Lessons from the Life of Mary : How Can I Prepare to Be Used Of God

This story is part of the Beyond the Story: Life Application Series for kids. These are perfect to be used in your jr church/jr high classes or to be used as part of your homeschool discipleship program. You can download all of the additional resources for this lesson here, for free! This series is ideal for kids who know the Bible stories already and are ready to hear them with a deeper understanding of how they relate to their every day lives.

If you’re new here, I’m Tonya Johnson, founder of Helping Hearts Ministries where I specialize in working with parents and ministry leaders who are focused on building a solid foundation for the next generation. I believe that it’s important to stay ahead of the crowd when it comes to keeping the attention of our children. As homeschoolers, we have the unique advantage of being able to tailor our child's education in a way that fosters that child/parent relationship and ignites their love for both learning and Jesus. The world is fighting for their hearts; we need to fight 10x harder. 

The game, song sheets, verse cards, snack tags, and craft are all part of the Download Pack. 

This lesson is slightly different from the flow that I teach. It's more of a "sit down as a family and hear the Christmas story" type feel. Having said that, I still promote giving kids an intro intro before the lesson, so for this one, they're going to start coloring their craft page while the lesson is being taught. 

You may choose to read the Christmas Story directly from the Bible (passages labeled throughout this lesson), a bible story book, or by writing out your own words. I always recommend using scripture throughout your story, regardless of which route you decide. The life application is what a child needs to do today in order to be used of God in a great way one day.

Someone raise their hand and tell me the Christmas Story. (This will let you gauge how accurately your kids/students know the story.

Read Luke 1: 26-38

There was a teenager named Mary. the Bible doesn’t tell us her exact age, but probably around 14 or 15. She was engaged, meaning she was planning on getting married, but she wasn’t married yet. the Bible doesn’t give us a whole lot of backstory on Mary, but we know she was good. She did her best to follow God and keep his commandments. 


Was she perfect? No, no one is except Jesus. 

Does the Bible say she was from a rich family or a royal family? Nope just a normal family.

What are some things you think Mary might have enjoyed doing for fun? She probably enjoyed doing a lot of the same things you do.

One day, an angel came to Mary and told her that she was highly favored and the Lord was with her. What do you think that means? It means that God liked what Mary was doing with her life. He saw that she was doing her best to do the right things every day.

First off, what are some things Mary may have felt when an angel started talking to her? Fear, confusion, am I dreaming?

Then this angel told her to not be scared and that she had found favor with God. Imagine having someone you respect tell you that you’re doing all the right things and that they’re proud of you. Now times that by 1000 because God is way bigger and cooler than anyone you can think of here on Earth. God had found favor with Mary. We don’t see in the Bible that Mary cured cancer, or was out feeding the poor every day, she was just normal. She was working really hard every day to just do the next right thing.

This angel told her that she was pregnant with the Son of God. Now what do you think she felt? Remember, she wasn’t married yet either.

Read Matthew 1:18-24

When Joseph found out Mary was pregnant, how do you think he reacted?

He wanted to call off the engagement and not marry her anymore, but the angel came to him in a dream and told him what he had told Mary. He told Joseph that Mary was carrying the Son of God and that this baby would be the one that would save the whole world.

Joseph chose to marry Mary and take the place of the father of Jesus here on earth.

Again, did Joseph do anything special? Was he from a rich or powerful family? He was just a normal guy. He was a hard worker, he respected the people around him, and God chose him to play a huge role in bringing Jesus to earth.

Read Luke 2: 1-7

Mary and Joseph are now married and Mary is very pregnant. Have you ever seen a lady who is so pregnant she walks funny? That’s how Mary was. So the government decides that a tax has to be paid, and that it has to be paid in the husband’s home town which in this case is Bethlehem. Anyone know how far nazareth was from Bethlehem? About 90 miles. Doesn’t sound awful because in a car that would take like 2.5 hours. Imagine walking that far. It probably took them 4 days to get there and that was with them walking pretty quickly for about 8 hours per day. When they got to Bethlehem, y’all know the rest of the story. They couldn’t find a room in an inn, or a hotel room to put it in today’s language, so they ended up having baby Jesus in a manger inside of a stable. At any time, Mary could’ve complained and told God how hard it was and it wasn’t worth it. And she may have complained, the Bible doesn’t whether or not she did, but we do know that God used her in a great way. Why do you think that is?

God used Mary because she kept on doing the next right thing. As you get older, you’re going to hear adults talk about how you need to pray for the will of God in your life and that He’ll bring you to His perfect will. As a teenager and a young adult, I heard that a lot. “God’s will” seemed like this big scary thing that I would one day come to. In reality, "God’s will" is in the choices we make every single day. It’s in simply doing the next right thing. As a kid, what is the next right thing?

Obeying parents
Going to church
Having a good attitude
Doing your homework
Doing your chores
Being kind to siblings

We’re going to do a craft and make a christmas wreath. Color the wreath, write on the bulbs what “doing the next right thing” means to you. Then you can cut and glue your wreath and put it all together.

I'm having the kids listen and then sing the song a few times as we finish up their crafts. 

The kids love this one! I put them together the night before in cute little Christmas goody bags and pass the out as the kids leave the class.

Sit the kids in a circle and give a gift to the child of your choice. Read the story, passing the gift left and right accordingly. When the story is over, the child holding the gift gets to open it and take it home. This game is also included in the free download pack. 

This is definitely an optional activity, but a super fun activity! Ask each kid a review question from the lesson, when they get it right (ask questions until every kid has answered one correctly) give them a snowball. Once all the kids have a snowball, let them loose and watch the magic happen. Snowballs can be wadded up pieces of paper, or snowballs from amazon. 

Geared toward children ages 7+, this series is designed for kids who know the basics of each Bible story already. Maybe they've been in church since birth, or maybe they're just a bright child who memorizes facts easily. Either way, they're ready to look beyond the story. 

They're ready for a more in depth look at each major story in the Bible with an emphasis on how they can apply the biblical principles in their every day life, real world style.

If this sounds like something that could benefit your homeschool or your church, click the button below.

Grab this free Bible Lesson Planner, and turn any bible story into an exciting lesson! 

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