We had our family night last night and we focused on how our friends can strengthen or weaken our faith. The whole family night is written out here.
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits.”
Being that Rilyn goes to public school, this lesson is especially important to teach and reteach over the years.
Side note: We want to make sure she knows that she can (and does!) have friends that don’t know Jesus. We expect her to tell them about Jesus and how much she loves Him and how Jesus loves them. We invited one of her school friends over on Saturday and Rilyn really wanted to play Bible trivia with her, (I recommend this version for kids 5 and up), and I had to explain to Rilyn that her friend wouldn’t know any of the answers. Rilyn acted really surprised. So we knew we needed to talk to her about how not everyone she is friends with will know Jesus.
Whoever we surround ourselves with will impact us either for good or bad. Satan wants to influence us, not because he loves us like God does, but because he hates God. We need to be careful of the kind of friends we choose and with whom we spend time. When our CLOSEST friends also love Jesus, their influence keeps us strong. When we move away from those friends and their Godly influence, we become spiritually weak.
This is a big prayer of mine for Rilyn. Her closest friend, Cole, is from a Christian family, and I believe he will grow up strong in the Lord. That is wonderful news however 1.) he is a boy and 2.) he isn’t in her grade level. My prayer is that Rilyn would develop a girl best friend who loves Jesus and who she can see on a regular basis because they either go to school together or live in our neighborhood.
Back to the family night! So we asked the girls if they could think of a time when someone influenced them to do something either good or bad. What if it was your very best friend who asked you to tell a lie? It’s not as easy to say no to your best friend. That’s why it’s so important to have close friends that keep you strong and firm in making good choices. We talked about things that friends could say that were not encouraging her to “stand firm”. “I forgot to do my homework, can I copy yours?” And things that friends could say that encourage her to stand firm in her faith. “Let’s say our Bible verse together on the bus.” (This was Rilyn’s example because her and Cole are bus seat partners and they do help each other memorize their verse on the bus to recite to James the next morning in the car ride to school.)
Now time for a visual! We mixed corn starch and water. (I was surprised James had never done this in all his life so he was just as intrigued as the kids were!)
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| 1/4 cup water mixed with 3/4 cup cornstarch |
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| “This is hard to mix!” |
Why did we do this?
The mixture will be thick, and when you grab a glob of it and squeeze it tightly in your fist, it is firm. Just like Godly friends are holding you firm in your faith.
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| choosing things of God keeps you firm |
But when you release your grip and just let the mixture sit in your hands, the mixture immediately begins to turn to it’s liquid form and become runny. Just like if we surround ourselves with those who don’t love God we will grow weak in God and our faith.
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| choosing wrong friends makes me weak |
the paquettes 