How To Celebrate Lent With Kids w/ Vanessa Myers

What if your family could discover new purpose and spiritual growth this Lent by wondering together about the Easter story?

On this episode of the Collide Kids Podcast, host Christen Clark sits down with Vanessa Myers, children's minister, author, and founder of Family Faith Builders, for an inspiring conversation about raising Christian kids, faith at home, and meaningful family time during Lent. Vanessa shares practical ways families can build discipleship, nurture spiritual growth, and live out their faith—plus, insight into her latest devotional that invites kids and parents to dive deeper and wonder through the Easter story.

Resources:

• familyfaithbuilders.org
• Wondering to Jerusalem on Amazon
• Website: collidekidspodcast.com
• Instagram: @collidekidspod

*Special thanks to our editor Jay Lee from provisionpods.com! 

Clip Finder:

Empowering Families to Live Out Their Faith: "That's what my heart is for, is for families, moms and dads, grandparents, whoever, you know, at home to spend time together in the word, praying together and talking and living out their faith, you know."

— Vanessa Myers [00:03:32 → 00:03:42]

Using Imagination to Explore Historical Stories: "God doesn't give us, He doesn't always give us all the details of things. So I help kids use their wonder and imagination and thinking more about the story...

— Vanessa Myers [00:10:36 → 00:10:55]

Why Did People Recline at the Table?: "When I was doing my research, you know, they [reclined at the table to eat]. They really embraced the Roman style of dining because they were under the Roman rule at that time in history. And so Romans, you know, set up long tables, low, long tables, and they reclined like this, you know, so like with their feet facing away. And just that really was interesting to me."

— Vanessa Myers [00:12:22 → 00:13:03]

Viral Topic Title: Lent Sacrifices and Their True Purpose  

Quote: "It's not just giving up and, oh, I'm gonna give up this food because I wanna lose weight, you know, or whatever. Like, it's really taking that sacrifice and focusing it on the Word and reading the Word, you know? So that's what I tell kids. It's not just giving up something for fun."

— Vanessa Myers [00:18:05 → 00:18:20]

Title: The Most Important Decision

One of my favorite parts about the book at the end is really helping them to understand what it means to make the greatest decision of their life, and that's to follow Jesus, and what that looks like, and why it's important, and how to live that out. 

— Vanessa Myers [00:19:40 → 00:20:00]

Viral Topic – Nostalgic Easter Traditions: "We would walk to church every Sunday, Easter Sunday morning. And we would come home and we'd have our big Easter meal, which consisted of pot roast and potatoes and carrots. And everybody had their own seat. Cousins, aunts, uncles, we all were there. I just remember those, the egg hunts that we had at the church."

— Vanessa Myers [00:21:59 → 00:22:16]

Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan !

Transcript

Christen Clark [00:00:31]:

Hey y'all, welcome to the Collide Kids Podcast. I'm your host, Christen Clark. The Collide Kids Podcast is a show for kids and families where we learn together how life and faith collide. I'm so glad that you're listening today. Thanks for being here and spending this time with me. Today's episode, I think, is gonna be really special because this week we are going to be observing Ash Wednesday, which means we are heading into the season of Lent. Now, if you've never heard the words Ash Wednesday or Lent before, Or maybe your church has never talked about this and you're like, wait, what does this actually mean? You are not alone. So today's conversation is all about helping families understand what this season is really about and how we can lean into it in a meaningful way in your home.

Christen Clark [00:01:12]:

I am joined today by my really good friend Vanessa Myers. Vanessa is a children's minister. She's an author, and she's the founder of Family Faith Builders. Her heart is all about helping families build their faith at home that lasts for generations, and she is so amazing about creating simple biblical resources to help families read, know, and live God's word together. This was such a helpful and encouraging conversation for me, so I can't wait for you to hear it. Before we jump in, I do want to take a quick second to say thank you for being here and supporting this show. Just by listening and downloading this, you are supporting the Collide Kids podcast, and that means so much to me. So if this podcast has been helpful for your family, would you be willing to take a moment to leave a rating and a review in your podcast app? It's just one of the easiest ways that you can help other families find out about this show.

