about
God’s love is unstoppable. And that’s a promise.
Noah’s ark. Joseph’s dreams. Jesus’s miracles. The Bible is rich with stories for our children to hear and enjoy, but when those stories uncover the thread of God’s promises, our children learn much more than individual Bible stories. They discover how God has demonstrated His love for us, from the first promise in the garden to the promise of the new heavens and earth.
A conversational, whimsical, biblically faithful retelling of more than fifty key Bible stories, The Promises of God Storybook Bible lets your child hear favorite stories with new ears, repeatedly assuring them that each word is proof of God’s unstoppable love and unbreakable promises to His people.
a look inside
The Heart of the Book: What prompted you to write The Promises of God Storybook Bible?
After teaching Sunday school for almost 20 years and editing (truly) millions of published words, I knew it was probably inevitable that content would start forming in my head. So, several years ago I kept catching myself writing Bible stories in my mind. I had also developed a story sequence for a Bible storybook around the theme I’d found the most consistently sticky for the kids I’d taught—the thread that 3 and 4-year-olds could hold onto through the whole Bible with it being tangible enough for them to understand. But if the thought of actually starting to type came to mind, I resisted. I didn’t tell anyone. I had worked in publishing for 12 years at the time and had always asserted I would never publish, so I dismissed the notion and just kept teaching.
Then God brought Job, a little blond haired, blue-eyed boy to my story rug. He was four months from turning 4 when our class year started, and at first I thought he was shy. He was quiet, would initially play independently, and gave short answers during snack time. But that changed, and not because the class was full of games and fun. It changed because of what God did each week as he would take his spot on the story carpet and listen.
I remember a lot of conversations with that sweet, funny, mature boy, but what I mostly remember is the nonverbal conversations we’d have as I taught. It only took a few weeks for me to be able to tell he was retaining and internalizing a lot more than most children I’d taught at his age, so he became my meter for the whole group. I noticed that he’d sometimes tilt his head to the side while sort of slanting his eyes when I covered some element of a story. And then once storytime was over, he’d ask me individually about that element. After a few rounds of this I knew that if Job tilted his head, then I needed to back up because I had likely lost the whole group!
I didn’t know his parents well at the time, but I did know they were godly and that Job adored them. One day, around Christmas, within a week of his fourth birthday I believe, I was prying the snack cracker carton out of the cabinet after storytime. Job was still sitting on the carpet after a lesson in which we had taken a break from the Old Testament curriculum for a series of lessons on the birth of Jesus.
Job asked if Jesus had made Adam and Eve. He was still sitting in his storytime spot, staring at a drawing of Adam and Eve with the forbidden tree. When I saw where he was staring, I ultimately realized he was trying to wrap his mind around the Trinity and the preincarnate existence of Jesus. I had taught grown women the Bible, including women decades older and way godlier than me, but I had never been asked this question.
I explained it to him as well as I could, with him asking a few follow-up questions and me fearing that I was going to create an accidental heretic by my lame teaching abilities! Ultimately that day he was satisfied when I told him that there are things about God that he lets us understand all the way and other things that he’s made like a mystery to us. That’s because He’s God and knows what is best, and when we trust Him, even though we can’t understand it all, He works in our hearts to make them softer toward Him.
He said, “Oh, yeah,” as though that absolutely settled it and got up for snack time! But from that point forward, he would regularly ask questions not about the stories I had taught or even the promises reflected through the stories, but rather questions about the nature and character of the God who could be central to these stories, while also making and keeping such grand promises to His people. I would often find myself on websites I had accessed for research in seminary on Sunday afternoons, digging to see if I’d answered Job’s questions as accurately as possible or if there was some model I could use to more concretely define things for him the following week. I knew God had his hand on Job through the deep seeds of trust and faith I saw in an unprecedented way through this thoughtful, giggly little boy. Yet, what I hoped that meant was not what God ultimately demonstrated . . . although the seeds of faith and trust proved to be far more powerful than I could have imagined.
About 13 months after Job graduated from my Sunday School class, I replayed that moment of him asking me about Jesus creating Adam, along with memories of his giggles when he quoted movie lines that were so laughter-filled I never once understood what he said, and how he would do the hand motions with great enthusiasm as we memorized Psalm 121. That’s what I was thinking about while I sat in his memorial service in our church chapel.
