Parenting with Words of Grace
Building Relationships with Your Children One Conversation at a Time
by
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Pub Date Feb 28 2019 | Archive Date Feb 05 2019
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Description
Offering practical guidance for grace-filled communication in the midst of the craziness of everyday life, Parenting with Words of Grace will help you speak in ways that reflect the grace God has shown to you in the gospel.
A Note From the Publisher
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Advance Praise
“This book immediately affected the way I had conversations with my grandchildren about some teachable moments in their lives. Smith brings together Scripture and illustrations in a way that makes you want to do better in those conversations, and helps you know how to do it.”
—Ed Welch, Faculty and Counselor, Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation
“If you’re like me, you might have read the title of this book, Parenting with Words of Grace, and felt the need to stifle a moan. Oh, no . . . here comes the guilt! Please don’t make that assumption. Like its title, this book is filled with words of grace: grace to you as a parent and grace to you as a child of the only Father who knows what it is to always speak with words of grace. It’s full of deeply satisfying encouragement for your soul and is written in a winsome and honest way. You’ll be glad you read it. You really will.”
—Elyse Fitzpatrick, author, Give Them Grace
“A rich resource loaded with scriptural insight. Bible lovers will relish Smith’s use and application of Scripture. Parents will be comforted that they are not alone in some of their struggles and given helpful instructions on how to be good parents.”
—Ajith Fernando, Teaching Director, Youth for Christ, Sri Lanka; author, The Family Life of a Christian Leader and Discipling in a Multicultural World
“I am allergic to formulaic, pedantic, ‘how-to’ Christian books on parenting. Thankfully, that is not what this book is. Bill Smith recognizes that gospel-shaped parenting is more like art than mathematics; we need to depend more on the Holy Spirit than any how-to manual! Most importantly, Smith urges Christian parents to see their God-given role as authoritative, yes, but also formative as they use their words and conversations to establish a Christ-centered relationship with their children that can continue for all eternity. I commend this book to you and have already benefited from it myself.”
—Jon Nielson, Senior Pastor, Spring Valley Presbyterian Church, Roselle, Illinois; coeditor, Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry
“Who doesn’t want to invite their children into a healthy, vibrant relationship? I know I do. Bill Smith gives a compelling vision for how our words and conversations shape our parenting and how, through our words, we are vehicles through which our children see God. I read this book and wanted to go talk to my kids. You will too.”
—Courtney Reissig, author, Glory in the Ordinary
“A powerful and encouraging read! William Smith highlights the power of our words as motivators for our children to seek a real and lasting relationship with Jesus Christ. He offers encouragement for our failed words and help for our future words.”
—Shona Murray, author, Refresh: Embracing a Grace-Paced Life in a World of Endless Demands
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781433560972 |
PRICE | $14.99 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
I absolutely love the premise behind this book, and I learned a lot about the character of God. If we look to how God speaks to us, we will see a beautiful example of how we should speak to our children. This book is full of scripture passages to help us truly see the character of God, and then helps us think about how we can implement what we learn from God into our relationships with our children.
I didn’t love the writing style of the author. I felt like it was a bit choppy and there was no good flow between thoughts.
Thanks to netgalley and the author for the ARC. I truly enjoyed reading it!
I read Parenting with Words of Grace because I enjoy books that contain scripture references and also comparing scripture to parenting-life in modern times. While there were chapters and chapters with references to the Bible, I still felt like the book missed a lot of opportunity to use real examples of “Parenting with Words of Grace”.
Don’t get me wrong, the author is clearly a smart pastor and knows his scripture, but the “real life” examples where he spoke to his own children with Words of Grace seemed to be unauthentic and not very realistic (at least in my opinion). I was hoping for more examples of how to speak with children or family members based on the title, however the book kind of missed the mark.
I feel like the book lacks overall structure, there were too few parenting examples (some but not many and unrealistic), and just a disorganized flow of the book in general. The book did not meet my expectations based on my initial impression of the title and book description.
Thank you Crossway books and #netgalkey for my free e-book arc in exchange for an honest review.
This is an excellent book, challenging and full of grace (just like its title!) In this crazy world we live in, parents need this kind of guidance and encouragement, that, when put into practice, shapes the next generation in love, giving God the glory, and bring hope to a lost and desperate world.
I received an advance copy of this book from Crossway and NetGalley.
