Published by Zonderkidz on February 20, 2024
Genres: Children's
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God is full of love for your children, and This Special Blessing for You empowers them to live out who God wants them to be in the world. Encourage the kids in your life to spread love and kindness with this engaging rhyming picture book.
Today is the day the world gets to see,
the beautiful person God made you to be.
Wherever you go, it’s God’s love you’re expressing,
so God sends you out with this special blessing.
This Special Blessing for You uses words and phrases that help children better understand what God wants to communicate to them. Each promise and declaration is based on the Aaronic Blessing found in Numbers 6:23–27: “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
Children ages 4–8 will delight in these spiritual takeaways:
God loves you so much and delights in your presence
Every child is God’s beautiful creation.
God fills you with power and strength to be who God calls you to be.
You carry God’s name wherever you go.
You show the world what God is like by how you love and serve one another.This Special Blessing for You is for:
Reading first thing in the morning during family breakfast, or at the end of the day during nightly bedtime routines
Sunday school and Christian school classes, to prepare children for who God is calling them to be and what God is calling them to do each day as they go out into the world.
Parents and grandparents who want to share God’s blessing with the children in their lives.
Baptism, Easter, birthday, and any other gift-giving events
At the beginning of this picture book, the authors share the Bible verses from Numbers 6:22-27 that inspired them to write this book, and then they share a blessing that they have written for children. This book borrows some phrasing from the Aaronic blessing in Numbers, and also expresses other ideas and encouragements. The authors write about how we are never alone, since God is always with us, and reflect on the ways that we share God’s love with the world. This book has a strong message of kindness that is based in God’s kindness towards us, and the book ends with the prayer, “May God bless and keep you in all that you do.”
Eric and Meredith Schrotenboer wrote this together as a husband-and-wife team, and this book will appeal to families who want something Bible-based and meaningful to read to their children, especially if they want an affirmation-style book that remains grounded in Scripture. The illustrations from Denise Hughes are colorful and expressive, and they are also very diverse. The book includes images of children with many diverse skin tones and hair types, and there is also one child in a wheelchair.
This Special Blessing for You is a joyful, colorful book that teaches children about God’s love for them and ways that they can share God’s love with others. Although this book has an obvious spiritual message, it mainly focuses on broad concepts and general messages about kindness. Although some families might want something even more specific to their Christian beliefs, this book can have mainstream appeal for anyone who believes in the concept of a loving, personal God. This book can make a nice gift for many occasions, and there is a prepared space inside the front cover for a gift inscription.