Holy Week at Home: Hands-On Resource for Families

On the cusp of Holy Week 2021, we continue to encounter challenges and opportunities, I am choosing to look for the blessings. Blessings abound in God’s Word, a place where I can experience more of Him.

Palm Sunday (March 28, 2021) marks the beginning of Holy Week. Now, is the perfect time to make plans to commemorate the days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. Holy Week presents Christians with an opportunity to revisit and remember the depths of Jesus’ redeeming love.

Journey with Jesus

Journey with Jesus is a lesson created for children’s ministry use that is easily adaptable for home use. Through scripture-reading, activities and personal reflection, this resource helps families follow Jesus’ steps to the cross— steps He took, never retreating, to redeem us from sin and death. 

Journey with Jesus Links

The Journey with Jesus experience is comprised of three parts: the lesson plan, the map, and the “destinations.” Using the resources below, a family can easily create stations around the home. Visit one or two “destinations” a day or all of them at once.

Journey with Jesus Lesson Plan: You’ll need one lesson plan per family. Be sure to read through the lesson plan in its entirety to see how all of the parts work together and decide what adaptations you’d like to make so this plan works for your situation. This plan was originally written to work with The Story for Children: A Storybook Bible, by Max Lucado, Randy Frazee and Karen Davis Hill, but the lessons will work well independently from The Story for Children.

Journey with Jesus Map: You’ll need one map per participant. Each participant will draw a predetermined, easy-to-draw symbol on the map as each “destination” is visited. When complete, participants will have a reusable Holy Week map and scripture guide.

Destination Resources: As you proceed on your journey you’ll make stops at various “destinations.” Each “destination” has a picture illustrating a particular scene, a scripture to read, and a symbol to copy onto the map. Click the links below to retrieve and print the resource for each destination.

Destination #1 – Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

Destination #2 – Feet Washing in the Upper Room

Destination #3 – The Last Supper

Destination #4 – Praying in Gethsemane

Destination #5 – Jesus is Arrested

Destination #6 – Jesus’ Trial

Destination #7 – The Road to the Cross

Destination #8 – The Crucifixion

Should you download these resources, will you please be sure to let me know and how you plan to use them?  I’d also love to hear how using these resources blessed your Holy Week experience.

Blessings,

Cheli

Holy Week at Home: Hands-On Resource for Families

On the cusp of Holy Week 2021, we continue to encounter challenges and opportunities, I am choosing to look for the blessings. Blessings abound in God’s Word, a place where I can experience more of Him.

Palm Sunday (March 21, 2021) marks the beginning of Holy Week. Now, is the perfect time to make plans to commemorate the days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. Holy Week presents Christians with an opportunity to revisit and remember the depths of Jesus’ redeeming love.

Journey with Jesus

Journey with Jesus is a lesson created for children’s ministry use that is easily adaptable for home use. Through scripture-reading, activities and personal reflection, this resource helps families follow Jesus’ steps to the cross— steps He took, never retreating, to redeem us from sin and death. 

Journey with Jesus Links

The Journey with Jesus experience is comprised of three parts: the lesson plan, the map, and the “destinations.” Using the resources below, a family can easily create stations around the home. Visit one or two “destinations” a day or all of them at once.

Journey with Jesus Lesson Plan: You’ll need one lesson plan per family. Be sure to read through the lesson plan in its entirety to see how all of the parts work together and decide what adaptations you’d like to make so this plan works for your situation. This plan was originally written to work with The Story for Children: A Storybook Bible, by Max Lucado, Randy Frazee and Karen Davis Hill, but the lessons will work well independently from The Story for Children.

Journey with Jesus Map: You’ll need one map per participant. Each participant will draw a predetermined, easy-to-draw symbol on the map as each “destination” is visited. When complete, participants will have a reusable Holy Week map and scripture guide.

Destination Resources: As you proceed on your journey you’ll make stops at various “destinations.” Each “destination” has a picture illustrating a particular scene, a scripture to read, and a symbol to copy onto the map. Click the links below to retrieve and print the resource for each destination.

Destination #1 – Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

Destination #2 – Feet Washing in the Upper Room

Destination #3 – The Last Supper

Destination #4 – Praying in Gethsemane

Destination #5 – Jesus is Arrested

Destination #6 – Jesus’ Trial

Destination #7 – The Road to the Cross

Destination #8 – The Crucifixion

Should you download these resources, will you please be sure to let me know and how you plan to use them?  I’d also love to hear how using these resources blessed your Holy Week experience.

