March 2, 2015
52 Life Lessons from Les Misérables
I love Les Miz. I have seen many of the hollywood reproductions and I have read the book; unfortunately, I haven’t seen it on stage…yet (oh, it will happen)! When I was offered the chance to review 52 Life Lessons from Les Misérables by Bob Welch, I jumped all over that – even though my usual practice of only reviewing books that I could donate to my library left me thinking that I would be the only one reading this book!
One would think that you’d have to have a least a working knowledge of Les Miz’ story to enjoy this book; but I didn’t find that to be true. Even if Welch hadn’t have given a brief overview of the story (which he did quite well at including just enough that the readers could have a basic idea of the who, what, when, and where of the story), I think the readers could have followed along quite well. This is because the lessons Welch chose from Les Miz were lessons that could have been taken from almost any long book or series – such as Harry Potter.
That being said, I enjoyed this book. It was a good refresher to the story of Les Miz (now I want to reread it…) and the lessons were a good reminder of living life and faith in a way that isn’t selfish and is practical.
I was given this book by Thomas Nelson in return for my honest review of it.
December 4, 2014
Longing for More
Longing for More: Daily Reflections on Finding God in the Rhythms of Life is a devotional by Timothy Willard that uses one topic for a whole week.
I haven’t actually read the whole book – because I wanted to keep it as close to a daily devotional as I could; what I have read so far, I really enjoy. I looked through the topics and read what I thought I could use in this season of my life.
I have enjoyed the honesty and perspective that Willard employs with his writing style. If Willard didn’t feel like writing for that day, he was transparent about it. The chapters I read – joy, love, hope, confession, silence, and trust – were awesome. I look forward to reading the rest. In fact, I like this book so much that my usual practice (giving the books I get from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review to the library where I work) is going out the window – I’m keeping the book for myself!
November 5, 2014
Walls Fall Down
There is hope. There is freedom.
There is hope for a life to be lived with freedom from addictions and struggles that have always seemed to control your life.
Using the Battle of Jericho to encourage people struggling through life, Dudley Rutherford wrote a book entitled Walls Fall Down: 7 steps from the battle of Jericho to overcome any challenge.
Honestly, I had trouble getting through this book. I don’t know if it was because in the intro Rutherford suggests not to read the book all at once, but to take it in slowly and methodically (my words but same intent). Whenever I see that, I become disinterested because it seems as though this is homework or a textbook that needs to be read for remembering facts for a test later. Or it might have been the dramatic fictional telling of what happened in the Israel camp at the beginning and end of each chapter. Whatever the reason, I just could not muster up a desire to read this book.
That being said, the 7 steps are good and practical (well, aside from trusting God to do things his way; let’s face it, sometimes God is just weird) steps to live everyday by – not just for overcoming barriers/challenges/struggles.
October 8, 2014
Abraham: one nomad’s amazing journey of faith
I don’t know why, but I’ve always been reluctant to read anything by Charles Swindoll. Maybe it’s because he has so many books that I think most of them cannot possibly be good … I know, that doesn’t really make sense, does it?
But after reading this book, I see how wrong I was.
I have always loved the story of Abraham; I loved Swindoll’s biography. I enjoyed that he took time to not only tell the story of Abraham, but related Abraham’s struggles with our own: like doubt and trying to do things our own way. I also liked the geography aspect of the book. Did you know that The Dead Sea is where Sodom and Gomorrah was? I mean, it makes sense, but I had never thought about it. I like that Swindoll takes time to point things like that out.
I would definitely recommend this book.
*I was given this book for free by Tyndale House in exchange for my honest opinion of it.
September 12, 2014
Colliding with Destiny: Finding Hope in the Legacy of Ruth
As humans, we tend to compare our lives – the struggles, the ups and downs, the detours, the pitfalls, all of it – to someone else’s seemingly perfect life. We forget that they too have struggles and hardships. Sarah Jakes expounds upon that inclination by looking at the story of Ruth, not just the end where we see everything has worked out for her, but during the times of hardship and guessing at the pain and uncertainty she must have been feeling. The over all theme of the book is this: even though you make mistakes, life gives you lemons, or things just don’t happen in the way you plan them to, you still have a purpose and you’ll get were you need to be if you continue to trust God.
As a teacher, I found myself looking for sources, anything that would tell me where Jakes was getting some of the information she was using. There aren’t any. Which disappointed me because that means that Jakes was either: making a whole lot of assumptions about the book of Ruth (and the personalities/character of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz) or she just didn’t feel the need to cite information. Because of that, I found myself liking the book less than I would have.
