Hi friends!
I feel positively overwhelmed to have discovered so many excellent family spiritual education resources over the last few months. It began with Dishing Up Devotions: 36 Faith-Building Activities for Homeschooling Families by Katie J. Trent… which I have somehow completely neglected to write about! An error I hope to remedy soon.
Then I discovered Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys by Stephen James & David Thomas. It came at a time when Josiah and I were at our wit’s end with boy toddler life and desperately needed some outside advice. (Thanks for the recommendation, Redeeming the Chaos podcast!)
Today, I want to share a new resource I’m super excited about.
Fruit Full: 100 Family Experiences for Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit by Christie Thomas
When my copy arrived early (thanks Amazon!), I expected to enjoy it.
What I didn’t expect, however, was to feel like she had sat at my kitchen table and personally witnessed some of the struggles I’d had that day by the third paragraph of the opening letter.
By the next page, she flipped my thinking about the fruits of the spirit. Of COURSE the fruits are a by-product, not an action. How had I never thought about it that way before?
And of course having my kids fall more in love with God is the best way (the only way!) they will look more like Him…not by “trying to love harder” or “trying to be create more patience”…whatever that means.
Having reminded me the key to spiritual fruit is a deeper relationship with God, she then gave me 100 activities of concise, insightful, accessible devotions to do just that with my kids.
Devotions
The devotions themselves are concise, insightful, and accessible. Each one is only a page long, yet she manages to distill important spiritual truths in language that should work for elementary students and up.
There are ten units, organized by fruit, with ten days spent on each fruit. There is also a simple list of activities you can do as added flavor throughout a particular unit whenever you have an extra few minutes.
She also structured the book in such a way that there is a bonus Easter-themed reading plan if you read certain sections in a row.
Loved It
My kids will be ready for this level of resource within two years. (We’re actually using Christie’s other family devotional, Wise for Salvation, right now! This one is targeted for preschoolers. I hope to review it soon!)
By the time we finish it, we should be ready for this one. I can’t wait. If you have elementary aged children, you don’t have to wait. This is a wonderful tool for the young Christian family trying to build a solid spiritual foundation rooted in a relationship with God.
I cannot recommend highly enough. Go check it out today. Thank you so much, Christie!
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P.S.: Meet Christie!
Christie is joining me on Instagram Live next week (Feb. 23rd, 2022 @ 8 pm EST). We’ll be talking about a better way to view the fruits of the spirit, how to begin discipling young children even when you feel super unqualified, and more!
You can find the event info here.