Valerie -Welcome to Bookworthy. Today we're talking with the author and host of the Front Parking Spot podcast, Jennifer Bosma. Her latest children's picture book, God is Three in One, shows how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit love people and invite more people to God's family. Seeing the role each person in the Trinity plays with gentle rhymes, we see how God has been with us through all the ages. Welcome to Bookworthy Jennifer.
Jennifer -I am so glad to be here, Valerie. You are such a blessing to all of us. And I'm so glad you asked me to be on your show. Thank you.
Valerie -It is my pleasure. Love that we've had the chance to talk over on your podcast and then I get to have you as a guest over here on mine too. To start us off, we have to start with a random question of the week. And since it's October, we have to do it, what is your favorite thing about fall?
Jennifer -You know, fall, I just love fall. It's like kind of like even though it's kind of the beginning of everything, it's kind of like with the beginning of school, you know because I was a teacher for so long. But more than that, it's just like, like holidays coming up, birthdays coming up. It's just kind of like the start of a new year and just the fall leaves and the cool temperatures. You're just something to sit on your porch when those cool temperatures and kind of get a little snuggle blanket and a coffee. It's just, and it's a great time to write and talk and shows up with like the falling of the leaves, the old, and then you kind of it's just a real great cleansing and awaiting of the new that he has for you. So I just love fall and everything it represents.
Valerie -It has a lot to it for sure. It's definitely one of my favorite seasons because I live down here in Texas and it's hot a lot. And so when it starts cooling down, which usually is near the end of October, it's nice to actually have a hot cup of coffee and it actually, I don't know, feels good to drink rather than having to wait for it to be a little bit cooler outside. So I love that. Well, Jennifer, I'm so excited about this book which is out and about. Fun little picture book. Yay! Well, tell us a little bit. It’s beautiful. I'm so thankful I got to take a look at it before it came out and it's so sweet. Now what was your inspiration for this particular book?
Jennifer- You know, the inspiration, Valerie, is really funny. I was in Texas when my granddaughters lived there. You know, it was a hot day. We were on the front porch. And my four-year-old granddaughter, you know, we're just walking and playing. And she's like, and I said something about the Holy Spirit. And she said, Grandma, who is the Holy Spirit? And so I'm like, okay, a four-year-old in a Trinity question. Let's go with this. And immediately I started talking to her about the egg. The only way I used to ever know about explaining the Trinity was by saying, well, you know how an egg has a shell, a yolk, and a white? It's three parts, but it's all an egg. And she's looking at me like, what? You are equating God, with the
Holy Spirit to an egg? And they have a henhouse. So eggs are something she knew. And she kind of looked at me like, okay, this isn't working. And then I'm like, no, that isn't working. So I started rambling and telling her, you know, God the father, how God the son and God the Holy Spirit are all one and together. And, then I realized this was my next children's book. And I'm thinking, whoa, you know, the Trinity is hard for adults to comprehend. And it's one of those really like talked about and how do you explain the Trinity? And, I'm like, wait, I think I need to write a children's book on this. And I started just launched in and jumped in and tried to figure out, know, really kind of looked at what I know about the Trinity and in scripture. And it just dumped on me, like, you have to do this, Jennifer. And I'm like, really? Like, you know, this is my third book and my first two are really easy reads and this is an easy read too. And then God just poured it on me. Writing it from the point of view of God the Father, and then God the Son, and then God the Holy Spirit, and how we can get the Holy Spirit in our lives. And I was just in awe of how he revealed it to me. And then he gave it to me in rhyme. And I'm like, whoa. And the rhyme part, you know, it's just how he does things that he wants to do exceedingly. I love the scripture of Ephesians 3:20 and how he wants to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can desire or imagine. And the fact that he took something that I felt inadequate to do and just brought it into the full fold of how only God can do. And that's kind of how it got started and it came on pretty quick. It was in that.
