Bible Reading: Romans 8:28–31 “Can we please skip church tomorrow?” Tegan asked her dad. “It’s Mother’s Day, and I don’t have a mother anymore. Just a stepmother.” Tegan was not happy about her father’s new wife, and she rarely hid those feelings. “I wish you would try to accept your stepmother for who she is,…
Bible Reading: Proverbs 6:20–23 Sophie watched her father pull out the stake that had been wired to a small tree ever since it had been planted. “What was that stake for?” she asked. “Very small trees often don’t have the strength or ability to stand straight by themselves; they grow crooked,” Dad said. “The stake…
Bible Reading: Psalm 133:1–3 “Mom!” Paige wailed down the hall. “Bobby got into my room again! And he messed up my jewelry!” “I’m sorry, honey,” Mom said when she came to see the damage. “I’ll try to watch him more closely.” The toddler loved to go into his sister’s room and open her drawers, color…
Bible Reading: Psalm 127:1-5 Maria looked over her shoulder at her mother, whose eyes were half shut against the drizzle. When Maria had won a ribbon in the girl’s division of the city race the year before, her mother had decided she would like to race the next time too. But Mom didn’t look so…
Bible Reading: 1 Peter 3:8-12 “Can I take Casper to school tomorrow?” asked Max one evening. “You can’t take your rabbit to school,” said his older brother, Kolton. “Where would you keep him? In your desk?” He laughed at the idea. Max made a face at his brother. “We have a rabbit in our classroom,…
Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:31-5:1 “I hate them!” Annabelle yelled as she slammed the front door. “Annabelle, is that you?” Mom called from the kitchen. Too angry to answer, Annabelle stomped over and sat down on the stairs. “What has you so upset?” Mom asked as she came from the kitchen. “Some kids on the bus…
Bible Reading: Exodus 2:1-10 Lila was supposed to be coloring a picture of Pharaoh’s daughter finding Baby Moses in the Nile River, but she kept getting distracted by Michael. She watched as he fidgeted on the other side of the table. He’d check the clock, look back at his coloring, twirl his pencil, shuffle his…
Bible Reading: Psalm 68:6; Proverbs 17:17 Sienna slowly got off the school bus, dreading going inside her house. It wasn’t fair. She had to share her room with Leah, the girl everyone referred to as her little sister. She wasn’t—she was the daughter of the man her mom had married. Now Sienna had a roommate—and…
Bible Reading: Colossians 3:16-24 Dathan kept his distance as he watched his father lift the cover from a beehive. “There sure are lots of bees, aren’t there, Dad? And they all look busy.” He grinned. “They’re as busy as bees!” Dad smiled. “You’re right. Each of the hives has lots of them—thousands, in fact. But…
Bible Reading: Matthew 5:43-44; Galatians 6:9-10 Nora let the door bang shut just as her brother reached it. “Well, thanks,” Boyd said sarcastically. “You never hold the door open for me,” said Nora. “You never hold the door open for me,” echoed Boyd. Nora scowled. “Don’t copy me.” “Don’t copy me.” “Stop it, Boyd!” yelled…
