Check out the “Weekly Memory Munchie” with free printable scripture note cards below to cut out and memorize. Click the download button, print, and post on your mirror, fridge, around your house, or add to lunch boxes. Keep an eye out for next week’s “Weekly Memory Munchie” that we will be posting each Sunday.
*Need a pop of prayer? Head on over to our Prayer Pop page here and leave a comment in the section below. We would love to lift you up!
Check out the “Weekly Memory Munchie” with free printable scripture note cards below to cut out and memorize. Click the download button, print, and post on your mirror, fridge, around your house, or add to lunch boxes. Keep an eye out for next week’s “Weekly Memory Munchie” that we will be posting each Sunday.
*Need a pop of prayer? Head on over to our Prayer Pop page here and leave a comment in the section below. We would love to lift you up!
“You’re going to make us late again,” Opal yells down the hall with one arm in her hoodie and the other holding the door jam. She feels like squeezing the white, wooden beam gives her more bravado, emphasizing her growing frustration with her slow-moving brother.
“I’m not going,” Henry calls back.
Opal hears rustling and drawers opening and closing. She quickly moves down the hall to see what Henry is doing instead of getting ready for youth group. Henry used to love youth group. It was almost all he would talk about; he would count down the days to Wednesday like most people countdown to Friday. “What’s going on in here, Henry? Are you finally running away?” Opal asks jokingly.
“Ha, ha-not funny,” Henry snaps back. “I want to go to the gym to play basketball with my new friends.”
“Well, I’m going to tell Mom and see what she has to say about it,” Opal says.
“I’m old enough to make my own decisions about youth group, Opal,” Henry replies.
Opal races downstairs with Henry moving faster than she’s seen him move in months. “Mom, Henry isn’t going to youth group, he’s going to play basketball with his new friends at the Y,” Opal tattles.
“What’s all this now,” Mom asks. “Is this true, Henry? You want to go to the Y tonight instead of youth group? This is very much not like you at all, what’s going on, bud?”
“I’ve been to youth group a million times, Mom. I want to play basketball and maybe lift weights with my new friends. If I want to play football next year, I need to get buff and in shape,” Henry tries to negotiate his position. Opal snorts, holding back laughter before a look from Mom snubs out her snarkiness so it doesn’t cause a fight between the two siblings.
“Oh, you want to get fit, do you?” Mom asks.
“Yeah, Mom! You get it!” Henry replies.
“So on a scale of 1-10, how fit do you think you are right now?” asks Mom.
“What, I don’t know – maybe a 6?” says Henry. “I’ve definitely got some room for improvement. But I’m not going to get closer to a 10 unless I work at it.”
“I get your point. Another question for you: on a scale of 1-10, how spiritually fit would you say you are?” asks Mom with a smirk. She can tell by the look on Henry’s face that this is the turning point of his argument.
“I see what your saying, Mom,” Henry admits.
“If we’re not spiritually fit, Henry, then we have nothing-literally. How do you think you get spiritually fit? Going to the gym? Because we do that 3-4 days per week for your homeschool P.E. Technically, if that were true, you’d be spiritually ripped by now!” Mom jokes.
“You get spiritually fit by reading the Bible and connecting with God,” Opal offers. “You can do it too, by having fellowship with other believers and in prayer. Doesn’t the Bible say that if two or more gather in His name, He is with them?” Opal asks.
“That’s Mathew 18:20,” Mom adds.
“You guys are right, the youth group is more important than the gym. I will call the guys and tell them I’ll meet up with them tomorrow.” Henry says.
“Good call, Henry – get spiritually fit, then get physically fit,” says Opal.
Weekly Bible Verse: For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. -1 Timothy 4:8 NIV
Note to Nibble: While physical fitness is healthy, spiritual fitness should take priority.
Check out the “Weekly Memory Munchie” with free printable scripture note cards below to cut out and memorize. Click the download button, print, and post on your mirror, fridge, around your house, or add to lunch boxes. Keep an eye out for next week’s “Weekly Memory Munchie” that we will be posting each Sunday.