Christen Clark [00:02:02]:

And just a reminder, if you're a busy parent like I am, I'm definitely a busy parent, I started a podcast in the fall called 7 Minute Devotions for Busy Parents. So if you're looking for some quick encouragement in your own faith, remember it's only 7 minutes, be sure to check that out. It's short, it's simple, and it's designed to help parents stay rooted in God's word, even on the busiest of days. All right. Let's jump in with my friend as we talk about Ash Wednesday and Lent and how our families can walk together through this season in such a meaningful way. Here's my conversation with Vanessa Myers. Well, Vanessa Myers, I am so glad to have you back on the Collide Kids Podcast.

Vanessa Myers [00:02:51]:

Thank you, Christen. It's good to be here.

Christen Clark [00:02:53]:

Yeah, this is so fun. I feel like we're slumber party pals because we've done a lot of conferences where we have to stay together. Would you just introduce yourself to our listeners? Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Vanessa Myers [00:03:05]:

Yes, so I am a full-time children's minister in Georgia, and I also, um, have an online ministry called Family Faith Builders where I create simple Bible resources for families to use at home to help them read, know, and live God's word. And so I'm in the trenches every day, just like most of you leaders out there, and I'm developing resources I feel that are fun and easy to use and really help kids get into the word. So that's what my heart is for, is for families, moms and dads, grandparents, whoever, you know, at home to spend time together in the word, praying together and talking and living out their faith, you know. So In my own family, I have my husband. It's just me and my husband here now, because my two girls are in college, and we're empty nesters. So, and I just pray that what we taught them growing up will stick as they spread their wings and fly. So.

Christen Clark [00:03:57]:

Yes. Well, and I also love being able to talk with other moms who are like in the season ahead of me. So mine are in middle school. So not too long from now, they're gonna be in college. And you know, and so I like that I get to talk to parents who are kind of— I've always loved that. Like when I had babies, I wanted to know about the toddler phase and the preschool phase, you know? So having those people that are ahead of you, that's good to surround yourself with.

Vanessa Myers [00:04:21]:

It's different. It's taken some adjustment, but it's good too, you know? Yeah. And it was good having them home for the holidays too, you know? And then they left and I was like, oh, I miss them.

Christen Clark [00:04:30]:

And then they're home and you're like, when are they gonna leave again? Well, I'm excited to talk with you, especially about all your books. You have lots of great resources. And you have a new book that's just come out, but we're gonna talk about that in a minute because I think our listeners are really gonna enjoy this, especially right now, uh, this week. So before we do that, because this is a show for kids, I always ask my guests to tell me a joke or something funny. So what do you have for us today?

Vanessa Myers [00:04:56]:

Well, since we just celebrated Valentine's Day, um, I'm going to give you a Valentine's joke.

Christen Clark [00:05:01]:

Okay.

Vanessa Myers [00:05:01]:

So, um, what do you call sweets that can keep a beat?

Christen Clark [00:05:05]:

Ooh, I don't know.

Vanessa Myers [00:05:06]:

Candy wrappers. Sorry.

Christen Clark [00:05:11]:

That was good. That was good. Candy wrappers.

Vanessa Myers [00:05:13]:

That's good.

Christen Clark [00:05:14]:

Well, let's talk a little bit about— first, let's talk about how you got into writing books, because you have a few books and I love them, and I'm excited that you are continuing to do this. How did you get started writing books?

Vanessa Myers [00:05:27]:

Uh, well, that was a God thing. I honestly hate writing. I hated writing. Like, cannot stand it. When I was growing up, I hated English classes. My grandmother was an English teacher. My mom was a teacher. I hated writing about things that I didn't enjoy.

