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Redeeming Love

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I think is one of the best books fiction books that I have read in a very long time.  It has taken me quite a while to read it in its entirety, but I finally read it from cover to cover, last month.  I thought that it was going to take me a very long time because it has more than 400 pages.  However, it only took me about a week to read it.  Perhaps it’s because I was so engrossed in the story.

Have you ever read a book that had noting to do with your life, but you found it extremely relatable?  This is one of those books.  The story is based on the book of Hosea from the Bible, but Francine Rivers actually intertwines the Biblical story into and throughout the story that she has written. If I were to tell you what the story is about in one sentence, I think I would say this…

It is a story about the world’s rejection of a woman, but the love that God has for her and shows her through others.

Rejection is the overreaching theme of this book.  Our main character, Sarah, is rejected in so many ways, that it will literally bring tears to your eyes.  If you have ever experienced any amount of rejection in your own life, this book will bring it to the surface.  What I am most thankful for is the fact that Francine Rivers made sure, in her writing, that she did not just leave her reader with the feelings of rejection. Instead, she brings us full circle with the understanding…she literally shows us God’s love.

As I was reading this book, I was amazed by the story.  I was talking to someone about the book and was told that the book was just “fiction.”  While I know that the book is fiction, I also know that this could happen.  The feelings that were experienced by the characters were feelings that people feel everyday.  In some of the situations, I have even felt those feelings myself.  If there were not a need for people to be reminded of the love and acceptance that God has for them, He would not remind us of it continually, in the Bible.  Hence, as this story comes alive, we are healed with the words of the writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I want to make sure that I don’t give any spoilers, so I’m not going to go into the plot of the story.  However, I will say that I would recommend anyone that is looking for a good read to pick it up.  I would encourage those that are dealing with relational issues, to read this book  I would suggest anyone that is dealing marital issues, rejection issues, or self-rejection to pick it up and read it.

I would give a warning though.  Although this book is not explicit in nature, it is not for the young reader.  It deals with adult topics and matters of intimacy on various levels.  Your will not be exposed to erotica, as it is a clean book.  However, I would not allow my 7-year-old to read it due to the adult nature of some of the rejection issues.  It would be good for some teens, if their parents have already had talked with them about intimacy and other adult issues.

Still, I am so thankful that God allowed Francine Rivers to write this book and He placed it in my hands.  I had attempted to read this book before, but I realize now, that it was not time for me to read it.  I needed to read it this year.  I had endured so many different situations, heart breaks, and rejections over the past few years that God used this book and His Word to speak to my heart.  We all need a good read like that!

I hope that you will take the time to read this book at some point in your lifetime.  It is definitely worth the read.

Redeeming Love Book Cover Redeeming Love
Francine Rivers
Historical Inspirational Fiction
Multnomah
August 4, 2009
Paperback
480
Amazon

California’s gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep.

Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside.

Then she meets Michael Hosea, a man who seeks his Father’s heart in everything. Michael obeys God’s call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel’s every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.

But with her unexpected softening comes overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband’s pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does…the One who will never let her go.

A powerful retelling of the story of Gomer and Hosea, Redeeming Love is a life-changing story of God’s unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love.


Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Inspirational Fiction
Subjects: acceptance, God's love, love, rejection

Read For Your Life

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This was an excellent book.  I think I would even say that it was on of the best books that I have ever read in my life.  I say that because this book encouraged me in so many ways to read for the rest of my life.  Not only has it inspired me to read, but it has also inspired me to grow, on purpose.  I think I was already doing this, but Pat Williams showed me a different perspective and helped me to take a realistic survey of my current tactics.

Pat Williams takes the time to explain what reading means to him and many other successful people in the world.  He looks at historical individuals as well as current one that have spent their years reading and growing.

He offers us statistics like, most people don’t read and of those that do, over half of them only read on a sixth grade reading level.

Over the past few years, I have set reading goals that I never seemed to achieve.  However I realize now that it was because everything else in my life to a front seat and reading was in the back seat.  Don’t get me wrong, I would read, but not like I wanted to.  Thanks to Pat Williams, things have been put into a clearer perspective.  He suggests that we take a minimum of one hour a day to read.  If we did that we would read a minimum of one book per week.  If we read one book per week, we would read a minimum of 50 books per year.  If we did this for 10 years, we would read approximately 500 books per year.  Now these statistics floored me alone, but it’s what Pat said afterwards that help me to understand how I could apply it to my life.  Choose a topic and become an expert or gain a very clear understanding of the topic within a years time by simply reading.  This is one of the keys to becoming successful in life.

