Weekly Family Devotional
Ashes to Ashes: A Lent Series
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Read Together
Joel 2:13 (ESV)
Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
Talk About It
Have you ever run away from home when you were upset, but then wanted to come back? Sometimes when we sin, we feel like we've run away from God, and we wonder if He'll take us back. The wonderful news is that God always welcomes us home! The word "return" means to come back, and God is always calling us to return to Him. Joel tells us why we can come back—because God is gracious (He gives us good things we don't deserve), merciful (He doesn't punish us like we deserve), slow to anger (He's very patient with us), and full of steadfast love (His love never changes or goes away). When we truly repent—which means we're genuinely sorry for our sin and want to change—God doesn't just forgive us, He restores us. That means He makes things right again and gives us a fresh start.
For Parents to Explain
Dear God, thank You that we can always come back to You no matter what we've done wrong. Thank You for Your grace, mercy, and never-ending love.
Family Activities
Welcome Home Experience
- Have one person stand at the door and practice welcoming family members "home" with hugs and kind words.
- Talk about how good it feels to be welcomed warmly.
- Connect this to how God welcomes us back when we return to Him after sinning.
- Practice saying "Welcome home!" to each other throughout the week as a reminder.
Fresh Start Art Project
- Start with a piece of paper that has scribbles or marks on it (representing sin).
- Turn the paper over to the clean side (representing God's forgiveness and fresh start).
- Create something beautiful on the clean side.
- Talk about how repentance gives us a completely fresh start with God.
Family Prayer
Let's each think of something we need to return to God about and ask Him to help us come back to Him.