Lent Devotion: March 31

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave. Then read: Isaiah 52:7

Jesus thank you for loving us and caring for us, help us to continue to follow and chase you and show us how you want us to serve you and share your love with those around us.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 30

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: 1 Corinthians 1:10

Jesus thank you for all that we experience in life, help us to be friends with others in following you and know that we are better together than apart.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 29

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: Psalm 34:18

Lord help us to see that often when we experience pain and hurt it brings us back to you.  Help us to turn to you when we experience those hard times and know that you are working in it.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 28

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave. Then read: Romans 12:1-2

Lord help us to be open to others and to be honest about who we are and what we want.  Help us to not hide our deficiencies and problems but ask that you would help transform us more into the image of Jesus. 

Lent Devotion: March 27

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: 1 John 4:19

God help us to love you through loving others, we know that if we don’t love others then we can miss out on loving you.  Help us to love as you have loved us and be your hands and feet in the world around us. 

Lent Devotion: March 26

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: Matthew 25:34-45

Jesus help us to see those in need around us and care for them as you cared for them.  We know that you call us to care for the world help us to be faithful in doing that.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 25

Have you ever driven by someone who’s holding up a sign asking for money on the side of the road and tried not to look at them?  I often wonder what’s best to do for these people, if we give them money are we enabling a bad habit, how can we truly help them.  I once had a conversation with a homeless man while on a mission trip and he told me that when you see someone who’s homeless one of the best things you can do is look them in the eyes and acknowledge them.  Homeless people often feel the most pain from people who try to look by them and pretend they don’t exist.

It’s often easier for us to ignore pain and hurt in our world than to acknowledge.  Even though we might not know how we can help people who are stricken by poverty or children in a 3rd world country who don’t have enough to eat, we can acknowledge it as a real thing.  When we do that we’ve taken the first step towards helping people who are hurting and in pain. 

In our own lives we have friends and family who might experience pain and brokenness and we might not know how to help.  The first step is to simply sit with the person and say I don’t how to help but I’m here with you and I know the pain you’re feeling is real.  That’s one of the best ways we can share Jesus’ love.  So next time you see or read or experience someone else’s brokenness, take a moment to acknowledge and feel that pain.  When you do that you are the hands and feet of Jesus. 

Read: Matthew 6:1-4

Discussion Questions:

· Why shouldn’t we boast about us helping or giving to others?

· How can we help someone who is hurting?

Lent Devotion: March 24

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave. Then read: Galatians 3:27-28

Lord help us to remember and know that who we are and what we are is found in Jesu and not in our failures.  We can see Christ in us because of his love and sacrifice for us. 

Lent Devotion: March 23

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: Genesis 1:26-27

Lord we know that we are made in your image.  Help us to see ourselves as your children who are beautiful and loved and redeemed through Jesus, instead of who others tell us we are.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 22

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: 1 John 3:1

Jesus thank you for loving us for who we are.  We know that you love and care for us exactly how we are no matter what we do or what we have or where we are.  Thank you for your love for us.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 21

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave. Then read: Matthew 22:37-40

God help us to be good friends who truly care about those around us instead of ourselves.  Help us to put our friends and family members first and to do that by being like Jesus and sharing his love. 

Lent Devotion: March 20

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 

Lord help us to not be someone who puts up walls and pushes other people away.  Instead let us be open loving people who share your love and build friendships with people we might not know.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 19

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Jesus we see the hurt and suffering around us and often we want to run and hide from it.  Help us to see it and try to help those who are experiencing that hurt.  Let us be brave enough to help the hurting.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 18

When you take a picture with a lot of people and you ask to see the picture who do you look for first?  Yourself of course, you want to see if you look good, if the angle makes you look nice, if you can see weird mole on your cheek.  When we wake up in the morning why do we spend 5 minutes in front of the mirror doing our hair or makeup, or why do your parents make you comb or brush your hair before you go out somewhere nice?

It’s because we want to look nice we don’t want people to think we look weird or strange.  But often we are the biggest critic, we are the people who see the little imperfect on our face that no one else will notice, we are the people who take selfies from the right angle so on one sees our double chin, and we are the people who think about how we’re no good because we did something wrong or because we didn’t do well on our test at school.

When we look at ourselves we often feel like we’re not good enough or pretty enough or not smart enough or nice enough.  But luckily that’s not how God sees us.  The Bible tells us that we are made in God’s image and God sees us as perfect people just as he planned because we have been redeemed through Jesus sacrifice for us. 

And God tells us that we shouldn’t find our worth or identity in how well we do in school or how good we are at a sport, or how we look but in Jesus.  God loved us enough to sacrifice his only son and we are worth that love because Jesus died for us. 

So this week when you see an imperfection or feel like you’re not good enough.  Remember that God loves you just as you are and he made you to be like that.

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Discussion Questions:

· What’s one thing that you might see as not great about yourself

· What would God say to that?

Lent Devotion: March 17

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave. Then read: Psalms 103:12

God thank you for the forgiveness and love that you offer us.  Thank you that you are always quick to forgive us no matter how many times we mess up.  Help us to be forgiving just as you have forgiven us. 

Lent Devotion: March 16th

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: Proverbs 28:13

Lord forgive us for when we hurt our family and the people closest to us.  Help us to be quick to say sorry and to forgive each other.  Help us to have loving relationships with our families. 

Lent Devotion: March 15

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: Acts 3:19

 Jesus help us to see when we’ve done wrong and hurt others, help us to not be defensive of ourselves, but to be quick to see our wrong and to apologize and ask for forgiveness. 

Lent Devotion: March 14

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave. Then read: 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Jesus thank you for how you move in our lives thank you for the opportunities you give to us and thank you for the challenges you present to us.  Help us to see them as opportunities to grow and trust you more and be more like Jesus.  Amen

Lent Devotion: March 13

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: Job 12:7-10

Lord when we do experience hard times and feel lost, help us to instead of turning away from the hurt, turn to it and learn from what we experience.  Help us to learn from those hard times and see you in all that we do. 

Lent Devotion: March 12

Prayer: Pray this prayer together as a family as one person weaves a piece of yarn back and forth across the yarn weave.  Then read: Psalm 22:1-3

God when we feel hurt and upset we often blame and question you.  We feel that you give us pain for no reason and we feel angry toward you.  We confess that anger to you and we ask that you help us to trust in you and see the bigger picture.  Amen