Book Review | The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

I've never written a book review, and perhaps this doesn't even count because I have not finished the book, but I must share how much I love this one. A couple Sunday's ago, one of the Pastors at our church mentioned a story book Bible he recently purchased for his grandchildren. I tapped on John's shoulder asking him to make a note in his iPhone of the author so we could look it up. About a week later, the same book came up on one of the blogs I follow. I knew I needed to get this book.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Loyd-Jones is wonderful. Written for children ages 4 and up, this book tells the stories of the Bible in an entertaining and easy-to-understand fashion. The illustrations provided by Jago are vibrant and a perfect accompaniment. Each individual tale is written in a way to demonstrate how every story in the Bible fits together to tell one greater story, the story of Jesus. How the early books of the Bible tell of His coming and the later books fulfill that promise.

Every nap time and bed time each of my kids gets to pick a story. This book is always chosen both times by my four year old. He loves it and cannot get enough of it, often wanting to read more than one story from its pages at a time. He already recognizes the connection of each story to Jesus and excitedly says,"Just like Jesus!" when we finish.

As an adult I too am enjoying reading Loyd-Jones' book. It effectively summarizes the same passages I read each day as I work through The One Year Bible on my Kindle. If you are looking for a storybook Bible either to introduce Jesus to your family or to accompany your family's devotional time, I strongly encourage you to buy this book.  

Daily Habits

We all have daily habits, little routines we are accustomed to following. Even my little ones, 3 and 21 months have certain things that must occur every morning or the rest of the day just doesn't seem right or even can suffer because of it. For instance, every day after they hug and kiss their Daddy goodbye, Nicolaus watches out our back door to see when John pulls his truck out of the garage. He shouts, "He's driving!" to Carleigh and we all race to the front door, open it and wave at John as he passes by, honking and waving right back at us. Every once in a while Nicolaus will get preoccupied by a yummy breakfast or pretend play with his trucks and forget to keep his vigil by the door. When he realizes he has messed up his ritual, the little guy just falls apart. Even once he is cheered up, throughout the day he will remind me in the saddest toddler tone "We didn't wave at Daddy this morning."

Prayer is like that for me. When I devote a chunk of time to praise, worship and petition God, the day is just better. I feel lighter, like I can go through my day with purpose and worry free. On the days when I let life just happen and pile up without me giving it all to God, something is just off. So in this 2012 Season of Lent, instead of giving up something like chocolate, soda or pasta, I'm adding something to my life.  For the next 40 days I will seriously commit part of my day to prayer. I am embarassed to admit I already don't have a daily prayer habit, and most days I do say a little prayer here and there, and we always say a prayer at mealtime (Carleigh and Nicolaus don't let us forget that one). But I certainly do not have what one would call a daily prayer habit, or at least not one that will help me to know God and myself the way I need to.

Dear Heavenly Father, as I begin this journey to building a better prayer habit, help me to center my life around You and your purpose for me. Help me make the time every day to slow down and reflect on you, and remind myself that it is all about you, God. Help me to read the Bible with what it will take to truly know and understand You. Thank you for this life, your greatest sacrifice and all that is to come.

Amen

Things I'd Love to Blog About

...if I could only find the time!

1.  Grace Based Parenting. A book by Dr. Tim Kimmel and a class I am taking at WCOG. The class leader Jennifer Miller has a great Blog. Check it out!

2.  My tug-of-war with a certain 15 lbs

3.  All the knit and crochet projects I have planned

4.  Our visit to the pumpkin patch

5.  My Tuesday morning Bible Study. Oh what would I do without Women in the Word and their Little Hearts program which watches the kids during those three awesome hours?

6.  Toddler tantrums

7.  Making applesauce

8.  How I feel about the passing of my latest birthday

9.  My personal style...or lack thereof

10.  All the amazing things my kids are learning (and teaching me)

Sacrifice

I'm giving up Facebook for Lent.

John and I are not Catholic or part of a Protestant denomination which typically practices Lent, but I have decided to participate this year. What do I hope it will do for me? Lots of things...become more like Jesus, closer to God, more connected to the spiritual in me. Jesus sacrificed so much during his 40 days in the wilderness and then ultimately sacrificed his own life, so what is forty days of my life? Besides, I can find myself so tied up in "the social network" it is ridiculous--valuable time that could be spent with my kids, my husband, and God.

I came across this Lent calendar yesterday online at Busted Halo. Check it out.