Tonight's Devotion

Tonight's devotion from Jesus Calling for Kids hit me right in my own heart and mind.

"Some days are just hard--a tough test, a fight with a friend, trouble at home. You rehearse it over and over in your mind like the words to a song. Bu when you rehearse your problems that way, you live them over and over again. You were meant to live through them only once--when they actually happen!

Don't try to figure out how you'll get through this situation on your won. Come to Me, and let Me guide you and give you My Peace. Don't forget that I am always with you. I will give you all the strength and courage you need to face whatever challenges come your way. I will turn your worries and your fears into confidence and trust."

Talk about a smack in the back of the head. It makes me thankful to know I'm never alone! I highly recommend this book for a short but fulfilling young family devotion.

Our New Devotion

We've been doing a new family devotion called Jesus Calling For Kids. I've seen the book around. I've heard good and bad things about it. However, I found it at Ollie's for $2.99 so I bought it for a family Christmas gift. We had such a joyful time doing our Advent devotion, I wanted to be sure to keep it up once the new year started. Since everyone has taken turns being sick since Christmas, we start by praying for another family member. Whoever closes the prayer, prays for everyone. I really love this. Everyone picks a different person to pray for every night. It's definitely a bonding time. The boys really enjoyed lighting the Advent candles each night, so we are keeping a similar path. In Jackson's Sunday School, they made these really pretty candles. We put the biggest one into the Forks rocks container.

We turn off all the lights and read and pray by candle light. It makes distractions less distracting. The book is basically written as if Jesus is writing the words. There is a verse, the devotion, and then Bible verses. The two readers take turn reading the verses and then we discuss. It only takes about 10 minutes start to finish, but it's been a wonderful ten minutes every night! And if we miss a night, it's easy to catch up since they are so short.