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Can You?

Let kids try each one to see if it is easy or hard.

Is it easy or hard to:

  • rub your belly and pat your head
  • touch your nose with your tongue
  • kiss your elbow
  • make a human tripod (balance your body with only your head and two hands on the floor—the first step in doing a handstand)

Is it easy or hard to forgive? Why or Why not?

Do you think it would have been hard for Joseph to forgive His brothers?

Even when things are hard (because of the sin in the world), we can know that God will work things for good. Even though Joseph had to do something very hard and forgive his brothers, God provided for Joseph’s entire family and kept them (and a nation) from starving. Remembering that God is in control can help us do what is right even though it is hard.


Something Good

Bake some cookies to help kids understand that God is so great He can take even the bad things that happen to us and make something good out of them.

Gather the ingredients and let the kids taste each individual ingredient—baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour, butter, etc.

How do those things taste? (NOT SO GOOD)

Just as these individual ingredients do not taste good, there are some things that happen to us that are not too good.

What are some bad things that can happen to us? (Lose ball games; fail tests; friends treat us wrongly; death of people close to us; etc.)

Mix the ingredients together and put the cookies in the oven to cook.

Just as we have to wait for the cookies to cook and cool, we may have to wait to see the good that can from the bad things that happen to us. Joseph had to wait a long time to see God make something good from the bad way his brothers treated him.

Read Genesis 50:20 to see what Joseph said about the bad things that happened to him. (They meant it for evil, to harm him, but God used it for good, to save many lives.) Joseph could have paid his brothers back and made them suffer. Instead he forgave and reconciled with them.


Count Your Blessings

Give each family member three to five post-it notes and ask them to stick them to something they consider a blessing.

Blessings are things that bring us happiness and joy. When we remember the spiritual blessings we have because of Jesus, we can be glad. When we remember a person who was kind to us, we smile. When we remember a Bible verse that comforted us when we were sad, we can be thankful. When our pet greets us at the door, we can be happy. We have many blessings!

God gives blessings—things that bring happiness to His people. Every good and perfect gift is from God (read James 1:17).

Does this mean we will only have good things in our lives? No, God blessed Joseph even though many bad things happened to him. And don’t forget our biggest blessing is that we have a God who has promised to be with us and to bring something good from even the bad things that happen.