12 Days of Christmas Family DevotionalSample

READ TOGETHER

So far you have met three very important men in Jesus’s family. We call them the “patriarchs” because they were the first fathers and grandfathers that God chose and made promises to in the special family that would one day welcome a baby King who would rescue the world. But that was still a long way off.

Abraham had Isaac, who had Jacob, and Jacob grew up and had TWELVE sons! Can you imagine a family with twelve brothers? But these brothers did not get along very well. Jacob loved one of his sons more than any of the other ones. He bought him special gifts, like a fancy robe, while the other brothers got nothing. This brother’s name was Joseph.

One day, Jacob sent Joseph to go check on his brothers who were out taking care of the family sheep. As they saw him coming, they made a terrible plan. They decided to sell him to a group of people who were traveling past them on the road to Egypt. They sold him to be a slave! Then, they went home and lied to their father, pretending that Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal. Remember, they were tending their sheep out in the desert, and there were many dangers around!

Joseph lived in Egypt as a slave for many, many years. Some years were very, very hard. But God was with Joseph, and so even though something very bad had happened to him (can you imagine your brother or sister selling you to be a slave?), God still had a good plan for Joseph. Joseph became very powerful in Egypt. He was in charge of almost the whole country and of making sure that everyone in the land had enough food to eat. 

One day, many years after Joseph’s brothers had sold him to Egypt, they ran out of food in the land they were living in. They had to travel to Egypt to ask for grain because they had nothing to eat! These brothers had no idea that the powerful man they were begging to share food with them was actually their brother! When they found out, they were very scared and nervous. They thought Joseph would be mean and cruel and not love them because they had been mean and cruel to him.

But not Joseph. Joseph wept tears of joy and helped his brothers and father move all of their family to Egypt so that they would all have more than enough food to eat. Joseph knew that even though his brothers had a very bad plan for him, God always turns even very bad things into very good things when you trust in Him. And one day, God would use this family to send the very best thing of all! 

TALK TOGETHER

1. How would you feel if someone who had done something very mean to you was asking you for a big favor?

2. When have you seen God turn bad things into good things in the life of your family? 

PRAY TOGETHER 

Father God, you are a God who can turn bad things into good things! Help us to trust you in the middle of the bad things. We know that you have a plan for our family. We want to follow you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.