Caleb whimpered, “I’m scared to go over Daddy! Please make it smaller.” My husband Jonathan replied, “No, but I can make the ladder taller for you.” Our 5-year-old son Caleb said a firm “No!” Jonathan encouraged him to go up the ladder and cheered him on. He also told Caleb that he would go with him. Caleb started to climb and went to the top. Immediately the fear returned. He didn’t want to go across and down the other side of the ladder.

Summer is in full swing around here! We have had a flurry of activity. It has been fun but also wearing. Maybe you can relate? One place I love to go for encouragement when I am in a busy season is the Bible. Here are five of my favorite scripture verses to help you to thrive in this busy season.

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 is one of the most quoted bible verses of all time. It’s easy to find plaques, pillows, mugs, t-shirts, etc. with this verse on it. Psalm 46 is a powerful reminder of who God is and the power that He has. For example, in verse one, we read “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” As the psalm goes on, we learn about God. And then we get to Psalm 46:10. In this verse we stop hearing about God and instead hear directly from God.

Last week our four children went back to school. It’s hard to believe we have a week of school done already. The week before our family prepared for the school year by going on a prayer walk around our children’s schools. As parents, we have the amazing privilege of praying for our children. This is something my husband Jonathan and I take very seriously. Especially when the school year begins.

A new school year has begun. Let’s use God’s Word to pray over our children as they head back to school. This is one of the most powerful ways we can pray. Our kids face challenges every day at school whether they are at school or doing homeschooling. It may be a challenge to learn new things. Maybe there is a student in their class who is difficult to be around. Or maybe they don’t get along with one of their teachers. Whatever the challenge may be, we can do one of the best things for our kids and that is to pray for them.

She arrived that morning to help in the classroom. That in itself was a huge blessing. But the even greater gift was this parent brought me my favorite fruit smoothie from a local coffee shop. God used this parent to bless me.

“I can’t believe she said that about me!” I cried in exasperation to my husband. After talking about the situation with Jonathan, once again, I needed to turn to God’s truth. Have you ever received a text or email from someone who accused you of something you haven’t done? Or maybe someone attacked your character. This has happened to me a couple of times these last several weeks.

“Oh my goodness. That man just called me forward. And in front of everyone! What do I do?” I imagine something like these thoughts was going through the crippled woman’s mind when she heard Jesus call her forward. Have you ever been afraid to go forward? This woman choose to go forward and it changed her life forever.