Grace

Grace. It is a simple word that we hear almost daily, but what is its true meaning for our lives? Max Lucado in his book "Grace" unpacks this term through various illustrations. I needed to read this book and I needed to be reminded of this beautiful message. This honestly was one of the first Max Lucado books I really loved, so much to the point that I couldn't put it down! I will be sharing this one with friends and reading it again!

Great Easter book!

I am a huge fan of the "God gave us" series by Lisa Bergren, so much so that we have all of her books! Each book takes you on the journey of a curious bear cub discovering the answers to her questions, all the while learning about Jesus.
The stores have dozens and dozens of books about the true story of Christmas, and yet there really isn't a lot to offer about the real meaning of Easter, which is why I was ecstatic when I saw this book coming out! The pictures are so sweet and precious and the story line was great!The book itself didn't disappoint, and I was extremely glad to add it to our Easter book collection!

God Gave us Love

A while ago, we received the "God Gave Us Love" board book. We have several of the other "God Gave Us ...." books and were excited to read the newest addition to this set of books.
Each book in this series focus on the faith and questions from a little bear cub, and this one in particular is about loving others whom we may find difficult to love.
I believe the author does a great job relating this story to little children. The pictures are captivating and the story itself very engaging. My 2 year old daughter really enjoyed this book as I read it to her.
I loved this book and look forward to reading it to my daughter and son for years to come!

Real Marriage

My husband and I are big fans of Mark Driscoll. We really like his sermons and were really excited to see this book come out. We actually read this book together, and although we feel like this book didn't really contain any new information from Mark, it was a great reminder of our marriage between one another. I will have to say, I wish there had been a little more content in the discussions about friendship and life together. There was just so much heavy discussion about sex, which I understand is one of the main reasons people file for divorce, that I feel like the other section was neglected. Sex is important in a marriage, but so is doing life together. Although this isn't my favorite book about marriage, I did enjoy reading it with my husband!

True Beauty

"Fierce Beauty" is a wonderful reminder for women that true beauty is not how you look, but rather how you live. All females long and desire to be beautiful, and I remember several years ago having a conversation with my then fiance, now husband, about what it means to be beautiful. During the converation I was so confused when he kept telling me I had a beautiful heart. I wanted to be physically beautiful, forget the heart stuff. I know see I couldn't have been father from the truth about how our Heavenly Father looks at us. Today, women are constantly bombarded by our culture and the media that beauty is defined by how clear your skin is, how few wrinkles you have, how thin you appear to be, how toned you arms are, and I could go on and on. This is looking at the outward appearance, but scripture tells us "that man looks at the external, but the Lord looks at the heart."
Kim's book nails it on the head with her book and illustrations showing us what it really means to be beautiful. Her short stories make it an easy, fun read and I would recommend it to women of all ages.

Not My Favorite

I recently received "The Jesus Mission" by Steven K. Scott. I wasn't quite sure what to necessarily expect from this book, but the cover led me to read this book, as it stated "Christ completed 27 missions while on earth. Take up the 4 He assigned to you."
To be honest, I'm not really for mathmatical equations when it comes to the lessons God teaches us through scripture, and I feel as if this book in particular had 5 points here, 4 points there, and so forth. I would have much rather been encouraged by the number of things  I felt drawn out of the text, rather than they be pointed out to me every turn of the page.
The book is written into 3 different sections: "Intimacy with God, the Way He Wants It, The Missions Christ has Given to You, and What You Never Knew About Jesus That Will Change Your Life." If you are picking up this book and wanting to know your mission from the beginning, you might be a little disappointed to discover that it is not revealed until much later in the book. Throughout the book, I felt as if the author really did not have a specific purpose, and therefore his voice gets lost throughout the text. This isn't my favorite book on the subject of missions and purpose in life, and I can think of many other books I would recommend before this one.

NLT Giveaway!

