Families

Dear Boys and Girls,

Sophia poked the last bite of egg onto her fork and popped it into her mouth. She reached over to help her little sister. “Here, Katie, one more bite!”

Katie was eating eggs just like everyone else in the family, but hers had been cut into very small pieces. Katie banged her spoon on her tray and added to the noise in the busy kitchen.

Sophia did not notice. She was used to the hubbub of her large family. She paid no attention when Ricky punched his brother Jed next to her because he wanted the last of the orange juice. She did not notice when her older sister Janna asked her twin, Jake, if he was nervous about his first day at his new after-school job. She didn’t realize that her sister Amanda was coughing with a bad cold, and she only vaguely heard that her baby brother Andrew was crying in the infant swing.

After breakfast, it was time to leave for the bus. “Bye, Mom!” Sophia gave her mom a kiss. “I hope it works out taking Katie to the dentist for the first time today!”

“Oh, doodles,” Jed exclaimed. “Is that really today? Have fun!”

“Yeah, doodles,” Ricky grumbled. “I have the biggest math test ever today.” He grabbed his lunchbox. His name was neatly printed on the top flap. “Ricky Bates.” Sophia’s lunchbox said, “Sophia Bates,” and Jed’s said, “Jed Bates.”

For a moment, Sophia smiled to herself. It was true that she did not look much like her brothers. They had curly brown hair and big hazel eyes while she had straight black hair and dark squinty eyes. Yet, they all had the same last name, and they all belonged to the same family. It was hard to remember that just a few years ago, before she had been adopted, she did not have a family. She had not even known what it was like to belong to one. Now here she was, completing her share of chores like everyone else, receiving a kiss from Mom just like the others, and with a name on her lunchbox that matched her brothers’ and sisters’.

“Yeah,” Sophia said softly to herself, “doodles!” It was one of those silly words one of her brothers had started. Now they were all saying it, and it was like a secret word only their own family used and understood—almost like a family language. Sophia grinned and threw a last wave over her shoulder to Katie, who was perched on Mom’s arm.

Do you ever appreciate belonging to a family? In families, not everyone is the same. Babies can cry but not talk, toddlers need small bites to eat, one might be tall and another short, and the children sometimes squabble about whose turn it is to do the dishes. They all learn how to help, doing chores, caring for the little ones, and thinking of the concerns or problems that the others might have. It is wonderful to belong to a family, isn’t it? Don’t forget what a blessing this is. When you appreciate it, you will be less likely to complain and more likely to be kind. God wants us to treat others like we want to be treated ourselves. “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12).

There is another family in which not everyone is the same. This family is spread far and wide over the whole world, but they all belong together. They all have the same name: made new by God. They all like and receive the same food: God’s Word, even though while one needs a single small word of comfort, another might need from that same Book a stronger word of direction or correction or assurance. They all speak the same language: a language of love to God and of misery, deliverance, and gratitude. People who do not belong to the family of God do not understand them. They all long for the same thing: a kiss from the Lord, meaning a token that He knows them in that special way. Everyone in the family has his tasks to perform on this earth because they are never lazy people.

They each have their own problems and concerns, and sometimes they are sick. No, they are not really sick in bed, but their heart needs the Lord to come and heal all that is so wrong—sin, missing the Lord, sadness when the Lord does not speak to them, fears when the devil troubles them, struggles when they are so inclined to wander away from the Lord, afflictions in life, and times when their heart feels dark and cold and they can’t pray anymore. The wonder is that, in all those troubles, they all have the same God and Father to whom they can go.

All the people in God’s family belong to Him, and they also care for and about each other just like brothers and sisters. Just like in Sophia’s family, they sometimes have disagreements, but if it is right, they don’t continue such a quarrel. There should be love between them, and sometimes, they can be very close and special friends who share in each other’s joys and sorrows and tell each other what the Lord has been for them.

God adopted these children into His family, and He will always care for them. He says to them, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” They are not all the same. Some are more confident while others are often afraid. Some are like the baby of a family, only able to cry a little to the Lord. Others are older and stronger and may say to the Lord, “My Lord and my God.”

All those who do NOT belong to this family are in grave danger. They are not safe because, one day, they will have to stand before God, and He will say that He does not know them, and they will have to perish in hell where God never speaks. Ask the Lord often if He will have mercy on you, too, and make you one of His own children.

Find the missing words. Each answer (sometimes more than one word per answer) is a description of God’s family found in His Word. Then cross off the letters of these words in the picture below.

1. “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of ______ by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” — Ephesians 1

2. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the ______ of God.” — Ephesians 2

3. “The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the _______ that is in their house.” — 1 Corinthians 16

4. “Feed the ______ of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.” — 1 Peter 5

5. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for ______’s sake, which is the church.” — Colossians 1

6. “For as we have many ______ in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” — Romans 12

7. “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all ______ of that one bread.” — 1 Corinthians 10

8. “I will feed my ______, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.” — Ezekiel 34

9. “To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of _______.” — Galatians 4

10. “For ye are all the ______ of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” — Galatians 3

11. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the ______ of God.” — Romans 8

12. “And if children, then ______; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.” — Romans 8

13. “______ also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the _________, that I may be glorified.” — Isaiah 60

14. Take the letters which remain after you have crossed off all the letters of the words from your answers. Unscramble them to find another word which Christ used to describe His own people. __________

For the Older Children

Fill in the blanks.

