The Quiet (Crazy) Easter Day

I love these padded books. They are sturdy like board books yet have good story like a picture book.

And this is one that we enjoyed so much!

So as you can see its bright and colorful, which will hold any toddler or preschooler’s attention.

I like the story because it incorporates animal sounds which encourages my little audience to join in the story. They often get a good laugh from me making the animal noises as I read the book. And there’s almost a request for an encore performance. It’s a fun book to read to little ones who may not yet understand the full impact of the resurrection, but this book is a gentle introduction to our savior’s story. (They also have one about Jesus’ birth which is just as fun and colorful and full of animal noises to act out). 

I really like that this book takes the perspective that perhaps the animals were excited or maybe they somehow understood what was going on. And even if they did not, perhaps they were excited for God. As the Bible says that everything that has breathe worships Him, all creation worships Him. And animals are just as much God’s creation as I am. And they aren’t biased like humans are. So surely they worship God as a default. Their very existence is worship. And during those days, those who were sacrificed worshipped God in their death as well.

As always I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my HONEST opinion. And I am not required to write a positive opinion.

Sick of Me

The book that isn't about self? Well, it is about having a right perspective of self.

The best one-word summary: sanctification.

Whitney Capps delves into one of the most prolific parts of the Christian walk, sanctification. What happens after you've said yes to God? Too often it becomes self-help book after self-help book. And heaven forbid you hit a worldly perspective of getting yourself together (most recently seen in Rachel Hollis' books). The Christian walk can easily get self-centered. Even in our attempts to look like the good Christian, we can be quite selfish. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book primarily because it is more than a "me too" book and it's hey let's go beyond putting our crap on display and let's actually do something about it. Too often we get comfortable in showing everyone that we have flaws too, but when do we actually address those flaws? Not the cosmetic ones but the character ones. When do we go beyond transparency into transformation? Jesus invites you to come to Him as you are, but He's not content to leave you the way He finds you. No, He says follow me (requires action on our part). Take my yolk (requires action on our part). Abide in me (requires action on our part). Obey my commands (requires action on our part). After we choose Jesus and accept Him as our Savior. There's still work to be done. Salvation doesn't hinge on us. That is freely given but even in that gift, you have to ACCEPT the gift. But sanctification? That actually requires our input and willingness to obey. {Whitney's words in my own words.} 

This is a book I would recommend BUT only if you're ready to do something and participate in the sanctification process. After reading this book, you won't have the ability to say you didn't know or you don't understand, your obedience and abidance in Jesus are necessary to the call to follow Him. There's no way to say you belong to Him if you don't abide and obey.

{FYI: I did receive this book from the publisher in exchange for my HONEST opinion.}

Made for This

Jennie Allen! Love her books! They get to the nitty-gritty of surrender. And morphed into IF: Gathering (IF: Table, IF:Local), a ministry that seeks to gather people together into groups of all sizes and demographics to study God's Word together. 

This book is 40 days and it has released right in time for Lent (also a 40-day event). The goal is to do this book during Lent (what Jennie is currently promoting). The book itself is broken down into 4 parts (check below for photos of the Table of Contents). It is the embodiment of Anything (2015) and Restless (2014) morphed into one interactive book. It challenges and inspires. It requires you to engage. It prompts you to make life-altering changes. Changes that exhorts you to draw near to God so that He will draw near to you.

Part One is completely Anything. Praying the Anything Prayer. I will go anywhere you choose Lord.  I will do anything You ask of me, Lord. ANYTHING Lord, here I am. And this is a BOLD prayer to pray. This is a surrendering of one's self and entire life unto God. And you need to mean it and be willing to follow through when God responds. 

Part Two, answer the call. God calls. He beckons. He points, He moves. And it is up to us to hear and to respond. I'll be honest, the first step to hearing is to spending time with God.

Part Three: Working out the details, the threads. There's a process of walking out the surrender. It will not be easy and it will require obedience to whatever God sets forth. Those threads are important, no matter how big or small.

Part Four: The future. It's okay to dream for the future and plan. Even if God throws the monkey wrench later, it is okay. How do we take what we learn about ourselves and about God in this 40 days journey and let it apply to the rest of our lives? Because that is the real goal, right? For lasting impact, not just to feel good or feel challenged in the moment then, write off once the 40 days are up.

Highly recommend. And if you have not read Anything and Restless. Please get them and read them while going through this book. It will make a HUGE difference.

{FYI: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my HONEST opinion.}

The Silent Noisy Night

A new children's book!

Perfect for this Christmas season!

So I absolutely LOVE this book! It's so bright and colorful. And baby Jesus is a beautiful brown skin baby (won't go into a debate on this). The author takes into account that Jesus was born in a barn and laid in a manger (a feedbox for animals). So if he was born in a barn, he could have easily been surrounded by farm animals and if he was, it is quite believable that they were not quite. They may have been excited about his birth.

I love that the author uses such amazing verbs and sounds and it rhymes. So when we read it (almost every day since it arrived), I tend to sing the last few pages to my kids and (surprisingly) they love it!

