A Story about the Prodigal Son and a Weepy Mother

Every morning, after coffee and breakfast have been fixed for the hubby and he's out the door and off to work, after diapers have been changed, after the babe has nursed and little bear has had his fill of cheerios, milk, and whatever was fixed for breakfast, we head to the playroom for an hour or so of early morning play time still in our jammies.  

I'm usually still rubbing my eyes, trying to figure out where the night went, Needtobreathe is probably jamming on the radio, and little bear is giving his baby brother lots of hugs and sugar to make up for lost time during the night. I say a quick, sometimes long depending on what kind of night we had, prayer, praising God for His new mercies that rose with the sun, asking for those mercies, grace, patience, and love to pour out of us all, and petitioning the Lord to open the eyes of our understanding, that as we read His Word, we will be moved by the Spirit, that He will flood the boys hearts with the light of His salvation, and that we will grasp the love that the God of the Universe has for His children because of what our great Rescuer, Jesus, has done for us.  Then we read a story out of The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Before I go any further, if you do not have this book, stop what you are doing and go buy it now.  You can buy it here. Whether you have children or not, you need to read this book.  Sally Lloyd-Jones has done a phenomenal job telling the Story... it's simple and that is how it is supposed to be.  "Every story whispers His name..." 

I am so in love with this book, y'all.  I can't express that enough.  Mostly because for the first time in my life, this bible has taught me that every story in Scripture whispers His name. I've spent most of my life in church, and in His Word, and I have loved Jesus for just about as long as I can remember. But it wasn't until I was a 28 year old woman, reading these stories to her first born, that I realized that the Bible isn't written for me and my circumstances, but to point to Jesus, and that because of Jesus, those stories are for me.  If that makes sense.  Don't hear me wrong, the Bible is for me and for you, it gives hope in our circumstances, but it's primary purpose is to point to Jesus. That Jesus was the better Noah, He was the better Abraham, the perfect Issac, He was the better Moses, the better David, and the better Boaz, the perfect kinsman Redeemer.  From the beginning of time, God knew we would need to be rescued, even as He was shaping and molding the first man.  As He was breathing life into Adam, He knew that we would need a Savior.  

Am I making sense?  Yes, when you are discouraged, His Word is for you, it is the Living Word (Hebrews 4:12), and it will fill you (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4).  But when we read the stories, it's not just for us to get out of them how they benefit us.  Let's take Jonah for example.  We typically read the story of Jonah and think, "OK, the purpose of this story is to teach me that if I don't listen to God, He will punish me.  So I better obey God or He may send a whale to swallow me."  Do you see all the me's and I's there?  We just took that story and made it about us when that story is about something else, someone else. It's about Jesus! This story is a foreshadowing of His great rescue plan.  That His people would run far from Him, and even still, God was planning to send Jesus.  Like Jonah, He would spend 3 days in darkness and His purpose would be to proclaim the Word to the world.  But He would be the better Jonah because He was perfect.  Jonah couldn't save the people of Nineveh, he could only proclaim to them the Good News.  Jesus came to proclaim the Good News...He WAS the Good News, and because He knew they couldn't be good enough or do good enough, He went to Calvary in their place.  And that upon believing in Him, they could be rescued. The Bible is about God's perfect love for you, "His never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love."

I was planning to tell you about the story we read this morning, the story of the prodigal son, and about how I bawled my eyes out as I tried to get the words from the pages of this story out of my mouth.  But it's time to get back to the little ones.  I'll tell you more about that tomorrow.  We will just call this little chat Part 1! 

 I am loving this quote so much that is constantly reiterated throughout this storybook!  It's such a beautiful reminder of God's love. Be sure to check out this gorgeous print from Bezalel and Babel! She does some amazing work!