15. John writes in his first epistle, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath ______ upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.”

16. In Ephesians we read, “And hath put all things under His ______, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church. Which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.”

17. Peter writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the ________.”

18. Paul writes to the Romans, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have ______ with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

19. In 1 Corinthians we read, “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members ______ with it.”

20. In Acts 20, it says, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath ______ with His own blood.”

For the Younger Children

Match the family members together. Take one person from each box.

21. Jacob, _______, _______, _______ (Genesis 25:20-25)

22. Joseph, _______, _______, _______ (Genesis 46:19)

23. Moses, _______, _______, _______ (Exodus 6:20)

24. Samuel, _______, _______ (1 Samuell)

25. John the Baptist, _______, _______ (Luke 1)

26. Isaac, _______, _______, _______ (Genesis 21)

Brothers: Esau, Benjamin, Aaron, Ishmael

Mothers: Rebekah, Elisabeth, Hannah, Jochebed, Rachel, Sarah

Fathers: Elkanah, Amram, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Zacharias

Please send your answers to:

Aunt LenaBeth
62 Roosevelt Ave., Butler, NJ 07405
Fax: (973) 291-4852
E-mail: auntlenabeth@gmail.com

Answers to last month’s “Truth” quiz:

1. pursue — T

2. boundless — H

3. seek — Y

4. great — W

5. light — O

6. forth — R

7. yearns — D

8. way — I

9. trace — S

10. confess — T

11. pray — R

12. mark — U

13. afford — T

14. endure — H

15. “Thy Word is Truth” (John 17:17b).

16. free John 8:32

17. clouds Psalm 108:4

18. mercy Proverbs 3:3

19. mount Psalter 120:3

20. fathers Psalter 215:2

21. lead Psalter 60:3

22. John the Baptist

23. tomb, dawn, sweet, near, child, name, same, tears, lost

Answers to previous quizzes were received from:

Alyssa Arnoldussen

Kaylee Arnoldussen

Abby Baum (2)

Alaina Baum

AliciaBaum

Allan J Baum (2)

Jacob Baum (2)

Jeremy Baum (2)

Sarah Baum (2)

Anabelle Berkenbush

William Berkenbush

Amy Bosman

Erika Breman

Nathan Breman

Adrianna Byers (3)

Joseph Byers (3)

Serena Byers (3)

Stephan Devisser

Jayden den Bok

Jordan den Bok

Tristan den Bok

Alyssa Grisnich (2)

Joanna Grisnich (2)

Rachael Grisnich (2)

Adrian Groenendyk

Jack Groenendyk

Jacoba Groenendyk

John Groenendyk

James Groeneweg (2)

Johnathon Heger

Marilyn Heger

Garrett Hoogendoorn

Luke Hoogendoorn

Weston Hoogendoorn

Andrew Hoogmoed

Jolina Hoogmoed

Kayla Hoogmoed

Walter Hoogmoed

A’yanna Howard

Daniel Hup

Autumn Kegel

Hannah Kegel

Arleta Keurhorst

Derik Keurhorst

Sarah Keurhorst

Kylie Klaasen

Andrew Knibbe

Ashley Knibbe

Ben Knibbe

Caylea Knibbe (2)

Cora Knibbe

Courtney Knibbe

Heidi Knibbe

Jayce Knibbe

Lindsey Knibbe

Olivia Knibbe

Quinton Knibbe

Tonya Koenen

Jayden Lee

Jeremy Lee

Joshua Lee

Shaylen LeLoux

Chimwemwe Malangwasira

Tyson Maljaars

Jacob Mol

Krystina Mol

Lydia Mol

Rachel Mol

Shelley Mol

Sabrina Mol

Andrew Remijn (3)

Jacob Ruissen

Kimberly Ruissen

Mitchell Ruissen

Jessa Rus ( 4)

Andries Schipper

Sara Schipper

Kayelyn Sporte (2)

Renee Taylor (2)

Colin Ten Hove

Alison Thies

Arianna Timmer

Harley Timmer

Skye Timmer

Wyatt Timmer

Colleen van Brugge

Jenna van Brugge

Leah Van Brugge

Rebekah Van Brugge

Melanie Van Deuveren

Tanya Van Deuveren

Conrad Van Garderen

Margo Van Garderen

Thirza Van Garderen

Jonathan Van Koeveringe

Ryan Van Koeveringe

Tanya Van Koeveringe

Justin Van Middendorp

Grace Van Peenen

Leonore Van Ruitenburg

Alyssa Vande Bruinhorst

Jennifer Vande Bruinhorst

Abigail Vanden Berg

Joe Vanden Berg

Seth Vanden Berg

Gerrit Vanden Broek

Heather Vanden Broek

Lisa Vanden Broek

Treena Vanden Broek

Diane Vandenberg (2)

Jonathan Vandenberg (2)

Julia Vandenberg (2)

Brandon Vrieselaar

Kyra Vrieselaar

Jonathan Wesdyk

Laura Wesdyk

Kaitlin Ymker (2)

No Name

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen