Keys for Kids - daily devotions and Bible stories for kids and families

Read: Psalm 51:10-17; Ezekiel 36:26-27

Aunt Dee must be here! Qian thought when he saw a blue mini van parked in their driveway. Maybe she brought Grandma home from the hospital—the doctor said she might come home today. Grandma had been very sick, but she’d had an amazing operation. She’d been given a heart transplant—her diseased heart was removed and a different one was put inside ...

Read: Hebrews 11:1-3; 1 John 5:4-5

“Look out!” said Benjamin as his sister stumbled over a chair. “You must be blind as a bat if you didn’t see that chair, Eliza!”

Eliza huffed as she righted the chair. “Bats aren’t blind!” she said.

“Yes, they are,” said Benjamin. “They find their way around by listening to sound waves instead of by seeing things with their eyes.”

“Yes, but ...

Read: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9

“We can make applesauce, apple dumplings, apple strudel, apple pies, apple butter…” Hannah’s voice trailed off as she lugged a basket of apples into the kitchen.

“Sounds like you’ve got big plans for all these apples we picked,” said Aunt Maria. She took some of the apples from Hannah’s basket. “We’ll make a batch or two of applesauce and freeze some of it...

Read: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

“This isn’t working!” said Lucas. “Josiah is really good at math, and today he showed me how to do these math problems, but I still can’t figure them out.”

Mom walked to the table where Lucas was doing his homework. “Doesn’t your textbook tell you how to do them? Let’s take a look at it to make sure Josiah gave you the right information.”

“Okay,” said Luc...

Read: 1 Peter 1:17-21

“Oh no!” said Mei. “I won’t be able to mail this birthday card to Grandma until Monday.”

“Why not?” asked Mei’s little sister, Anya. “The mailman hasn’t come yet. I’ll go put it in the mailbox for you.”

Mei shook her head. “We’re out of stamps. Without a stamp on the envelope, this won’t go anywhere.”

Anya looked thoughtful for a moment and then bounded ...

Read: Ephesians 4:31-32; Colossians 3:12-13

Aaron and his mom sat on the floor with one of his dresser drawers beside them. “I want to keep that!” Aaron said as Mom tossed a worn-out toy into a trash bag. Mom was helping him clean out his drawers, and she kept wanting to throw things away.

“Why keep all this junk?” Mom asked. “It doesn’t leave any room for all the good things you h...

Read: James 3:5-10

Milo looked up as his little sister limped into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”

“I need new shoes!” Presley said. She lifted her right foot. “This one hurts me!”

Milo smirked. “Because you don’t know how to put shoes on right. You probably have them on the wrong feet.” He laughed. “You’re such a baby!”

Presley crossed her arms. “I’m six years old. I know which...

Read: Matthew 5:10-12, 44; 1 Peter 4:14-16

“I had a terrible day,” Chase told his friends Thomas and Joel. “The guys in gym class laughed at me because I told them to stop making fun of this kid who goes to my church. Then they started making fun of me instead,” he said as his mom set a plate of carrots and dip on the table.

“My day wasn’t so great either,” said Joel. “A girl in my...

READ: Romans 10:9-13; Galatians 3:28

“Oh, look, Mom!” Alyssa picked up a pair of gloves in the store. “These would match my new winter jacket perfectly! But I doubt they’ll have my size—they haven’t had my size in anything else I wanted today.” Alyssa and her mother were having a rather unsuccessful shopping trip.

“Well, let’s have a look,” said Mom. “We might be able to order your...

Read: Psalm 34:18; Matthew 28:20

Maya watched the windshield wipers sweep away the raindrops as she brushed away her tears. The autumn sky was gray as they drove home from her grandma’s funeral.

“Why did God let Grandma die, Mom?” Maya asked.

Mom turned around, and Dad looked at her in the rearview mirror with sad eyes.

“Cancer kills a lot of people, Maya,” said Mom. “Grandma...

Read: Psalm 29

Adrian dragged his toe in the dirt as the swing went back and forth, back and forth. He was hardly swinging at all.

“Isn’t swinging supposed to put a smile on your face?”

Adrian looked up and cracked a grin. It was his neighbor, Mr. Snyder.

“I saw you sitting here as I walked by and noticed you seem a bit down,” Mr. Snyder said as he took a vacant swing. “What’...

READ: 1 John 4:7-11

“I know the Bible says God loves everybody, but I don’t really see how He could love Gianna,” Quinn told her older sister as they raked leaves in the backyard.

“Is she that girl in your class who cuts in the cafeteria line?” Tori asked as she filled a large bag with leaves.

“Yes,” said Quinn. “And cheats and steals and says mean things about people.”

Tori ...

Read: 1 Timothy 4:11-16

Aimee reached for her cup of hot chocolate and glanced out the window as a group of kids walked across the neighbor’s lawn on their way home from the bus stop. The mug froze halfway to her mouth when she noticed one of them was her little sister.

“Brooklyn, you know Mr. Wilson doesn’t like it when you cut across his lawn!” Aimee said when her sister came thr...

Read: John 10:30; 14:16-20, 26

“Mom, what does ‘Trinity’ mean?” Kaylee asked one afternoon. “Pastor Banks said that word in his sermon this morning.”

“It means that God the Father, God the Son—that’s Jesus—and God the Holy Spirit are three persons, yet they are one God,” explained Mom. “The word ‘Trinity’ isn’t found in the Bible, but the idea of one God in three persons is found i...

Read: Luke 11:9-13

“Matthew, when you’ve finished raking the leaves, come to the shed.” Matthew’s father pushed a wheelbarrow around the back of the house.

Uh-oh, what did Dad want now? The last time he called Matthew to the shed, he asked him to pick up sticks that had fallen from the windstorm. Maybe he was going to give him more chores to do.

Matthew bagged up the last of the...

Read: Jeremiah 9:23-24; 1 Peter 5:5-6

“My history report is due tomorrow, and I’m going to have the best one in the class!” announced Mateo as he and his dad got ready to play a game of ping-pong. “Most of the kids write the dumbest essays you’ve ever seen! I also got the top score on our spelling tests three weeks in a row. And the math we’re learning is so simple, it’s pathetic.” Da...

Read: Philippians 2:14-16

Julia was quiet as she walked beside her mom at the mall. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Mom asked.

Julia sighed. “Kids at school were saying bad things about Christians today. It’s all Paige’s fault! She claims to be a Christian, but she’s the meanest girl I know. So now the other kids think Christians are mean people who pretend they’re good—she gives all o...

Read: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

“I wonder why geese always fly in a V formation,” Zion said as he and his dad raked their lawn. Overhead, a flock of geese honked their way southward in the cloudless fall sky.

“Do you see how closely they fly together?” asked Dad. “As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird following it. That means the bird behind it uses less energy ...

Read: Psalm 34:1-8; Revelation 4:11

“Psalm thirty-four verse three. Oh, magify…magify…” Sadie struggled with her memory verse as she and her older sister walked up the driveway to their grandfather’s house.

“Hi, Grandpa,” said Bryn as they went into the house.

“Hi, girls.” Grandpa folded his newspaper. “I was just reading.”

“What’s that, Grandpa?” Sadie pointed to an object o...