December 1 * Snowflakes

 

I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. 

                                                                Psalm 139:14

Last year I posted ideas and links for activities to make things fun and hopefully more memorable to your children. Here’s the one for December 1 * SnowFlakes. 

 

Christmas is About Jesus: An Advent Devotional is available at online retailers, stores in Alaska and in my webstore. Also only in my webstore are ornaments and coloring pages to match each devotion. Find out why I made them.

  

An Invitation: My blog, Kove's Blog I am part of Christmas Blessing: You can still enter for the $320 prize money until December 11, 2012. There are many great blogs sharing in the blessing. Read and enter on them all!

Countdown to Christmas, Focus on Jesus

Every Christmas seems to come faster. I think the speed of life makes focusing more challenging and more vital. I plan to send a simple message every day until Christmas to give you a way to focus on Jesus. These match the devotion I wrote to help my children focus on Jesus in this busy, sometimes confusing season.

                              Blessings to you as you focus on Jesus,

Mukkove Johnson

Last year I posted ideas and links for activities to make things fun and hopefully more memorable to your children. They're listed by the day on the right.

Christmas is About Jesus: An Advent Devotional is available at online retailers, stores in Alaska and in my webstore, Books & Things at Kove’s Cove. Also only in my webstore are ornaments and coloring pages to match each devotion. Find out why I made them.

Lamb—Jesus Is the Lamb of God

Easter 2012 is just around the corner, April 8. Today I'm sharing a devotion from soon to be released Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotionsfor the Easter Season.

Coloring page and ornament at the bottom of this post.

 Lamb—Jesus Is the Lamb of God

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, “Look, the Lamb of God.” He takes away the sins of the world!
John 1:29

Do you know what sin is? Sin is doing wrong things. Can you name some sins? In ancient Israel, God commanded the people to sacrifice animals to make up for their sins. The people sinned and the sacrificial animals had to die in their place. The animals needed to be perfect and inspected by the priest. The priest did not ask for a list of sins from the person. He did not ask what changes the people had made to avoid sinning in the future. The priest examined the lamb. The priest would make the sacrifice and declare the people forgiven.

Jesus came to be the one sacrifice for all time for all people. When you come to God with Jesus as your lamb, God inspects Jesus. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God. God does not look at your sins or ask you to change to be forgiven. God is well pleased with Jesus and pronounces you forgiven. When you see the lambs, tell God you are thankful he forgave you and will always forgive you when you confess.

More Time with God

Questions:

• Why did Jesus have to die? 
• What can you do after you sin? (Look at 1 John 1:9.) 
• Does God want you to pay for your sins? 

Note to Parent: Discuss this idea in detail to be sure your child(ren) understand that though Jesus paid for all our sins it does matter if we sin. Sin has consequences, the worst of which is hurting our relationship with God and those he loves.

Activity Ideas:

• Imagine God looking at you through Jesus. What does he see? How does it make you feel? 
• Draw how God sees you. 
• Draw or make a lamb.

Be the first to know when Easter is About Jesus is available for purchase. Send an email to Mukkove or use this contact link (there should be a blue "contact" button on the left. Please let me know if there is not).

Coloring page and ornament

Ornament Front

Ornament Back

Coloring page

Print coloring page full size or print small to color your own ornament.

Print ornament front and back and glue together, add a ribbon for hanging if you like. Make any size you want.

If the picture won’t print directly you can right click and select “save”, then print from that file. Let me know if you have trouble.

Do you have a blog or ministry you would like to share EIAJ with? Contact Mukkove for more information. 

More from Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotions for the Easter Season
Jellybeans-Jesus Uses What I Give Him

Flowers—Jesus Takes Care of Me

Butterflies—Jesus Made Me for Good Works

Easter is Coming - Introduction

Jellybeans - Jesus Uses What I Give Him

Easter 2012 is just around the corner, April 8. Today I'm sharing a devotion from soon to be released Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotionsfor the Easter Season.

Coloring page and ornament at the bottom of this post.

Jellybeans - Jesus Uses What I Give Him 

Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to heaven and thanked God for the bread. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all. All the people ate and were satisfied.
Mark 6:41-42

Do you know that Jesus loves for you to give to him? You may not think you have much to give. Jesus knew a boy who thought that, too. There was a crowd of thousands of people listening to Jesus. They listened all day. They got hungry. A boy who was listening to Jesus had a lunch of five pieces of bread and two fish, which was not very much. He knew it wasn’t very much, but he gave his food to Jesus. Jesus blessed the boy’s gift and made it multiply until everyone had enough to eat and there was more food left over than they started with. Jellybeans are small and may not seem like much, but they can remind you that Jesus makes a blessing from whatever you give him.

