The Training Young Hearts Series has now expanded to older kids (ages 3+) and I was so excited to recieve a review copy of the first in these expanded offerings.
‘Your Amazing Hands’ is a beautiful explanation of how the Gospel applies to our everyday lives. It shows how we are made in God’s image with hands made to do good things. We don’t always get it right, but God knew we wouldn’t. That’s why he came as Jesus, to show us how to live, to love us perfectly, give his life and rise from the dead so that we can have the hope of abundant life. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to live like Jesus so that we can love one another well, like Jesus.
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What I Love
I think this book is executed wonderfully. It is a beautiful way to share the Gospel with young hearts and how it applies to our everyday. It leads kids with rhymes (an important literacy skill), to see how fearfully and wonderfully our hands are made. From tidying our rooms to making mud pies, our hands are made to give glory to God. We can use them to comfort a friend, or give a gesture of welcome. They are good.
I also like the way this book gently shows that we don’t always use our hands in the way they were intended. I like that this book paints a more holistic depiction of sin as brokeness where we do not live with one another as God intended. Some times we throw things in anger, or hit. We steal. We are not always kind. I also think this book did well to make this section shorter than the ways we can honor God with our hands. It helps affirm that no sin is bigger than Jesus. No sin condemns us farther than the love of God can reach.
Then it transitions into how Jesus used his hands to love perfectly, by healing, feeding, and welcoming others. And in the most perfect act of love he stretched out his hands on the cross, just to be raised to life. And the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives inside us. The scenes depicting Christ’s death and resurrection are perfect for this age group. Nothing graphic. There is a silhouette of crosses on a hill, but that’s about it. I always appreciate when publishers use discernment in the depictions of the cross and how that may effect little hearts.
I love that they depict the Holy Spirit as armor that helps us live the way we should. And we can always turn to God when we don’t do this well. He’s cheering for us as we seek to live as the Kingdom of God on earth. This book does a great job of displaying all of this. The last stanza is a perfect example:
And NEVER forget
(No matter what YOUR hands do)
The way Jesus used HIS hands
And still uses them… for YOU!
Well done!
Things I would have liked to see:
My only critique of this book, and this is really nit-picking, but I would have loved to see a reference to sign language as an amazing way our hands can do good. Whether in the text or illustrations, I think this would have been a nice touch. The only reason I even mention this, is these books aim to value inclusion, especially the inclusion of children with disabilities. They show a child in a wheel chair, one with an insulin pump, and one with a cochlear implant. The board books also have disability representation illustrated, which is nice. However, taking it a step further could have been affirming the way many children communicate with their hands using sign language (including mine).
What My Kids Liked
My kids were all big fans of the illustrations. They immediately noticed the diversity of characters and began a conversation about how we are all different and that is very good.
Final Thoughts
Your Amazing Hands is a worthy addition to any home or church library. It presents the Gospel in a simple way for young children and caregivers to explore together.
Baby Devotions 