If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that we love books! This article is part of a new ongoing series sharing a few things we learned from a good book. We pray it will help guide you to new books that share God’s truth and proclaim his glory! Today we’re sharing about Creative God, Colorful Us by Trillia Newbell.
Colorful Families
I am blessed to have a colorful family. As a result, I am continually talking with my children about the gift of walking in relationships with people who have different backgrounds. Over the last year, I’ve been spending more time talking to my three sons about loving people who look different from us than ever before.
But if I’m honest, I’m often wondering if I’m doing it right. That’s why I am so excited about Creative God, Colorful Us by Trillia Newbell. I wanted to read this book to my kids. But as good children’s books tend to do, the book I got for them ended up teaching me. Here are three things I learned from Creative God, Colorful Us.
Gospel Impact
Kids get excited about the gospel when they see how it impacts their lives. As part of the process of understanding how to act towards people who are different from us, Trillia writes one of the clearest descriptions of the story of the gospel (creation, fall, redemption, consummation) that I have ever seen for elementary-age children. I watched my kids’ eyes light up with understanding. They saw how the larger story of the gospel explains the brokenness of our world while offering hope for their lives. If you want to dig deeply into the gospel with your elementary and middle school children, read this book together!
Gospel Excitement
The gospel story isn’t boring. I would have affirmed that the gospel is exciting before I read this book. But in my heart, I often fear that at some point my kids would find another book about the gospel to be a little boring. My sons’ excitement about this proved this fear totally wrong.
Two of my sons didn’t fall into the suggested age range. So I decided to only read it out loud with my oldest. Yet a strange phenomenon occurred. Every night I sat on his bed and we read a chapter and talked about it. My two younger children snuck into his room and quietly laid on the floor, listening as I read.
Although they didn’t answer the questions at the end of the chapter with as much depth as my oldest, they did answer correctly. The age range is 8–12. However, watching my younger children engage with the material reminded me of truth. Their hearts are just as thirsty for the living water of the gospel as I am.
Gospel Engagement
Understanding theology prompts deeper discussions. The questions were my favorite part of each chapter. They are clearly designed to take what the children are learning from their heads to their hearts. My mother’s heart was encouraged to see how the probing questions allowed my children space to admit their own sin and cling to the hope of Jesus’ work on the cross.
I answered the questions myself and honestly confessed the places where I still needed God to lead me in sanctification. It was such a sweet time of fellowship with my sons as we delighted in God’s good plan for our lives together.
Since this was a book meant for kids, I’m letting my oldest son share something he learned through reading Creative God, Colorful Us:
“We were all made in the image of God, so we should treat everyone with kindness even if they are different from us.” –Isaac, age 9
I couldn’t have said it better myself. If you want to dig deeper with a child you know, not just into the topic of loving people who look different, but also into God’s story of redemption throughout the Bible, I highly recommend this book.
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