More Time with God

Questions:

• How does your family give to Jesus? 
• Can you remember a time when Jesus used what you gave? Share what happened. 
• Are there new ways your family could give to Jesus? 

Activity Ideas:

• Read about the boy who gave his lunch to Jesus in Mark 6:34-44.
• Draw a picture of the boy giving his lunch to Jesus.
• Draw Jesus using what you give him.

 Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotions cor the Easter Season is available for purchase at www.MukkoveJohnson.com
 Send an email to Mukkove or use this contact link (there should be a blue "contact" button on the left. Please let me know if there is not).

Coloring page and ornament

Ornament Front

Ornament Back

Coloring page

Print coloring page full size or print small to color your own ornament.

Print ornament front and back and glue together, add a ribbon for hanging if you like. Make any size you want.

If the picture won’t print directly you can right click and select “save”, then print from that file. Let me know if you have trouble.

Do you have a blog or ministry you would like to share EIAJ with? Contact  Mukkove  for more information. 

More from Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotions for the Easter Season

Flowers—Jesus Takes Care of Me

Butterflies—Jesus Made Me for Good Works

Easter is Coming

Flowers—Jesus Takes Care of Me

Easter 2012 is just around the corner, April 8. Today I'm sharing a devotion from soon to be released Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotions for the Easter Season.

Coloring page and ornament at the bottom of this post.

Flowers—Jesus Takes Care of Me

And why do you worry about clothes? Look at the flowers in the field. See how they grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. God clothes the grass in the field like that. The grass is living today, but tomorrow it is thrown into the fire to be burned. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don’t have so little faith!

Matthew 6:28-30

Do you ever wonder what you are going to eat? Do you wonder if you will have clothes to wear? Most of us don’t have to worry about those things. We have parents and other people who take care of us. Jesus knew that we had needs like food and clothes and places to live. When his followers asked him about their needs, Jesus told them to look at the flowers growing nearby.

Have you ever looked really closely at a flower? They are amazingly beautiful. Jesus said that is how God dresses them! He reminded his followers that if God remembers to dress the flowers, he will take care of us as well. Let all the beautiful flowers remind you that Jesus takes care of you.

More Time with God

Questions:

• How does God take care of you? 
• Who helps God take care of you? 
• What does God want you to dress in? (Look in Colossians 3:10-14.)

Activity Ideas:

• Thank God for taking care of you.
• Read Jesus’s conversation with his disciples in Matthew 6:25-34.
• Look for birds or flowers today. Look closely to see how wonderful God made them.

Sign up for Encouragement From Kove's Cove (see right side bar) to be the first to know when Easter is About Jesus is available for purchase.

Coloring page and ornament

Right click to select your options for printing. Let me know if you have trouble.

Ornament Front

Ornament Back

Coloring page
Print full size or print small for your own ornament.

Print ornament front and back and glue together, add a ribbon for hanging if you like. Make any size you want.

Do you have a blog or ministry you would like to share EIAJ with? Contact Mukkove for more information. 

Butterflies—Jesus Made Me for Good Works

Easter 2012 is just around the corner, April 8. Today I'm sharing a devotion from soon to be released Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotions for the Easter Season. 

Coloring page and ornament at the bottom of this post.

Butterflies—Jesus Made Me for Good Works

God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so we would do good works. God had planned in advance those good works for us. He had planned for us to live our lives doing them.

Ephesians 2:10

Do you know that beautiful butterflies start out as caterpillars? They can’t fly or move very fast. They don’t look anything like the butterfly they will be one day. A caterpillar can only be a butterfly by going through a process of being made new. This process is called metamorphosis. In a way, the caterpillar dies. Inside the cocoon, it is remade into a butterfly. The butterfly must fight its way out of the cocoon for its wings to be strong enough to fly.

People who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior can be like caterpillars. They may not look much like what God created them to be. We must be made new in Jesus and work with the Holy Spirit to do the good works God created us to do. It will be hard sometimes, just like the butterfly fighting its way out of the cocoon. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always with you to help you; you will never be alone. When you see the butterflies, remember that Jesus made you for good works.

