Sickness

This week’s Brite lesson reminds kids that Jesus has power over sickness. As they learn about a woman who had been sick for many years, kids are seeing that Jesus cares about people who are hurting and has the power to heal.

Sickness is something most kids will experience, either themselves or through someone they love. Some kids may also wonder why God allows people to get sick or why He doesn’t always heal someone when we pray. This week, we’re reminding kids that even when we don’t understand why someone is sick, we can trust that Jesus cares and is with us.

This week, ask your kid if they know someone who is sick or having a hard time with their health. Pray for that person together and remind your kid that they can always bring their worries and questions to Jesus.

Here’s how we discussed this topic and how you can discuss it at home: 

Discuss: Share about a time that you were sick or someone you cared about was sick.

Discuss: Can sickness ever make us feel hopeless? Why?

Discuss: What do you think God has to say about sickness?

Say: Getting sick is part of our broken world. It is not how God designed the world to be. We all get sick sometimes and then get better. Some kids and some people we love may get sick in a way that doesn’t heal quickly. Maybe it is a disease that is life-threatening or an illness, like diabetes, that doesn’t have a cure. Sometimes God chooses to heal immediately, like He did in our true Bible story. Sometimes He uses doctors, medicines and hospitals. Sometimes people aren’t healed until they are in heaven with Him. As much as God cares about our physical bodies, He cares more about how close we are to Him. Sickness can cause us to grow closer to Him. God gives us hope that not only can He heal us, even if He doesn’t heal us on Earth, He will one day make us new. Revelation 21:4b says of heaven: Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.