A good friend recently lost her husband, the father of four young children, to cancer. During the months of his illness, her family was sustained by Scripture, songs, prayer, and the love of the body of Christ. But they had another source of comfort. The day before her husband died, in the midst of praying and reading Scripture, they read C. S. Lewis’s The Last Battle. This final book in the allegorical Narnia series makes vivid the glorious truth that, for a Christian, death is the beginning of life rather than the end.

In her article “Why Suffering Adults Need Children’s Books,” Quina Aragon suggests that while suffering, when we don’t have the strength to crack open a theological tome, a children’s book might be just what we need. “Children’s books invite us into worlds where our growing cynicism is suffocated and our dying hope is renewed,” Aragon writes.

The only way to enter the kingdom is to come like a little child. When your body is exhausted and your soul is sore, consider picking up The Jesus Storybook Bible, or The Hobbit, or one of the Narnia books. Remember, Christian, that the story you’re living in was written before time began, and no matter how hard your journey, it ends in your Father’s arms.