Time has sprung forward, Spring is starting to show in the daffodil’s canary-yellow blooms, and Lent is almost halfway over. That can only mean one thing: Easter is quickly approaching, and this is one of the most joyous occasions for the Church. Christ’s death and resurrection brings us hope, joy, and excitement, and the world around us seems to be rejoicing as well: trees are budding leaves, the sun is warming the ground, and the days start staying around for longer.

This time of year we also celebrate with fun, colorful traditions, like painting eggs and hiding baskets full of treats for children to find. And while candy can be a delicious surprise, wouldn’t it be nice to give something that lasted longer and will have more an impact than a piece of chocolate?

How about giving your kids something that you can share together, is fun and entertaining, and also reminds them what Easter is really about? A book or a Bible can be a perfect gift to give and share with your little ones, and we have a couple suggestions:

Read More…

This article is an excerpt from the New York Times bestseller America the Beautiful by Dr. Ben Carson. Dr. Carson recently gained national attention for his speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast. He is the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins and the author of five bestselling books.

Some readers may be thinking, I have worked hard and achieved a lot in my personal life, so why should I worry myself about the well-being of people who are too lazy to take advantage of opportunities to succeed?

However, for every one of those young people we can keep from choosing a self-destructive path, that’s one less person we have to be afraid of or protect our families from, one less person we will have to pay for in the penal system or the welfare system, and one more productive, taxpaying member of society who may discover a new energy source or the cure for cancer. Every person is endowed with God-given abilities, and we must cultivate every ounce of talent we have in order to maintain our pinnacle position in the world.

Read More…

Richard Jesse Watson writes about how the scriptures inspire him to create beautiful illustrations that convey God’s word and inspire us to think of God as bigger than we could have ever imagine.

God is so much more than we can fathom. And yet, He reveals Himself to us little by little as we are able to receive it.

I think it is so cool, and so unlike the human bent toward power-grasping, that Jesus said, “Unless you become as a little child, you cannot even see the Kingdom of God. Wow.

Psalm 23 speaks to a child so clearly: You are like a little lamb, and God, The Good Shepherd, will take care of you.  But it also speaks comfort to the been-around-the-block adult as well. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me…”

Throughout my life I have found comfort in this elegant, relevant Psalm. When our kids were young, we used to read Psalm 23 to them and draw pictures together to illustrate the imagery of the psalm.

Here is a painting that I did with my son, Jesse, dreaming of being a brave shepherd like the psalm’s author, David, tending his sheep.

I gave Jesse permanent marker pens and let him finish the painting. I left the room to keep from art directing. When I returned he had drawn David with his sling and lots of swords and arrows, battling the giant, Goliath. He also added a Boy Scout tent to suggest to me that we go camping.

When I was illustrating this new version of Psalm 23, I asked Jesse again to pose as a shepherd. He now has “little lambs” of his own, and is also a children’s book author and illustrator.

Jesse’s book, Hope For Haiti, is an example of his ongoing love of God’s little lambs.

And here’s a photo of Jesse with Haitian children:

It is clear to me that goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life.  No kidding.

(Photo credit: Sonya Sones)

Richard Jesse Watson has been making books for children since 1984. He collaborated with Ruth Bell Graham on One Wintry Night, and his version of The Night Before Christmas was a New York Times bestseller. Watson won the Golden Kite Award for his picture book, Tom Thumb, and his illustrations have also been selected for the Society of Illustrator’s Annual Exhibits. Richard and his wife, Susi, live in Port Townsend, Washington. Their children are following in his footsteps as writers and illustrators of children’s books. www.RichardJesseWatson.com

Nancy Rue, author of numerous Zonderkidz titles such a Dear Nancy, Totally Unfair, and False Friends and True Strangers writes about the powerful connection that you can have to your tween girl, even while she begins to go through the many changes of becoming a teenager. 

As a Zonderkidz author for some (insert muffled voice) years, I’m thrilled to be here as a guest blogger. And three guesses what I’m going to talk about – my fave subject: Mini-Women.

For the uninitiated, that is the 8 to 12 year old girl who is no longer that sweet little baby girlfriend who thought you were as infallible as Elmo, but who has not yet completely lost her mind and become a teenager. Psychologists used to refer to this age range as “the latent period”, though it is anything but. Even the title “tween” was coined by the advertising world to denote a group who is merely “between.”

But this wonderful, changing-daily (or hourly), unpredictable period is full of the potential for crazy fun Mini-Women to someday turn into the godly full-grown versions. This is where it begins. Not three years from now when the eyes start to roll and the most frequently used word is “whatever.” The time is now. Read More…

“We care about how we look. Why is that? Because we’re women, and women love to look and feel good. God made us that way. And this is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a wonderful thing. God loves beauty. And He loves you and He loves me, exactly as we were created.” – Shari Braendel, author of Good Girls Don’t Have to Dress Bad

Beauty is essential part of God’s creation, and He has hardwired the human brain to appreciate that beauty. In fact, the human spirit desires to create beauty, to breathe life, inspiration, and hope into the world around us.

That’s why Zondervan is excited to sponsor Christian Fashion Week this year! What a fantastic way for the Christian community to engage in the realm of creative fashion design. What is unique about Christian Fashion Week is that the focus is truly about honoring some important Christian values through fashion design, such as modesty, integrity, and a passion to devote our creativity to the Lord. As Christians, we see the world in a completely different light through Christ, so Christian Fashion Week desires to bring this unique perspective to the fashion industry.

What would you like to see featured at Christian Fashion Week?

If you are interested in Christian Fashion Week, check out their website or their Facebook page.