One of the things that I enjoyed so much about this book was that it was full of quotes from so many different people and books.  I love reading quotes.  They often times get me interested in the original source.

I read a review that mentioned that Pat Williams is a bit repetitious in his writing.  I didn’t see that as much as I saw him taking the time to reinerate a point that he felt was important.  This book is very practical.  It is almost like a manual for becoming a lifetime learner or reader, so there are times when Pat mentions something that he already mentioned, but this time he explains how to put it into practice.

I enjoyed this book so much that I would recommend it to everyone.  It is now one of my favorite books of all time.

GREAT READ!!!

Read For Your Life Book Cover Read For Your Life
Pat Williams
Non-Fiction
Health Communications Inc.
2007
Paperback
312
Amazon

Have you ever thought, 'I need to read more,' but not known how or where to start? You can start right here! Read for Your Life reignites your love affair with books and shows you how to prioritize reading--no matter how busy you think you are. It's not just about filling that hard-to-find 'downtime.' Books improve your life in every imaginable way and can give you a mental workout guaranteed to keep your brain fit, alert, and active your whole lifetime.

Author Pat Williams is on a mission to help us all fully access and enjoy the power of reading. If Pat--a father of nineteen children, a four-marathon-a-year runner, and the senior vice president of the Orlando Magic--can make time for it, anyone can. With anecdotes and interviews from today's greatest icons in business, academia, and sports--including Alex Rodriguez, Grant Hill, Oprah Winfrey, Rick Warren, and Rudy Giuliani-- Read for Your Life shows you how you can:

· Minimize distractions and maximize your reading time

· Develop a personalized program for reading more often

· Discover the many ways that reading can improve your mental well-being, your outlook on life, and your level of success in your career

· Rediscover and reconnect with the real you by reading regularly

The lifetime gift of literacy is inside this book. Unleash it! ~(Source Amazon)


Genre: Nonfiction
Subjects: Reading

Tell Me About Prayer: Book Review

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Originally, I was excited to receive this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

My kids looked at it and were excited about me reading it to them.  Yet, I felt that I should read it first and I’m glad that I did.

This book includes a cd in its front cover and a page full of stickers (all good things that children like).  It also has songs written in the book to go along with the cd.

The overall message of this book was good, but there are a few things that concerned me about its content.

 

After passing the first page with the list of songs and the words to the first track of the cd, the children are introduced to the topic of this book, “What is PRAYER?”

I type these letters in all caps and a bold font because that is how they appear in this book.  There are a few other times when we will find key words in bold letters within the book, as seen on the cover.

It would seem that the age range for this book is 5 or 6 years old and under.  However the text of the book is a little too advanced for this age range.  I don’t think that this book would appeal to an older child.

When the author Stephen Elkins begins to explain prayer to the children, one of the first statements is

Some people think prayer is asking God for the things they WANT.  The Bible says prayer is TRUSTING GOD to give us the things we NEED.

The following page explains that “God is not a magic genie who lives to serve us.” While I agree with this statement, the first quote is not a Biblical statement to use in introducing prayer to a group of children that are 6 and under.  After addressing this topic of “God not being a magic genie”, the author explains that “prayer is simply talking and listening to God.”  It is my opinion that this is all that a child in this age group needs to understand about their fellowship through prayer with God.  To mention the other topics, make the book too complex for a child that is simply a babe in Christ to understand.  These topics are ones that need to be addressed with an older group of individuals that can comprehend the problems that arise in some individual’s prayer life.  Still, the complexity of the topics are not the only reasons for my objection to them being used within this book.  There is also the truth that could be found in scripture.

Proverbs 34:10 “The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.” NASV

Because of the ill intentions of some, the rest of the body of Christians have been condemned for asking God for the things that they want.  We are encouraged to only ask God for what we need.  And when we do that we are to assume that He may not give it to us, but to hope that He does.  I challenge this way of thinking with the Scriptures that are found in the Bible.

James 4:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” KJV

Although we are to go before the Lord humbly with the right intention in our hearts, we are to cast all of our cares on Him.  We are not to withhold the wants and only submit the needs.  We are also to believe that He will, in His infinite wisdom and sovernghty answer our prayers how He sees fit.  The Bible does not hold us accountable for His answers to our prayers.  Instead, it tells us not to ask with the wrong intentions nor as a double minded man.  James 1:6-8; 4:3.