I was sick, broken, overwhelmed with anger toward God and trying to figure out if I could accept the mystery of a God so powerful to make and keep promises, but who would have us in that room for that purpose at that time. Although my life had definitely not been without suffering, this was different. This was a 5 year old who was cherished by his family and who I had anticipated God using in mighty ways for a long, long time. I knew this world was broken, but I wasn’t sure I could accept the mystery of God’s goodness within that brokenness in that moment as easily as Job had accepted it when I had explained it to him just over a year and a half before then.
I was also grappling with the realization that although having taught for years, I had never ever stood in front of a 3-year-old and considered that I may be one of the only a few Bible teachers he would ever have. And then, as I felt the weight of that reality coupled with my doubts, Job’s dad began to proclaim Psalm 103 from beginning to end. Days from both his 30th birthday and losing his son, he was blessing the Lord and proclaiming that God cares for us as a father cares for his children. And at that moment, on that verse (Psalm 103:13), I suddenly thought, “God’s promises are real. God’s promises are what establish us. God’s promises sustain us. I need to write the book.” I most definitely had not been thinking about Bible story sequencing, the book thread, or writing in those moments, days, or even weeks. I still didn’t want to publish and wasn’t sure I really would, but I knew that it was impressed upon me in that moment from God because nothing in me had that level of faith and commitment right then.
I didn’t leave that chapel that night and begin writing. In fact, it was another three months before I did, as I continued to wrestle with grief that felt both sacred and disproportionate since I had just been his Sunday school teacher for a year and barely knew his parents. Was I just being emotional? Well, that same year, Job’s equally giggly and definitely more wiggly, little sister was in my class. And each week I stood in front of that rug and taught her the same stories I’d taught her big brother. She shared a lot with her brother, but styles of learning was not one of those things, which was a huge piece of how I realized that I wasn’t driven by emotion. I was driven by conviction that God used emotion to put into action. Because those two oldest kiddos in their family were different learners through and through, but the promises of God was a thread that clicked with them both.
All that being said, I’d give this book, any fruit that comes from it, my career—and honestly my life—in a heartbeat if I could somehow change the mind of God on his plan for Job’s life. I’m thankful his parents want people to know about Job and hopeful that my sharing about not only the work of God through losing him, but even more what God displayed through Job’s faith and what that taught me, will lead people of all ages to be as curious about God as Job was.
While I trust God is keeping all his promises to Job right now—and can’t wait for the day when I get to be reunited with Job and hope that heaven works in such a way that he will get to be the one to tell me all the things I got wrong explaining the Trinity—I really just wish he were playing with his younger siblings and having dinner with his mom and dad. Yet even so, along with his mom and dad, I bless the Lord who is good and who does keep His promises.
the author
Jennifer Lyell has taught hundreds of children the Bible over the course of many years and finds her joy in those end-of-the-year Sunday School classes when the children teach it back to her. Granted, teaching kiddos might be her passion, but it’s not her day job. For that she serves as Director of Book Publishing and Merchandising at Lifeway Christian Resources. The hundreds of titles that the books business team has acquired, developed or managed under Jennifer’s leadership include more than a dozen New York Times bestsellers, as well as multiple Christianity Today Book of the Year winners. Jennifer holds a Master of Divinity Degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which is good because she has truly been asked questions by preschoolers that she wouldn’t have been able to answer without it! Jennifer is an often off-the-path hiker who is happiest when adventuring (just like a child!).
author q&a
How is The Promises of God Storybook Bible structured and how is it different from other storybook Bibles in the market?
I believe the biggest distinction in this storybook Bible from others on the market is that it is written by a Sunday school teacher and is intended to actually establish a theological framework through which children will understand God, themselves, and ultimately, I hope, be prepared to read the actual Bible. That sounds lofty and I’m extremely intimidated at the concept of adults reading this and my discovering that I’m actually a horrible teacher!
But, teaching kids of various ages every week for around 15 years necessitates that you avoid the trap of relying on what you know about who you are teaching to determine how you communicate what you hope for them to learn. All of those years taught me the reality that every single year’s class, even if it’s the same age and same content being taught, will be a different class because every child is different. That is the unique perspective I bring—a thread that has stuck for 3-year-olds and 17year-olds; a thread that has stuck for children who are intellectual and for children who are imaginative; a thread that has held for children who are grieving the loss of a brother or parents divorcing; a thread that has held for children whom God has given nothing but a sense of security and peace thus far.
