Bible Reading: Psalm 136:1-9

"Our room is going to look so cool!" Ivy said as she set her brush down and took a seat on the floor. She and her twin sister, Elinor, had just finished painting their room completely black. After it dried, they were going to put star-shaped glow-in-the-dark stickers all over the walls.

"It's going to be like sleeping outside!" Elinor said.

"Okay, now we need to decide how we're going to put the stickers up," said Ivy. "Do we want to do some sort of pattern or just put them up randomly?"

Just then Mom walked in. "The walls look good, girls." She turned on the overhead light. "I'm glad you're going to add the stickers though, otherwise it would be pretty dark in here."

"Thanks, Mom," said Elinor. "That light helps--it's only three in the afternoon and it's already getting hard to see in here!"

"Yeah," said Ivy. "Can you imagine what it would be like if God had made the sky completely black, without any stars or light?"

"That would be pretty dark," replied Elinor. "Do you remember when we first moved here and we'd try to find the bathroom in the middle of the night with no lights on?"

"I do," said Mom. "You girls got so many bruises from running into things that we finally had to get a night light."

"Yes, and we were sure thankful for it!" Elinor picked up a star sticker from the floor. "I'm thankful God gives us night lights outside too. The stars and moon are beautiful to look at."

"And bright," added Ivy. "When the sky is clear and the moon is full, we don't even need the house light on to play basketball."

Mom nodded. "Sometimes we take for granted all that God has created and provided for us. It's important to remember to pause and thank Him for everything. I'm thankful that Jesus is the light of my life and that He loves me enough to die for my sins."

Ivy sat up. "Elinor, that gives me an idea for how we should arrange the stickers! Let's scatter them around, but in the center of one of the walls, we form the words 'Give Thanks.'"

"Let's do it!" said Elinor. "That will be a good reminder to thank God for everything He's done for us."

– Melissa Yeagle

Bible Reading: Psalm 118:6-9; Isaiah 41:10

Danae was excited when she returned home from an afternoon of horseback riding. "That was so much fun!" she told her family. "We went on a trail ride through the woods. My horse was spooked once, but I didn't fall off!"

"Spooked?" asked Dallas, Danae's little brother. "Did you see a ghost?"

Danae laughed. "No, Dallas. It's just that when horses see something they don't expect--like a piece of paper blowing in the wind--they might all of a sudden jump sideways or try to run away. We call that being spooked. If you're not a good rider, you might fall off when the horse does that."

"Horses are so big!" said Dallas. "Why would papers scare them?"

Danae shrugged. "I don't know. They just do. But if the horse knows you and trusts you, he usually calms down and you can get him to go places he'd be scared to go otherwise."

"Sounds like you've learned a lot about horses and how to ride them," said Dad. "Your description of how a horse responds when he trusts his rider is a good picture of how we should respond when we truly trust God."

Danae tilted her head. "You mean we shouldn't be afraid to go wherever God wants us to go because we can trust Him to take care of us?"

"Exactly," said Dad. "We need to trust Him in every situation. Sometimes we get spooked when unexpected things happen in our lives. We need to learn to trust God to take us through all the scary places."

"Like when Mom was diagnosed with cancer?" asked Dallas. "That was scary."

Mom nodded. "It was scary for me too. But your dad's right--we can trust God to take care of us in scary situations like that. Even though I was afraid of what might happen, I knew that because Jesus died to save me, He would always be with me through everything. Knowing that gave me peace and helped me not be afraid."

"I didn't know I'd learn all this just from horseback riding," Danae said.

A mischievous grin crept across Dallas's face. "Maybe it's time for me to take lessons too so we can all learn more about Jesus!"

– Deborah S. Marett

Bible Reading: Psalm 34:1-15; 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Thea inhaled the mist from her nebulizer. She felt her chest muscles relax as air rushed in. Just a few minutes before, an asthma attack had robbed her of her breath. "How do you feel now?" Mom asked as Thea let out a breath.

"Better," Thea said. "I wish I didn't have asthma."

"I know," Mom said. "But thank God we have this medicine when you do have an attack."

"Mom, why doesn't God just heal my asthma like I've asked Him to?" asked Thea. "Doesn't He like me?"

"I don't know why God heals some people and not others. Even when Jesus lived on earth, some sick people weren't healed. But we know that Jesus loved them and that He loves you because He died so we could have our sins forgiven."

"Then why pray about it if God isn't going to heal me?" Thea asked. "I still have the medicine to make me feel better when I need it."

"Remember when we took you to the emergency room during your first asthma attack?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, that was scary," Thea said. "I could hardly breathe at all! Then Dr. Singh came. He knew what medicines I needed."

"Maybe since you have your medicine, we don't need Dr. Singh anymore," Mom suggested.

"But Mom, he's in charge of my treatment plan!" Thea protested.

"You're right, Thea. We still need Dr. Singh--and we also need God. When we pray, we're asking God to take charge of our lives. God loves you and is working for your good. In fact, God gave the knowledge to treat asthma to doctors like Dr. Singh. Your medicines came from the earth He created. Your doctor isn't here for every attack, but we trust and follow his treatment plan. We don't know all the ways God is working in our lives, but we know He loves us and is always with us, even when doctors can't be. We can trust that God knows just what we need and is bringing about good, even when He doesn't answer our prayers the way we ask."

Thea sighed. "Then I guess the best treatment plan for my asthma is to keep praying and let God be in charge."

– Heidi Schmidt