Category Archives: Books

I recently finished reading Max Lucado’s newest book, “Outlive Your Life”.  The back cover leads reads, “…These are devastating times: 1.75 billion people are desperately poor; one billion are hungry.  Lonely hearts indwell our neighborhoods and attend our schools.  In the midst of it all, here we stand: you, me, and our one-of-a-kind lives.  We are given a choice… an opportunity to make a big difference during a difficult time.  What if we did?  What if we rocked the world with hope?”

I found the first couple of chapters of Mr. Lucado’s book to be inspirational and motivating.  While the back cover of the book reads like a great pep talk, after the first few chapters, the book seems to have little to no transitions between chapters and in general, is very surface level reading.  “Outlive Your Life” does a nice job of introducing people to ways of loving and helping those around us, however, it seems very simple and superficial.

After I was about halfway through the book, I learned there is a “Discussion and Action Guide” in the back.  This book would likely be better reading and sharing with a group so that discussions by the group can take the book deeper and create the sense of action that seems to be missing from the flow of the book.

Overall a decent book, but not quite what I thought I was getting.

THE FINE PRINT: Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I received a complimentary copy of Sheila Walsh’s book, “A Beautiful Thing Happens When A Woman Trusts in God” from Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze.com review program.  I’ve heard Sheila Walsh speak at Women of Faith conferences numerous times and the same heartfelt compassion that she speaks with is transferred to her writing. The book starts out with a little background information as Sheila talks about her upbringing, career choices, first few speaking engagements, and more.  “A Beautiful Thing Happens…” touches on topics such as fear, depression, and self-reliance and talks about the processes that Sheila went through as she learned the freedom that could be gained from putting total reliance and trust in God.

I loved that Sheila’s humor and wisdom shone throughout this book.  In her quest to trust God in her own personal life, she poured herself into reading the Bible to gain better understanding.  This book touches on quite a few of the stories that impacted her life and can impact your own.  While some reviewers found her use of multiple translations of the Bible troubling, I appreciate it.  The scriptures and examples she used throughout the book tied in very well with her overall message.

I would recommend this book for women who are struggling with the faith and trust issues and for those making tough life choices.  Even if you simply want to know more about Sheila Walsh, this would be an excellent read.

THE FINE PRINT… Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com.  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Learn how God often does His best work in our most hopeless situations.

You just found out your spouse of 27 years has been having and affair.  Your savings is quickly going down the drain because of a bunch of unexpected home or car repairs.  You’ve just been diagnosed with terminal illness.  You didn’t get accepted into that school you had your heart set on.  You’re stuck in a dead-end job and keep getting passed over for promotions.  Sounds like a lot of fun, huh?

The sad news is that we live in a world where things like this happen all the time.  But the great news is that God intends all things to work together for good.  Pete Wilson, the senior pastor at Cross Point Church in Nashville, has written his first book, Plan B, in which he offers not just real life examples of these situations, but also includes examples straight from the Bible that offer encouragement and hope for his readers.

The book includes a section at the back called “For Thought and Discussion” that can be used when leading a small group study or book club and there is a notes section behind that which gives more information about the quotes he used in each chapter.

I found this book was a great overview of situations that I may run into myself or might be asked to help counsel someone through.  Pete’s book offers a lot of real life examples where God’s work has been seen but also provides others where it’s just plain hard to see how God might be working in the particular situation.

I enjoyed this book on so many levels.  It is a fairly quick read and if you’ve ever heard any of Pete Wilson’s sermons, his book reads just as naturally as he gives his messages.  His book made me realize that while the speed bumps that I’m going through in my life are difficult, there is a purpose and mine just happened to be very minor compared to quite a few of the examples that he used.  He brings a great balance of Biblical references, real life examples, wisdom, humor and best of all, he’s a pastor/author that is authentic and admits that he doesn’t have all the answers.

I plan on keeping this book handy to re-read and share with my friends.

