God's Gift: Book Review

God's Gift
by Lee Ann Mancini
illustrated by Dan Short
GLM Publishing, 2016

God's Gift is the fifth book of Lee Ann Mancini's award-winning Adventures of the Sea Kids children's book series. Beautifully illustrated by Dan Short, this book helps children explore the differences and similarities between Christmas and Hanukkah. 

Masterfully addressed, Mancini offers parents and teachers alike, a powerful tool to discover the roots of the Judaeo-Christian heritage. 

A Servant Like Jesus: Book Review

It's the first day of school at the Fish-Care Cove School for Charlie the Crab. Despite the colorful classroom and fun toys to play with, Charlie hides behind the sink, too shy to interact with his classmates. Finally, his teacher, Miss Stella Starfish, coaxes him out by asking him to be her helper. 

I'm Not Afraid!

I'm Not Afraid!
by Lee Ann Mancini
Illustrated by Dan Sharp
GLM Publishing, 2016

I'm Not Afraid! How many times have we tried convincing ourselves or our friends we're brave while, in fact, we're shaking-in-our-shoes fearful?

In her third book of the multiple award-winning Sea Kids Adventures series, author, Lee Ann Mancini artfully teaches children (and adults) how Jesus turns our fears into faith.

Keep It Simple

Ethiopia Innocent Prayers by Steve Evans_flickr.com_3405971322_23eae03cac_CC BY-ND 2.0

For if you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will experience salvation. Romans 10:9 (The Passion)

Auntie Lou's passionate gospel flannel graph story-telling captured my nine-year-old heart. With every new layer she added to the story of Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension, my heart raced faster and faster. 

She shared how Jesus sacrificed everything that I might stand blameless before God and experience everlasting life in His presence, if I simply asked Jesus into my heart. It was so simple. I didn't question it. I simply responded, "yes" to Jesus.

Maybe that's why Jesus liked children so much?

What A Bragger!

What A Bragger!
by LeeAnn Mancini
Illlustrated by Dan Sharp
GLM Publishing 2015

What a Bragger! stole my heart. The second book in author, Lee Ann Mancini's, multiple award-winning Sea Kids Adventures book series, tackles the tough subject of unconditional love.

Who likes a bragger? We've all encountered one or two in our lives, but how we react to them may make all the difference to them and to us.

Fast Freddy: a book review

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Fast Freddy soon realizes his greatest fear on his first day at his new school. Everyone notices he's different. With the help of his teacher, Miss Mermaid, and the janitor, Mr. Seahorse, the other students soon learn that teamwork helps turn everyone's differences (especially Fast Freddy's) into great strengths.

Inseparable love

Image by Rudi Schlatte
Flickr.com_photos/rudis/2427705114_CC BY-ND 2.0

After a week of spiritual awakening the enemy sought to anesthetize me. Sitting around the campfire listening to stories of God's movement in the lives of my peers, I knew God had challenged me, too. He asked me to pick a side; His or the enemy's. 

You see, on the outside it appeared I was on God's team, but I held secrets behind closed doors; secrets that I'd never admit to anyone except my future husband. They were free-will liberties I regularly practiced. It was those secret liberties God asked me to lay down at the cross. And, it was those very same things the enemy used to accuse me that night.

4 Suggestions for when Littles ask BIG questions

My youngest granddaughter looked up at me between bites of pizza and asked: "Who's Jesus, Grams?" followed by, "Can I see him? Can I talk to him?" 

The Apostle Paul did say we should always be ready to give an answer for our faith, right? But when I read that passage I never thought about the Littles in my life asking those faith-based questions. 

This recent conversation brought me back to this article I posted two years ago for when Littles ask big questions:

Raising an honest family

Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul. 2 Timothy 2:15-17 The Message

Raising an honest family seems like a no-brainer. On the surface, we could say raising an honest family is teaching our children to tell the truth at all times, right? But honesty is more than just telling the truth with our lips. It's living the truth with our actions.

