God Gave Us So Much by Lisa Tawn Bergren

About this time last year, my family was first introduced to Lisa Tawn Bergren when we received and reviewed God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Christmas. I was more than delighted when a limited-edition three-book treasury in the “God Gave Us” series came available for review. God Gave Us So Much combines two previously released titles (God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Heaven) with the newest title in the series entitled God Gave Us the World.

In God Gave Us the World, Little Cub discovers that the world is much bigger than she ever imagined and that not all bears are polar bears like her. To her it seems rather odd that God would make different bears who live very differently from her. But, as her mother explains, God showed great wisdom in His creativity when He created a world full of different creatures with different lives. Mama teaches Little Cub that the more we learn about and care for this amazing world God created, the more we learn to worship and serve Him in it.

In God Gave Us Love, Grampa and Little Cub are fishing together when their fishing is interrupted by playful otters who scare the fish away. Grampa uses the example of the pesky otters to begin to teach Little Cub about true love – the love of God that is to dwell in us both toward those who are easy to love and those who are hard.

In God Gave Us Heaven, Little Cub asks Papa what heaven is. As they venture out on a fishing trip, Papa uses everyday life to explain how much greater our eternal home will be. But, the most beautiful portion of the story comes when Little Cub asks how we get to heaven. Papa explains that because God wanted us to be able to be in heaven with Him, He sent His Son Jesus to be our bridge.

As sweet as Bergren's stories are, they are incomplete without the precious illustrations by Laura J. Bryant. Bryant's art flows with and enhances each story, even frequently adding an extra dimension to the narrative. Together, Bergren and Bryant's work can be used as a fun tool for teaching young children basic truths about God and foundational concepts of the Christian faith.

I received this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.