This week’s book review is actually a books review – plural. I would like to tell you about The Building on the Rock Series of devotionals by Joel Beeke and Diana Kleyn. They are, in order:

1. How God Used a Thunderstorm
2. How God Stopped the Pirates
3. How God Used a Snowdrift
4. How God Used a Drought and an Umbrella
5. How God Sent a Dog to Save a Family

I have reviewed one of the books in this series already. You can read that review HERE. This is a devotional series aimed at children, but no less a blessing to any adults who want to read them as well. We were given book five in the series (the last book), so that is where we began. After reading that book, I had to complete the set. I ordered the other four books individually from Amazon. I read them aloud to the children each morning before we began school and many days found me asking for a Kleenex as we finished or in the middle of the story. The thing that makes these stories so impactful is that they are all true.

That’s right! These books contain historically accurate testimonies of Christians down through the ages. For example, there is a story of a child who grew up in a godly home in England, only to turn away from the truths he was taught and live a life of sinful pleasures, to then be broken by the hand of God and drawn by His saving power unto salvation. What might God use to draw Him? The singing from a church building on a Sunday morning as he regains consciousness suffering from a terrible hangover; or perhaps the kindness of a widow who gives him a Bible and encourages him to seek the Lord while there is still time – which was something his mother had told him to do. Perhaps it was a single light in a window in the middle of a blizzard – the saving shelter that a lost man is in need of – and the saving message of the Gospel given to the man by the owners. The stories vary in setting and names, but the one constant thread throughout each book is God and the mighty power of His grace.

The books are beautifully written and each devotional includes a question at the end along with Bible passages to read. We began the series in January of 2016 and finished up in late April of 2017. We read them about four days of the week during the school year only. Some stories were longer than others, so I was able to read those over two days. I was sad to come to the end of this great series. I may just start over next year and read them all over again to the children. That’s why I think books make such great companions! When you come to the end, you can just turn back to page one and enjoy it a second (or fifth) time.

The message in each story is clear: No sin is too great that it cannot be forgiven, no sinner is too far away to be reached, and the only hope of salvation is Christ alone.