Dear parents of covenant children,

I am so excited to begin a parent/child column in The Counsel. My thanks to the editor, Bob Bailey, for giving me this opportunity to share with you and your children the "heart's intent" behind my music!

My husband, Wayne, called me from his office some months ago and said, "Judy, I've found the verse of Scripture that is the basis for your music ministry--Psalm 8:2!" This verse, of course, is a very familiar one, at least up to a point: "Out of the mouths of children and nursing infants. God has ordained praise ... ". But guess what? The verse goes on at that point without even missing a beat, "...because of his enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger." Wow! That concept made my head spin! We saw clearly here something that we'd never seen before: God wants our children to praise Him in order to shut the mouths of His enemies when they hear our children's praise and to raise up righteous little voices in their place!