Texas house on that porch watching those Texas sunrises when I just sat before the sun would come up and just wrote and wrote and edited and edited. And then when the rhyme came in, that was a whole other, you know, counting syllables and editing and still not losing the message and the word choice. It was just, I love it. It was just the way the Holy Spirit took over in this book. I give him all the glory and the praise.
Valerie - That's amazing. I love how you've taken this very complex and theological debate that often happens, you know, and made it simple yet simple, sweet and both. It is complex, you know, to communicate something as I don't know, big and broad and, even as adults still can't comprehend the Trinity because it's outside of humanity or what our brains can comprehend, but I love how you've made each part of the Trinity so intimate as if God is talking to the child who is reading and if Jesus is talking to the child and the Holy Spirit is talking to the child. And I love how you even have, what is it, there's one stanza that I absolutely love and I've almost had to reread it several times just for myself. In the end, goes,
with me in your life, I'm three in one and my work in you is far from done. You're made in my image. This was my plan. I have kept you in mind since the world began.
That's such as, mean, just that I didn't. Yes. That identity that made for it with a purpose. That's something that I don't know. My heart struggles to remember. It took till I was an adult to really comprehend. And just such a sweet message of knowing that even if we can't understand what God has, how, who, how, and what God is, we can know that we are made with purpose and that we are loved and we're made with a plan. So I love this little book.
Jennifer -Thank you, amen. And it was funny when I first gave it to Beth Snyder and I love this picture because look at this, this is God's hand and it's pierced when he was crucified. And when I first gave it, I really wanted Beth Snyder to be my illustrator because Beth is incredible. She is just, and she's an award-winning illustrator and it was really important to have Beth be the illustrator. And so when I gave, I sent this over to her and before Endgame Press picked it up with the Fusion Hybrid When I sent it to her, she's like, Jennifer, I don't know if I can do this book because I can't draw the face of God. Like, this is so big for me and I don't know how I can put this in illustrations. I said, Beth, I said, God has told me that you are to be the illustrator. I said, you know what, I'm just gonna pray and let God reveal in your heart how you can do these illustrations. And I said, you know, God's in control, and he will confirm or deny. And I gave it to her and through prayer, she just complete, I mean, she came back, was, I'm getting it, I'm getting it, I'm getting the vision. And I was like, praise the Lord. I mean, it was just, I get goosebumps right now thinking of it, that it was very intimidating for her in the beginning. And she knocked it out of the park with the illustrations. Mean, some of them, I feel like you could frame and put on your wall. Just, you, Beth, you know, for being, and she loves Jesus and she is a major, believer and the fact that she just did these illustrations like look at this one. I'm like, and this is when, you know, God says that we need to have Jesus come into the picture and we need to have Jesus come to the earth. And she drew this shepherd holding the lamb for the offering. I'm like, wow.
Valerie - It's one of those like there's been a lot of I guess imagery or paintings put out about kind of you know Shepherd rescuing the lamb and there's just something so powerful about that image and that truth that We're just so loved and can be scooped up and rescued. There's something about being rescued for sure now in the yes, most definitely now in the kind of at the end of the book you also have a salvation's prayer and further study element that it goes into a little bit more of the scripture and a little bit more of the depth of the Trinity. Tell us a little bit about those parts.