Being a teenager means juggling school, jobs, church, and extracurricular activities. The average teenager’s day is full of activities, homework, and friendships. One great way to make these busy days more peaceful is stopping daily to focus on God’s Word and taking time to reflect on His insights for every teen’s life.

Two useful tools to help navigate a teen’s time with the Lord are both the Once-A-Day Bible and the Once-A-Day Devotional. Each one works as a companion for the other with daily-portioned readings, insightful devotionals, and prayer guides. Each of these will make it easy and convenient for teens to meet with the Lord every day, even with their crazy schedules.

We are giving away both the Once-A-Day Bible and the Once-A-Day Devotional! You can enter to win both below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chances are, your life is stressful. Our work, family, school, and church schedules are a kind of juggling act we maintain while we manage to deal with other unexpected obstacles, like the car breaking down, our kids coming down with a cold, the roof springing a leak. Whatever the case, our day-to-day lives can be so hectic that we forget to stop, breathe, and reflect.

In Psalms 46:10, the Lord declares, “Be still, and know that I am God.” But how often are we actually still? And, even more, how often do we really know that God is God? How often do we make our daily activities become bigger in our lives than the still, small voice inside of us? Instead of Christ becoming our main focus, we let our jobs, relationships, and hobbies become the guiding light in our lives. “Be still and know that God is God” becomes “Be stressed and let Stress become our God.”

Our hearts become a battlefield, one where the quiet, imploring voice of God is drowned out by the many voices constantly vying for our attention. These voices become self-appointed gods, gods that are always at war with each other, at war with The God, The I AM. So, how do we refocus, how do we learn to be still once again?

These questions are central to Kyle Idleman’s Gods At War Bible Study. And on February 27^th, Kyle Idleman will be hosting a Gods at War Simulcast with special musical guests For Kings and Country. Through the simulcast, you can join with your church or small group Bible study while Kyle encourages you to rewire your thoughts and start focusing on a true relationship with Christ. Using true, powerful and honest teaching, the “Gods at War” simulcast and study will help clear path away from the heartache of our 21st century idolatry back to the heart of God — enabling us to truly be completely committed followers of Jesus.

You can register to join the simulcast here, and if you register in January, you and your group can receive 20% off.

Let’s refocus and make our hearts still. Jesus assured us in John 16:33 that “in this world you will have trouble” but He immediately declared after this that we should, “take heart! I have overcome the world.” Christ is bigger than our troubles, our stressful days, He’s much bigger than all our other gods at war.

When the New Year starts, many of us dive headfirst into a flurry of activities, resolutions, and goals. We promise ourselves that this year will be different, that if only we are a little better than last year everything will change. Often, we see no grace in these resolutions, no allowance for slip-ups or accidents – we are to stick to our resolutions no matter the circumstance. If we fail, we have (in a way) failed for the year, have fallen back into old patterns where there is nowhere to go except to wait for the next year when we can start again.

But what if there was a different way, one that promised to change our lives not by our own efforts and not by a whirlwind of our own activities and efforts, but by quiet reflection? What if what we really needed was a time where we listen for the quiet voice of God rather than relying on our own busyness to instruct us? A resolution to strengthen your prayer relationship with God is one that’s forgiving: this is about a relationship, not a quota, not a certain number. This is about you making time for the best and purest relationship that you’ll ever have with the very essence of mercy and forgiveness.

Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker 40 Day Prayer Challenge is a great guide to start a fulfilling prayer-life in the New Year. By reading it, you’ll be encouraged to not only dedicate a portion of your day to prayer, but you will also be inspired with daily devotionals that can help you focus on a topic for your daily prayer time, topics like surrender and praise.

A prayer journal can also be helpful in helping you keep track of how the Lord is leading you into different areas of your life. Written prayer can often make prayer feel even more tangible and can open up new topics in your life that you might have never known you were thinking about.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, we are encouraged to “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Prayer is something that not only strengthens our personal relationship with Christ, but it also helps us become parallel with the will of God. So, let’s make 2013 one that is about a quiet, small voice rather than the bustle of impossible goals. Let’s make 2013 the time where we focus on a relationship with the Maker of the universe.

Did you make a New Year’s resolution to read more in 2013? We can help! Zondervan is giving away a prize package of some fantastic titles (and a great calendar as well). We’re giving away three prize packs that include one of each of the following:

1. Jimmy Carter Through The Years
2. Undaunted
3. Who is this Man
4. Betrayal (Hatcher)
5. Material Witness (autographed by Chapman)
6. Circle Maker
7. Circle Maker prayer Journal
8. Fire of the Raging Dragon
9. 2013 Amish Calendar
10. My One Word
11. Daniel Fast
12. NIV Once a Day Bible for Teens
13. The Adventure Bible, NIV: Book of Devotions
14. God’s Messages for Little Ones
15. The Beginner’s Bible Kid Sized Devotions
16. Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing
17. Grace, Gold & Glory: My Leap of Faith
18. The Circle Maker, Student Edition
19. The Purpose Driven Life

You can enter to win by clicking here. Good luck and happy 2013!

What goals do you have for the New Year? Are you looking for a daily reader to start out 2013? Then take a 60-day journey with Lysa TerKeurst’s Unglued Devotional. This companion devotional to the bestselling book Unglued provides encouragement to help readers handle emotional struggles. Including a daily opening Scripture, Thought for the Day, devotion, and closing prayer, this book helps readers begin a journey in learning to positively process raw emotions, such as fear, anger, and regret.

And, of course, you will need something to carry your Unglued Devotional in, and what better to do that with than the Unglued Purse? This mustard colored purse can be found on the covers of both Unglued and the Unglued Devotional and it’s perfect for toting everything you’ll need in the New Year!

a Rafflecopter giveaway