September 8, 2014
Dirty Faith: Bringing the Love of Christ to the Least of These
Who are the “least of these” that David Z. Nowell refers to in the title of his new book Dirty Faith: Bringing the Love of Christ to the Least of These? Well, quite simply, the least of these are the ones that everyone looks down upon. How can we show the love of Christ to the least of these? Is it by merely throwing money at a good cause, spending a few hours a week or month at a soup kitchen? Or maybe it’s something more – like investing your heart into someone.
Nowell writes very persuasively about loving the least of these in the slums of Brazil and how the solution is not merely spending money, or feeding the multitudes. But it is about changing the cultural image. Is there an abundance of orphans in your state? Are there children and adults being trafficked for the sex industry in your area, are there homeless and hungry? I’m sure there are – what is your perception of these people? What is your perception of yourself? Your perspective is most likely the cultural perspective too. Work on changing your perspective by seeing people as God sees them, a hurting child, and invest yourself into their lives. You’ll soon find that your perspective has changed along with those you do life with.
It is time to get our hands and hearts on the same page by living out our faith through loving not only those who look and think like ourselves, but those anyone could consider the least of these.
I enjoyed the book. There were plenty of statistics that could be verified, but it wasn’t just statistics; there were names and stories that exemplified those statistics. That made the problem seem more real – not that I thought it wasn’t, but it drove it home more. One point that made me really stop to think was – we are the face of God, we represent Him. What does your action or inaction say of Him?
*I was given a copy of this book by Bethany House in exchange for my honest opinion.
August 31, 2014
Move On: When Mercy Meets your Mess
We all need mercy. And more often than not, we need to accept mercy from ourselves, others, and God; but we hesitate. In her book Move On: When Mercy Meets your Mess, Vicki Courtney writes about situations in which most people will find themselves needing mercy.
Two unspoken but major themes present themselves throughout the entire book: confession and vulnerability. Many of us hide our guilt and shame from not only our friends, but we try to hide it from ourselves and God. When we confess and become vulnerable, we open ourselves up to mercy.
Now for my opinion of the book; while it had many very good points, it was too autobiographical and too many examples for my taste. But I did appreciate the message of the book.
*I was given a free copy of this book by Thomas NelsonPublishing in exchange for my honest opinion of it.
August 5, 2014
A Beautiful Defeat
It is 8 in the morning: I’ve been up for 2 1/2 hours longer than I usually am – and I’m in a different state… Suffice to say that this is a very odd day. But I’m awake and I finished reading the last half of A Beautiful Defeat by Kevin Malarkey. I am trying so very hard not to make a pun of his last name. It’s going to be difficult.
I think I am destined to forever promote the practical. I just find so many people don’t think about applying the practical to their life of faith. I know that seems like an oxymoron, but I do believe this needs to happen. If someone is alive they will without a doubt face many difficult situations, most if them caused by other people; Kevin consistently gives truth to prepare for for the harshness of this life.
I think one important facet of this book is the fact that Kevin knows we as humans will fail. Near the end of the book Kevin shares about the time he was a psychotherapist, he would not only ask his clients for action steps outlining what they were going to do but asked them to think about how they could mess the situation up even more than it was. But he didn’t stop there! That’s the important part. He asked them how they would react to what went wrong and have a plan for when things didn’t go as planned.
Look at me telling you my favorite part without giving you context… The tag line of the book is Find true freedom and purpose in total surrender to God. Makes more sense now, huh? Practical advice on how to “die to yourself” and live as Christ. With that in mind my favorite aspect of the book makes more sense, because I know I fail at this All. The. Time.
I would recommend reading this book.
*I have been given a free copy of this book by Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.
July 28, 2014
Answering Your Kids’ Toughest Questions
I don’t have children and I am certainly not in a rush to have them. So why did I agree to review Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson’s Answering Your Kids’ Toughest Questions: Helping the understand loss, sin, tragedies, and other hard topics ? Well, because I know that children ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. Also, my library is in need of parenting books that were written in this millennium.
Overall, I was not thrilled with this book. Looking at the title, I assumed that there would be different methods of answering questions that addressed the different learning styles of the kids. While there was 3 different age group appropriate answers, there wasn’t the multifaceted answers that I was hoping for. I found this book to be more of a guide on Fitzpatrick’s theology more than a way to answer questions that children might have.
I did like that Fitzpatrick prefaced the book by saying you need to know the child you’re talking to and answer them accordingly. As well as the fact that she said it’s ok to admit to the child that you just don’t know.
*I was given this book by Bethany House in exchange for my honest opinion of the book.
Living in Grace 