Saturday, January 26, 2013

Just Like Jesus

Max Lucado's "Just Like Jesus - A Heart Like His" is a book that will help you re-evaluate your own heart, and show you how you can model your own heart after that of Jesus. God's greatest desire is for us, as Christians, to have the heart of Jesus, and this book will help you honestly assess the status of your own heart, and give you the foundation to rebuild your heart.

This book is broken up into twelve chapters, and each chapter is a theme that shares a specific trait that your heart should have, such as "honest heart", "pure heart", and "focused heart". Max Lucado uses not only Biblical stories and quotes, but also retells personal stories to help tie in the message he is trying to convey. This book offers so much wonderful advice, and I loved that it was completely focused on the goal of having a heart like Jesus.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to further their relationship with God. It's well written, full of great observations and suggestions, and will truly help you honestly assess the state of your own heart against the backdrop of what God wants your heart to be. Great book.

FTC DISCLOSURE: I received this book for free from BookSneeze.com in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review. The views expressed above are solely my own.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Bible Stories that End with A Hug

"Bible Stories that End with A Hug" by Stephen Elkins is a compilation of 75 of the best loved Bible stories, rewritten for young children. Elkin did a wonderful job of summarizing Biblical stories into short, easy to understand passages that even young children will understand.

Each story itself is very short, and is followed by a couple of questions that young children might ask, as well as answers to those questions. The end of each story comes at "hug time", when the child is encouraged to hug mom or dad.


What I liked about this book was that it is perfect for young children - as early as age 3. The language is easy to understand, and the stories themselves are short enough that it would keep the attention of a young child.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful, and I thought were a great interpretation of the stories they illustrated. Everything about this book is kid-friendly, and I would highly recommend this one to anyone with young children. A great introduction to Bible stories for even the youngest!

FTC DISCLOSURE: I received this book for free from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review.  

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Just Like Jesus Devotional

Max Lucado's "Just Like Jesus Devotional" is a 30-day devotional designed to deepen your faith, and encourage you to live your life with the heart of Jesus. The daily devotions in this book are a little bit longer than most other devotionals, but they are definitely worth the extra time.

As with most devotionals, each day's reading begins with a short Bible verse that remains the theme for that day's devotion. After the verse, Lucado builds on the verse by relating it to our daily lives - helping to make it easy to understand, and show how it applies to our modern lives.

What makes this devotional stand out to me was the section that follows the explanation of the verses. Lucado challenges us through a series of four sections, named "thinking", "hearing", "reflecting" and "thinking". Through these sections, Max Lucado offers personal questions for you to ponder about your spiritual life, and faith. He also offers lengthier Scripture references that tie in to the questions he poses. What I enjoyed was how each section builds on the one before it, really allowing you to soak in the message, and apply it to your own life.

Overall I would give this book a 5/5 - Lucado hit a home run with this devotional, and I think that this 30 day challenge would benefit any believer!

FTC DISCLOSURE: I received this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review. 


Monday, January 7, 2013

Trusting God

"Trusting God" by Sharon Jaynes, Gwen Smith, and Mary Southerland is a "Girlfriends in God Faith Adventure" that uses personal stories and experiences to help us relate to how we can build our trust in our Creator. This book is meant to be read as a devotional, with chapters being divided by weeks, and each chapter having one short reading for each day of that week, for twelve weeks.

What I liked about this devotional is that it is similar to talking with your own girlfriends about personal experiences. We get to share in experiences, both good and difficult, just as we would with our friends in real life. This book offers a lot of great wisdom when it comes to building the trust in our relationship with God, and I thought it was very well written.

Each day's devotional offers a Bible verse, called "Today's Truth" which is the basis on which the personal story is based. Then, each devotional ends with a short prayer that is also tied into the general theme of that day's reading. At the end of the week, there is a short section named, "Now It's Your Turn" which allows you a place for reflection and to answer short questions about your personal relationship with God, as well as a space to maintain a journal based on the devotions from that week.

I would give this book a 5/5 - great for the busy mom or the corporate businesswoman. Versatile, funny, engaging, and inspiring.

FTC DISCLOSURE: I received this book for free from Multnomah Publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Desperate

"Desperate - Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe" by Sarah Mae & Sally Clarkson is the perfect book for moms of any kind. Whether you have a house full of young children, or are smack dab in the middle of the teenage drama-filled years, this book is for you. Through personal reflection, insight, and experience, Sarah and Sally share their adventures in motherhood, as well as some wonderful tips for surviving the chaos that is motherhood.

Sometimes, we as moms, feel lost - after all, being a mother sometimes feels more like managing a series of daily disasters more than actually being a parent! Cleaning up messes, tending to fussy children, and trying to keep order in what feels like complete chaos can keep us from feeling like we are being the mom the we should/could/want to be. This book offers hope and advice for getting out of that rut and enjoying/thriving as a mom.

This book was a great read and I would really recommend it to every single mom - there is at least five things in this book that every mother could benefit from reading. I will definitely been holding on to this book for years to come.

FTC DISCLOSURE: I received this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze Blogger program, in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review as part of this program.