Things Not Seen: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of Trusting God’s Promises by Jon Bloom – available from FamilyChristian.com for $13.99
We plead for God’s deliverance from our pain and wonder why he keeps letting it go on. We are not alone. A cloud of witnesses surrounds us. And they help us understand. Things Not Seen is a collection of 35 retellings of Bible stories from Jon Bloom, in which he explores the hope and joy that Abraham, Moses, Naomi, John the Baptist, and others experienced in the painful process of discovering that God’s promises really are more trustworthy than our perceptions.
Family Christian sent me this new book, Things Not Seen, to read and review. All opinions are my own.
I was excited to receive this book because it looked….well, I’m not sure how to describe it. Refreshing, I guess. It looked like something that was going to be different than anything I’ve read before!
I’ve been pleased so far. This is a “retelling” of familiar stories. For example, the first one is about Joseph and his brothers after Joseph revealed himself to them in Egypt and they returned home to their father. The story begins with the brothers telling their father, Jacob, that his beloved Joseph was alive. There is a lot of dialogue in these retellings that is the author’s elaboration on the snippets of conversation we find in the Bible. But I find that even with the elaborations it’s still in line with Scripture. I mean, I can imagine Jacob saying, “What do you mean he’s alive?” after hearing his sons tell him that his beloved son that he has thought dead for 20 years is alive. And all of Jacob’s sons talking over one another trying to recount everything that happened on their second trip to Egypt.
These added details make the stories come alive in a way I hadn’t previously known. It makes them sound like they’re happening right in front of you as you’re reading it because the conversation is like you would have with someone sitting in front of you. I guess they hit the nail on the head when they printed on the cover, a fresh look at old stories of trusting God’s promises. Because that’s exactly what it is.
My favorite story so far is Chapter 8 – Jesus Comes When You Least Expect It – about Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. But I still have a ways to go – remember, there are 35 stories! I’m sure I’ll find another favorite.
Would you like to read this book for yourself? You can purchase it from Family Christian for $13.99 OR you can enter to WIN a copy right here!
Giveaway ends 9/8/15 @ 11:59pm cst. If you are viewing this post in an email or feedreader you will not see the entry form above. Please click HERE to go to this post on the blog so the entry form will load!
Thank you for the chance :)