Terribly Interesting

When I saw the cover of this book, I knew I had to read it. Whoever designed this cover did an amazing job. It made me feel peaceful and drawn to it. Once in the pages, I felt no different. I felt like Becky was simply talking to me the entire time I read her book. It was as if I was sitting across the table from a dear friend. There are so many things we can identify with in her narrative.  In case you need reminding today. #mom #mama #mamabear #motherhood #momlife #Jesus #forgiveness #grace #peace #mercy #hope #kids #children #girlmom #wildflower #nature A photo posted by The Gospel Mom (@thegospelmom) on May 25, 2016 at 11:31pm PDT She had plans to marry a pastor and have a certain type of life for herself. God directed her another way and her life seemed to unfold much differently than she expected. She ended up in the middle of nowhere a bit disheveled and depressed until God started to spark a fire in her heart for blogging. From there on we follow he...

I downloaded this little baby on to my phone a month or so ago to read when I didn't have a book or woke up in the night. I like to have something funny going in the background of reading things that are supposed to make me smarter or wiser. It seems to take the edge off and helps me see life through the scope of normalcy. It's easy to lose our humility in our quest for knowledge. Then we just run around trying to one up one another spiritually. That is lame. Enter Melanie Shankle who just talks like a normal human being. She tells true to life stories and is more honest than most people I know. I think most of us want to share the truth of our struggles, but we have all fallen pray to some sort of fake stepford wife syndrome in the church. We need a good laugh. We need to say it like it is and be seen for who we truly are so that we can all love one another. I realize that some people don't let us do that. Every time we say something real, they retort that it is als...

I loved this book. If you follow me on The Gospel Mom (on Facebook and Instagram), you will have seen some of the things that impacted me from it's pages. I did not pay attention to what the book was about when I selected it to review. You can read about how it hit me and took me back in time when I started reading it on Instagram. I review books for publishers. Often I will click on a book in the queue and select it to review without diving into what it's about. I saw this new book by Matt and Beth Redman and selected it. The book is called Finding God In the Hard Times. It's largely about the testimony of Matt's song Blessed Be Your Name. You probably know these lines from it. "You give and You take away. Blessed be Your name." I wasn't expecting it, but reading this book set me straight back in time to a time of miscarriage for me and my husband. We have lost six babies (one set of twins). We just kind of quietly move forward after the...

Here is all the honesty. I have not been a big fan of Jen Hatmaker. I don't mean to say I don't like her. I just never jumped on the bandwagon. I heard her speak and could have taken it or left it. I thought Seven sounded gimmicky. I just never connected. I am only telling you this because I was given a copy of her latest book For the Love at a conference and I liked it.  I have read some of Jen's blogs over the years and thought of how brave she is to tackle some serious topics of our day. You know people have to write her some major hate mail. This book is really no exception. It's full of good old fashioned wisdom. Much of what she said I can hear myself saying. In an age where so many Christian mom sites are about "stuff you need to do right or you don't love Jesus," this is a breath of fresh air. I can boil the whole thing down to two phrases. Simmer down. Be kind. Well, Jen, I cooked the food and had the neighbor over. I made Ina G...

It was fascinating to me to see a historical fiction account of Exodus from Egypt written from an Egyptian slave's perspective. There were many aspects that I had read but did not truly understand the gravity or impact of. The terror and length of each plague, losing generations of men, and the impact of darkness. Connilyn gives some brilliant and well thought out ideas of how a foreign people who worshipped many gods may have seen the plagues. They had gods that governed each of the things dealt with in the plagues and those gods were failing them. It makes you imagine the rumors that were flying about Moses. What sort of sorcerer was he? Could their gods overcome him?  Thought the book we journey through the every day, the release, the Egyptians that escaped with the Hebrews, and the treacherous journey through the desert. The imaginative account gave much more to the story for me. I was able to put myself in the shoes of the Egyptians and Hebrews. Of course, there's s...

I recently read a book entitled Surprised by the Healer that was sent to me. It is about God stepping into our broken stories and offering hope. The testimonies in the book are profound. Each one refutes the idea that there is anyone beyond healing and forgiveness. One of the women spoke about Mary and Martha as she faced some deep hurt she was going through. She stated that she realized that it was not what the women were doing that was of great concern, but what they were offering. One was offering Jesus worship and the other bitterness and focus on another. That realization helped her forgive and put God on the throne as Healer in her life. Jesus, heal our bitter hearts. I pray we are found worshipping. 💗💕 I highly recommend this book. The words are especially potent if you have endured any trauma or abuse in your life. 💗 Photographer—Vanessa Houk #vanessahouk #forgive #forgiveness #hope #beach #surf #grace #healing #pray #mom #mother #letitgo #beauty A photo posted by...

Spark Joy is the follow up to the life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo. This is the master class. I was looking forward to reading it because I need the help. Before we bought this 5,500 sf restoration project, I had a place for everything and everything in it's place. Here, there has been no storage. We have 3 closets the size of hall closets for our entire house. There is always remodeling material and equipment out. Truthfully, I have been completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff out and visible. Also, people keep giving us random things they think we might need and it's just too much. There are things that Marie states in her writing that I think are funny because I just could not or would not do them that way. She is always talking to objects or talking about the spirit of a piece. She thanks things for serving her. I know those things cannot hear me or appreciate my words, but I did realize how being grateful changes how you honor something...