113: Trillia Newbell | Celebrate God's Creativity -

113: Trillia Newbell | Celebrate God's Creativity

Trillia Newbell | Celebrate God's Creativity

TRILLIA NEWBELL is the author of several books including A Great Cloud of Witnesses, Sacred Endurance, If God is For Us, Fear and Faith and the children’s books, Creative God,
Colorful Us and God’s Very Good Idea.

When she isn’t writing, she’s encouraging and supporting other writers as an Acquisitions Editor at Moody Publishers.

Trillia is married to her best friend, Thern, they reside with their two children near Nashville, TN.

Trillia Newbell joins me to discuss her book geared toward elementary aged students, Creative God, Colorful Us. We discuss laying a foundation for the image of God in man, the image of Adam in man, and the diversity of the family of God.

Questions Trillia and I Discuss:

(3:31) Share with our listeners a bit of your faith journey. When did you come to know Jesus?
(5:52) You have been writing about diversity for years, but your approach is not from a political point of view, but as it relates to the church. Share a bit of why diversity is a topic we must discuss in the church.
(7:38) Your writing is multi-generational and as a mom of 3 young children I am grateful for that. Your newest book Creative God. Colorful Us. is written with the elementary age child in mind. How do you break down for elementary age kids the idea that they are made in the image of God?
(11:54) What impact does being made in the image of Adam have on our relationships?
(16:24) What makes loving God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves a radical command?
(20:29) How do you think teaching our children to view the church as the family of God and as a family we are to love helps them appreciate and celebrate differences?
(27:02) At the end of each chapter you include questions to consider, the chapters big idea and a fun activity, but at the end of the book you include a letter to the adults-4 reasons to enjoy our differences. Why was it important to include that letter?

Quotes to Remember from Celebrating God’s Creativity:

“God is creating a people of every tribe, tongue, nation, in His image, everyone, every person, whether they know Jesus or not, bears the image of God.”

“Over and over again, in the Scriptures, you see God calling people to Himself, from every tribe, tongue and nation.”

“We are made in the image of God to reflect Him in His character. So these would be communicable attributes. He is kind, we can be kind, He is loving, we can be loving….I am helping people see that we have, by His grace and kindness, the ability to reflect Him, but not only the ability, we bear that witness whether we even know it or not, that any good thing is really from the Lord.”

“It’s so important for kids to see that it’s God who gives them value and worth. It’s God who’s giving them these gifts. It’s God who’s created them. And I think if we can get that at the foundational level, then it will transform the way we view people, the way we interact with people.”

“I’m taking that same image that we talked about….God is kind, so you can be kind. God is this. So you can be that? Well, in the same way because of sin, we are unforgiving. Because of sin, we are unkind. Because of sin, we are hateful, we lie, we are unfair, we make bad choices. So I help them [children] see, because of sin this is how that image [of God] has been damaged.”

“We have to understand that sin has come into the world and it’s affected us so deeply that it is the reason for the division in our friendships and our relationships and why we view people the way we do.”

“I love the doctrine of adoption. I think we must understand that God has ushered us into a family when we profess faith in Jesus Christ. We aren’t these individuals walking? No, we’re a part of a family.”

“I think it’s really important that kids begin to see each other as brothers and sisters, siblings, so that they can relate to each other as such, and that they see the importance, the weightiness of the Church. It’s more than just your friends. It is the family.”

“Diversity enriches our lives. It enriches the church.”

“He wants us to understand how to relate to Him, how to relate to each other, and how to relate to the world. So this book, Creative God, Colorful Us is a starting place for young hearts and minds for how to do those things.”