*Need a pop of prayer? Head on over to our Prayer Pop page here and leave a comment in the section below. We would love to lift you up!
Check out the “Weekly Memory Munchie” with free printable scripture note cards below to cut out and memorize. Click the download button, print, and post on your mirror, fridge, around your house, or add to lunch boxes. Keep an eye out for next week’s “Weekly Memory Munchie” that we will be posting each Sunday .
*Need a pop of prayer? Head on over to our Prayer Pop page here and leave a comment in the section below. We would love to lift you up!
“Mom, my shorts from last summer don’t fit and I’m supposed to meet McKayla at the river. What am I going to do?” Rae cries from deep within her closet. From the kitchen, her mother hears her like she’s in the next room. Rae stomps down the hall with shorts in hand then flings them back and forth over her head like a white flag of surrender. “I give up, Mom. My old summer clothes don’t fit me anymore. I’m about to cut all my jeans into shorts. I can’t even meet McKayla at the river now.”
“Nice to see you too, Rae. My extra shift at the nursing home went pretty well until Mrs. Cramer threw up her breakfast all over my shoes. How was your night? Did you sleep ok?” Mom asks.
“I’m serious, Mom!” Rae snaps back.
“I am too, honey. I had to scrub banana bread pudding out of my shoes for a half an hour. They’re so old and cracked that the vomit was stuck in the cracks. I had to find an old toothbrush that looked about as old as my shoes.” Mom retorts.
“I’m sorry about your shoes, Mom,” Rae says. “I just don’t have any clothes that fit for the summer and I’ve put applications in at every fast food place, juice stand, and coffee shop in a 20-mile radius.”
“I’m sure something will turn up for you, sweetheart. Have you prayed about it at all?” Mom asks.
“Prayed about shorts?!” Rae questions with eyes wider than a cartoon character getting bonked in the head by a clever rabbit or very fast road runner.
“Why not? You can come to God with all your troubles. He wants to provide for you, you know? Why don’t you go to your room and pray?” Mom suggests. “Then you can cut one pair of jeans into shorts for now. How’s that sound?” Mom asks.
“Ok! Thanks, Mom!” Rae says, as she runs back down the hall.
Things have been extremely hard since Rae’s dad passed away two years ago. Her mom had to not only get a better job, but also had to take a second job at the nursing home just to pay the mortgage, bills, and buy groceries. She doesn’t have any extra money for clothes or shoes. She decides it’s a good idea to go pray in her room too.
The next day, Rae and her mother pull up to the church and sit in the parking lot for a moment. Sunday was Dad’s favorite day of the week. They would go to church and then to lunch after – family time was always the best. Although they haven’t broken down crying in the parking lot at church for a few months – it is still hard for them to get out of the car to move through the day sometimes. Mom grabs Rae’s hand. They take a deep breath in unison and together say, “Let’s go.”
A white mini-van pulls up next to the passenger side of their car and out pops Juliana, Rae’s mom’s best friend. “Carmen, Rae, can you help me with something before you go in, please?” Julianne asks as she opens the van’s back end. Inside are four large boxes. Three of the boxes have “Rae” written on the side in black marker. One has Carmen’s name.
“What is all this?” Carmen asks in shock.
“Well darlin’, I was doing some spring cleaning and boxed up all the clothes that Samantha doesn’t wear anymore or has grown out of. Turns out it is a lot. I had to pull more boxes out of the garage. Then, I decided to go through my closet and box up a bunch of clothes that I don’t wear any longer either. There’s a pair of comfy sneakers in there you could wear to work too, Carmen.”
“You’re an answer to a prayer, Jules!” Carmen says. “It’s like I told you, Rae, God provides.”
Weekly Bible Verse: And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:19 NIV
Note to Nibble: God is a loving God who cares about you and is the ultimate need meeter.