Jennifer- Yes, I'd love to. Because now, in the book, I wanted to have three impactful scriptures at the beginning where it says God the Father. And, you know, how do you sum up God the Father in one scripture? And so, you know, I did in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1.1. I mean, there's no better place to start, you know? And then I had to have one scripture for Jesus when it introduces God the Son. And then I was back and forth with all the many scriptures. So I had to go with such a new book for children who are learning, I did John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. And then for the Holy Spirit, I had to think of one scripture to really sum up, and I was back and forth on this because there's so many times that the Holy Spirit is mentioned throughout the Bible, Jesus throughout the Bible, and God, and it's like, how do you pick one? That's when I did Acts 1a because I have researched that and it's almost like the calling orders and the marching orders dress Christian when Christians when the Holy Spirit comes into our life But so for further study there's I wanted to include kind of like those were all my runner -up scriptures You know for you know for the part of how Jesus is like I am the way the truth in the life Whoever believes in me, you know will not perish have our last night But I wanted to have all those in there you know, because if they want to learn more, if there's a scripture that will relate to them more of God the Son and God the Father, God the Holy Spirit. So I wanted just to kind of like put all the runner-up scriptures that I didn't use for the three, for God Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And then I wanted to put a part in there about the names of God because with children, they get confused and so do parents about like, okay, God and it's funny when I was looking back through it, Lord is mentioned in all of them because God is called Lord, Jesus is called Lord and the Holy Spirit is also called Lord. And so that was one of the common denominators in all of them. But I just wanted to kind of identify that as a teacher synonyms are very important. I remember teaching that, but the names of God, all the synonyms that could relate to God like Yahweh, creator, and all the synonyms that can relate to Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God. And it's through this study that I added son of man in since I've been studying this and writing this book, son of man is written over 50 times referring to Jesus. So that was like a quick add-on. Initially, I didn't have the son of man in there. And then my daughter's like, yeah, mom, son of man's all over. You need to have that one in. So we added that one in as well. But then, and then all the Holy Spirit, like Holy Ghost, you know, in another thing got the Rewash, the wind, the Holy Spirit with the wind and all the, the spirit, the helper all of those words because they can get kind of confused for children as well. And parents. So when I actually, when my daughter first saw this, my daughter of my granddaughter asked grandma, who's the Holy Spirit? You know, when she read this, she goes, Mom, this is going to be so good for the parents too, because this is tough, it's a starting point for conversation for sure. But it's a great point for the parents to learn as well. And the sinner's prayer at the end. I really wanted to include that because we need to know a way and how to get this Holy Spirit into our lives. How do we ask him? And so I wanted to kind of have it sweetly and in a rhyming way. It's cause sometimes parents and kids don't know how to really ask. So I wanted to kind of make it in a rhyme that maybe they could remember all their life and share with their children. But how do we get this gift of the
Holy Spirit in our life? And that's why I wanted to include that on the last page. And the fun thing at the very end is when it says, yay, the very last page is yay. This kind of came to me also, whenever I say a prayer at dinner or wherever, I always end with amen, yay. Every prayer. I'm saying, I mean, I will be with my, big group of women, know, at women's like retreat or something. And I'll say in Jesus' name we pray, amen. And I just say, yay. And for years I have said that. So the fact that I kind of wrote that loosely, I'm like, can we have yay in there? And then they added it, they kept it. And I was so excited because the publisher could knock out things. Mean, they have the final say over edits and stuff. And they kept that. They're like because that's just me. That's like my stamp of me. But I just say yay, because we have so much to be for yay. I mean, it's such a gift and so much joy in what God can do in our lives. So that's why.
Valerie -I love it. I love that there is that yay and that celebration because you know, can you pray the sinner’s prayer with your kids, and then it kind of it's like, how is this any different than any other prayer we pray? And it's like, well, this is your birthday in a sense. This is your heavenly birthday and to celebrate it and to make it memorable and just as exciting as all the other fun things that kids get to do. But I love that there was that yay that got put in there because it is, mean, kids want to celebrate. It is something exciting and to have a greater understanding of who God is and his many forms can also often be a stumbling block for young kids, teens, and adults, and just to have something that kind of helps communicate This is the plan. This is not awkward. It's not strange. It's hard to understand, but it is so fulfilling and such a gift that God can represent himself in those three ways so that we can have both a personal relationship and God is Lord and sovereign, as well as give us the helper to do more, to do things for him. And I love how you've communicated that through this book.
