January 17th Family Devotionals

The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers
Written by Crystal Bowman
Available to view in Cheryl’s office. Tell Cheryl if you want to borrow this to use with your family!

Always Be Thankful

Kaitlyn and Zoe are making a big mess! But after they clean it up, everything will be ok. Sometimes we have problems in our lives that seem like big messes. Things don’t always go the way we want them to. But do you know what? God wants us to be thankful anyway. He can make our big messes turn out ok.

My Bible Verse:
No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT)

My Prayer:
When things don’t always go my way,
Please help me know it will be ok.

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The One Year Book of Josh McDowell’s Family Devotions
Written by Bob Hostetler
Available to view in Cheryl’s office. Tell Cheryl if you want to borrow this to use with your family!

God Is Pure and Faithful
God’s Seventh Commandment Shows That He is Pure and Faithful.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Hebrews 13:4.
Verse of the Day: “Do not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14)

The church was decorated with white candles and ribbons. People continued to file into the sanctuary. Terry and his family had been seated a few minutes earlier and were waiting for the wedding to start.

Terry saw his mom and dad trade wedding rings. He leaned across his sister, Anna, and tapped his mom on the arm. “Why did you do that?” he asked, pointing to the ring she held in her hand.

Mom smiled. “I’ll tell you after the wedding.” she whispered.
Once the crowd was seated and the ceremony started, Terry turned back to ask his mom to tell him why she had exchanged rings with his dad, but she simply smiled and shook her head when he started to speak

Finally, when the ceremony was over, Terry squeezed by his sister before his parents could stand up. “Why did you and Dad trade rings?” he asked. He looked at his mom’s hand and noticed that she wore her own ring again.

“Your father and I do that every time we attend a wedding.” she said.
Dad leaned closer to his son. “I gave that ring to your mother on our wedding day, a long time ago,” he said, twirling the gold band on his finger. “These rings are symbols of the vows we exchanged that day.”

Terry wrinkled his nose to reflect his confusion.
Dad interlaced his fingers with Mom’s and held their hands up so Terry could see both rings. “We wear these rings,” Dad said, “to remind each other of our promise to love each other and to be pure and faithful to each other for the rest of our lives.”
”And every time we attend a wedding,” Mom said, “we repeat those promises all over again. That’s why we traded rings at the beginning of the ceremony, so we could promise all over again to be faithful to each other.”
”Because, you see, Son,” Dad continued, “when we’re pure and faithful to each other, we please God, because that’s what God is like. He is pure and faithful himself. Our marriage is beautiful because it reflects the character of God.”

”Oh,” Terry said. “Can I ask you another question?”
Mom and Dad nodded together.
”Can we go eat now?” he said, thinking of the wedding cake. “I’m hungry.”
Mom and Dad laughed, as they walked out of the ceremony together.

TO DO: Make a card for a couple you know who have been married for a long time. Let them know how much their faithfulness to each other has meant to you over the years.

TO PRAY: “Lord, we praise you for your purity and for your faithfulness. Help us to reflect your character.”