Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no understanding of the Word of the Lord, the people do whatever they want to, but happy is he who keeps the law.”
There is no doubt about it – we mamas need God’s Word and we mamas need to know God’s Word and we mamas need to share God’s Word with our precious kiddos and build a foundation for our homes on His truth.
We have ‘Family Rules’ that are based on biblical principles, but I really wanted one specific verse, straight from Scripture, that I could use to continually remind my family about His heart for the four of us.
After some prayer, this verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 kept coming to my mind.
“Be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
No matter the situation, this verse is one that regularly comes up in conversation as our family learns to do life together.
When someone is whining or complaining about something, we say, “Be joyful always!”
When someone is anxious about something, we say, “Pray continually!”
And when someone is throwing a fit about a toy that broke or is sad about a bad day at school, we remember to, “Give thanks in ALL circumstances.”
I tell my kids that if they ever want to know what God wants them to do, then to remember our Family Verse.
Do you have a Family Verse? Something that you have found in God’s Word that expresses your heart for your family so clearly?
Maybe you are a family who is mission-minded. Your verse could be Matthew 28:19, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”
Maybe you are a family who is committed to being kind and generous with your resources. Your verse could be Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Maybe your heart is that your kids would know the unshakeable power of His love. Your verse could be Romans 8:38, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.“
Choosing a Family Verse casts vision for the ones you love. It teaches them how to filter life through the lens of the power of God’s Word – a gift we all need!
Several months ago, a little girl in our school was diagnosed with cancer. We were all devastated at the news and began begging God for creative ways to bless and serve her and her family.
My sweet friend, Katie, owner of The Makeshift Pearl (and a fellow teacher at the school where I work!), made Riley a gorgeous personalized Bible verse print. Katie had chosen a verse especially for Riley to encourage her through her season of cancer.
When I saw what Katie had made for Riley, I FLIPPED OUT. It was SO precious, so meaningful, and so stunning (you can see it HERE).
I guess I kind of made a BIG DEAL over Riley’s print and was not-so-subtle about how much I liked it, because the next thing I knew, Katie delivered a lovely brown-papered package into my hands and inside was a gorgeous print of my family’s verse.
I’m absolutely in LOVE with it. The colors, the simplicity, the beautiful details – it is truly perfection! I immediately placed it in a high-traffic spot in our living room so that there is no doubt what this family is all about!
GUESS WHAT?!
Because Katie is SO amazing, she is offering not one, but TWO incredible opportunities for Happy Home Fairy readers!
The first is a 15% off coupon code for you to use at her shop, The Makeshift Pearl, to buy your own personalized Bible verse print for your family. You could even use it to buy a personalized Bible verse for your kids, too! Simply use the coupon code Fairy15 at checkout for your discount!
Second, Katie is offering to make a special, personalized Family Bible Verse print (like the one you see above) to giveaway to one of my readers!
I know, right?!!?!
Do you have a family Bible verse already picked out? Do you have a specific verse that you pray over your child? I want to hear about it!
Here is how to enter this AMAZING giveaway…
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW SHARING WHAT VERSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO PICK AS YOUR FAMILY’S VERSE AND WHY.
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only (apologies to my sweet international readers). The giveaway will end at 11:59 pm on Friday, September 18 (EST). A winner will be selected shortly after (meaning the next day as I probably will be in bed at that time – ha!) and notified by e-mail.
I can’t wait to hear your verses!!
**And make sure to check out Katie’s shop, The Makeshift Pearl HERE and follow her on Instagram HERE.**
Happy Family Bible Verse-ing! 🙂
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Galatians 5:22
1corn 16:13
I would love to see Katie do art for my favorite verse – Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
I love reflecting on this verse each day and try to honor the words of Christ.
Thank you for this opportunity to win original art from Katie.
Blessings, Gina
I would love to see Katie do original artwork for my favorite Bible verse, Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely… think about these things.”
Thank you for your blog. It is very encouraging. I think a family Bible verse is a great idea. We have homeschooled our 4 kids forever. Our youngest just left for college this fall. While we were homeschooling, we had a family Bible verse for our homeschool. It is 2 Peter 1:5,6,7, 8
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We chose this passage because it was most important that we start with faith and making sure our children get saved. Then we work on character and integrity (virtue), then academics (knowledge), then all the other good stuff listed. I have loved homeschooling and God has blessed us with great kids who love Him. Thanks for sharing your passion for teaching your kids to love the Lord!
What a beautiful print! Without needing too much thought, I knew our verse would be Ephesians 4:32. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We use that one again and again each week.
I love these prints!!! Jeremiah 29:11….God has all of it all planned out…
I too love 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. It’s such a great teaching tool for my family of five, I never thought about using it as a family verse. What a wonderful idea-Thanks!
1 Pet. 4:9-10 Be hospitable without complaining. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
What a lovely idea! Our family verse is from Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lead not on your own understandings, but in all way acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.”
