Hang in There — Clothes Pin Craft Night

Decorations

You can hang cute kids’ clothes and teddy bears on clothes lines suspended around the room. Or hang them from a clothes rack which sits somewhere in the room.

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I used the top photo on half-page fliers. Then I used the paper clothes as a bulletin board display.

Photos

You may copy all photos given here. I also copied a few from the internet. You can also ask friends to pose for your own photos. See my Pintrest board for ideas.

Crafts

You can find many clothes pin crafts on Pintrest. These photos show the ones we did.

Devotions

I’ve included some of my notes for devotions which will show you my basic line of thought. You can adapt it to meet your own needs. Power Point slides follow. Each number is followed by [a description of the Power Point slide.]

[teddy bear hanging on clothesline]

Welcome visitors.

Has your world been rocked lately?

Some days just don’t seem to go well.

[photo of busy mom, not provided]

Ever had one of those days?

washing machine breaks down,
lock your keys in the car,
kid forgets his lunch,
dog throws up on the carpet,
get a parking ticket,

[photo of boy hanging from clothesline, not provided]

Sometimes it’s hard to hang in there.

We all have bad days, but sometimes more serious problems can really shake our lives.

(Use examples relevant to your audience.)

You or a loved one recieve a diagnosis that demands great lifestyle changes.
Your permanent residence visa has been denied.
You lose your job or something threatens your financial stability.
Someone you love dies.
Your test score is too low to continue your study program.
Your child rebels and gets in serious trouble.
You’re alarmed by what’s happening in your world

[photo of kittens hanging on clothesline in underwear, not provided]

Perhaps you feel like you’re barely holding on by your underwear as your world falls apart.

Would it help if you had a very strong friend offer to:

take control of your problems,
give you strength when yours was gone,
help you hang in there,
hold you together?

[word slide with these points]

About 700 years before Jesus came to earth, the nation of Israel was in trouble.

The rich oppressed the poor.
Slaves who should have been freed were forced to spend their lives in servitude.
Government was corrupt.
Spiritual leaders were corrupt and immoral.
God’s people the Jews worshiped false gods by immoral acts, even burning their children alive.

God wanted to bring his people back to himself. He allowed them to be taken captive.

But before that, he moved the prophet Isaiah to write words of comfort. Isaiah knew his people would be taken captive by the Assyrians and scattered. He wrote to those who would be in captivity, to give them hope for the future, that they would someday come back to the land. He wrote words of comfort that also apply to his children today:

[word slide: Isaiah 41:10, NKJV]

Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed for I am your God.

Don’t look around you in fear and panic, because I’m still in control and I will handle it.

I will strengthen you.

Yes, I will help you.

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Right hand shows strength.

I will hold you together with my right hand.

[Teddy bear with stuffing coming out.]

Sometimes I feel a bit like this teddy bear whose stitches are frayed and his stuffing is coming out.

Isaiah 41:10 and God’s other promises help me hold it together today when I’m tempted to fear and

fall apart.

To some people it seems like God is far away and long ago. Irrelevant to their lives.

Here are some ways being a Christian makes a difference in my life.

(I gave examples in my own life of times God provided guidance, protection, reassurance, and purpose, sometimes quoting specific promises which helped me at those times. I used personal slides to illustrate this.)

God can give us guidance, protection, reassurance, and purpose.

God’s promises are an amazing help when life is difficult.

My dad often told the story of the little girl who was walking with her Dad. She said, “Daddy, can I hold your hand?” But she kept losing her grip. Finally she said, “Daddy, you hold my hand. Mine keeps falling out.”

We need God to grip our hands, so we’re not just barely hanging in there.