Be sure to checkout the book’s website!  http://www.planbbook.com/

THE FINE PRINT… Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Great Devotional for Little Girls with Extension Activities Included

Title: GOD’S LITTLE PRINCESS DEVOTIONAL BIBLE
Author: Sheila Walsh
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
October 2006
ISBN: 978-1-4003-0879-8
Genre: Inspirational/nonfiction/Christian life

This 337-page devotional is written with 4-7 year old girls in mind and although there are some big words from the Bible in it, it is written in a way that this age group can still learn a lot AND stretch their vocabulary.

The devotional is filled with Bible stories, role-play activities, ideas to help with memorizing scriptures, and stories about girls and women in the Bible who made a difference. There are also articles that help teach manners, poise and charm, examples of ways to show love to those around you, and stories that teach basic values straight from the Bible.

While I love for my daughter to play with blocks, dig in the dirt and run in the pirate gang with the boys, she also loves the color pink and getting in touch with her inner princess and this devotional is right up her alley. There are cute, cartoon-like pictures throughout the book but they seem to be missing from the Bible story pages. If I were to change one thing about the book, I would add similar pictures to the Bible story pages to aid non-readers in recalling story details and finding a particular story they might be interested in.

Overall, Sheila Walsh has once again done a great job on this devotional and I would certainly recommend it to my friends and family!

Pasted below is a recommending reading list that was shared quite a while ago by online friend Angie Smith.  I’m tucking it away her to share with others and so that I don’t lose it somewhere else:

- – - – - -

Bible:

• I usually read from the NIV
• The Bible in 90 Days (Cooper)…this is the NIV version, but broken down into sections so that you read the whole Bible in 90 days…this is how I finally read the whole thing!

Bible Commentaries:

• Believer’s Bible Commentary (MacDonald)
• NIV Commentary (Bruce)
• I would also recommend a Hebrew/Greek Lexicon-this will give you the meaning of the original words used in scripture…so interesting and helpful for study.
• It’s also good to have a concordance (I use Strong’s) to look up/cross-reference words you find in scripture.

Learning the Bible:

• What the Bible is All About (Mears) LOVE this book!!!! It is big, but it is really good.
• The Bare Bones Bible Handbook (George) Good beginner book.
• How to Study Your Bible (Arthur)
• Praying God’s Word (Moore)  Broken down by topic (depression, anxiety, unforgiveness, despair etc), this helps you find scriptures related to different strongholds.

Prayer/Meditation:

• Intimacy With Christ (Guyon)
• Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ (Guyon)
• The Seeking Heart (Fenelon)
• The Valley of Vision…a collection of Puritan Prayers

Daily Devotionals:

• My Utmost for His Highest (Chambers)
• A Diary of Private Prayer (Baillie)
• Streams in the Desert (Cowman & Reimann)

General Christian:

• The Hiding Place (Ten Boom)
• The Ragamuffin Gospel (Manning)
• Sabbath (Muller)
• Connecting (Crabb)
• Prayer (Foster)
• Celebration of Discipline (Foster)
• The Sacred Romance (Curtis & Eldridge)
• Wild at Heart (Eldridge)…for men
• What’s So Amazing About Grace (Yancey)
• The Pursuit of God (Tozer)
• Desiring God (Piper)
• Same Kind of Different as Me (Hall & Moore)
• Blue Like Jazz (Miller)
• Your God Is Too Safe (Buchanan)
• Mere Christianity (Lewis)
• Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis)

Bible Studies:

• Anything by Beth Moore…my favorites are The Patriarchs and Breaking Free, but all the ones I have done are amazing.
• Anything by Priscilla Shirer…she is also ridiculous.
• Women Gifted for Ministry (Towns)

Parenting:

• Grace Based Parenting (Kimmel)
• Parenting the Way God Parents (Koonce)
• Easy Homeschooling Techniques (Curry)
• Children of Character I (Freeman)

I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart:
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name,
O most High.

Psalm 9:1-2