Starting on November 29^th until December 24^th at the New Living Translation Facebook page we're giving away lots of great prizes and something free for you just for singing up.
By visiting the giveaway entry page (located on the NLT Facebook page, the link is under the profile picture) and entering your name and e-mail address you'll be entered to win the following prizes:

• One random person each day will win a Life Application Study Bible Family Pack (Guys Life Application Study Bible hc, Girls Life Application Study Bible hc, Student's Life Application Study Bible hc, Life Application Study Bible hc, Life Application Study Bible Large Print hc).
• One Random person each week will win an Apple iPad 2!

Everyone that signs up gets a free download copy of the Life Application Bible Study – Book of Luke!

Great book for the busy person!

"The Lucado Inspirational Reader" is a compilation of various quotes and sections from Max Lucado's 25+ books. It is broken into 27 chapters, with each chapter focusing on a particular topic. I felt as if there was nothing that this book didn't touch on, and I believe that this would be the perfect book to have on hand to reference or read cover to cover - whichever would work. If you enjoy reading Max Lucado's writting, then this is the perfect book for you!

Resource to better parent your son or daughter

With having 2 children of different sexes, I desire to raise them in a god glorifying way. In his book "Secure Daughters Confident Sons," Glenn Stanton delves into the world of gender and why it matters when raising our children. Boys and girls are different, one is not superior or inferior to the other, they are simply different, and in this book, boy and girls are clearly celebrated for how God made them. This book is a great resource for parents to better understand their child. With today's society mainstreaming the gender roles, this counter-cultural book will help to better equip us as caregivers. This book focuses on looking at the child as an adult, be it a man or woman. How to we want our children to be when they are no longer in our home? Stanton also strives to help parents understand how to help their daughter feel loved and cared for, while encouraging their sons that they have what it takes. 

While this book does include Christian principles, I would definitely say this book is not solely a Christian read, and I would recommend it to parents!

Walk though the Christmas Story with this DVD

My favorite holiday is Christmas, and in the midst of typing this, I am preparing to put away all of our fall decor and replace it with our Christmas decorations. When I was offered the opportunity to receive and review this DVD series by Tyndale, I was ecstatic! I am always wanting to learn more about the true meaning the holiday I adore so much. 

This DVD series contains 4 episodes on 2 different discs. Each episode takes the viewer through the various places and customs of the places important to the Christmas story. The narrators of this series are5 individuals, all from quite different backgrounds:an artist, Christian, agnostic, talk show host, and a Native American. Each individual journeys to Israel for different purposes, but all with the mission to learn more about the birth of the King. 

The video content of the DVD was very well done! Is is definitely of professional quality and is not your typical amateur documentary.  I also really enjoyed the tour guide for the video as he showed the places, history, and customs. As my husband was watching the video with me one night, he commented on the fact that he had never thought to consider what Mary and Joseph might have eaten, which was thoroughly depicted in the video. 

For me personally, I was not in love with this video series. For one thing, you can tell this was made to be broadcast on the television, as there are awkward breaks throughout each episode. Secondly, I was not a huge fan of the different individuals giving their personal impression of what was going on throughout their journey. I think this video would have been much better had it included simply a tour guide though the holy land with out the additional commentary. There is not much Christian content in this video, which was also discouraging. 

If this were free on T.V., I would more than likely watch it, but I would not want to purchase it for my personal use in my home. I think watching it one time would be enough. 

Remind Your Daughter She is a Princess!

This book is a sweet reminder for any little girl about how much God loves them and how they can glorify Him in their personal relationship with their Father, the King. Each page has a little written to your little princess from God and a correlating prayer that the little girl can offer up to God. The letters are so sweet and well written. I will say though, that I was not thrilled about the illustrations or borders. I thought it dated the book quite a bit. Although my daughter is still a little young for this book (I would recommend ages 5-9), I can not wait to use it with her when she gets a little older. In a day when being a princess is the popular thing to dream of, you can make that a reality by reminding your sweet one that she is a daughter of true King. 

