Pointing My Kids to Jesus- Resources I’m Loving

Let’s all agree, parenting is HARD.  That’s probably the most obvious statement of the year.  I’ve been a parent for almost 4 years, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no expert.  All I really know is that my deepest desire for my kids is for them to know Jesus as their Savior and for them to pursue Him all the days of their lives.  I also know that it’s never too early to start pouring Jesus into your kids; after all, the call to disciple our children in Deuteronomy 6 doesn’t come with a certain age attached to it.

So, along the way, I’ve found some things that I love when it comes to teaching our kids about Jesus.  None of these things are things that I’ve discovered on my own.  I’m so thankful for the people like my mom, the Risen Motherhood podcast, and more who have passed these resources along to me.  So, I wanted to pass these along to you, like other sweet people have done for me.  These are just a few of the things that I’m loving right now.

• The Jesus Storybook Bible (by Sally Lloyd Jones).  Hunter was given one for his first Easter, so it kind of became a tradition with Isaac too.  It’s a children’s Bible that shows how the every part of Scripture points to Jesus.  I absolutely love how it teaches that the Bible isn’t a book about a bunch of heroes or rules, but that the Bible is a book about THE Hero, Jesus.

• The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden (by Kevin DeYoung).  This book teaches what I’m afraid that many adult Christians don’t even understand, that the Bible is one big story.  In a way that children can understand, it shows how the Bible’s overarching story of God’s plan to rescue His people to bring them back to the Garden weaves together.  The illustrations are also so beautiful!
• The Biggest Story ABC (by Kevin DeYoung): This book is based off The Biggest Story, but it uses the alphabet to teach the Grand Narrative of Scripture for even younger ears.  Bonus: It’s a board book!  This book is currently Isaac’s favorite, and he can run around the house without my fear of him destroying it.

• The New City Catechism App (it’s free!).  We’ve literally just started using this one, but it’s simple questions with simple answers to teach children Truths about God.  Each question and answer also has Scripture, a fun song to go with it, and more.  Hunter loves the songs (warning- they’ll get stuck in your head)!  I’ve been trying to use this with the boys at lunch to be more intentional in that time.  (Don’t forget to put the app in children’s mode for the simple Q&As and songs!)
• Getty Kids Hymnal.  We have For the Cause, and they also have another called, In Christ Alone.  It’s albums with familiar hymns sung by children.  Some of them are even sung in different languages, which I love!  Hunter hops in the car and asks me to turn on “his music”, and when you hear your kids singing “Holy, holy, holy” in the backseat, your heart will melt into a massive puddle.  And you might also get a laugh if your kid does what mine does and completely misunderstands the lyrics.  Hunter has changed, “Early in the morning, our song shall rise to Thee,” to “Early in the morning, my sunshine will rise for me”.  He’s only 3; we’ll keep working on it.

And since Easter is coming up…

• Resurrection Eggs.  I don’t think I’ll ever do this with my boys and not think about my mom.  We actually found the set she used with us growing up, so that’s the one that I’m getting to use with my boys!  It’s 12 plastic Easter eggs, each filled with a small object to represent part of the Easter story.  The booklet that comes with it gives Scripture and a small devotion to read to go along with the object.  Hunter’s already excited to start doing the eggs again!

Ultimately, I believe that there’s no better resource that you can give your child than parents who are truly following after Jesus.  With that, plugging into the local church is one of the best gifts that you can give your whole family as well.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want conversations about Jesus and the reading of His Word to be uncommon in our home.  I’m thankful for these resources and how they help the Gospel become an everyday part of our lives and conversations with our kids.

I know that there are SO many other wonderful resources out there that we can use to share Jesus with our kids!  This list doesn’t even scratch the surface; like I said, they’re just things that we are loving right now.  So, if you have a wonderful resource that’s helping you point your kids to Jesus, then don’t keep it to yourself… I would LOVE for you to share!