Help your child realize: God loves me so much... he is good to me all the time. Topics for discussion: Blessings, patience, and emotions. A note for parents: Socio-emotional learning is very important in quarantine. It might seem silly to talk through and mimic different emotions for your child, but your child can only benefit from the added exposure. Your family members are all spending more time together and less time with friends and classmates, so they are not practicing conversations, conflict resolution, and voicing opinions in ways that will help them grow. They are missing recess, lunchroom chats, and classroom etiquette that is necessary for them to be successful communicators. By playing simple games and talking about how different scenarios "would make us feel," we are modeling important skills. Job is a great example of a man who was very intuned with his emotions- even in chaos! Your children will get a great example of leadership and thankful attitudes by discussing how Job handled his trials. Bible Reference- Job 1:1-42:17 Part 1 A long time ago, there was a righteous man named Job. He lived to serve God with his whole heart. The Bible says he was “perfect and upright” (Job 1:1) He lived in a land called Uz with his wife, 7 sons, and 3 daughters (consider using counting pieces to show little ones that this equals 10). They were very blessed and very rich. They had many animals: 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 oxen, And enough servants to take care of them all! (The Bible says a “great deal” of servants) But the most important thing was that Job loved God with his whole heart. One day, Satan came among the sons of God to present themselves before the Lord. The Lord asked Satan, "From where did you come?" Satan said he had been going back and forth on the earth. The Lord asked Satan if he had considered His servant, Job. The Lord said that there was no man like His servant Job in all of the earth. Satan said that Job only served the Lord because Job was given much, but if all of Job's 'things' were taken away, then he would curse God. God said that everything Job had was now in Satan's power, meaning he could take anything of Job's away from him, but he could not put his hand on Job or hurt him in any way. One day, all of Job’s children were eating at his oldest son’s house (Job was not with them). A messenger came to Job and said that all of the oxen and donkeys who were feeding near his house had been stolen by the Sabeans. All of the servants who took care of them had been killed, except the one who delivered the message. While that messenger was still talking, another messenger came and told him that fire from the sky had come down and burned up all of the sheep and servants. They all died except the messenger who delivered the message. While the second messenger was still talking, another came up and told Job that the Chaldeans (another nation) came in and stole all the camels and killed all of the servants, except the one who delivered the message. While the third messenger was still talking, there came another messenger up to Job and told him that while his children were eating together in one house that a great wind blew in from the wilderness and struck all four corners of the house and when the roof caved in on them, they all died, except the messenger who was telling Job the news. Job was devastated (extremely sad). He tore his robe, shaved his head, fell down on the ground, and worshipped God. Job said that he came into this world with nothing, and he would go out of this world with nothing. The Bible says that in all of the things that happened to Job, he did not sin or say that it was God's fault all the bad things had happened. (Consider stopping here to ask your child how they would’ve felt. Remind them of Job’s great faith and God’s love for Job. The story doesn’t end sadly!) Part 2 Another day, Satan came again with the sons of God. Satan said that Job only served the LORD because he was healthy, but if his bone and flesh were touched, then he would curse God. God said that Job had was now in Satan's power, meaning he could do anything to Job, but he could not take Job's life. So Satan struck Job with boils from his head to his toes. Job was in such pain and misery. He took a piece of pottery and scraped his boils and then went and sat in a pile of ashes. They did not have medicines like we have today, but ashes were clean and helped ease the pain a bit. While, in his pain, Job's wife was very discouraging and not at all helpful. She said that Job should curse God and die! Is that what Job should have done? NO! Job said she spoke as one of the foolish women. Job asked her if they should only receive good things all the time and not bad? In all that was said during this time, Job did not sin or blame God for his troubles. Job was very patient. Consider taking a break to ask your children about Job’s reaction to the boils. How would they feel if they were covered in boils? Ask them what it means to be patient. Part 3 Job had three friends who had heard of all the bad times Job was going through and they all came by to visit him at the same time. Job was in such bad condition and looked so badly that his friends did not even know Job until they were very close to him! When they saw Job, they cried, tore their clothes, and put dirt on their own heads because they were sad that Job was going through so much pain and suffering. So the three friends sat with Job for seven days without saying a word. They gave him comfort by just being there with him because they could tell that he was hurting a great deal. Then Job and his three friends had very long discussions. They scolded Job because they thought that he must have done something very wrong, but the story of Job teaches that bad things happen to good people. Believing in God and his promises doesn’t make life easy for us. We just must learn to be patient and never blame God. Finally, the LORD talked to Job, and Job listened to God. Job humbled himself before God and recognized the fact that the LORD could do anything! God was powerful and had--and has--control over all things on the earth and in heaven. In the end, the LORD restored Job's health, his riches, his servants, and Job even had seven more sons and three daughters. The only thing different than at the beginning of the story of Job is that the LORD blessed him with twice as much as he had before! All of Job's friends came to see him and brought him gifts. Everyone brought him a piece of money and an earring of gold. So everything was better for Job in the end compared to the beginning. The Bible mentions that Job's daughters were more beautiful than any in the land. Job lived 140 more years and saw his children, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, and his great-great-grandchildren grow up. Then Job died being old and full of days. Talk about how you can be happy and praise God even when you are stuck at home. Remind your children that God’s love never stops and that they have many blessings. Story Review: The video is posted under this entry. *I was very excited to share this video with you after hours of trying to upload it (12 minutes to film, and two hours to upload to any platform - oof!) and when I finally viewed it after it was published, it showed UPSIDE DOWN. Today I will be thankful for patience (very timely this week!) and that it is available to your family. Thank you for understanding! Weekly Challenge: Gratitude Tree Your children explored Job’s life and how he praised God in hard times. In order to model gratitude and praise in quarantine, your family can make a gratitude tree just like the one seen below. The children will be challenged to make their trees unique and pack it full of “blessing leaves.” This is something that can be completed in one sitting or can become a daily exercise for your family. Please consider sending your trees to our email so we can see how you used your resources! *Video linked at the bottom. This one is the correct orientation :) Home activities:
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