This lesson is part of God's Story of Work for Kids, a 12-week curriculum that teaches children to see work through God's perspective.

This Week's Focus: God is working to restore the world

This week we learned that God is actively working to restore the world back to his original good design. We see his commitment to do this in how he sent his only son, Jesus, to pay the price for sin. The primary focus of God's restorative work revolves around four key relationships - our relationship with God, our relationships with each other, our relationship with our self, and our relationship with creation. As children of God, we have the special privilege of partnering with God in his work of restoring these relationships back to his design.

Do This Week's Workout: Restorers in Action

The Weekly Workout is a great way you can work out the week's focus with your child. Invite the whole family into this time. God is at work.

Invite God into this time as you begin. Pray together and ask God where he might be inviting you as a family to partner with him. Together, choose one area from the list below to partner with God in restoring and think about one specific thing you can do together in that area that will help bring this relationship closer to what God desires. Some ideas are listed below to help spark your own:

Relationships with God

• Prayer walk a neighborhood. As you walk, take turns praying out loud for what you feel led to pray for. You can invite God into homes and families, ask him to provide jobs for those out of work, etc.
• Invite a friend to attend church and share a meal afterwards.

Relationships with each other

• Each member of the family can think of one relationship that is not doing well and design a way to show love to that person, whether through a card, reaching out to talk to them, etc.
• Reach out as a family to a neighbor who is alone.

Relationships with self

• Ask each family member to take a moment to think about one way he or she struggles in being comfortable in his or her own skin. Help each other think together about what would help. Note: It's so important that if you address this, you make the effort to listen and ask questions instead of offering only solutions. Validate the person and show you care about how what was shared makes him or her feel.

Relationships with creation

• Think of a way that as a family you can live greener lives. Decorate cloth bags to bring to the grocery store, or do a home audit of your energy use as a family.

Talk about it: How was it to make intentional effort to partner with God in restoration? What was hard, what was easy? What did you learn about God in the process?