Easier said than done. 

What kind of love do girls desire?

What a [wo]man desires is unfailing love. Proverbs 19:22

 

Unfailing love. It's all this heart ever dreamed of since she can remember. Isn't it what every little girl's heart craves -forever love that never fails - like it's woven into her DNA? I think so.

 

And so with every ounce of who she is, she searches the eyes of every man she encounters, beginning with Daddy. "Daddy, do you love me?" she asks. "Daddy, don't you think I'm beautiful?" she whispers. "Will you love me forever?" she pleads, even when he's walking out the door. Always searching. Always asking. Always needing unfailing love.

Redefining Your Passion - or- When Life Interrupts

Image by Lew (tomswift) Holzman
Flickr.com_photos/tomswift/4837657_CC BY ND 2.0

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 1 Timothy 5:4 NIV

Passion - the past decade's buzz word. Discover your passion and immerse yourself in it and your days will overflow with joy! But sometimes, do you ever find yourself scratching your head wondering if you got it all wrong? You realize one morning your passion's steeped in hard work and toil overflows more than joy?

One Word 2017

Winter Apple by Justin LaBerge
Flickr.com_/photos/jml78/15932703399
CC BY-ND 2.0

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fileds! They are ripe for harvest. John 4:35b

The new year approaches without pause; a natural course marked by a wintry blanket tucked in around the corners of a slumbering earth.

While silence falls outside, one word swirls like the wind inside my mind: harvest. A strange word, I think, for a snow-fallen day. But, there it is. Unshakable. Stubborn. Lingering. It's an answer to my annual question, "What's my one word for the new year, Lord?"

"Harvest," He replies.

Like every season, it's an appointed time; one that can be marked on the calendar. But, unlike the growing season, it's a very limited time marked by urgency and the flurry of hardworking hands. For if the ripened fruits are not harvested before winter, the fruits will die and many will grow hungry. Harvest work must be done NOW. There is no "later". 

Christmas: a two week approach

Manana de Reyes by Manuel
Flickr.com_martius/11801437753_CC BY ND 2.0

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 NIV

While we place so much energy into celebrating Christmas on one day, December 25th,  any thought of an additional celebration could give us a nervous break down.

That's What Christmas Is All About: Charlie Brown Style

"...the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."

Luke 2: 10-11

The first winter snow falls like grace, silently blanketing the world in pure white. I watch from inside where the Christmas lights burn bright, chasing darkness from every corner.

My attention turns to the crèche set upon the shelf. I touch each piece: the shepherds, the Wise Men, the angels, the rudimentary stable, Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus - they all tell the story - the simple story that redeems life and chases darkness away.

That's what Christmas is all about.

It almost seems too simple, too easy, but Truth is simple as Linus shows us in A Charlie Brown Christmas: 

We all need reminding as much as Charlie Brown, our children, and our grandchildren, that Christmas isn't about the presents or the tree or the preparations. It isn't about our loved ones, or their memories, as much as it is about the One who loves us - loves us so much that he came to us - became God. With. Us. 

God came, never to forsake us, but to redeem all of our losses - past, present, and future - through His son, Jesus. It's through his birth, his life, his death and resurrection that God offers us a way to redeem our loss and offer us peace, good will and eternal life. Christmas points us to the birth of hope and light and life through Jesus, Emmanuel, that we might know him better and be so filled with His light that darkness runs. Jesus replaces our sorrow until his joy falls like grace upon our hearts and spills to everyone around us so that they too, might know him better.

That's what Christmas is all about. Merry Christmas!



Believing Like Mary

Labyrinth by Ignacio Bernal
flickr.com/photos/bernalredondo/8118647942_CC BY-ND 2.0

"Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished." Luke 1:45

Preparing for Advent, I'm drawn to Mary's faith. That she "simply" opened her life to the Lord as his handmaiden in obedience to the angel Gabrielle's message to be the mother of Jesus. But, I've no doubt her journey in those next nine months was not easy.