A Year with Jesus

My husband and I love having devotionals around the house! They are especially handy when you want or need a quick read for encouragement and don't necessarily have the time to get into a book. "A Year with Jesus" is a great devotional that we look forward to having around our home. It contains a year's worth of devotions based solely on the words from Jesus that is broken into different topical sections. Each day begins with a piece of scripture, followed by a small commentary written by the author.
This is an insightful and easy to read devotional, and while I do recommend Christians read this book, it is by no means meant to be read as the sole quiet time, but rather better serves as a supplement. This would make a great Christmas gift, as this devotional would be ideal to start on January 1st.

Focused on Eternity

I'm 23 years old, but I have been wanting to read "Nearing Home" by Billy Graham now for quite some time. This book is simply stated: focused on living our final years for the glory of God. So often, people strive throughout their life to sacrifice and serve God, and yet somehow our culture tells us that once we hit the magical age of retirement, that our responsibilities have ended. We then desire to waste away those precious God-given years relaxing and doing what we most enjoy. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to spend time at ease, but I am confident that spending the next 20-30 years of our life on "vacation" is not how God intended us to use our precious days on earth. 

In his book, Billy Graham speaks with a peace and confidence about getting old in a way that makes you feel as if you are having a conversation with a friend. As he put it in his introduction, getting old is not a time "to be despised or a burden to be endured with gritted teeth (if we have any). Nor does pictures us in our latter years as useless and ineffective, condemned to spend our last days in endless boredom or meaningless activity until God takes us home." Even though I am considered young, I am very much enjoying this book!

This is not just a book for the elderly. No in fact, using Billy Graham's own words, this book "is written for people at every stage of life - even those who have never thought much about growing older... the best way to meet the challenges of old age is to prepare for them now, before they arrive. 

I can not recommend this book more highly! I would encourage people of all ages to read and discover what the Bible says about growing old and nearing home!

Liked the simplicity

"Living Close to God When You're Not Good at It" by Gene Edwards sounded like the perfect book for me to read. You see, I desire to live closely to God; to know Him and to be known by Him. I want desperately to feel His presence at work in my life, but I do struggle with it at time, and therefore, I thought that this would be the perfect book for me to read. 

As a mom with a young baby, I truly find it difficult some days to "schedule a time with the Lord," but in reality that is no excuse. We all have time to be with our Creator and our Master. In experimenting with the authors suggestions for drawing near to God, I found none of them to be as fulfilling as just coming before the Lord and meditating on His Word and being still. So often I find that, especially as Christians, we true to find things to take the place of reading our bible. With that said, this book does offer simple ways to know God and it is a very short, easy read. Gene offers ideas how to not get into a strict routine of doing things just to check them off of a list. Overall, I liked the simplicity that he offers in this book, and would recommend it to anyone certain of the need to spend time in God's word. 

Being Radical Together

After my husband read "Radical" by David Platt, he was excited to learn of his new book "Radical Together." Radical Together is a short read (approximately 150 pages including a section of small group questions at the end) that focuses on a gospel-centered vision within the church. Platt helps to challenge the church to be more engaging within the body of Christ and with the people God places around them with this question: ""How can we in the church best unleash the people of God in the Spirit of God with the Word of God for the glory of God in the world?" 

The 6 chapters are:

1. Tyranny of God - One of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in the church

2. The Gospel Misunderstood - the gospel that saves us from works saves us to work

3. God is Saying Something - The Word that does not work

4. The Genius of Wrong - Building the right church depends on using all of the wrong people

5. Our Unmistakable Task - We are living - and longing - for the end of the world

6. The God Who Exalts God - We are selfless followers of a self-centered God. 

At the end of the book, there are small group discussions that would be perfect for Sunday Schools or Home Groups. 

My husband and I have really enjoyed reading David Platts books and look forward to reading "A Radical idea." If you would like to be challenged to grow in your relationship with Christ, I would recommend this reading to you. It is time for us as a church to stop focusing on what is "good" and focus on what is "best." 

Experience true Love & Respect

As a couple, we are constantly trying to find a devotional that works well for both my husband and myself. Without fail, we start a devotional, only to discontinue going through it after a few days. Eggrich talks about it in his new devotional, that often times a couple devotional caters more towards the women's need for emotional intimacy and love, rather than equally regarding a man's need and desire for a shared time together. This makes it had for the husband to become engaged, which in turn frustrates the wife, and thus the end to the devotional time occurs. This is exactly what the enemy wants in marriage. Lack of time and commitment between a couple in sharing God's Word. 

