What books do you turn to for help raising your kids to love Jesus?

I think all of us who believe in Christ want to raise godly children. That’s why the title Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World: Leaving a Lasting Legacy by brothers Ken & Steve Ham appealed to me. The best takeaway is that while secular parenting advice is focused on behavior modification, adjusting the outward expression of the heart, Christian parenting is – or should be – centered on Christ, who cares about our hearts more than our behavior.

Because if our kids act properly in every circumstance but don’t love Jesus, is that what we want? No. Then why is that how I parent much of the time based more on my kids’ behavior than their hearts?

Because I need a heart check too.

This book didn’t provide me with much of a heart check, though, so while it was beneficial (and most interesting to me during the biographical parts), it’s not the first parenting book I would recommend. Some that have blessed us are Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas and Great Parents, Lousy Lovers by Gary Smalley and Ted Cunningham (which I reviewed here), but the number one book and the only one that truly offers lasting heart change is the Bible. I think it’s easy to run to other sources for parenting wisdom and forget to let the Perfect Parent give us guidance.

So how about you? Other than the Bible, what parenting books have blessed you and your family? Or are there any that you’ve heard about and would like for me to review sometime? Comments are my love language – leave me one!

Thanks to New Leaf Publishing for providing a review copy of this book. They didn’t ask for a positive review, just an honest one.

the end of summer

Since we live in NC, we may use this again this year, but a few weeks ago the kids had their last summer splashing day of 2010!

Who took my baby

and left me with a little boy? (Who, by the way, grew 3 inches and 3 shoes sizes in the past two months.)

wordless wednesday: big sis doesn't use a baby swing, so neither do i

Mighty Acts. Good books.

Crossway recently allowed me to review three books that I’ve been wanting to check out since I heard of them: Mighty Acts of God: A Family Bible Story Book, God’s Mighty Acts in Salvation, and God’s Mighty Acts in Creation, all by Starr Meade. They were all I expected and more. Lots more.

Like The Jesus Storybook Bible, this one focuses on God throughout the stories. In other words, God is the central character in the story of the flood, not Noah. It doesn’t present each story like a character study of a biblical figure, like many kids’ Bibles do. Just as The Jesus Storybook Bible presents each as a study of THE Biblical Figure – that is, Christ – this one presents each story as a mighty act of God. I love the stories, but I also love that each story has a section at the end called “As For Me And My House…” which provides discussion points rooted in the Word to use during family devotion times. I also think it’s fantastic that each story has a focal verse straight from scripture, which allows this Bible story book to easily point to the Bible.

The other two books, God’s Mighty Acts in Salvation and God’s Mighty Acts in Creation, aren’t Bibles but rather devotions, but it shares the same “As For Me and My House” section. And, unlike most devotion books that seem story driven rather than Bible driven, they each take the child through a specific segment of the Bible (the Epistle to the Galatians for the salvation one and verses and passages relating to creation for the other, divided by day of creation into the topics light and water; land and plants; sun, moon, and stars; birds and fish; and animals and people.

Our kids aren’t yet old enough for these, but I look forward to using them! (The Bible storybook is recommended for ages 4-10, but we’re planning to continue using The Big Picture Story Bible until Jocelyn is closer to five because the stories in this one are long. Then we’ll use The Jesus Storybook Bible and Mighty Acts of God: A Family Bible Story Book together. And, as for the other two books, their age range is 8-12, but I think that could be expanded to 6-13 and still be appropriate.)

The FTC requires that I let you know that Crossway provided these for my review. Crossway requires nothing, not even a positive review, other than my honest opinion. Therefore, I like Crossway better than the FTC, but I add this disclaimer because I like not being fined by the FTC too.