Amongst the ridicule and embarrassment of her illegitimate pregnancy I'm sure she questioned, more than once, if she was following the right path; wondered if she should be the chosen one of God to carry his child. What was she thinking? Life would have been so much easier if she said no and just went about her business as Joseph's betrothed.

Posture of Belief

Believe by the unquiet librarian
Flickr.com_5215537173_0aff0e9598_CC BY -ND 2.0

"Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!" Luke 1:45

Believing God's promises isn't always easy, especially when He promises the impossible.

I often marvel at Mary's experience with the angel Gabriel, in the Christmas story. There she was, a simple Jewish maiden, minding her own business, maybe hanging laundry, walking back from the market or drawing water from the well, when suddenly Gabriel greets her as God's "highly favored" one.

Scripture doesn't say Mary cowered from his large stature or trembled at the sound of his booming voice. So, not wanting to frighten her, I imagine Gabriel may have seemed a plain man; someone whom Mary would not be afraid. But what did frighten her was Gabriel's greeting. "Greetings! You are highly favored. The Lord is with you!" (Luke 1:28)

Making Jesus Accessible to Littles

But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Luke 18:16 NIV

My one-year-old grandson’s eyes lit up as he quickly noticed all the Christmas decorations around the house.

Climbing out of his father’s arms, he couldn’t creep fast enough to the front bay window where our miniature tree stood, adorned with bright red hearts. Too colorful to resist, he grabbed a heart and his high-pitched squeal announced his accomplishment.

There’s no greater joy than to experience Christmas through a child’s eyes! Their sparkle, their curiosity, their building anticipation for Christmas Day through every detail of preparation awakens my own senses to the awe and excitement of Jesus’ birth.

My grandson crept his way from the miniature tree, past the festive Christmas mugs in the China cabinet, to his great, great grandmother’s nativity perched upon the blanket of cottony white snow in the next room. While I toyed with the idea of making this untouchable, God whispered, “Make me approachable.” So, cuddled up on my lap, my grandson and I carefully held each piece, one at a time, in our hands while I told of its role in the Christmas story.

“Here is baby Jesus, God’s son, who came to save us so we can live in heaven with him someday.”

“This is Mary, his mommy, and Joseph, his daddy.”

“Here’s the donkey that Mary rode upon all the way to Bethlehem.”

And so on, from angels to shepherds, wise men and camels. I let him hold each one because he needs to know that Jesus is always accessible and touchable. The Christmas story, the good news that Jesus brought us–that He is God’s son come down to live among us–was to make God accessible to every human being.

How do you make Jesus accessible to your little ones?

If you're joining me here from the Christian Children's Author's blog, welcome!

Stop Fixing Me!

"Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you." Psalm 143:8

I finally own a pretty, woman's tool box. You know, the dainty one where all the essential tools are wrapped in pink? It sits atop my refrigerator where I can easily find every tool needed for those quick-fix household repairs.

But, it's not always those loose floor boards or broken door handles that surfaces my urge to fix things. Rather, my uncontrollable urge to make things right erupts when those most precious to me are hurting. And before you think I'm a softhearted, altruistic wife, mother and grandmother, let me set the record straight. I don't like broken things because they bring discomfort, disharmony and disorder. I like life simple, orderly and happy.

But life is full of discomfort, disharmony, and disorder, so I've learned that although I want to fix everything - offer the right tool - when life breaks my loved ones' hearts, fixing just makes things worse. Why? Because, (1) I can't fix everything. If I could fix everything then I'd be God. I'm certainly not. (2) They don't want fixing. Mostly, they want a good listener and encouragement; someone who will shoulder their pain and encourage their hearts with unconditional love.