How awesome is that?! The God of the universe is directing my family’s paths! This verse has meant so much to us since starting our family just a year into our marriage. We were terrified to welcome our oldest. We relied on The Lord to guide us during those early parenting moments and hot dog that kid will be 5 in December! I remember praying she’d live to be 6 months so she wouldn’t seem so fragile! Haha! Then we had a miscarriage when our oldest was only 4 months old. We were devastated. But we trusted in the Lord and somehow got through that season is our life. When we found out we were pregnant almost a year later, we we’re told I was having another miscarriage. We refused to believe that. We prayed and begged God to give us this baby. We trusted him with the desires of our heart. I delivered a healthy, screaming 7 pound baby girl. She just turned 3 last Sunday! When I was in labor with our third Last October, everything that could go wrong did. He was rushed to the nicu and We were told he would, at the least have cerebral palsy. I remember my husband saying, “no, he’ll be just fine” so We prayed and trusted more than ever before and our sweet Jacob is as healthy as a horse! This verse has gotten us through a major job transfer and is helping us trust God to lead my husband in the decision to take a different position with the company. Its also reminding us to trust in God’s perfect plan as I have to have a biopsy done on Wednesday to determine if I have thyroid cancer. Trusting seems so hard as a human sometimes. But when we remember we’re children to the highest king, and truly trust him, amazing things happen in our lives and in our families!
Sweet Brandi! YOU WON!!! I will be in touch!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! 🙂
I love Romans 12:9-10 “Be sincere in your love for others. Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good. Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself.”
Our family bible verse is Matthew 6:20 “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal”
We chose this verse to remind us that the life is not about creating a comfy, cosy life and making sure our boat never gets rocked. Storing up treasures in heaven means spending this life sharing the gospel and showing the world the love of the Savior. It means putting our family in uncomfortable places by drawing near to the orphan. It means choosing to glorify God when you don’t know if you son will live or die. It means dying to self daily and looking past our own needs to the needs of others. We want our kids to see that modeled in our family and we pray they will spend their lives for the sake of the gospel.
This is our family’s verse:
Titus 3:4-7, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
I know this seems like a really obvious verse, like, of course we all live by that one. But, growing up outside the church, it wasn’t obvious for me. I sought out Christ but always ended up in churches where earning salvation was heavily promoted, (as a people-pleasing perfectionist, this appealed to me greatly). It never worked out, though SHOCKINGLY, I would fail at being perfect and then walk away. When I learned the truth about grace, in my late teens, I was finally able to accept Christ’s love.
Now that I’m raising children of my own, I want them to know this truth. I want them to know with unshakable faith that Jesus loves us NO MATTER WHAT and that we can always ask for forgiveness and learn from our mistakes and return to Him if we go astray. My husband and I openly admit our mistakes to our children and encourage them to do the same. We all benefit from this and our love grows each time grace is offered in our home.
Thanks for the opportunity to consider this and to put these thoughts in writing. It really solidifies the idea. I hadn’t considered having an official family verse before. It just, sort of, was. 🙂
This is simply beautiful. This made my heart so happy. I have 3 teens we talk about things that go on at school and we have different verses we love.?✨
I think we’d have to go with Philippians 4:6. Our school has chapel every week, and it’s become a great way to introduce new songs to everyone. A fellow teacher played this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd35-M-xLX4) during her service and we find ourselves humming the song all the time. It would only seem fitting to make it our “official” family verse!
Romans 8:28… a great reminder that God works all things out according to His purpose. My husband was divorced when I married him and he sees God’s hand in our marriage. It’s a good reminder for me, as well, even though this is not how I would have envisioned for my marriage- it is part of God’s perfect plan. For our children our hope is that they know all things work in God’s favor if we put him first and allow HIm to be a part of it.
We don’t have one yet but this would definitely make us narrow it down and decide!
I don’t have an official family verse (this has got me thinking!), but I recently wrote this verse to pray over my daughter: Proverbs 31:31 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
We have so many verses that are important to our family. I think I would choose either Ephesians 4:2-3, Philippians 2:14-16 or 2 Peter 1:5-8
Colossians 3:12-17. We had these verses read at our wedding because they were a reminder of how we wanted to treat each other and where our focus should be. And what we wanted for our family.
I would love one with
Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
I would chooseLuke 1:37 (KJV) For with God nothing shall be impossible. This verse was the most favorite of my father, who has since passed. On days I miss him most I remind myself of this verse and remember our reunion awaits in heaven because with God, seeing my dad again will not be impossible.
How to pick just one?!
1 Corinthians 16:14
Let all that you do be done in love.
These are lovely!
Ours would be Deut 6:4-9 or 1 thess 4:11-12 🙂
We have two Duetoronomy 6:5-9 and Galatians 5:22-23
I really like Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV)
“The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
**Emphasis on the LOUD. 😉
I’m a homeschooling mom of boys 8, 4.5, 2.5, and baby girl turned 1 yesterday! Things here are always loud which is totally opposite the environment I grew up in. But loud is good. And I love the picture of Father God quieting us with his love like a mother comforts her children.
