A former teacher from Virginia shares how God answered her prayer to let Jesus' name be mentioned inside schools -- by distributing Bibles legally to different schools of varying levels in the country.
The Christian Headlines reported that Hannah Sailsbury founded Bibles In Schools, a nonprofit organization that "started with prayer walking," in 2018 after God inspired her to do so. Sailsbury would regularly pray with colleagues and students and their families while walking around school back then. The inspiration came when a second-grade student approached her wanting to learn more about the Bible, which became an eye opening experience for her.
"And God really opened my eyes to realize if we have this old Bible in our school, how come we don't have a more engaging Bible that's fun, that has pictures in it?" Sailsbury narrated in her organization's video.
Sailsbury said she wanted Jesus to be known throughout the school and this "prayer" was answered by her student who approached her. She then got the idea to make a visual version of the Bible to make it more interactive and attractive to the young. She then approached the 38 schools in their county to offer the said visual version of the Bible and was accepted.
The number of schools have grown from there out of the vision "to make Jesus known in schools all across the nation." Sailsbury's efforts initially provided 1,500 Bibles to 43 states' school libraries. Her organization also reached out to six other countries. She resigned from teaching and has focused on her organization since then.
In an interview with CBN News, Sailsbury revealed how she saw God working through Bibles In Schools and decided to be "obedient" to His call for her to go full-time in the organization.
"I never pictured going full-time with this. I was doing this because I saw God moving; I saw Him working. And I knew I had to be obedient to what He had called on my life, and this is what He wanted me to do. And I could see the need!" she disclosed.
One of the countries Sailsbury provides Bibles to is Kenya. She was contacted by Abijah, a mother who wanted to provide Bibles to students for her after-school program. Abijah had no source of income as a "stay at home" but learned about Sailsbury's organization when she watched The 700 Club. Sailsbury responded by partnering with the Bible Society who bridged the gap to address Abijah's needs.
"She reached out to us, and of course, my thought was, 'Well, how are we going to get Bibles to Kenya ?' But we were able to partner with Bible Society, and her brother drove three hours to get the Bibles," Sailsbury said.
Sailsbury has created a compilation of similar stories of how Bibles In Schools have touched the lives of others, one Bible at a time, through her website's blog. The blog proudly presents Romans 15:4 NLT, saying that the Bible is the source of "hope and encouragement as we await patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled."
Sailsbury's Bibles, which she calls "Action Bibles," come in three varieties.
First, there's the "Action Storybook Bible" that she recommends for elementary school students as a means to learn reading. It contains 15 episodes from the Bible meant to draw students to "talk about God" and put what they learned "into action!"
Next, there's the "Action Bible" that Sailsbury recommends for middle school students and adults and contains "real life stories that are easy to understand" from over 200 "fast-paced narratives in chronological order" from the Bible.
Finally, Sailsbury's third variety is the "NIV Action Study Bible" designed for high school students to "experience dramatic stories, meet fascinating characters, travel to ancient worlds, and most of all, see God in action everywhere-including your own life!"
Readers who would want to support efforts to bringing God's Word to students across America and beyond can visit Bibles in Schools' website.