Vanessa Myers [00:05:43]:

Like, I don't care about Shakespeare and the Canterbury Tales. Like, you know, that's right. But when I found something I love, which is the Bible and the Word of God, I love to write about it. And I remember coming into children's ministry because I first did youth ministry for like 8 years. Um, and then the past 15 or 16 years I've been doing children's ministry. It came with like, you know, curriculum, and I thought, I don't really like this curriculum, but I could rewrite this, you know, and that kind of started that process. Then I felt God called me to write my story and my story about serving Him and the fears I had. So that was my very first book called Rise Up.

Vanessa Myers [00:06:17]:

And then from that, I just got into like just devotionals for children and really teaching the Word of God, because I feel there's so many devotionals out there that are— I call them fluffy devotionals, but like that don't— they maybe give a Bible verse, but it's nothing related to the Word of God, you know. Story, and I want to teach them the words through these devotions. So they're getting Bible verses and scriptures. So that's kind of— that first devotional was Breakfast with Jesus, all about, you know, all about Jesus's life. Next one's the Bible Food Truck, all about food in the Bible. The next one was, um, Wondering to Bethlehem, which is about the Christmas story. And then my newest one too. But I just— all through that, I really wanted to teach them the word.

Vanessa Myers [00:06:54]:

And also, it's also helping parents learn the word too, as well, right? As my associate pastor said before, Vanessa, these devotionals are not just for children, they're also for for the adults that go with them, the kids, because they're learning so much too. And that's what I want. Um, I want them to learn the word of God in, in a simple way that they can understand.

Christen Clark [00:07:14]:

And I love that, like you said, they're centered on the Bible and like learning the Bible, because I think a lot of times we jump right ahead in our Bible reading or whatever, we jump ahead to how this is applied to me right now. But sometimes we need to learn the context and the story and the location of where the people were. And, you know, like, that kind of stuff is really part of the story and adds a lot of meaning to those verses that we love so much. So I love that your devotionals do that for kids and for families. Okay, so your latest book, I like to take credit for it because.

Vanessa Myers [00:07:51]:

Um.

Christen Clark [00:07:51]:

It'S called Wondering to Jerusalem. Um, I didn't come up with a title, I didn't write anything, but on the first page, if you're looking at this on YouTube, on the first page, that's my name because I wrote an endorsement for it. And so I like to take credit for this book. Tell us a little bit about our book.

Vanessa Myers [00:08:09]:

Yes, our book came, um, came because, well, I wrote Wonder to Bethlehem a few years ago, and then I really wanted to do a, the Easter story. And so I'm taking the, the Holy Week story, so starting with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem all the way to his resurrection. Taking it and breaking it down in 40 devotions, which you can read over the season of Lent if you celebrate Lent. And if you don't celebrate Lent, you can do it as an Easter devotional with your children too. So, but it really unpacks everything that the story is. It doesn't just tell you the story or go read it. It really, as you said before, you know, learning the context of the story, you know, what was going on around it, what was happening, you know, timeline of things is really important. Why did Jesus use a rooster? You know, that kind of thing.

Vanessa Myers [00:09:00]:

Just little things like that. And in through it, I give you my wanderings, things that I wonder about, like, um, just really, I like to think outside the lines, like what was going on around that story? What could have been happening? What happened? I'm not really sure. But it also gives you wandering pages to do, to write down and draw pictures and write your wanderings as well. So, and write some scripture and put in some stickers, you know, so. And you're learning the whole story of the Easter story, which is central, central to our faith as Christians. I do talk about the crucifixion. I do talk about, you know, the resurrection and all that's important for children to know. Yeah, because that's why we believe in Jesus as our Savior, because of what he did for us.

Vanessa Myers [00:09:40]:

Right.

