The God of Amazing Gifts

John Hindley

This book is truly a gift to families, for two reasons. The first is that fixes our eyes, and those of our children, on our gift-giving Lord. In the middle of plays, parties, presents, relatives and all the rest of the Christmas chaos, we need our eyes and hearts set on Christ. Lizzie Laferton’s deep and unfussy approach to the Bible leads us straight to Jesus and to his generous Father. The second reason to use these family devotions is that they are flexible enough to suit any family and simple enough to pick up and use without preparing beforehand. This will be a gift to your family.

Linda Allcock

This helpful resource kick-started our (flagging) family devotions, and in the words of my son, ‘helped me to worship Jesus more’. As a parent, you could not ask for more from a devotional!

“Great Family Advent Guide”

The God of Amazing Gifts by Lizzie Laferton is a wonderful resource for families with kids of a variety of ages. Each day is approached similarly with the following format...
-Scripture reference
-Prayer
-Question, Commentary, Definitions, & Conversation Prompts
-Application Questions
-Closing Prayer

The different questions allow for an entire family to discuss. You could have younger and older siblings participating together. The included definitions are also very helpful.

*I received a copy of this book from The Good Book Company in exchange for my honest review.

“Amazing Advent Devotional for Families”

An incredible devotional to help you exegete Scripture with your children throughout the Advent season. The book consists of 25 devotions structured with prayer, Scripture, helpful definitions, and questions. I really appreciate that throughout the devotional, the author uses Scripture to interpret Scripture. It’s the basics of good Bible reading and helps parents be able to dig into the text with their children. The questions are also broken down between younger/older children which can be especially helpful if you have a range of children you’re reading with. Each day has a last questions section with 3 options: not assuming a personal relationship with God, a family response, and assuming a personal relationship with God and encourages personal reflection and response. This is so helpful and practical to reach a variety a people.

The book is divided into 4 parts: God the Gift-Giver, God’s Christmas Gift, God’s Gifts to Us, and Our Gifts to Give. While we’ve not yet finished this book since we’re reading through it for Advent, I appreciate that it guides you through these in a manner that makes sense. It builds upon the previous section to give a robust understanding of who God is, what He has given us in Jesus, and how we as Christians should respond.

This book says that it is geared towards children 7-14+, but I’m reading it with my 5 and year olds and it’s been wonderful.
I’m hoping Lizzie writes more books like this for Lent and everyday devotionals for families because it’s really an excellent resource! It focuses on what truly matters. I’ve realized that some of the reasons I’ve not loved previous Advent books is because they have extra things like crafts, activities, and games in them. While this isn’t a bad thing, we typically have so many of those types of things going on already that I’m really wanting just a meaty gospel-centered devotional like I’ve found with this book.

“Helpful Advent Resource for Families”

The God of Amazing Gifts is an Advent devotional for families by children’s book author, Lizzie Laferton. In this devotional, Laferton helps families focus on God, the greatest Gift-Giver. The book’s introduction guides parents on how best to use the book and states that it is designed for families with children ages 7-14. Each devotional begins with a prayer and then questions to engage children in the Bible reading. I really enjoyed seeing Laferton’s thoughtfulness and creativity in reading the questions she created.

An example of this is found in the content for Day 1 which focuses on Psalm 63. The intro states, “What is the best Christmas present you can imagine receiving? Now picture yourself hiding in a cave in a dry and lifeless desert, on the run from someone who wants to kill you. What would be at the top of your gift list then? As we open the Bible today, We’ll find ourselves hearing from someone who knew exactly what that is like: King David. As we read the first verse of Psalm 63 together, listen out for what David thought is the best possible gift,” (pg. 13).

Each devotional has the Scripture text for that day’s reading printed out which is really helpful. The content also includes a variety of questions about the Scripture reading with some questions for younger children and some for older ones so parents can choose which ones best suit their families. Although The God of Amazing Gifts is intended for families with children who are a bit older than mine, I’m thankful for it and believe it will benefit my family even now while our kids are younger.

I received The God of Amazing Gifts compliments of The Good Book Company in exchange for my honest review.

“Fantastic book”

Lizzie I really like your book.

Its very easy to use and to understand . There are plenty of helpful questions and it's faithful to the bible passages and there are definitions provided for tricky words and prayers for each day. You did an amazing job!!! 👌 Wow

“Lovely Advent Devotional for the Whole Family”

I'm a big fan of family devotionals for advent and have bought every year of Ed Drew's Faith in Kids devotionals recently to read and recommend to the parents in our church. Seeing that he recommends this one made me interested!

Laferton's new devotional seems very easy to use (although I won't have a chance to properly try it for the next couple of months!). There are plenty of helpful questions and I could see myself recommending this to parents as it's faithful to the bible passages and is both easy enough for a young child and challenging/interesting enough for an older child, perhaps around 11 years old. There are definitions provided for tricky words and prayers for each day.

My one wish is that there was something extra every day to add to the questions in the study itself to introduce the theme, perhaps a short activity, craft, game or similar, especially for those children who might find listening and asking questions a little tricky for long periods of time. There are extra ideas at the back which give a few ideas of what extra things you could do, but it would work even better if they were in the daily devotionals themselves I think.

“Generous and Gracious”

How can you lead your children to our God who gives good gifts? In The God of Amazing Gifts, Lizzie Laferton helps you lead your family devotions for Advent.

This 125-page book is a resource for families who want to focus their gaze on the Gift-Giver. Featuring 25 devotions, it is a full guide to discovering God. The book is divided into four parts: (1) God the Gift-Giver, (2) God’s Christmas Gift, (3) God’s Gifts to Us, and (4) Our Gifts to Give. Two sets of questions are provided for different ages, with questions for application and sample prayers.

Generous and Gracious
I was most happy to see that this book stresses the idea that God’s is generous and gracious. The devotion on Day 13 focuses on Ephesians 2, recognizing the fact that we cannot earn and we do not deserve God’s gifts. I also appreciated how the book asks you to make applications together as a family, thinking through how you can pray and make plans together.

Definitions to help you explain Scripture are included throughout, and extra ideas are included at the back for family activities and encouraging conversations. This book will help your kids see that we are all children who are grateful for God’s good gifts.

I received a media copy of The God of Amazing Gifts and this is my honest review.