You are loved!

A K-4th Life Group lesson I recently taught focused on Romans 8:39, which says, “Nothing at all can ever separate us from God’s love. That’s because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done for us.”

One of the suggested activities was to find two things children could combine that would then become inseparable. We happened to have black sand (created by teeny pieces of lava from an erupted volcano) that Kim and our son gathered on a mission trip to Montserrat, so I dyed other sand red and I was ready. The children put a scoop of black sand into their plastic bags as we talked about how dark our days would be if we didn’t recognize God in our lives. Then they added a scoop of red sand to signify knowing God and the joy that brings to our lives. They had a great time as they closed up their bags and shook them.

However, when I then asked them to separate the black and red sand back into separate containers, they couldn’t imagine how they could possibly do that, illustrating the point that once we invite God into our hearts and lives, we can never be separated from him. I felt like they understood and we went on to do other activities to solidify their understanding. They left with their bags of sand and the verse and I felt like we had accomplished our goal for the lesson.

Later in the week, one of our young students was looking at her bag and said to her mom, “you know the black sand is from a volcano because God’s love overflowed.” Out of the mouths of babes! Always remember, especially when you are feeling alone, sad, frustrated or discouraged, God’s love is overflowing and you can never ever be separated from it. His love is always with you!