Comfort is the word that sums up best-selling author Lisa Tawn Bergren’s new picture book, God is Here. It begins with a little girl asking her mother a question, “Mama, where is God?” The question is answered as they walk around the city from strolling through the park, to stopping by the hospital nursery, to giving food to a homeless man. It’s easy for the girl to see that God is with the newborn babies, but not the homeless man. She whispers, “But God’s not here, is he?” Her mother assures her God is “always with people who are in need.” Mother and daughter travel other places, too, shown in Greg Stobbs’s lovely illustrations. The conversation is at once casual, but also deep, touching on Jesus’ death and our salvation. I love the relationship, care, and compassion this ethnically diverse family shows as they talk about the mystery of God’s presence in their everyday lives. Ending as the girl drifts off to sleep with her bunny, reading this book at bedtime with help calm and reassure young children of God’s omnipresence.
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