Joshua’s House

That’s right. Joshua’s House will soon be on the road. Right now we are working on developing 7 workshops to be presented at churches and schools. While things are still in the works, here’s a little peek into some of the workshop topics:

• Keeping the Focus - What it means to be a Christian
• How to make Sabbath Special - Fun Sabbath afternoon ideas for kids of all ages
• Instituting Family Worship -Why Family worship is important, and how to make it fun for everyone
• Bible Study for Everyone - Tips to make Bible study interesting for even the youngest family member
• Serving as a Family - The importance of Christian service and ideas that will excite the whole family
• Scripture Memory Fun - Fun ways to hide God’s word in your heart
• Praying Together - Creative prayer for all members of the family

All of theses workshops will be highly interactive and will include materials that can be taken home and be put to use right away.
I am really excited about these workshops for a number of reasons. First of all, I love getting to know lots of new people and giving them tools to help strengthen families. Secondly, this will help Joshua’s House get out into the community and start achieving our goals right away. This will also provide a way to recruit more volunteers and to provide some more financial assistance.

I’m hoping to send out the registration packets in January and start booking workshops by mid February. I’m so excited to see the doors that God can open with this new addition to Joshua’s House!

Click here for printable PDF version.

Sometimes traveling can be difficult over the holiday season. Here are some ideas to keep you and the kids amused and continually pointed back to God. Try one of these ideas with your family, and let us know how much fun you had.

1. ABC’s of Thanksgiving – Go around the car in order and think of something God made or gave you that starts with the next letter. You can’t do something twice (even if you call it by a different name). When you get stuck, you’re out. See who can stay in the longest.
2. I Spy Colors – Person who spies something that is a certain color. When it is guessed, the person who picked it has to tell what we can learn about God from that thing. The person who guessed correctly is the next “spier.”

We want to point to the Bible as the primary source of truth and guidance; yet we want kids to understand that God is still alive and working in our lives today. That’s where your story comes in.

When you submit your story, it could be published online, then in print form with a collection of similar Joshua’s House stories.

What are you waiting for? There is a child waiting to hear your story about God working today. It could change a life forever!
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Story Guidelines

There are four categories of stories we are looking for:

• Mission & Service - Non fiction stories about short- or long-term mission or service experiences.
• Nature - Non-fiction stories about God’s created world including animals, plants and more.
• True to Life - Non-fiction stories about God working or teaching lessons in any area of life.
• Based on Proverbs - Fiction or nonfiction stories based on the Biblical wisdom found in the book of Proverbs.

*If you need a little boost, we can provide you with information about real people and events to base your stories on.

Audience: Kids ages 6-12

Story length: 1-2 pages typed, single-spaced (stories more than 3 pages will not be considered unless the story is multi-part.)

We will provide photography or illustrations to accompany your story. (Please let us know if you would like to provide your own artwork and we will send you guidelines.)

When you donate stories, you are giving Joshua’s House unrestricted usage rights. However, do not feel as though the use of your story should be limited.

The purpose of these stories is to help kids see that God is real and that He is working in our lives. Please keep Jesus the main focus of your stories.

Click here to download the application form. This must be mailed to Joshua’s House before your story can be published.

This evening God was reminding me how important it is that we keep praying for this ministry. Joshua’s House is God’s project. He has a plan. Sometimes things get discouraging and hard. Funds seem scarce, time seems scarce, experience seems often to be lacking, resources in general are often depleted. Even though these trials may often seem surmountable, and I sometimes want to give up, I can’t help but rejoice. Paul says it best, ” That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

God can do amazing things through our feeble efforts. I ask that you continue to pray that God will work through Joshua’s House. Pray that through these projects He may be glorified and that people may be drawn to Him. Pray for me as well, as I direct this process. Pray that I will continually surrender to God. Also pray for wisdom and guidance so that I may continually work toward His goals. And, lastly, pray that I may grow in boldness for Him.

Thank you for all of your prayers. This is no project without God.

Laura

Click here for printable PDF version.

Does anyone in your family like putting puzzles together? I know when I was a kid we would often have a card table set up in the living room with a puzzle that someone was working on. Here is a way to add some extra fun to your puzzle experience while pointing your children to God as well.

All you need is a puzzle, some paper and a pen or pencil, and a little bit of creativity. Before your kids begin working on the puzzle, take a few pieces from the box (make sure you don’t take any edge pieces, or they’ll get suspicious). Hide these pieces around the house with clues about where the next piece is hidden. By the time they are done they will have their puzzle complete and will connect the object in the puzzle to Heavenly things. Here is an example.

This puzzle has 48 pieces so you would probably only want to hide four pieces. Here are some of the clues you could have. You would give your child(ren) the first clue upon their discovery of missing pieces.

1. People used to use horses for transportation. Now we use something different. Go to our modern-day “horse” for your first puzzle piece and clue. (The first piece would be on/in/around the car.)

2. Horses are powerful and strong. They can carry 1/3 of their own body weight! How much do you weigh? Go see to find your next puzzle piece. Do you think you could carry 1/3 of your weight? (The next piece would be on bathroom scales or something of the sort.)

3. Because of the power and strength of horses, they were often used to carry weapons into battle. In fact, Pharaoh’s army and many others relied heavily on their horses. The more horses they had the more confidant they were of wining the battle. God had something different to say though. Find out what He has to say in Psalm 33:17. (The next piece would be hidden in a family Bible at Psalm 33:17).

4. God said that the strength of horses is not the way of deliverance. Turn to Psalm 20:7. (Have a verse card tucked away in the right place in the Bible with this written on it or write it on the back of the puzzle piece: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” Psalm 20:7.) Attach this card to your completed puzzle so that you can always remember that we can place our trust in our God.

You can do this with just about any puzzle. The puzzle here and a few more are in the Joshua’s House bookstore. Share your clue ideas with us, and let us know if you need help coming up with some clues for whatever puzzle you’re working on.