Blessings,

Cheli

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today and every day, God loves you.

Christ is Enough

No matter the circumstances that surround you this Christmas– Christ is enough.

Thanks be to God for this word from Colossian 1:9-20 (MSG)!

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels— everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

I recorded myself reading this passage. You can listen to it here.

Christmas Blessings,

Cheli

FPCO Sample Lesson Plan Links

I am a layleader in children’s ministry at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. I am posting three links to documents used in a lesson planning session. Click the links to access the documents.

Blank Sample Lesson Plan Format: This document features an explanation of the lesson plan format. Feel free to print the blank format for your own use.

Sample Lesson Plan– “God is Unchanging”: This document is an example of how to use the lesson plan format. Feel free to use and/or change to suit your style and needs.

“Change is Natural” Activity from Sample Lesson Plan: This activity is included in the sample lesson plan. Feel free to print and use. An explanation is included.

Check back later for helpful links for planning children’s discipleship lessons.

New Posts on The Fruit of the Spirit at Do Not Depart

Today I shared the second of two posts on The Fruit of the Spirit, our focus at DoNotDepart.com this month. I would love for you to read them and engage in the Do Not Depart community. Clicking the pictures below will take you to the posts.

Study God’s Word with Your Mom: Mother’s Day Gift Idea and Giveaway

It was a difficult time in our family life, conversations were limited to certain subjects, and God gave us the gift of His Word to bridge the gap. We could discuss scripture when other conversation was difficult. Guess what? Working through His Word, God did amazing things, and we emerged stronger and closer as a result. Whether life is difficult or not, give the gift of Bible study to those you love, and I have a perfect suggestion!

https://www.hellomornings.org

Starting Monday, May 13, 2019, women across the U.S. and the world will be studying 1 and 2 Thessalonians in the latest study from Hello Mornings– A Faith That Endures: Lessons from the Thessalonian Epistles. I am pleased to announce that I am one of the authors of this study, and I want to invite you and those you love to study God’s Word with me.

Mother’s Day Gift Giving

Give mom, or a special woman in your life, a beautiful, printed and bound copy of
A Faith That Endures: Lessons from the Thessalonian Epistles . It is available on Amazon today, and if you order it now, you’ll get in time for Mother’s Day. The special women in your life would love the invitation to study God’s Word with you.

Hello Mornings

You may participate in Hello Mornings on your own or in a private Facebook groups (many to choose from). Get all the details at Hellomornings.org. You may follow along in the study via a free reading plan, or dig deeper by purchasing a PDF version of the study.

Study PDF Giveaway

You may enter a drawing for a FREE PDF copy, by letting me know in the comments how Bible study with your family has blessed you. You may enter the giveaway until midnight on Saturday, May 12. The winner will be notified on Sunday, May 13.

Blessings,

Cheli

P.S. I am not an affiliate for Amazon. I do not receive anything in return for providing the link to the printed copy I described above.

HelloMornings’ 30 Day Challenge

God. Plan. Move.

It is a way of life when you are part of the HelloMornings community, as I have been for six years. In between Bible study sessions, we invite women to participate in a 30 day challenge that focuses on simple steps to create morning routine that incorporates time in God’s Word, purposeful planning, and physical movement.

The following is reposted from the HelloMorning’s Community Facebook page. My friend, Joyce, wrote the following blurb and hosts our community Facebook page. Click here to join us on Facebook.

The 30-Day Challenge is all about giving you a kickstart for the morning – to build habits that will help you through the day whatever season you are in. Hello Mornings is not necessarily about waking up early but waking up for your life.

I’m looking forward to hanging out with all of you for the next 30 days!We’ll meet here each day to check in on how our morning went, what worked, what we need to work on, and encourage one another

Minute 1: GodTime – Read, write, recite, or pray Psalm 143:8.

Minute 2: PlanTime – Review calendar for the day.

Minute 3: MoveTime – Drink a glass of water.

Note: If you got these things down, add one thing to build your morning habits.

Let me know in the comments if you’ll be joining us.

Blessings,

Cheli

Latest Post @ Do Not Depart

I am blessed to get to practice and grow my writing skills by being a contributor at DoNotDepart.com.

You can read my most recent post here.

Happy New Year

May God bless you as you pursue His purpose and plans in 2019.

I love this scripture as I look forward to 2019:

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:19‭-‬20 NIV

Blessings,

Cheli