Just recently Acácia received "The Jesus Storybook Bible - Every Story whispers His Name" written by Sally Lloyd-Jones. With every story, the author connects the point to Jesus. It's great. Between Trevor and I we have been reading 1-3 stories from this book each night with Acácia. And I have to admit, I love, love, love this time of day. Not only because I get to spend precious time with my daughter, but also because God has seemingly been using these few moments (among others) each night to speak loud and clear to my heart. I don't think there has been a single night that I have read with Acácia and not come away refreshed. And I am left amazed.
Tonight as we were reading the story of how Jesus fell asleep on the boat in the middle of the storm, it was a sacrifice of love (a joyful one) for me to keep reading the text out loud at some points. For some reason (well I know the reason...), I was overcome with a new-found, deeper realization of how God is with us in the storm. And that no matter how bad it may seem in our eyes and how hopeless it may look, our worries are still unnecessary. My voice got all choked up and I simply wanted to cry tears of joy and bask in the clear reminder God had brought to my heart through this "children's story". How gracious of our God to remind us of that by giving us a written account of this story that has stood the test of time. I am certainly glad I'm a child of God, aren't you?
You see, we have some very dear people in our lives who are walking through some incredibly painful and stretching times. My heart hurts for them and my (I think it would be safe to say "our") natural tendency is to worry, worry, worry. Here is what I read in our story right after Jesus calmed the storm:
"The little boat bobbed gently up and down. There was a deep stillness and a great quiet all around. Then Jesus turned to his wind-torn friends. 'Why were you scared?' he asked. 'Did you forget who I Am? Did you believe your fears, instead of me?' Jesus' friends were quiet. As quiet as the wind and the waves. And into their hearts came a different kind of storm. 'What kind of man is this?' they asked themselves anxiously. 'Even the winds and the waves obey him!' they said, because they didn't understand. They didn't realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God.
{And here is the part that got me}
Jesus' friends had been so afraid, they had only seen the big waves. They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, then they had nothing to be afraid of. No matter how small their boat--or how big the storm."
{Excerpt taken from "The Captain of the Storm" in The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.}
{And here is the part that got me}
Jesus' friends had been so afraid, they had only seen the big waves. They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, then they had nothing to be afraid of. No matter how small their boat--or how big the storm."
{Excerpt taken from "The Captain of the Storm" in The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.}
If you have young (or even old) children, I highly recommend this book. It has been a great tool in helping Acácia get to know Jesus. Because truly, every story whispers His name.
5 comments:
Nice post. The Jesus Storybook Bible is, hands down, Judah's favorite book. One example...this morning I asked him to pick a book off the shelf and bring it to me so that I could read it to him. He ignores the 30 books on his bookshelf (at his level) and keeps pointing up the shelf above it...where he knows the Jesus Storybook Bible is. His attention span for the stories is almost nil, but he'll flip through and look at all of the pictures for 20 or 30 minutes--longer than he sits for anything else! I'll talk about the various people he's pointing to and it almost sounded like he said Jesus this morning when I was pointing out Christ in the picture where He is being baptized. Glad you have it...may it bring great blessing to your family!
Oh that's awesome! I love watching kids who can't read yet "read" their books. Precious times.
Trevor told me about the book this morning (when he shared Acacia's "dove" story!) and I know what's going to be on our baby wish list. :) Thanks for sharing Sarah!
Definitely put it on the wish list, Erica! Another fun story about that book...our neighbor in Orlando was reading the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah to her two-year old. After reading it, she pointed out the picture of Leah holding Judah. She said that the baby was Judah. Then she asked who the woman carrying the baby was...and he replied, "Ms. Christie!"
Gostei muito do que você escreveu - bem interessante e verdadeiro!
Te amo~sua mãe
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