Signora Sheila

Have you ever taken a Mystery Walk? I have, and we all take them every day. Because when we get right down to it, life is a mystery. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, or even if we’ll have any tomorrows. And sometimes it’s hard to know which path to take, let alone explain it to our kids!

Well, here’s a fun and educational activity you might want to try. A Family Mystery Walk, led by Father Abraham! Kids love this activity, especially if you build up the mystery of it, because they love surprises!

Teach your kids to follow God

Use the Mystery Walk as an opportunity to talk about the mystery of following God. Share how God called Abraham to leave his home, country, and family (Genesis 12). And that he didn’t even know where he was going! Emphasize how scared and confused he must have felt.

Explain that God did this because He had a bigger plan for Abraham’s life. He wanted Abraham to leave his people because they had become wicked. And he wanted Abraham to live differently.

It seems crazy to start a journey without knowing where you’re going. But God always knows the right direction to lead us. And he calls us to obey, even when it makes no sense.

Steps for taking the Mystery Walk

⌚ 1. Set a time limit or you may find yourself walking in circles for a long time.

🪙 2. Use a coin to determine which direction to go:

⬅️ Heads means turn left until you reach the next decision point.
➡️ Tails means turn right.
⬆️ If the coin is dropped, continue straight ahead.

🏡 3. Start out by flipping the coin in front of your house, and continue by flipping it at each corner or every few corners.

🗨️ 4. As you proceed, explain that Abraham, instead of flipping a coin, prayed asking God to guide his footsteps.

🙏🏽 5. Tell them they can pray too.

✝️ 6. And then teach them 6 principles for learning to follow God, step by step!

6 principles that explain what it means to F-O-L-L-O-W God

🇫 Fellowship with God. Teach them to pray so that they can get to know Him, and recognize His voice.

🇴 Obey God by doing what you know is right. Ask yourself, “What would Jesus do?” And then do that!

🇱 Listen to the leaders God puts in your life. Such as parents, family, pastors, and Sunday school teachers.

🇱 Love God’s Word. Read the Word to and with your kids so that they will learn to love it, learn from it, and obey it.

🇴 Observe what is happening around them. God often uses circumstances and events, as He did when He used the famine to move Abraham to Egypt.

🇼 Worry not. Following God means stepping into the unknown. It’s scary and confusing, but God promises to guide us and take care of us.

Make it practical

Now make it practical and help your kids face their unknowns. Because kids do face them, even if we sometimes forget this.

Your family may be planning to move. That’s an unknown, especially if they’ve never lived anywhere else. Maybe a family member is quite ill. Another unknown. Or even wondering what they’re going to be when they grow up – kids usually do!

Teaching kids how to walk with God can help them face the unknowns in their lives with peace and tranquility.

Signora Sheila

Life is full of unknowns. But these 6 simple steps to following God can make it a little easier to understand. And remember, that we have something that Abraham didn’t. We have the Word of God to light our way. And it shows us not only the way to take, but how we should walk it.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalms 119:105

Learning to follow and obey God is a lifelong lesson. Start now teaching kids to read God’s signposts now, while they’re still at home and you can guide them. Help them see that following God can be scary, but it is also an exciting adventure on a safe path! Safe, because we have God to guide us.

And who knows, maybe they’ll grow up to slay giants, or save their people like Queen Esther did!

📷 Image credits: family walking; artwork of family