This topic could be discussed for a very long time, but my concern is that these topics are too complex for young children and should not be introduced in this manner.

My final concern with the text is the prayer in the back of the book.  It includes a statement that we as adults understand and could pray without any problems occurring within us, but this may not be true for a child.

“You are mighty and I am not.”

I believe that this could have been worded in another way that would help a child understand the awesomeness of God and our human condition.  Yet, when we are in Christ, we are new creatures and we have to remind our children of this as well.  If the content of this book dealt with another topic where this sentence was appropriate, I think it would be ok, but it doesn’t.

Overall, it seems that there were topics that the author felt needed to be dealt with at a young age as parents are training up their children.  Although I agree with this frame of mind, I do not think it was done properly in this book.  Perhaps more pages could have been added to deal wit the topic.

For these reasons, I did not read this book to any of my children. There are certain sections of this book that I honestly love, but they do not, in my opinion out weigh the messages that are communicated to children throughout this  book without Biblical support and in an age appropriate way.

I know this review seemed very negative, but this is what comes across through reading this book.  It is more important that children that prayer is a way of building a relationship with God.  We are able to talk to and hear from Him all of the time.  We as adults have to build their faith in Him.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

If we foster a healthy relationship with God, we can help our children to do the same thing.  However, if all we do is treat God like a genie, then our children will do the same thing.  We are to honor God in all we do and have thankful hearts toward Him in our approach of prayer.  On our knees should be a posture of our hearts constantly.  As we love to come to God in fellowship…our children will understand that and do the same.

(Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book)


Genre: Children's Books
Series: Train 'em up | Subjects: children, prayer

Can I Really Trust The Bible

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When I originally sat down to start reading this book, I thought that I wouldn’t like it.  I wasn’t sure if it was one of those books that appeared to be pro-Christian, only for the reader to find out that it was very anti-Christian.  I thought that I would have to refute many of the author’s points in my review.  Needless to say, I was on guard.

From the beginning of the book. Barry Cooper jumps right in to the position that many believers, whether new or seasoned, find themselves in…trying not to be a doubting Thomas.  In today’s society we have all met someone that seems more educated than we are.  They seem to have thought harder and longer about the Bible and its ability to be trusted.  These individuals seem to study the history of the Bible, its compilation, its human authors, and specific portions that inspire…doubt.  All of these things put together can leave a believer feeling overwhelmed and at a standstill.  Yet Barry Cooper takes advantage of one thing that many believers forget,  the innate human ability to ask questions. In fact, God wants us to ask Him questions.

As I read through this book, I realized that it was an easy read.  It was not so complicated that it would turn away a new or unbeliever, but still filled with enough “meat” to fill the desires of a seasoned one.  I found that this book fed my intellectual desire to answer the questions that I had been asked over the years.  I had personally asked some of these questions and researched others.  Yet I found myself amazed at Mr. Cooper’s ability to sufficiently answer the question in just 80 pages.  When I say answer, I really mean that he answers the question, offers an example, and a reference…just in case you want to do some research for yourself.

I have heard some of the very statements that he used in the book given as reasons why the Bible could not be trusted.  I have to admit that I found myself smiling as he answered them and did not shy away from the questions that challenge our faith.  As I finished the book, it felt like I had just read a page turning novel.  Better yet, it felt like I knew Barry Cooper and we were discussing these questions together.  I know that sounds a bit outlandish, but he really addresses topics that I have only discussed with my closest family members, friends, spiritual leaders, and God.

This is a book that I am proud to have sitting on my bookshelf.  I would give it or recommend it to another person.  I would let my children read it.  I wish I had it years ago.  It would have prepared me for the many questions that I would hear as a believer. I have studied these questions and have learned a lot over the years, but I am very thankful that I received this complementary book from the publisher through Cross Focused Reviews to review.  I look forward to getting more books from The Good Book Company.  Judging from this book, they have a lot to offer.


Genre: Bible, Christian
Subjects: Bible Questions

The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV

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I like this story and the message. It teaches our kids that too much t.v is to good for them or for our family. It also shows the value of family time and communication. There is even a part where the rest of the family is watching t.v while Mama reads a book. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that although she read books, when she addressed the family, Mama included herself in the problem. Gotta love Mama Bear.


Genre: Children's Books
Series: Read to and with you child, The Berenstain Bears | Subjects: Life Lessons, Media