The Adventures of Alexandria, Christian, and Ariel

Alexandria learned that disobedience brings punishment and hurts others, while obedience brings happiness and rewards. She decided from then on that she would choose to obey, even when it was hard. That night, she prayed and asked God to forgive her for her disobedience and to give her a heart that obeyed.

Christian felt disappointed in himself. But that night, after meeting Angel, he promised himself that he would always try to be thankful for everything and everyone. He believed that Angel was a real angel who was sent by God to help him.

On the way home, Christian prayed:

Dear Jesus, please forgive me for not being thankful to you and everyone else.

Please forgive me for running away from home and making you and my daddy sad.

I thank you for my daddy, family, Mrs. Mary, friends, and neighbors.

I thank you for being good to me and giving me food to eat, clothes to wear, a house to live in, toys to play with, horses to ride, and lemons to make my favorite drink, lemonade.

I thank you for loving me even when I behave badly.

I thank you for hearing and answering my prayers about competitions and tests.

Jesus, thank you for staying with me always.

Please give me a thankful heart.

Amen.

Just then, the phone rang. It was the pastor’s wife. Mrs. Superly told her about what had happened. The pastor’s wife was so proud of Ariel for forgiving Diana that she decided to take Ariel on a trip to the land where her husband had bought the chocolates so that she could get more of them. When Ariel heard the news, she was overjoyed. She had always dreamed of taking a trip. She knelt by her bedside and prayed: “Thank you, Jesus, for loving me and forgiving me when I do wrong, for helping me to forgive others, and for blessing me with a trip.”