Christen Clark [00:09:40]:

That's so true. And I think there's parts of the story that's really hard, and it's hard, especially for little kids to understand and to hear. But it's also, like you said, it's so important to our faith. And so I love that your book takes us through that story, not just the hard parts, but also the parts that were really amazing and the miracles and the beautiful things that happened leading up to that moment. And it helps you just to appreciate it. I like that you— this is the second book that you've used the word wondering. Why is that? Why, what is it about wondering that you like putting into your books?

Vanessa Myers [00:10:14]:

I just, like I said, just like to think deeper into the story. You know, I want to— if I was there at that time in history, I would want to know, what am I seeing? You know, what's going on around me? What is this scene? What's it, you know, I wonder what they were thinking. Why did they do this? You know, what else, you know, what do the disciples think? That's just, that's the way my brain thinks is like, I want to know a little bit more. God doesn't give us, He doesn't always give us all the details of things. So I help kids use their wonder and imagination and thinking more about the story, what could have happened sitting around the table. What kind of conversations did the disciples and Jesus have at that Last Supper as they reclined at the table? What does reclining mean? Why did they recline at a table? You know, little things like that. Yeah.

Christen Clark [00:10:55]:

And that's important. Kids need to use their imagination. That's a good part of development, but also it's fun. It makes the story come to life, like you said, because they're picturing themselves. It's reminding me though of, did you ever watch that show Mr. Peabody and Sherman?

Vanessa Myers [00:11:09]:

Not faithfully, but I've seen it.

Christen Clark [00:11:11]:

But you know, like where they travel back into time and those historic moments. That's kind of what your book is doing, is taking us there and allowing us to kind of be part of the story and think through what's happening throughout it.

Vanessa Myers [00:11:24]:

It's not because a lot of times it's like, I mean, if you've grown up as a Christian your whole life and you know the Bible, and as one kid said to me before, every year, "Miss Vanessa, we've already learned the story." I'm like, guess what? We're learning it again, because we're learning something new. But sometimes it gets to be like, we know the story, so we think, well, we don't need to learn anything else. But God teaches us something new every time we open it. And I'm almost 50 years old and I'm learning new things about this story of the, you know, the last week of Jesus's life that I didn't know before because I didn't dive deeper into it. And so I want to help kids really dive into the word.

Christen Clark [00:11:58]:

Yeah, that's great. And I agree, I'm the same way. Like, I'm still learning things and I've been, I've been a Christian for so many years and I still, every time I open the Bible, I'm like, I didn't know that was there. I didn't, I didn't realize it said it this way. So the more we learn, the more it opens up. —what is it—portals to other places that we can ask more questions and keep discovering. That's what makes it so fun. As you were writing this book, what were some things that you learned that you didn't know before?

Vanessa Myers [00:12:22]:

Well, the whole reclining at the table thing was really interesting because, you know, we read that and like, why did Jewish people recline at the table? When I was doing my research, you know, they did. They really embraced the Roman style of dining because they were under the Roman rule at that time in history. And so Romans, you know, set up long tables, low, long tables, and they reclined like this, you know, so like with their feet facing away. And just that really was interesting to me. And so I can't wait to teach the Last Supper, you know, it's coming up here soon with my kids at church because I'm like, guess what we're gonna be doing, guys? We're gonna be reclining at the table, not just sitting in a chair, because I've always set the table for them when we teach the Last Supper, but I've never let them recline. And so we're gonna be reclining.

Christen Clark [00:13:03]:

Fun.

Vanessa Myers [00:13:04]:

And then the whole time thing, I've talked, you know, about why did Jesus use a rooster? Well, I mean, think about that. Like, what time of day was it? That helps you know what time of day it was. I mean, it wasn't just a— well, that's kind of a random animal for Jesus to say, hey, Peter, you're going to deny me after the rooster crows. Well, why rooster? Why not a lamb? Why not a sheep? I mean, whatever, you know. But it was the time of day. Like, he was, you know, he was arrested at night. He takes you through the middle of the night, okay? And more denials were coming. And when does the rooster crow? At sunrise, you know.