Check out the “Weekly Memory Munchie” with free printable scripture note cards below to cut out and memorize. Click the download button, print, and post on your mirror, fridge, around your house, or add to lunch boxes. Keep an eye out for next week’s “Weekly Memory Munchie” that we will be posting each Sunday .
*Need a pop of prayer? Head on over to our Prayer Pop page here and leave a comment in the section below. We would love to lift you up!
Check out the “Weekly Memory Munchie” with free printable scripture note cards below to cut out and memorize. Click the download button, print, and post on your mirror, fridge, around your house, or add to lunch boxes. Keep an eye out for next week’s “Weekly Memory Munchie” that we will be posting each Sunday .
*Need a pop of prayer? Head on over to our Prayer Pop page here and leave a comment in the section below. We would love to lift you up!
Jessy looks for Peyton at the bus stop on her first day of junior high. Peyton and Jessy have been friends since kindergarten, but Peyton spent most of the summer making new friends at soccer camp. Jessy boards the bus hoping to see her friend on the first day of school. Truth is, Jessy hasn’t heard much from Peyton since she returned from camp.
At school, Jessy closes her locker and turns to head to her 1st-period class. She sees her friend, Peyton, walking toward her with a large group of girls. Jessy waves and says, “Hey Peyton,” loudly. Jessy knows that Peyton can hear her, but she walks by as if she doesn’t even know her. A lump forms in Jessy’s throat as a rock sinks in her stomach. She fights back tears as she doesn’t want to be seen crying on her first day of school in the middle of the hallway.
At lunch, Jessy again sees Peyton with the same group of girls sitting at a large table in the middle of the cafeteria. She walks up to Peyton this time so that she is standing on her right side. She has to hear me now, she thinks. “Hey Peyton, can I sit with you?” Jessy asks. Peyton turns toward her, looks her up and down, then returns to talking to her new friends as if Jessy isn’t even standing there. This time the tears cannot be held back. Jessy slams her lunch tray down in front of Peyton and runs off crying. She can’t understand what happened to her friend and why she is acting like this.
When the last bell of the day rings, dismissing the kids from school, Jessy can’t wait to get home. She rushes to her locker, grabs her backpack, and moves quickly to the school bus pickup. When Jessy boards the bus, to her surprise, she sees Peyton sitting by herself toward the back of the bus. Jessy really wants to ask her old friend what is going on. She begins to make her way toward Peyton who then slides to the end of her seat so that Jessy can’t sit next to her. Peyton looks out the window as if Jessy doesn’t exist. Giving up, Jessy sits in her own seat staring out her own window in disbelief. I can’t believe Peyton cares more about being cool than she does about our friendship, she thinks.
After getting off the bus, Jessy rushes home. “Jessy!” she hears from behind her. Through misty eyes, she sees Peyton rushing toward her. Surprised, she says, “Peyton? You can see me? I thought I was a ghost or something.”
“I’m so sorry, Jessy. I don’t know what came over me. I’ve been so wrapped up in trying to be cool with these new friends I made at soccer camp this summer that I thought they wouldn’t like me if they knew we were friends. But I’m so sorry, Jessy, I don’t care what anyone else thinks. What’s really important is the friendship we have. And besides, if they get to know you, I know they’ll love you. If they don’t, their loss! I really do apologize. I haven’t been a very good friend lately. If you acted like I have, I would be just as hurt. Still friends forever?” “Forever!” Jessy replies.
Jessy and Peyton embrace and everything seems like it is back to normal, the way it should be. The next day at school, Peyton introduces Jessy to all of her new friends. Jessy sits with them at lunch every day going forward.
Weekly Bible Verse: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. -John 15:13 NIV
Note to nibble: Be kind to one another and don’t get so wrapped up in yourself that you forget about others.
Check out the “Weekly Memory Munchie” with free printable scripture note cards below to cut out and memorize. Click the download button, print, and post on your mirror, fridge, around your house, or add to lunch boxes. Keep an eye out for next week’s “Weekly Memory Munchie” that we will be posting each Sunday .
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