony for my daughter's 13th birthday.

I started by asking her to make a list of all the women in her life with whom she felt had had a significant impact in her life. I then asked each lady to write a blessing for Amanda. My husband, Tim, and I also wrote a letter to Amanda and presented her with a purity ring. The ring has a heart with a key in it. The key represents the key to her heart, and on her wedding night she can give this key to her husband. A picture of Amanda receiving her ring and these letters of blessing are included in her birthday layout.

When my son TJ turned 13, I knew he was too old for the usual type of birthday parties I had given him in the past, yet I did not want to take his friends midnight bowling as I had done for his 12th birthday (the party was a disaster due to the rude and crude music that blared in our ears). As I had done with Amanda, I sought to find a way to change this birthday into a life changing ceremony. After reading the book Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis, I knew what I wanted to do.

I arranged to have the men that were mentors in his life (grandfather, father, pastor, youth leader, etc.) meet us at a state park where I had rented a cabin for the weekend. Each of these men walked one mile, alone with TJ, sharing from the wisdom and experience they had gained concerning some of the topics I felt were crucial aspects of change in TJ's journey toward manhood: his walk with God, friends, career choices, marriage, and fatherhood. On mile one, Pastor John talked with TJ about his relationship with the Lord during his teenage years.

On mile two, Jim Anderson talked with TJ about strategies for choosing a career. "Everyone starts out as a seedling in his job and career. No one starts out as an oak tree. No matter the size of the tree, you will always have the same core principles to guide you along your path: integrity, hard work, and your relationship with the Lord."

On the third mile, TJ's youth deacon, Ben Ladd talked about friendships during the teenage years. Ben also stressed that the relationship between teens and their parents is very important during these teenage years.

By the time TJ arrive at mile 4, his grandfather was waiting for him to talk about what it meant to be a godly father. He told him that children don't come with an instruction manual, but that the most important thing to do when you make a mistake is to ask your children to forgive you, and admit when you are wrong. He said that "fathers are only human, and we all make mistakes."

At mile five, TJ met his dad. Tim shared his words of wisdom concerning what it means to be a godly husband.

Incorporating Faithbook Pages - Parenting Strategy Layouts

I use these pages more than any other page in all my books. This is the page I look at to see the goals I have set for my children as they grow and mature toward adulthood. Whenever I need a punishment, I turn to my "Creative Corrections" layout. Just the other day, my boys were bickering with each other in the hall. TJ was irritating Tyler by knocking him in the back of the head, so Tyler hit him.

I went to my "Creative Corrections" page and looked for punishments. I started by having each of them write a love note to each other. Next, TJ had to fold Tyler's laundry, since he started it. Then, they both had to sit on their beds and read for an hour. I required TJ to read How to Win Friends and Influence People while Tyler read The Five Love Languages. I took a picture of TJ folding the laundry and the two of them hugging. These pictures will help them to remember not to aggravate each other in the future. If they do, then they know they will face the consequences, because those consequences are easily accessible in my faithbook.

Proverbs 13:24 says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." I would not be able to fulfill this command if I did not have my "tool" of faithbooks to enable me to easily fulfill this truth. Having these strategies displayed on my coffee table makes the load of parenting a little lighter. You may have different creative punishments that you have found work in your family. I would like to challenge you to write them down and create a layout that will make access to those punishments easier.

Incorporating Faithbook Pages - Marriage Strategy Layouts

Another "tool" I have with my faithbooks is the "tool" of marriage strategies. My heart strongly desires for my children to enjoy the blessing of a successful, happy marriage, so I have used my wedding album as a "tool" to pass on marriage strategies that will enable them to enjoy a strong and healthy marriage. Instead of journaling the traditional names of the people in the wedding party and all the gifts I received, I have written down the nuggets of truth that have enabled Tim and me to enjoy a joy-filled life together as husband and wife. Many of these nuggets I learned from listening to the "Marriage" tape series by Pastor John Fichtner.

Love is a gift. It can never be demanded or manipulated. You cannot have God's love and be insecure. A husband's authority is parallel to God's authority in that it only has as much authority as he is a servant. The Biblical plan for a wonderful marriage is to hear God's voice through agreement with my mate. The husband's authority is not to boss and give orders, but to come in as a servant and hear God's voice, together, through agreement. Therefore, "every time I disagree with my mate, God is trying to speak to me." (From the "Marriage" series by Pastor John Fichtner.)

Malachi 2:15 says, "Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth." We are three part beings: spirit, soul and body. If Tim and I are going to be one, we have to be in agreement in spirit, soul, and body. This agreement includes our thoughts, emotions, and spirits. Until our emotions are in agreement, we have not heard from God, and we are not in agreement. Sometimes, we both think something is logical, and we both want to go that way, but our spirits don't feel right. We can agree logically and emotionally, but until we get a "witness" from God, we have not heard from God, and we are not in agreement.

These truths have given me the principles that Tim and I have found to make our marriage a joy. As we have actually lived these truths, we can testify of the fruit that has come from this knowledge being applied. Once we were able to apply the knowledge we had received from these truths, this knowledge became the wisdom that we now live by. My children can observe the fruit of this wisdom in the lives of their parents and can have a strategy for their own marriages in the future.

Incorporating Faithbook Pages - Family Heritage Layouts

This page in my album shares some of the spiritual history of my grandfather, Phil Griggs. Although my grandfather died four years before I was born, my grandmother, Ruth, was faithful to keep the memories of "Hi Boo" alive. Her eyes would often become blurred with tears as she remembered back to the wonderful years that they shared together while on this earth. Toward the end of her life, she would often long to go home to heaven to see her precious Lord Jesus and be reunited with her "Hi Boo."

This page includes a letter that my grandfather wrote to my grandmother when he was away from home. This powerful letter tells of my grandfather's call into ministry for the Lord. He awoke hearing his name called. After remembering the story of Samuel hearing a voice in the night, and Eli telling him that is was the Lord, Phil replied, "Speak, Lord." After waiting several minutes, the Lord said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." He asked his wife to look this up in the Bible to see if he "has it right." He also asked his wife to save this letter, "Just in case anyone asks me when I was called to preach."

This layout shows another important spiritual "heritage" that my grandmother passed down - praying for her great grandchildren. I asked her one day what she prayed for over my children, and she responded, "Don't let the world get them, Lord." With these pictures, I am able to highlight to my children that their great grandmother prayed for them on a daily basis.

It has been said, "The palest ink is stronger than the greatest memory." We cannot rely on our memories alone. As you begin to record the "spiritual memories" of your parents and grandparents, you can have confidence that future generations will know how faithful God has been and continues to be.

*excerpts from Pictures With a Purpose by Naomi Shedd