It’s a storybook Bible that wasn’t written by a writer. It wasn’t written by someone who just loves kids, the Bible and books (although that’s true!). It was written by someone whose favorite name is “Miss Jennifer” and greatest 100 minutes of any week are those spent in a room with about a dozen preschoolers. It was written by someone who has gotten to know hundreds of children and has seen the image of God distinctly reflected in each of them, yet His Word land soundly upon all of them with the same words and in the same moment. This gives me hope that no matter the child, circumstances or exposure to church, this book will touch those little image bearers and teach them that the truth is better than their imagination.
When did you first start teaching kids’ Sunday school, and what made you fall in love with it?
I first started teaching Sunday school about four months after I became a Christian at the age of 21. The church I was in had some middle school girls who needed a teacher. So once I had read the whole Bible, I was asked to teach what was essentially the youth group, albeit a small one in a small church. I shudder when I think about my teaching at that time because I am certain I must have unknowingly taught heresy at some point! I was so absolutely new to the faith and while never without zeal, ignorance was definitely an issue.
I did realize quickly, though, that I loved preparing to teach and finding ways to connect with the girls individually through the biblical content. So it really was within months of being saved that I sensed a call to teach. God was especially kind to encourage me by showing me fruit far beyond what my contribution would have naturally produced!
In addition to weekly Bible studies or overseas teaching opportunities (generally for adult women), I then continued teaching Sunday school for children or youth each week, with a different age group every year. I have never burnt out on teaching, but I never feel I’m as effective as I could or should be, so definitely do not consider myself an expert or model to follow as I’m aware that within my own church there are so many more gifted, faithful, effective teachers than me. I did learn, though, that while I love playing with babies and toddlers and also am compelled to one on one discipleship with younger women, 3-year-olds are my favorite age to teach. Three is also the lowest age that is a fit for me because I really do want to teach, and most kiddos two and under just aren’t ready for 15- to 25-minute Bible teaching sessions.
I took a three-year break from teaching when I moved to Nashville and joined Lifeway, as I felt led to enter a season without teaching so that my heart could be more deeply instructed. When that season ended, I began teaching the class that I still teach—and that I’ll keep teaching as long as God and our children’s pastor allow me!
Finally, what I love most about teaching is getting to see the image of God reflected in so many different people who, in the course of a year, grow to understand more of the God who made them, experience church as a place where they are seen and loved and give me the tremendous gift of getting to watch God work in them through the power of his word.
What have you learned about the Bible from teaching it to kids over the past few years? What surprised you the most?
When the Bible (whether in Psalms, Proverbs or the words of Jesus in the gospels) calls us to approach God or faith as a child, we are not being called to simplistic faith. We are being corrected from complicating faith. And because there can be no biblical faith without truth, God is not framing a child’s capacity to understand truth as anemic or simplistic. If it is the standard of faith to which adults strive, then that tells us that children are capable of understanding all the truth that is essential to hear, love and obey God.
What I believe these passages reflect about adults is that the impact of more years of sin and the belief that being older means knowing more make us less willing to accept truth, even if we believe we’re able to understand it more easily. I challenge all adults to expect and pursue the reality that the children in your life can understand far more about God than you think they can. I also encourage them to pray that God will keep us from believing we know so much that we do not understand what he is teaching us.
What has surprised me most is how much the kids can learn. I’ve taught many children who have special learning needs, and I’ll sometimes hit a point where I think that there’s just not a way to teach this child at this point. But then God will expand my understanding of what it means to be taught, or another teacher will have an insight on some new method to try and it works. You just cannot ever give up on a child.
How do you hope families use this resource together? What do you hope both parents and kids learn from reading it?
I wrote every story with two particular children (who are very different personalities and learners) and three different families in mind. My greatest hope is that this book would be used for family devotional times. While I know bedtime is crazy, I have been fortunate to be present for family bedtime devotions with friends and their kids in the past and know how significant that time is. The families I had in mind as I wrote have varying numbers of kids, ages and personalities, as well as schedules.
My goal was for this to be a resource that could be consumed in as quickly as 10 minutes, with at least one question asked. For families with younger children, this is a great start. But it would be amazing if parents read this and decided that they want it to be part of their children’s discipleship— one of a few storybook Bibles that the family rotates through, generally reading a story each night. They would watch year after year as the children internalize these messages deeper and God works through them.
My ultimate hope is that those who do not know God, the sin that binds them or their need to repent and trust in Christ will ultimately walk steadfastly with him. I pray that when they are first exposed to “The Promises of God Storybook Bible”—whether young child or adult—they will ultimately come to see all of that and embrace the unstoppable love of God who opened their eyes and softened their hearts.