Friday, March 15, 2013

Whit's End Mealtime Devotions

Focus on the Family presents "Adventures in Odyssey: Whit's End Mealtime Devotions : 90 Faith-Building Ideals Your Kids Will Eat Up!" This devotional is unique that it is filled with devotions completely written for mealtime. Each devotional offers several different sections, that offer a variety of discussion questions, stories, Bible principles, and Bible verses, as well as a mealtime prayer.

What I liked about this devotion was that it helps younger children learn how to pray for their meals. I have a four year old who always tells me, "I don't know what to say" when asked to pray for our meal. This is a great solution to that problem, as she can learn a variety of prayers and can mix and match different elements of each as she likes.

I also liked that each devotion has discussion questions, to encourage family interaction over Biblical topics. This is a great way to get everyone talking, and the kids giving more than one word answers about how their day was!

FTC DISCLOSURE: I received this book for free from Tyndale Publishing in exchange for an honest review. 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

"Gods At War"

"Gods At War", written by Kyle Idleman is a new book published by Zondervan that is dedicated to the status of our heart. The tag line of this book is, "Defeating the Idols that Battle for Your Heart", and this is the truest interpretation of what this book is all about. Think about the last 24 hours of your life - what have you given your attention/energy/focus to try to do/make/plan? 

"Gods At War" asks you to honestly look at what is battling for the throne of your heart - is God on the throne, or has success, money, or sex taken over? I think that this book has an awesome premise, and especially in our society, one that seriously needs to be discussed. This book challenges you to be more aware of what is battling for your heart, and to be more careful of what we allow to sit on the throne of our hearts. 

This book is 240 pages, which makes it a great read for a daily reader. The material that Idleman uses is a compilation of personal testimonies of people who have actually struggled with these modern day idols. I really believe that this book could be a great addition to the library of any Christian - I think that it is always healthy to be more aware of our spiritual life, and this book makes such great observations and truly makes you think!

FTC DISCLOSURE: I received this book for free from BookSneeze.com in exchange for an honest review.