When we read Love & Respect about 2 years ago on a road trip, we were hooked & loved it. When we heard that Eggrich was coming out with a devotional for couples, we knew that we had to get it! So far, after 4 devotionals, we have thoroughly enjoyed this book together!

First of all, this devotional comes bound in a beautiful leather, making it ideal to give as a gift. We had already purchased 2 for Christmas gifts, and plan on buying this devotional for future weddings that we attend. There are 52 lessons for the couple to go through, and while the author says that he intends for the couple to go through them at their own pace, it is ideal for some couples to go through one devotional a week for a year. There is a small section about love and respect, followed by an action and prayer. All in all, this devotional should take couples anywhere from 15-30 minutes to complete each time.

My husband was particularly drawn to this book, as it is guy friendly. He kept saying over and over, "I really like this devotional!" You know it is good when he is the one to initiate time together reading it, and isn't that what women want? I am confident we will actually finish this devotional together! I recommend this book to couples looking for a boost in their marriage.

Three Cups

I recently received a copy of "Three Cups" by Tony Townsley. The primary focus of this book is to teach children the three different aspects in receiving money: giving, saving, and spending. I really liked that this book in particular focused equally on these three parts, as they are all very important for children to learn at a young age. I believe that teaching children to save money for something that they would like to purchase is important, but it is also equally valuable to teach children to save their money in the bank and to share their wealth and gifts with others.
I would recommend this book to parents desiring to teach their children about money.

Awesome Children's Book!!

I recently received "In Case You Ever Wonder" by Max Lucado for my 8 month old daughter and I loved it!
This book is written to show and remind children how much not only their parents love them, but also their heavenly father. Upon opening the first pages, this is what one reads: "long, long ago God made a decision - a very important decision...one I'm really glad that he made. He made the decision to make you!" How sweet. How precious. How encouraging to our children.
In an age when our children fight for their identity, this book reminds them that their identity can only be found in Christ. What a powerful message to read to our children in a way that they can understand and grasp. I love this book and will purchase it for future birthday & baby shower gifts. May you be blessed as you read this book!

Pleasantly Surprised

I recently received Max Lucado's book "When God Whispers Your Name," and was pleasantly surprised by what I read. In the past, I believed Max Lucado's books to be watered down, and not very deep. This book though, was refreshing and encouraging to my soul.
This book is written to help you hear and know God. In this book, Lucado uses a conversational tone and tells stories in order to help his readers better relate to and understand his writing. As I greatly enjoyed this book, I would highly recommend it!

Inspiring, but unbiblical book

The "God Pocket" is a short read (124 pages) by Bruce Wilkinson with David Kopp is simply put, a book about giving. I have read many books about giving, but this one is not one of my favorites.
In chapter one, the book opens with a fictional story that captivates the audience. It provides the readers with the reminder that all we own belongs to God - "it is God's money." This is profoundly true, but the author elaborates this notion in an unbiblical way. Wilkinson notes that there are seven steps to you maintaining a "God Pocket:" Decide, Devote, Deposit, Depend, Deliver, Declare, and Disciple. Simply put, you choose an amount you would like to give away, and wait on God's direction and guidance to do so. I personally believe that you should allow God to determine the amount you need to give away, instead of trusting your humanly instincts to do so. He is the one in control, not us.
I also disagreed with chapter five, "The Mystery of Multiplying: God's surprising plan to replenish the resources you give." While it is true that God can, and sometime does reward us for our generosity, it is not a promise, and should never be an expectation. We may never know what he had in mind with our gift, and we may never see any fruit from it. To promise Christians that if they give, God will repay them is untrue. We will be rewarded, but it may not be until eternity, and to tell others contradictory to this is unbiblical.
While this book does help open your eyes to giving, there are several other books I would recommend to others before this one.