More Time with God

Questions:

• What has God made you to do? 
• What are you good at? 
• What do you like to do?

Activity Ideas:

• Ask God what he likes to see you do. 
• God made the caterpillar to become a butterfly and fly. What has God made you to do? Look in Matthew 22:37-39, Ephesians 6:1, and Philippians 2:14. 
• Draw a butterfly. In the wings, write or draw things God has made you to do.

Did you enjoy today's devotion?

Will you share your thoughts and pictures?

What has God made you to do?


Sign up for Encouragement From Kove's Cove (see right side bar) to be the first to know when Easter is About Jesus is available for purchase.

Coloring page and ornament

Right click to select your options for printing. Let me know if you have trouble.

Coloring page
Print full size or print small for your own ornament.

Ornament - Front

Ornament - Back

Print ornament front and back and glue together, add a ribbon for hanging if you like. Make any size you want.

Easter is Coming

Though it’s far from looking like spring here at my home in Alaska, spring is coming and so is Easter. Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotions for the Easter Season is not ready for print, a little like our snow is not ready to leave.

I want to share a sample of Easter is About Jesus with you this Easter. Books, a full set of coloring pages and ornaments will be ready for Easter 2013. I would love your feedback, even if you just let me know you read it. If you are blessed by what you read your help in spreading the word would be greatly appreciated. It can be as simple as clicking “like”, involved as setting up an event and many things in between. Contact me if you would like to help. 

First, why and how I wrote Easter is About Jesus: Family Devotions for the Easter Season.

Introduction

Flowers: Jesus takes care of me.

Welcome to Easter Is about Jesus. I created this devotional with two goals in mind: 

1. To give children ways to think of Jesus when they see the common sights of Easter;2. To help parents and children spend time with God in a meaningful way.

To achieve the first goal, I wrote fifteen devotions. Each one has something we see during the Easter season, a reason to think about Jesus, and a verse. Easter comes on a different date from year to year. Due to the change in date (or my lack of forethought), our Easter preparations vary from year to year. I thought your family might be the same. Here are some suggestions on scheduling:

Jelly beans: Jesus uses what I give him.

• You could do 5 days of devotions for 3 weeks or start two Sundays before Easter reading one every day, including Easter. You could even do morning and evening between Palm Sunday and Easter. 

• Pick a time of day that will be easiest to be consistent like breakfast or bedtime 

.• Pick a time when you are not hurried. Allow time for discussion and the “More Time with God” activities. You may want to choose one or two of the suggested activities. Consider doing some of the activities the next day if you are doing devotions at bedtime. 

• Do what works for your family.

For the second goal, I wrote the “More Time with God” activities. The intention of the activities is to equip the child to connect with God themselves and to begin listening for his voice. I believe it is vital to marry together knowledge of God and experience with God. We must have knowledge of his Word and his will to carry out the good plans he has had for us since before the beginning of time. We must experience his love and grace.

Lamb: Jesus is the Lamb of God

Children often hear God more easily than adults. When I began learning to listen for God’s voice, I was doing it with my children. We would read from the Bible and pray asking God to speak to us. I would ask my children to be quiet and listen for what God had to say and to tell me when they heard something. This did not work well for me because in five seconds they all had something to share! I hadn’t quit thinking yet.

God speaks in many ways. He may use words. He also may use pictures, numbers, visions, dreams, feelings—emotional and physical—colors, or impressions. He really is not limited—except by us. If your children share something you feel is strange, ask questions about how they felt or what else they saw. Ask them to ask God what it means. If they all share the same thing, it may be copycatting, or it may be that God really had the same message for all of them. The words may be new, or it may be a verse they have heard or memorized, or it may be words from a song. I would encourage you to keep a record of what God is saying with a journal, pictures, or drawings. When my children were young, I would write what they heard and saw as well as descriptions of their drawings.

Butterflies: Jesus made me for good works

What we hear and experience from God will never contradict Scripture. God and his Word are unchanging. If an experience seems to contradict Scripture, set it aside all together or until you have new insight.

Thank you for reading.

Blessings in Jesus,

Mukkove Johnson

I'll be sharing some devotions and hopefully ornaments and coloring pages between now and Easter.

Watercolor images copyright Tate Publishing 2012