The Good Life

Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist is wonderful! It's the perfect mix of memoir and cookbook. She weaves her life story with awesome recipes and I couldn't put it down. I love Shauna's authenticity and openness. I think everyone can take something away from this book. It touches on many topics and I found myself laughing or crying and saying, "Oh good, me too!"  I love cooking and I loved the encouragement that she offered to fledgling "chefs" like myself. It was refreshing to read how to view preparing food as a way to love others. The book is divided into chapters with a story from Shauna's life and a recipe that corresponds to that time. It. Was a really neat way to set up a book! I think this book would make a perfect gift for someone or it would be wonderful if you enjoy cooking/would like to become more adventurous in the kitchen. I would say the only thing I didn't like about Bread and Wine was the inclusion of some harder to find ingredien

I'm reading through "Lord, I Give You This Day" by Kay Arthur and really enjoying it. It is my first thing to read of Kay Arthur's outside of Precepts. There are 366 short devotions that will help you become "equipped to greet each day with bold faith, confident in God's faithfulness, strength, and transforming grace." I like her straightforward but authentic style of writing in each day. I loved that each devo could take me 5 minutes or less to read through. Each one left me feeling closer to the Lord with a Bible verse in my mind and a prayer to go along with the day's theme. I do wish they were slightly deeper in content, but it's really the perfect devotional to read first thing in the morning when you only have a few minutes to read and meditate on something. I also really liked that each day was for a specific date. I like knowing that if I skip a day, I can just turn right to whatever the next day's date is.  I recommend this book to a

Rebekah Lyons' new book, "Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life Of Meaning" is a memoir based on her life as she and her family make a big move from Atlanta to New York. It's filled with authentic glimpses into her battle with depression, anxiety, control, and the search for true meaning. It says, "But life looked radically different when her family relocated to the heart of Mew York City. She was forced to navigate a new normal with three kids, two toy poodles, and a minivan. Blindsided by crippling despair, Rebekah wrestled with bigger questions women often ask, Why am I here? Does life matter?"  I enjoyed most of this book. It was fairly slow in some parts and the language is a little flowery, but overall I liked it! I think it would be a great book to read through with a friend or small group for a laid-back discussion. I think most young, stay at home moms like myself struggle with the questions about life that Rebekah brings to light. T

I've been reading The Christian Parenting Handbook and it's great! Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller wrote the book and say you will learn how to:  Identify character qualities to address problems Build internal motivation Use creativity to teach your kids spiritual truths I love the way the book is set up with 50 short chapters on different parenting tips, common problems, and biblical truths. It's perfect to pick up and read whenever you have a free second. They offer real, practical, and biblical advice. I really appreciated the way the authors gave concrete examples and how to  implement them into your family.  One of my favorite chapters is titled "Don't Practice In The Grocery Store-That's The Final Exam." It's all about what to do when your child acts out in public. They wisely suggest that you, "practice in the kitchen, bedroom, laundry room, and backyard. Children need to learn how to handle disappointment at home so they can accept a

I had the pleasure of hearing Lysa TerKuerst speak right before this devotional came out for review. I loved her! She is one of the most engaging, genuine speakers I have ever heard. Her message on emotions was just what I needed to hear. I haven't actually read Unglued, but after hearing her speak, I felt caught up enough to really enjoy the devotional. Unglued Devotional is an incredible book! I highly recommend it and loved going through it. It is 60 days long and each day is short, but packed. I feel like handling our emotions is a topic every woman can identify with. Lysa is genuine and honest in each day's lesson. It was refreshing to read someone honestly share their struggles with handling many of life's ups and down, but at the same time offer such hope and encouragement. I think that was my favorite part of the devo. I feel like we can oftentimes either make everything seem so awful or sugarcoat it so it doesn't even seem like an issue. Lysa does a great job

I was so excited to review this book not only because I love the Walk Thru The Bible curriculum, but I also loved the idea of an overview of the Bible. Walk Thru The Bible does a great job of presenting the Bible as a story that is all connected in one big picture. I knew this overview would bring the same enthusiasm and simplicity to understanding each book of the Bible. I felt like I could underline so many of the pages, but here are a few of my favorite quotes. "Between the basic message and some of the well-known stories, deep, dark sections of Scripture remain obscure...it's entirely possible, then, for us to be well-versed in certain specifics and yet ignorant of major themes." "Our voices carry no weight when we declare that the God of the universe has revealed himself in the Bible and simultaneously admit that we haven't actually read all of it. We far too often tend to ascribe glory to God's Word and then never get around to exploring it fully

Dallas pastor Bob Roberts asks readers, "As Christians we're called to love our neighbors-all our neighbors. But is that even possible? Can we truly love them well?" Bold As Love is a great read on an often misunderstood topic in the Christian community: interfaith gatherings. I'll be honest, I was very wary of reading this book based on the premise alone. But, I'm really glad I gave it a try! Mr. Roberts delves into the topic of truly loving our neighbor and how to practically live it out. He establishes very early on that loving his neighbor did not mean abandoning his beliefs and saying we all ultimately believe the same thing. Roberts says, "I made it clear that I was an evangelical, a conservative Christian, and that I didn't like interfaith gatherings: I saw interfaith as loosey-goosey, let's all just hug one another and ignore core truth. I wanted nothing to do with that. I liked the concept of multifaith better, which says we have fundame