I really dont know what verse we would use. I never thought of having a family verse. We have day to day verses and I have a lot of verses that are significant to me, but not a family one. I wil have to ponder this and get back with you!
Ours would be “love is patient, love is kind.” Would love to have this on the wall as a constant reminder to all.
Zephaniah 3:17
Ps. 34:3 – I think 😉
1 Corinthians 9:24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain the prize.
The reason for this verse is my children love to run, they all do well, one is a state champion. So we watch a lot of races.
I like John 3:16 because this verse states the plan of salvation.
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord”
Deuteronomy 10:12-13a
These verses encompass every aspect of the Christian walk. Our family desires to deeply love God, love His word, and to do what it says.
We pray Psalm 20 over our girls every night:
“May The Lord hear you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you….”
Our family verse is a verse you’ve already had written! It is Matthew 5:16, which is “in the same way let your light shine before others, so they will see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven .” My family talks about this verse almost every day especially in the morning on the way to school . My kids and I put on the armor of God in the morning and pray that we will let our light shine for Jesus . I LOVE the Makeshift Pearl!!! Thank you!
Our family verse should be Colossians 3: 12-14 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” I would definitely choose this one. Thanks for the chance to enter.
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
1 Thess 5: 16-18… It is a beautiful family verse Julie! I think it would be good for my family too.
I love the verse you chose – 1 Thess 5:16-18 is great! We also like Phil 4:6-7!
Romans 8:1
Micah 6:8 has become our family verse 🙂
demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
Philippians 1:27 NIV
Our family verse reminds us that whatever our circumstances, we represent the gospel of Christ from the words that come out of our mouths to our deeds and actions towards others, even down to how we spend our money. All we do ought to point to Christ!
These are beautiful! Our verse is probably too long! ;o) We have verses that we consistently pray for each of the girls, and this one that has meant a lot to our family: Romans 5:2-4 “…and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Psalm 119:105. I’ve been wanting to print this scripture on a canvas for a while now!
I actually love the verse in the picture!
Our family verses that we picked together in our pre marriage Sunday School class are Collossians 3:12-17
That might be a little long to put on a picture or she would have to come write it on our entire wall! But maybe I would just include these verses:
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Colossians 3:12-14
We don’t have a family verse – but now I’m thinking maybe we should find one that really fits us!
There are SO many things about this that are so totally AWESOME it’s blowing my mind!!!!! ☺️?
First–2 of my most FAVORITE humans in all of planet Earth collaborating together for one INCREDIBLE prize!!!!! I’m not sure there’s anything better!!!!
2nd I’m absolutely in LOVE with the fact that we have the SAME family verse as the Fairy’s family!!!! That’s sooo cool!!!
Ours is also 1 Thes 5:16-18 and its sooo perfect for us!!
Being joyful in all things is really important in our family. We believe that if you can learn to be thankful and joyful even through the tough stuff as a kid, as you get older it’s amazing how God blesses you with the ability to cope through the EVEN TOUGHER stuff. ???
For I know the plans I have for you
Jeremiah 3:11
Psalm 46:10 “Be Still. Know that I am God”. Because the Lord our God is the Maker of the Universe. Maker of Heaven and Earth. He has made all the stars in the sky, in all our galaxies – known and unknown – and He set each one in its place and knows each one by name. And that same God of the Universe made me, and each one of us, and set us each one in our space and place in time and knows us each of us by name. And when we our problems seem big (financial, emotional, etc), or even small, like when we have a headache or interruption in our daily schedule, the only thing our Lord wants, more than anything else, is for us to STOP. And be still. And spend time with Him. And be reminded that everything we go through, easy and tough, is for His glory. He is God alone and worthy of our worship and our time and petition and supplication. Amen.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31
I’d love to see her do “he heals the broken hearted” psalms 147 3-5. We like this verse because I had three miscarriages within ten months and id be a lost soul if I didn’t have that verse to keep going. It’s still hard every single day but I have the lord to help me through and amazing husband and family who’s there. Another great one is delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart psalms 37:4. Thanks for the opportunity to enter to win
Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God
I love your family bible verse! I have always liked that verse, and I agree with you that it’s a great one to use for any life situation. I think I would pick the same one for my family.
Love this! Katie is so talented! I have prayed my girls would always show the fruit of God’s spirit!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
My daily mantra is from Psalm 145:8- “slow to anger and rich in love.”, but I think I would pick Peter 4:8 as a family print- “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.”
We have annual family verses, hard to choose one. But Jer 29:11 is a verse that we pray over our kids every night so I’ll choose that one. Thanks for this opportunity! I LOVE the print and know exactly where I would hang it. 🙂