Thursday, February 25, 2016

Angels in the Bible Storybook {Review & Giveaway}

This is the second book I received from Zonderkidz to review and Giveaway.  It's called the Angels in the Bible Storybook by Allia Zobel Nolan.  Illustrated by Alida Massari.
My youngest, Adam (almost 2) was really drawn to this one.   The illustrations are really captivating, which is important for little eyes who study every square inch of the images as you read the story. 
It was fun to see his little fingers flipping through the pages. The book is made well, nice thick pages, so I wasn't too worried about him hurting the book. 

The Angels in the Bible storybook caught my eye because of the content.  Angels are intriguing and I feel like there is so much more to understand about them.  I learn something new every time I read a "children's" book.

The first story is titled When God Turned on the Light and it retells the story of creation.  I read and I read and I thought to myself, well this is a good story about creation but I don't see any angels in it, I wonder if I misunderstood the title of the book?  Finally, we got to the last page of the story and there they were, angels!
 "Just then, thousands of angels shouted for joy.  They had watched in wonder as God created everything from nothing.  And when he was finished, they sang God's praises.

Imagine being there when God created the world and '. . . the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.' Awesome!"  Job 38:7
It's a good thing they had a Bible reference at the end, or I would not have believed it.  I don't remember there being angels watching God create the world.  How could that be?  Did God create them first?  This is the moment my jaw dropped and I thought again to myself, this book might be all I thought it would be and maybe more.

I ran to dig out my Bible and confirm this verse existed.  It does.  I ran out of time to explore it further, but trust me, I will.  It's always good when a Children's Bible challenges and grows your faith as an adult.  

We have read a few more stories from this book, like the story of Abraham and the Three Visitors, which came next in this Bible.
The lesson from this story is that sometimes when angels appear they take human bodies. You can see the little wings at the bottom of the page with a quick summary of what we have learned about angels.  They call this an "all about angels" fact.  They are not included in every story but scattered through out the pages.
So far we are really enjoying this Bible.  It revisits all the familiar stories with a new perspective, focusing on the angels in the story.  Bringing the angels from the background to the forefront.

I think it's important for myself and the boys to understand angels better.  We often hear people called angels after doing a kind deed, I have done it.  My boys even explained to Jeff and I the other day, that when we die we go to heaven and get wings and turn into angels.  So their understanding of them is shaky at best.  Just reading the introduction of this book helped me grasp the concept of angels a little more.
"We've all seen cute chubby angel drawings -- you know, the ones where the angel looks like your baby brother.  But, actually that's like comparing a tabby cat to a lion.  An angel is anything but fluff and stuff.  They are powerful, majestic beings made up of mind and spirit.  What's more, they don't have bodies, except when God Wants them to be seen. 
Angels were created to worship and praise God.  They act as his messengers and our protectors.  On top of that, God sends them to announce news, guide, encourage, comfort, and answer prayers.  God even sent one angel to get his friend, Peter, out of jail.  Whatever way they serve God, angels always obey his will.  They always give God honor and glory. "
If you would like to win this book as well as the Faith Builders Bible, 7 Days of Awesome and Think, Act, Be Like Jesus please enter the giveaway.  The winners books will get to you by Easter.  What an awesome way to fill those baskets!





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