Each Wednesday night, I have the honor of helping young girls at my local church memorize Scripture. One young lady who struggles to read has become my best friend. She’ll often curl up beside me to work on a new verse. But, in recent weeks she has been using a King James version for memorization, and it’s not gone so well. The bigger words and older language structures were proving difficult for her limited skills.
When I suggested that another version that might be a little more kid-friendly, she looked at me with big eyes and said, “Well, this Bible is special because my grandma gave it to me, but I would be willing to try an easier version.” Long story short, we still use Grandma’s Bible every week, but partner it with a simpler version of Scripture to promote understanding and memorization.
To help my young friend understand God and his inspired Word, we partnered the difficult with the “do-able.” We broke the impossible into the possible by starting with something simple.
I sometimes think our conversations with our children need to carry a similar message. Life is hard, and we face many impossible situations. But what makes them possible is the simple idea that God loves us. We face tough times by starting with what we know—that God is good. He is loving. He is present. He is kind. He is a powerful God.
Starting with those simple but precious affirmations makes getting to the difficult decisions and tough times just a little easier. Our children often ask us questions we can’t answer. Why did a bad thing happen to a good person? Why did somebody we love die so young? Why didn’t I get picked for the softball team? Why do I feel so lonely at school? Tough questions for tough times!
But the good news is that we can start answering those challenging questions with what we know, what we understand, what we memorize: namely, that God is good, and He loves us, which means He cares about our tough times too.
The next time you or your child face a difficult situation with tough questions, remember the story of Grandma’s Bible. Remember to start simple so you don’t lose faith in the journey. {eoa}
Dr. Lori Brown is a North Carolina educator, writer and researcher who enjoys inspiring believers to remain passionate about their faith.
This article originally appeared at just18summers.com.
Janet Perez Eckles 
Shawn Akers 
Abby Trivett 