Jennifer - Thank you. I'm so glad that you picked up on that too. Yay. Yay. Yay. See, it's part of me. Am I saying yay? That shows it's very authentic and genuine.
Valerie -Yay! Yay! Definitely. Now Jennifer, did you always want to be an author?
Jennifer -You know, I did and I love that question because not always. I was kind of a slow reader growing up. You know, it took me a while. I never really liked reading because whenever my teacher would call me to read, I always felt very scared with fluency because I always seemed to fall over all the words and I would just be trying to get the words out. You know, and then I wouldn't remember anything I read because I didn't want to be called out by
Missing words when I was reading out loud in my classroom. But then, I got better at that and then she gave me the book, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. And I remember I was in fourth grade and I read that book and I had nothing in common with Fudge or you know, the baby brother and Fudge and all the characters in there. But I really loved it. It just spoke to me and they lived in New York in an apartment and I lived in Florida in a house, know, no relation at all and they're all boys and I'm a girl. But I just really loved that book. And so when I was in fourth grade, after I read that book, I actually started writing a manuscript and I had six chapters in my own Patty the Pain book. I was so inspired to write. So that's how I started. It was really in fourth grade. And then I would just keep writing and writing and having, some things were graded and I had little notebooks and just writing little stories. Then, so all through my life, I have always, loved the Scholastic Book Fair. You know, when your schools have that book fair, I would love to go in there and just someday, someday. I want to be an author. And so that's how it started. And I still have that manuscript. I just found it and I'm like, my gosh, I have this. And it's just one big blob of notebook paper front and back. But that's how it all started. So I can say from fourth grade, I wanted to be an author.
Valerie -So fun. I love how just one single book can just kind of set you on a path of both loving reading and wanting to write. What is it? There's definitely something about this classic book fair that I don't know, I think turned us all into book addicts, or having the bookstore be an exciting place to go. I love that. Yeah.
Jennifer -And you want them all. You want them all. Yeah. And you get them all, then you get home. And sometimes you don't even crack them open. You know, it's like, got to, we made with my kids, the books we get are the books we read right away and keep them current on your bookshelves. You know, it's just so fun buying books.
Valerie - I know what is it when the book fair is at my kid's elementary school, I kept being asked, you know, will you be in charge of this? I'm like, no. They're just like, but you're an author. Like, I know and I have no self-control and this is not what you want me doing. Or I will buy an entire library of books for the library and we will not make any money. So they're like, this is, this is weird. So fun. Well, what is your favorite book, Jennifer?
Jennifer -100%. I am with you. So fun. You know, I have got to say, I mean, there's no other answer but the Bible. I mean, I know it's cliche, but I was thinking about that because there are so many good books I read to kind of build my spiritual faith. And I find myself a lot reading books that help me grow in my faith. But I am doing the Bible recap right now with Tara Lee Cobble and she's from Texas, from Dallas. I would highly recommend it to your listeners and to even just start the new plan on January 1st. I mean, I have read through the Bible since my 50s.
I hadn't read through the Bible until I was 50, and now I'm well into my 50s. But for seven years, I did Bible in one year, and that was great. That was good, and I recommend that to a lot of people with Nikki and Pippa Gumbel. But now with the Bible recap, I've been reading the Bible straight, and the way she explains the Old Testament, I'm still in the Old Testament, it's all chronologically written, that's how you read it. I'm about ready to get in the New Testament, but... It just gives me peace in this day and age in the world today. Things that are going on right now are not any different than back in the beginning of time. But you know what? I know the end of the story and God wins every time. So if you get frustrated with today's world or whatever, all the, you know, the climate, the political climate that's going on, just know and just trust that God has it all in control and he wins. And there had this, the, the Kings, the good Kings, the bad Kings. have been since the beginning of time and it's all good. He wins in the end and he, things nowadays are just a different look from how they were then, but it's the same stuff, same stuff. So it's all good. So
We know the end. But on a practical question, a fiction book I read was Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and that got me back into reading I don't read too much fiction but Francine Rivers's Redeeming Love brought me into the Mark of the Lion trilogy and I could not put those books down. And I, know, back to the early days when I wasn't a reader other than things I have to read. So from a practical, fun standpoint, her book Redeeming Love got me back into reading and enjoying it. So that's a great one. Yes.