God's worked on my irregular passion for order and happiness over the years and I've learned it's through our brokenness we can either help or hinder God's power (his Holy Spirit) in our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

In Jesus Lives, by Sarah Young she puts it this way:

"Stop feeling responsible to fix people since that is {God's} role...You can be part of the process, but remember {God} is the Author and Director of the drama...Do not usurp {God's} role in people's lives."

Young offers these tips to those of us who love to fix things:

• Prayerfully release your loved ones to God's Care
• Restrain your urges to fix them or their problems
• Listen to them
• Pray with and for them
• Trust God's infinite wisdom

Do you suffer from the urge to fix things with your loved ones? How does God help you restrain that urge?

Happy National Family Literacy Month

Reading to my children and now, grandchildren, has always been one of my favorite activities. Not only does it allow for extra cuddle time with my precious little ones, but it reinforces family ties and promotes literacy. 

November is National Family Literacy Month. While most of us in the northern hemisphere experience shorter and stormier days this month, what better time is there to snuggle up by a fire or under a cozy blanket together and read a pile of books?

While books can carry us off to far away places and help us experience new and wonderful adventures from the past or future or fantasy worlds, reading promotes critical thinking and confidence. It opens a world of hope and imagination like nothing else can. Literally, with books, the world is at your fingertips.

There's many other ways to promote family reading other than story books. Why not crack open your favorite cookbook and help your children follow the recipe? Or, for those handy people, purchase an easy craft project that includes written instructions and do that together? 

If you put your mind to it, there are countless ways to promote reading as a family, but here's my list: 

• Start reading while babies are in utero. This helps your baby recognize family voices.
• Develop nightly bedtime story routines. Once the child can read, they will want to read to you.
• Rainy-day family read-a-thon. Cuddle up as a family and enjoy your adventures. Children will see that you enjoy reading, too.
• Attend story hours at your local library or church
• Cook with a recipe promotes reading, listening, and following instructions.
• Crafts and building projects with written instructions works the same as cooking.
• Play board games that promote reading. One of our favorites is Apples to Apples Junior and with pictures. This promotes reading, grammar, vocabulary and critical thinking. 
• Reading using puppets. Children of all ages love puppets. If they are a shy reader, using puppets may help them become braver readers, especially aloud.
• Family devotions. Familiarize your children with reading from the Bible. (See Janice Green's article here). What better way to teach our children God's ways. 

Happy Reading, 
Dawn

We Do Not Serve a $1.98 God

Coupon Piles by Caroly Pyles
Flickr.com_photos/cpyles/10866066513_CC BY ND 2.0

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. " Ephesians 3:20-21

I love a good bargain, don't you? When the receipt shows I've paid less than half the retail cost I feel like I've won a small battle; like I've out-smarted the man (whoever he is). But there is a limit to my bargaining. I don't price-haggle, travel more than 5 miles, snip piles of coupons, purposefully collect "magic" supermarket coins, or stockpile anything I'll never consume just because it's free. That's simply exhausting and wasteful.

If I were brave enough to climb upon a hernia-sized soap box from aisle #10 I'd shout, "Stop playing games and just lower the prices! Keep it simple! The end. Amen." I just wanna purchase items at fair price without all the planning and strategizing.

Guess what? We do not serve a $1.98 God.* When presented with our needs he doesn't ask for a coupon or bicker over the price. It's already paid for through Jesus and he generously gives us the best from his heavenly storehouses; rich, overflowing and limitless supplies of everything we need. And God always slips a little something extra into our bag just because he loves us. All he asks is that we say, "thank-you"--a heartfelt word of gratitude--and share with others.

God keeps life simple. Out of a life of gratitude and thankfulness, he gives abundantly more than we can imagine and we walk away with free, joy-filled bags of the highest quality hope not only for ourselves, but also to share with those around us. Nothing ever goes to waste. Whatever we give away in his name, God always returns ten-fold.

My prayer for you today:

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19

*Original quote by Jennifer O'Neill

If you're joining me from the Christian Children's Authors Blog, welcome!