The verse anchor
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers.”
Ephesians 6:12 · King James Bible
The story
Long ago, in a green country called Britain, there lived a boy named Patrick. He was about your age. His father was a good and quiet man, and their house was warm.
One day, when Patrick was outside, raiders came from over the sea. They took him away in their ship, all the way to Ireland, and sold him to a chieftain who put him to work watching sheep on a cold and lonely mountain.
For six long years, Patrick sat with the sheep. There was nobody to talk to but the wind. But something wonderful was happening. In that quiet loneliness, Patrick learned to pray. He prayed all day. He prayed all night. He prayed until God became more real to him than the cold ground he sat on.
One night, God spoke to him in a dream. "Your ship is ready," said the voice. And Patrick walked, and walked, and walked, two hundred miles to the coast — and there was a ship, exactly as God had said. He sailed home.
But then, years later, God asked Patrick something very hard: to go back. Back to Ireland. Back to the people who had stolen him.
Patrick went. Not with a sword, but with the Gospel. He walked through the whole green island, telling of the Lord Jesus, and thousands upon thousands turned to Christ. The children of the men who had chained him became his children in the faith.
That is why Ireland loves Patrick. Because he loved them enough to come back.
Memory verse
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.”
Matthew 5:44 · KJV
Say it three times before bed. In seven days you will know it forever.
A prayer
Lord, when I want to keep a hurt, help me to give it away.
Make me kind to people who have not been kind to me.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.