Vanessa Myers [00:13:36]:

So, and then the whole thing about like in the temple, they— they— the priests sacrificed lambs at 9 AM and 3 PM. Those were daily sacrifices that they made for the atonement of our sins. And what happened at 9 AM and 3 PM? Jesus was crucified, and at 3 PM he died. So he was fulfilling that sacrifice. No longer was a sacrifice needed because now he is the sacrifice for us and for our sins.

Christen Clark [00:14:01]:

Yeah, I think too there's lots of times when we're reading the Bible and we think— and like will read something and be like, "That's very random," or like, "That doesn't make sense. Why would they put that sentence there about this?" But it could be that it may not mean something to us because we're viewing it from our American perspective and our culture today, where the people back then would see that and be like, "This is amazing." And they would understand the culture or the timeline or whatever. So that is really cool to like dive into that. What are your favorite things to do when you're doing research and like looking things up, how do you do your research? What do you use, lots of concordances, or do you just Google everything? What, what's your study method?

Vanessa Myers [00:14:44]:

Well, if you come to my house, I have a lot of Bibles, and so different kinds of Bibles. And my favorite Bible that was given to me by a friend was the Archaeological Bible, and that has helped me so much because it takes and just breaks a lot of that. It's where a lot of my research came from. That And through doing Bible studies, about 5 years ago, 2 of my friends and I decided we would do Bible studies together. And none of us were teaching it. We were all just reading the Bible together and doing things. But we discovered, which I heard her speak at CPC, but Christi McClellan, she has, if you don't have, never done any of her Bible studies, you need to go do them because they are so good. Luke in the Land, Gospel on the Ground, Jesus and Women.

Vanessa Myers [00:15:23]:

She breaks, she helps you learn it from the Jewish culture and their perspective. So that, her books have helped me tremendously in teaching big, you know, kids, the Bible and the way it happened, you know, in their culture, not through our culture and things like that. So really, honestly, it was God giving me this desire and hunger for the Word of God more and to know it more, just, you know, 5 years ago. And it has helped me so much in my teaching and in my writing, and really helping other people, kids, moms and dads really discover the Word in a deeper way.

Christen Clark [00:15:57]:

That's— I love that you said like, God just gave you a hunger for his Word because That's— I think we should all pray for that if we don't have that, because it's so important. Well, I am so excited for our listeners to check out your book, and it lines up perfectly. This interview comes out right before Ash Wednesday, which, if your church does not recognize— not a lot of churches recognize Ash Wednesday anymore, but some do— would you just explain what Ash Wednesday is and why that is so significant?

Vanessa Myers [00:16:25]:

The season of Lent is kicked off with Ash Wednesday, so Our church does a service where it's about repentance and forgiveness and sacrifice. That's what the season of Lent is about. And so when we come to Ash Wednesday, we are getting the ashes marked on our forehead and as a way of, you know, as our way of seeking forgiveness of our sins and focusing on the next 40 days of spending, um, sacrificing because Jesus was our ultimate sacrifice and what he did for us, but also what can we give up, that thing. So we do have, I do like to take kids into the service, the Ash Wednesday service at our church. Um, just to see it. Our ashes are made from the palm branches from the previous year, so that's what they are. That's cool. Yeah, but to really, uh, it's repentance, you know, coming— that's, that's— we're just going to spend the next 40 days, um, focusing on repentance and forgiveness and giving up things and focusing on Jesus.

Vanessa Myers [00:17:16]:

And I didn't celebrate Lent. I also don't remember celebrating Lent as a kid growing up. I don't think I'll Honestly didn't think I learned about it until college or seminary. So seminary might have been the first place I heard about it, but really the, the, um, giving up something for 40 days, I was like, what is this? You know, that sounds terrible.

Christen Clark [00:17:36]:

I don't want to do that.

