Parents of faith want their children to take on their faith as their own.  Author Marty Machowski gives parents two tools to help them.  Long Story Short (Old Testament) and Old Story New (New Testament) are two thorough devotionals for families that will, slowly but surely, take them through the Bible.  It's simple, yet thorough.  Be sure to read to the end for the BIG giveaway!

These family devotionals do not focus only on the story, but also the Gospel message.  It's more than just a starting point!

With five-day studies per passage and just ten minutes a day, these family devotions provide families with a near-complete look at the Bible.  Days 1-4 review and explain a portion of the weeks Scripture (with daily Bible reading), with Day 3 emphasis on the Gospel.  Day 5 examines the Psalms or a passage from a prophet that points to Jesus.  The introduction of each book provides parents with suggestions for tailoring each lesson for age groups or multiple age ranges.  These provide questions and answers, but in something rare, on day four of each week, these books also provide children with a question to ask their parents!

The short lessons provide more than just a "read it and discuss it" approach.  Read a full lesson (five days) at New Growth Press to examine it for yourself.  (Scroll down to download the chapter "Jesus Feeds the Multitude.")

Long Story Short and Old Story New connects the Bible to children's lives, making it real and personal, while connecting it to the story of Jesus and the salvation He provides.

~Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God
Covers the Old Testament.  Like any devotional or children's Bible, not every story can be addressed, but most are!  I would have liked to have seen Job discussed because it is a difficult book of the Bible to discuss with children.  If you examine the Table of Contents, you'll see that much of the Old Testament is covered in detail.   The goal is to explore the Old Testament in ten minutes a day, five days a week.  Methodically, and over time (1.5 years!), your family will complete the Old Testament study and everyone will have a better understanding of it!

~ Old Story New: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God
Covers the New Testament.  Once again, most of the stories within the New Testament are covered, in detail, in Old Story New.   I think this looks solid, and I can't wait to get my own copy.  (For the review, I have downloadable PDFs since it is a super brand-new book.)  Like LSS, OSN is comprised of 78 lessons (five days each).  These are comprehensive studies for families.

I would even dare say that if families opted to only do the first lesson of each week, they would still benefit greatly.  I really like how the Bible reading is divided into small chunks, so that families can really focus while keeping the devotional time short.  Parents can do as much or as little as they like to tailor it to their own needs.

One last thing: I first learned about these devotionals when a children and youth pastor recommended it to me.  His church uses the curriculum in his church and many of the families within the church have greatly benefited from Long Story Short.  He highly recommended these!

GIVEAWAY x3 Giveaway is now closed.  The winners are Christie, The Jones Family, and Leila.
New Growth Press is providing THREE winners with their own copy of Old Story New!  To enter to win, please leave a comment below.  Be sure I have a way to contact you through email!

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Giveaway will run through Monday, October 15th.  Winners will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond.  Random.org will help to choose the winners.  This is open to residents in the US and Canada.  Thanks for entering!
Thank you New Growth Press for providing my copy of Long Story Short.  I look forward to seeing the rest of Old Story New.  Also, big thanks for providing three winners with a copy for themselves!

~ Annette {This Simple Mom}