Valerie -Those are good. I love the Mark of the Lion series. Was it? Yeah, so good. Just, yes.
Jennifer -So good. With Hadassah and all the characters and I love it because it's Christian fiction and so you kind of, or historical fiction in a Christian way. So I read that right before I went to Rome and saw the Colosseum and to see the Colosseum and know what had gone on there, know, the Francine River story in my head made it so much more powerful in real life.
Valerie- I can imagine. Now what can we expect next from you, Jennifer?
Jennifer - You know, I am going to be doing with these three books, just really trying to do, you know, a lot of book visits and really trying to get this out there to Christian schools and stores and, and also doing book visits. Another thing with my podcast, the Front Parking Spot podcast, this has been another great, I like actively doing this podcast for women and the feedback from moms. And sometimes I just pray before I will just talk on a subject. And then I get these sweet little messages from mamas that are like, I needed to hear that today. And the woman would be crying and this should happen this week. So really continuing with the podcast and reaching women and then, you know, sharing my books to give them some good Christian literature and good Christian books that will help them grow and rear their families.
And in the fear and the admission of the Lord, because this is where we need to be as mamas. Because you know what? The schools aren't gonna teach the Christian principles. It's us in the home that need to have this as a foundation for everything, the Christian principles. Because the world's gonna come and try to steal that away. And it could just be a random teacher. And you know, sometimes Christian schools, fall short too. It has to start in the home. And so if I can do this for my grandkids and moving on and just loving on my grandkids and teaching all about Jesus, that is what you can expect from me and probably some books along the way, some more because, but you know, he just drops those on you. So, you have to be open to his calling and his call because if you're not if it's your way, you gotta just refer to his way. And like this Trinity book. You know, if you ask me
After I Know The Plans that are sitting on your back shelf there, that's the great book for, you know, baby showers, all God's plans that he has for the babies. I had no intention of writing a Trinity book until he just dropped it on me.
Valerie - I love the heart that you have, not just to equip kids with knowing and loving God more, but also equipping parents and giving them the tools and skills to combat the world that we are in, to be in the world, but not of the world, and to be ambassadors for Christ in our neighborhoods, in our own home, in our own families, and all those fun things. Well, Jennifer, where can people find out more about you and your books?
Jennifer -Yes, you can find me at www.jenniferbosma.com. That is my website. I have everything there. You can buy my books there. You also can buy my books at Endgame Press. My newest book is at Endgame Press on their page. Also Amazon and Barnes and Noble and you know, you being an author as well. If you do get my book, please review it. Please review it on Amazon. Reviews are so important. So even if you don't buy it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, you can still review it. You're still allowed to review the book, just hit review. And the other thing is you can find me on my front, it's just Front Parking Spot podcast, and that's on Apple, Spotify, all platforms. And you have two episodes that I got to interview Miss Valerie on. They're in there, we talked about fairy tales and the power of good books and those messages still are resonating with so many women. Lots of people are hearing our message, Valerie. But so the From Parking Spot podcast or jenniferbosma.com and you know, so that will be, that's the easiest way to find me and everything's there.
Valerie -I'll make sure to have all those links in our description so that people can find you easily. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Jennifer.
Jennifer -Thank you. Yay. Thank you. You are so welcome. Thank you, Valerie, for having me.
Valerie -And thank you for joining Jennifer and me on this episode of the Bookworthy Podcast. Check the show notes for any books or links that we discussed, and let us know in the comments what is your favorite thing about fall. Be sure to like and subscribe to discover more great books together.
Happy reading!
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