Vanessa Myers [00:17:37]:

But you know, over the years there's been things, you know, from social media to, um, you know, food, types of food that I need to give up, things that keep me from focusing on Jesus. And I always laugh when we do this with the kids. Every season of Lent begins, okay, what are you gonna give up? And they're like, broccoli. I'm like, okay, you can't give up something that you don't like already. It has to be a sacrifice. Okay, what do you do a lot of that you need to give up so that you can spend more time? And it's not just giving up and, oh, I'm gonna give up this food because I wanna lose weight, you know, or whatever. Like, it's really taking that sacrifice and focusing it on the Word and reading the Word, you know? So that's what I tell kids. It's not just giving up something for fun.

Vanessa Myers [00:18:20]:

Woo-hoo, we're gonna give up candy, you know, or sweets or whatever, but spend that time and you, you craving those sweets, okay, like I'm gonna crave the Word of God now. So let's go and let's replace that with the Word.

Christen Clark [00:18:33]:

I'm giving up broccoli as well.

Vanessa Myers [00:18:38]:

No.

Christen Clark [00:18:38]:

Yeah, it's not something that we want to do. And like you said, it has to be a sacrifice. There's a story that David, King David, said, "I will not offer my God something that costs me nothing." And so we have to— when we give a sacrifice, it costs us something, but the benefit to us is more hunger for God's Word, or closer relationship with Him, or more time in prayer, or more time telling people about Jesus. So I think if we can take that time and put that discipline in our lives, it's a good thing to practice. So even if your church doesn't recognize Lent, you could still be a part of that. And then your book lines up if they start your book on Ash Wednesday, does it get them to Easter?

Vanessa Myers [00:19:23]:

Yeah. So in the season of Lent, there's 40 days, but you don't count Sundays. So those are not included in that. So you would not read a devotion on a Sunday. And so you would basically, 40 devotions gets you to Holy Saturday. And then on Easter, I also give 2 bonus devotions, 2 Easter Sunday morning devotions that they wanna do. One of my favorite parts about the book at the end is really helping them to understand what it means to make the greatest decision of their life, and that's to follow Jesus, and what that looks like, and why it's important, and how to live that out. And I give them a place, which I always tell my own kids, my church kids, when they give their life to Jesus, when they're saved, and when they're baptized, write that day down in your Bible.

Vanessa Myers [00:20:00]:

Take that as a way to remember. I have that written in my Bible growing up, the Good News Bible was one as I grew up reading as a kid. And I have that. October 23rd, 1988 is when I gave my life to Jesus. And so, that is good for me to be able to look back on and then, you know, to tell my kids, you know, there's gonna be tough times in your life when you don't— you need to remember when you gave your life to Jesus. When you were baptized. It's gonna make me cry. You know, so, and I give them a place too, in this book, at the end, where they can write that date.

Vanessa Myers [00:20:33]:

Like, "I have decided to follow Jesus," and they can write that down. If you're looking on YouTube, you. But you can see that the day I was saved, the day I was baptized, and I just want kids to know Jesus.

Christen Clark [00:20:43]:

That's awesome. Well, I'm excited for people to get a hold of the— our book. Still take credit for it. Um, I wrote like 3 sentences and you wrote the whole thing, but I'm—.

Vanessa Myers [00:20:53]:

You read it beforehand, so thank you.

Christen Clark [00:20:55]:

I did, I did. You're welcome. Tell our listeners where they can find this book and get a hold of it so they can start it.

Vanessa Myers [00:21:01]:

It's on Amazon, so just go to Amazon now. Um, Wondering to Jerusalem, just type in that with my name, I guess. Vanessa Meyers, and you'll be able to find it.

Christen Clark [00:21:10]:

Awesome. And then you have lots of great resources for families, downloadable things, things they can look at, um, and get a hold of right away at familyfaithbuilders.org, where they can check out all your other resources just to, to go through God's word together and to build your faith. Well, Vanessa, this has been so great. Before I let you go, I always like to ask my guests to tell me a memory from when they were a kid. So what's a memory you want to share today?