We speak so many words to our children everyday but so often at the end of the day I wonder how many words actually built my children up and pointed them to Christ. In this immensely practical book William Smith offers countless practical examples of how to speak to our children to build god relationships with them and build a home where Christ is spoken of openly.
So often our words are a result of us being tired and busy, this book will encourage you to speak words of Grace to your children and the importance of what we say.
"Parenting with Words of Grace" by William Smith is a practical book for parents. It teaches parents the importance of keeping open communication with your children. It shows the parents to always be open in the way they communicate and accepting . He warns against turning your children off so they will not listen. The book uses good examples and ties in scripture . It reminds us of God's love for us and His patience and reminds us to do the same for our children. I appreciate the publisher , author and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this wonderful book.
Your kids mature through conversations. That is the main idea of this book. Through our conversations, we teach our children. Just as we learn from our conversations with God, our children learn from us. They not only learn who we are and how we treat them, but they also learn who God is. Every time you talk to your child, you are communicating "This is what I am like as a person- this is what I value; this is what's important to me; this is how I think about life; this is how I think about you."
There are aspects of this book that I loved, the mission to speak thoughtfully to our children was great. However, I felt like his personal stories were completely unrealistic. Overall, I would recommend this book.
"Teach and talk everywhere. Verbally communicate not simply what God says, but how his words intersect with daily life as you're home or on the road...Fill your children's world with God's words so that they develop a sense of who he is, who they are in relation to him, and how they must live in this world."
The things we choose to say or not to say, along with the way that we say them, are either an invitation to, or a warning against, greater relationship. Parenting then is the privilege of wooing potential future peers-smaller, less developed images of God-inviting them, if they so choose, to vertical and horizontal relationships that could outlast time. Parenting can't work if you force your children to love you or work well with you but you can woo. You can give them an experience of living in God's world that invites them to have more. You can use words to love them, pursue them, train them, and engage them like God uses words with you. In doing so your kids, will have the chance to sense his character and nature through you, which will help them decide whether or not they'd like more of you and more of him. It is an invitation for a long lasting relationship.
There is a balancing act in parenting your children. Parenting can be tough love when needed but it also can be filled with grace. It is through our everyday conversations that we can build a relationship that woos our children to us and to the Father. Words are powerful. They can be death or life. It is taking the opportunity to give life in our words to lift them up that they have the confidence to love others and serve.
There can be misconceptions on what grace is and the author makes those misconceptions plain. Grace is not enabling your children but showing them a better way. The distinction in itself can be harmful to the child if we are not mindful of it.
The goal of parenting with words of grace is to help connect our child to the love of Christ. It is by understanding the love of Christ, we can love others and Christ well. Words of Grace can give us opportunities to say 3 very important things. What kind of person am I. What kind of relationship can you expect to have with me in the future, and most more important, you represent God to your children and do they want to know him based on your representation. Highly recommend.
A Special Thank you to Crossway Publishing and Netgall
This is a book deeply needed in the Christian community. Previous to reading this book, I frequently recommended the book Everyday Talk, but this will become my new go-to recommendation for parents wanting to cultivate a gospel-saturated conversational style in their homes with their children. This book gives a great foundation for how to center your words with your children on the gospel. I think this book is a wonderful addition to the Christian parent's library of resources from training their children up in the way they should go. I know I will be sharing this book often with fellow parents.
What an amazing book on parenting! This book was encouraging, convicting and so well-written. The author shares stories from his own parenting experience but constantly points back to the power of the Gospel for parenting and investing well in our kids. The principles in this book can be used no matter what stage of parenting you are in - and the principles can be applied to all relationships. Very highly and wholeheartedly recommend!
This book is good. It's not perfect and if I had to choose between Parenting with Words of Grace and a few other books about parenting, I would likely choose another. The author appears to be quite religious which should seem obvious from the cover, however when a book is about relationship I'm looking more for the outworking of faith in relationship that religion.
His use of scripture, especially in the way we speak to our children is helpful.
This may be a book my husband would enjoy more than I did. It's pretty well written and easy to read. I am not disappointed I took the time to read it, I simply didn't find much that was new in here and could likely gather the same information from book I would enjoy more.
The publisher provided an ARC through Netgalley. I have voluntarily decided to read and review, giving my personal opinions and thoughts