by Kimberly | Mar 15, 2016 | Books
As a busy mom and wife, who is trying to get a creative business going, I don’t really have time to read. I love reading – but by the time I sit down to read I’m so tired, so a book really has to be compelling for me to read it.
Enter: Gwen Smith’s I Want it All .
I really thought this book was going to be about women who could do everything and be everything to everyone. I was so skeptical about it. Then, I opened the book.
Immediately, Smith’s winsome, real, and grace-filled writing was so captivating and encouraging to a broken heart that needs lots of healing.
If you are in a place with wounded faith that needs encouragement – find it here as she saturates her book with the Word and life.
by Kimberly | Feb 23, 2016 | Books
The longer I live the more I am introduced to and reminded of pain and hurt. A believer’s life is not immune from it – we just have help and a Healer when we experience it.
And hopefully, we can share that help and Healer with others who are going through pain.
The book Come Empty by Saundra Dalton Smith is good on many levels:
- Her transparency. I love that there are people in the world who are hurting, who have been hurt, and know that they have the freedom to share that hurt. Not everyone is given that freedom for fear of guilt, shame, or rejection. I think that is something we in the church can be more aware of and open to. Not shunning people who are in pain, but helping them with the purity of the Gospel in their pain.
- Her use of Scripture. I do love that this book is full of the Word of God – because through the Word we receive healing.
- Short reads. I know in periods of hurt, I might not be able to emotionally handle a long chapter, or a lengthy book. Short daily readings are great.
One negative: This book is in the same family as Jesus Calling in one regard: there is a His Reply section and the author puts it in first person, so it is as if Jesus is actually speaking these words to her. And if He is, then these words are infallible and perfect, on the same par with Scripture. Scripture is the only Scripture. It is one thing to give readers Scriptures that they can internalize, but another to say that the Lord is actually speaking these words.
Thanks Litfuse and Dr. Smith for the book and all opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Dec 11, 2015 | Books
Th
is is a season of Advent – of hope, of awaiting, or mystery. Of incarnation.
One of the beautiful things about the incarnation is that God the FATHER sent His only perfect beautiful son into the world. I can’t even imagine giving up one of my boys.
Back to the story…the men in our lives play several roles. Man, husband, father, employee, friend, son, brother if applicable (my husband is an only child), worshiper, etc. The list is pretty inexhaustive just like our list is.
But, for me, I think two the most important at least in my husband’s life is husband and father. There is such a burden on him to provide, protect, lead well, shepherd all of us to know Jesus. He just isn’t living for himself anymore. On no given day can he wake up and say, “I think I’ll do what I want to do today,” but instead he wakes up to snuggles, cries, diapers, commuter traffic, my texts complaining about the disobedience of our boys, etc. There is always so much crowding his heart and his mind.
I long for him not only to have an intimate close relationship with his heavenly Father – but use that relationship to guide his relationship with his boys. Our boys are incredibly blessed with a father who is gentle and patient and one who loves Jesus more than he loves them. He plays cars and basketball with them. He takes them to the park. He provides for them. His desire is for them.
Isn’t that so the heart of the Father for us? That His desire is for us – to know him and be found in Him?
Pete Alwinson’s new book, Like Father Like Son, is a good read that goes through different aspects of a relationship between the Father and his children, men. I think some of the concepts can definitely be applied to men and women. I think, honestly, that the book might be more with a female tone in mind, I don’t know. I don’t know if I can see my mister reading this book or really any of the men that I know.
But, I do see it as useful for wives to pray for their misters. That’s why I got this book. I want to be more knowledgeable about how to pray for my mister and his relationship with his Father as he seeks to know his boys and lead them to the Father.
Thanks to Litfuse for the book in exchange for my honest review.
by Kimberly | Oct 4, 2015 | Books, Shepherding Children
How do you lead your family to know God better and to dwell in the truth of the Gospel?
As Christian parents, we know that is our chief goal as parents – not to save them (because only God can do that) – but to introduce them to the Gospel and to pour the Gospel into their lives so they will have every chance to respond to the Gospel before they are out of our homes.
But, it is much harder to do. We usually want a play by play or some ideas to help us achieve said action. Some of us struggle to know how to incorporate the Gospel into our every day lives, every day conversations, mini van rides from soccer games. And we also struggle with knowing how to plan special events that will hopefully be a supplement to our every day conversations – but will help drive home the Gospel into our babies’ hearts!
The new book, Pass it On, by Jim Burns and Jeremy Lee, is a special one to me. One of the authors, Jim Burns, wrote the first devotional I ever read as a teenager, Spirit Wings. I remember it being the first one I read when I was in high school and I was learning what it meant to have a quiet time.
Pass It On is a very helpful instructive book to parents. Not only does it give insight into your children (or children of the same age) on many different viewpoints, it helps you with activities you can do with them to help cement the Gospel into their lives. At every age it gives you a larger activity (not just a conversation). You can get some wonderful ideas from this. You can take all of them word for word and incorporate them into the life of your family, or you can just take the ideas, pray, see what the Lord would have you do – how to change it up, match it to your family.
The most important concept this book drives home is that raising your children to love God is hands on. It is active. If you want to make a lasting impact for the Gospel on your children, you need to always be sharing the Gospel with them, living it out in front of them. And parents, with older kids, parents who may have just become believers – its not too late. Its never too late. Don’t be regretful over the years in the past – but confess them to the Lord and press on in obedience now.
Thankful for Litfuse for sending me this book in exchange for this review, and all thoughts are my own.
by Kimberly | Sep 5, 2015 | Books, Kids r Readers 2
Unfortunately, this world hands us things that we must learn how to interact with, pray about, deal with, handle with truth and the gospel, and prepare our kids to face as they get older. This is the sad reality in which we live.
Fortunately, Justin Holcomb and his wife, Lindsey, have written an incredible resource for children (toddlers through 8 years old) to instruct, inform, and prepare them for how they live in their bodies. And how they respond to physical touch.
Child abuse, both physical and sexual and mental, is so rampant these days. We must know how to prepare our children for what they (prayerfully won’t) might encounter. The more our children are prepared the more we as parents can hopefully prevent harm to our children.
What I love about God Made All of Me is that is tells children that their bodies are good because God made them and it teaches them the importance of communication with trusted adults. Inappropriate sexual touch can be totally embarrassing to children – they may not know how to tell their parents. But, if you keep the communication lines open with your child, and teach them that God did make them in His image and it is wrong for others to touch them in a wrong way – you will be equipping your child!
This book comes out this week – and you (and your church library) need this book. My Mom has been gracious enough to provide one for you to win.
So, all you have to do is tell me what truth you preach to yourself to keep you from worrying about all the evil that might affect your children as they grow. Truth to guard against evil! So important as we train our children up to love Jesus.
Litfuse provided me this book through New Growth Press to review. All opinions are my own.