Vanessa Myers [00:21:35]:

Well, since we're talking about Easter and all that stuff, I remember, and I talk about this a little bit in my book, but Easter Sundays, we always spent it at my grandparents' house, um, in Tennessee. I lived in Georgia growing up, so we drove the 4.5 hours to Tennessee. Back then, Easter seemed to fall during spring break for the most part. I mean, so we always had spring break week at our grandparents', and every Sunday morning— my grandparents lived down the street from our church, so we would walk to church every Sunday, Easter Sunday morning. And we would come home and we'd have our big Easter meal, which consisted of pot roast and potatoes and carrots. And everybody had their own seat. Cousins, aunts, uncles, we all were there. I just remember those, the egg hunts that we had at the church.

Vanessa Myers [00:22:16]:

Those are some good memories. And then my grandmother would always take me and my cousin Amanda to the nursing home in her little small town, and at like the Saturday before Easter, and we would pass out these little tracts and we would talk to the residents about Jesus. And I just remember that, that was a scary time, you know, as a kid going into a nursing home, you know.

Christen Clark [00:22:36]:

Yeah.

Vanessa Myers [00:22:36]:

And I was scared, but my grandmother was just so faithful to share, um, Jesus with those people.

Christen Clark [00:22:41]:

So that's beautiful.

Vanessa Myers [00:22:43]:

Those are the memories I have.

Christen Clark [00:22:44]:

I love that. I love that. Good memories. Well, thank you so much for sharing that, and thank you again for being on the show. This was great. I always love when guests talk about memories from their childhood when they were with their grandparents. I just think that's so amazing, and it reminds me of my grandparents, so that was really sweet. I am so excited for you guys to get a hold of this book because if you need some help going through this season, I think Vanessa's book is going to be such a helpful thing for your family to dive into the season of Lent and get ready for Easter, and it's going to make your Easter celebration so much more meaningful as you walk through this.

Christen Clark [00:23:31]:

So, like we said, this week begins Ash Wednesday, and it's kicking off the season of Lent. Vanessa reminded us that Lent is just a season to focus on repentance and recognizing what Jesus Christ sacrificed for you and for me. So we can choose to sacrifice or give something up for these 40 days as a way to better focus our attention on God. And spending time in prayer and reading the Bible, those are great ways to do that. I love when she was sharing about wondering, that word wondering in her book title, and the importance of helping kids think deeper into the story. What would it be like if I was there? What were they thinking? What were they doing? Sometimes God doesn't give us all of those details, and so it's really good to ask questions and learn the story. Kids can have a more of an experience of that story, and God can always use that to teach us something new. Vanessa reminded us that the Easter story is central to our faith, so it is so important that we learn this, not just listening to the story, but growing an understanding of what it's about.

Christen Clark [00:24:28]:

And that applies to adults as well as to kids. Kids need to learn about the Easter story and know what it really means. Well, if you'd like more information about Vanessa and her resources for families, go to familyfaithbuilders.org, and I'll be sure to include that in our show notes. I'm also going to put my Amazon links for her book and the Archaeological Bible that she mentioned in the show notes. So if you're interested in those, if you need something else to help you study, definitely go check that out. Well, I know we covered a lot of information today, but I had a good friend remind me, whenever you get a lot of information like that of things that you could do better in your family or things that you could think about, they said you don't have to do everything. Just take one small step. What's the next best thing that you can do right now that God's inviting you into, that God is inviting your family to start.

Christen Clark [00:25:17]:

I hope that this will be an inspiration for that. So thanks for joining us today. I hope you have an amazing week, and remember, God loves you so much. If you love today's episode, share it with a friend and follow us on social media @collidekidspod so you don't miss what's next. You can find more episodes and resources at collidekidspodcast.com. And leave a quick rating and review. That really helps other families find out about the show. Thanks so much for being a part of the Collide Kids podcast.

Christen Clark [00:25:48]:

And in case no one has told you today, God loves you so much. See you next time.