And what mom doesn't love a board book. Soft enough for little hands to hold yet sturdy enough that those little yet rowdy hands cannot destroy it.

Look below for an excerpt:

Definitely recommend!! Why not read it during advent with your children?

{As always, I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.}

The Better Mom Devotional

The is the devotional follow up to Ruth Schwenk's novel The Better Mom (my review on it here) named after her blog, The Better Mom. And I must say it is quickly becoming my favorite devotional! It literally speaks to my often overwhelmed, sometimes weary mom heart. That part of me that questions just how well am I doing at this job. 

And on top of that, it is insanely beautiful. It comes as a hardback which means...longer lasting quality. HUGE plus. And the pages are of great quality, they're heavy enough to be read and turned many times without worrying about them ripping so easily. 

Each day starts with a bible verse/passage and ends with a prayer prompt and questions for pondering that I use as daily journal prompts. There are exactly 100 devotions, so that's just over 3 months of devotions.

Below are a few shareable images: 

THIS is one of the main themes of this devotional.

This is an often prayer of mine, that we are acceptable representatives of Christ in all we do & say. That people want to join His family when they interact with mine and feel God's love in action.

This one is such a HUGE truth that we have to remember daily as moms and wives. We are supposed to be a gift to each other AND an example to the WORLD of Christ's relationship with His bride, the church

The Unexplainable Church

The Unexplainable Church, the second bible study by Erica Wiggenhorn on the Book of Acts. This one covers Acts 13-28. It covers what happened to the church! And this is a big deal because we are to live this out daily, so what better way than to study what happened with the church and how God grew them and used them for His glory to further spread the Gospel around the world. The study is ten weeks long with specific questions and reading for five days.

(table of contents)

In the first week, you will go back into the earlier part of Acts (mind you this Bible study is a continuation from an Unexplainable Life Acts 1-12) and read on the forming of the church as well as Paul's conversion because that plays a huge part in early church history.

I really enjoyed this book because it's Scripture driven and centered. It seeks to help us understand and interact with God's Word. Not in it being focused on us (because the Bible may APPLY to us it is not about us) but in its actual context. And by helping us to understand God's Word, Erica helps us to connect with God through His Word. Oftentimes we are called to pray God's Word and speak it back to Him, but how can we do that if we do not know it? So we must study.

Hugely recommend this book as well as its predecessor, An Unexplainable Life, to study your way through the book of Acts.

{FYI: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my HONEST opinion.}

100 Favorite Bible Verses for Children

This book operates like a devotional for children. These is a devotional and a scripture along with a cute illustration/drawing.

I like that it is like a starter into using devotionals. And for the parents who read a daily devotional (*waves hand*) this may be a nice addition to your library to get your kids involved in that daily reading time as well.

These are an example of what the two page devotional looks like. The first page is the actual devotional and the second page is the bible verse in a children friendly translation and a cute illustration. It's nothing too heavy yet enough to get them in God's Word and help them understand God's word and how it relates to their little lives.

{FYI: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my HONEST opinion.}

The Words of Jesus

The Red Letter Words Of Jesus takes the Words of Jesus in the New Testament and uses them for the Scripture references in a devotional.  It starts off in Matthew and makes its way through the Gospel with the ending devotional coming from Revelations. Over 100 verse of Jesus' words are in this devotional. The devotions are not numbered nor is there a table of contents.

I like that it is small enough to toss in a bag when you're on the run but don't want to miss out on your daily devotional. It is also built pretty sturdy, you don't have to worry about the cover bending up or pages ripping so easily.

I think this devotional is great for any age of believer, from the teen to the elder of the church. 

{FYI: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.}

'I AM' Bible

If you know anything about me, I'm not a big fan of the KJV. I didn't start liking the NKJV until I got the Duck Commander Bible and the beauty of that bible makes it where I am more interested in the NKJV. However when I read the description for the I AM Bible I decided to give the KJV another try, see if I could like it.

The goal of this bible is to put in bold print the words spoken by God. And Jesus' words are red-lettered. I have the hardcover, so its nice and sturdy. It has lay flat binding, which is beyond awesome for study purposes. There are little explanation boxes corresponding with God and Jesus speaking to tell the reader who God/Jesus is specifically speaking to. Other than that, there are no other footnotes or comments. The print is fairly small, I do need my glasses to read it clearly. Yet it is not as small as the font in my Life Application Study Bible, so that is good. There is a topical index, glossary/dictionary, and concordance on top of the usual 8 maps detailing places of the bible both OT and NT.

 The boxes in the middle are the boxes which kind of aid the reader in understanding why and who Jesus was speaking to.

  Same here with the references to God's Words in Hebrews.

And again here in the OT.

I like the aesthetics of this bible. My only quip is how the KJV breaks down words, almost into syllables which used to be irritating to read but I guess now that I am older, I can appreciate to a degree for those names of people and places that I would otherwise need help learning the correct pronunciation of. I am glad that I got the opportunity to take a fresh look at the KJV and gain a new appreciation for it.


{FYI: I did receive my copy of this bible from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.}