New Interior Design Review: Restoration House

So this is the first of its kind here on Reviews with Kris. It is a book on interior design and it is beautifully written with gorgeous photographs of the author's home. She speaks of restoring home and restoring our hearts. 

This book yall! It is so refreshing and beautiful and hardback (my fave). 

This book is the story of a woman (Kennesha Buycks) who realizes that God met her while she was restoring furniture. And He used this newfound hobby of hers to pour into her and transform her from someone who was more superficial and discontent to someone who could see the beauty below the surface and who is now content with her portion in life. 

There is so much in this book that it goes beyond coffee table book to a handy resource. I'll share some excerpts (photos) of the practical tips and guides that the author shares with us; the deep and meaningful prayers she shares at the end of each chapter; the hospitality hacks spread throughout. There is even a guide on creating your own cheese board for entertaining (I included a photo of the shopping list). She goes to great lengths to ensure that this doesn't become a book that just sits on a table never to be used. There's so much to glean throughout the book and heart nuggets to draw us closer to God.

Cheeseboard shopping list.

 I greatly appreciated the reflection and prayer sections at the end of each chapter because it brings God into our homes and into our designs and gives Him glory through it all. 

Prayer and Reflection...this one from chapter 6.

 Hospitality tips

Seasons Greetings: ways to spruce up our homes during every season.

Recipe for a natural bug repellent. Like seriously, don't we ALL need this once the weather gets warm?

This book gets 5 stars from me and is DEFINITELY worth adding to your library! You can head over to Amazon to get your copy here.

{FYI: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my HONEST review. In other words, I genuinely LOVE this book and my payment is the book itself.}

Seated with Christ

At first, I was a wee bit skeptical about this book as it is the first I've read by this author. However, I can say it will not be my last.  It is TOO raw and it gets beneath my skin in a way that requires me to self-examine.  This book is organized by section and feature Sit & Savor questions at the end of each chapter. The Sit &  Savor questions take it from being a regular book to one that intreats you to highlight, study, and glean what is shared on the pages. 

So I've learned a few things while reading this book:

• To be seated in Christ is to be secure in who Christ says you are. He says that we are loved, that He has prepared a place for us in the heavenlies, that we are heirs with Him in the kingdom of God.
• As one who is seated in Christ, I am not striving for affluence or appearance or attention. I am resting in the Father, knowing that Jesus must become greater and I lesser.
• Once I accept that I am seated in Christ, it frees me to serve others and share the gospel. It frees me to do what God has called me to do. 

I love that Heather addresses the rat race to be rich. She realizes that God didn't call us to be rich on this earth. He called us to HIMSELF. And if He chooses to bestow riches then so be it but money is NOT an indicator of being within the will of God or salvation. 

There's also a section of the book on living at 60%. To live at 60% means we prioritize what's important and learn to say no to quite a bit so that we are not overextending ourselves. A lot of times as moms we are exhausted and snappy and overwhelmed because we take on too much. We live at 99% so when something does not go according to plan we lose our minds and snap. Our kids feel it and so do our significant others. I think the same can even be said of our finances. (Chapter 9)

Heather also addresses discipleship (although not directly in this term). She started a fitness night and walk to school tradition in her neighborhood which has opened the door for her to be available and to share bible with those within a 1-mile radius of her. (Chapter 9) It's an inspiration for hospitality and creating community. Something that the early church did so well.

A list of questions to ask yourself before making decisions.

I found this list of questions to be quite useful as I often like to rush headlong into decisions without stopping to question if the decision is good. And there is always the ever-present difference between good and almost good. But moreover, these questions allow me to put Jesus at the forefront of everything I do and to reject those things that would not bring Him glory.

quick excerpt

another quick excerpt

This book gets ALL thumbs up! Excellent writing, excellent organization, excellent message. A necessary message. I definitely will continue to recommend (already have done so on social media).

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

Devotions for a Deeper Life

A deeper life?

What exactly does that mean? Deeper in what aspect?

Well for the devotional I picked up by Oswald Chambers, deeper is spiritually deeper.

And considering the world and everything going on, can't we all go a little spiritually deeper, a little more intimate with God?

I raise my hand yes we do (at least I do).

Oswald Chambers helps us get there with this devotional. Each one starts with a passage, nothing too cheesy but enough to provoke thought. To cause me to stop and really ponder what I am reading. And then the full context of the main verse is given so that we can study further, study deeper on that day's topic. 

The book itself is nice sized not too big, its adequately sized to throw in a bag to read while commuting (train/bus/plane) or even to just take along to work to read while on break. There's also a bookmark ribbon to mark where you left off. Plus it is dated so no matter what just go to today's date and jump right in. 

Before I was really adhering to using my Jesus Calling devotional but after coming across this one, I've become a tad bit more interested in this one because it is clear that the speaker is not Jesus but is inspired by God. 

Searching the Scriptures

If you're trying to gain not only a better relationship with God but to also learn His Word, this is a book to have:  Searching the Scriptures by Charles R. Swindoll. A little background on the author: Swindoll is a teacher of the Word, and has been in the pastorate since 1963 and is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS).

I enjoy that the book reads well BUT it also has "homework" which makes you use what you read and makes you practice what Charles Swindoll is teaching in this book. I will say it isn't a book to complete in a day. This is a book to savor, take a chapter a day or a chapter every two days so that you can really digest what Swindoll is teaching. I have been reading and completing the "homework" everyday in the evenings when my littles are in the bed and it has been a total eye opening blessing. Teaching and convicting my spirit on much of my personal actions, or rather lack thereof.

This is an well written and added book to my arsenal of study aids.

I received this book from Tyndale in exchange for an HONEST review.

I am found

So I am so excited about this bible study it is in a series of bible studies by Moody Publishers just for women. The first one, An Unexplainable Life, I also reviewed here. 

This bible study is about me, about you. Women are trying to be seen and known by God but when we sin and are ashamed we tend to hide. For me when I am ashamed I literally hide out in my bedroom. 

I love this study for that very reason it is challenging me to stop hiding from God, from my husband. It is also teaching me to stop "not being bothered" with other people. It is nothing personal against them, I just often prefer my own company to that of others. 

The blurb is: 

I Am Found summons us from the shadows and into the light. This 6-week Bible study on shame and freedom explores: why we hide from God and others, why God’s love frees us to come out of hiding, what it looks like to live like we’ve been found, and how to cultivate relationships that encourage vulnerability

And that is exactly what this study does. It has encouraged me to turn to GOD when I feel ashamed, when I have sinned. It is encouraging me to stop hiding from my husband when we have disagreements. It is encouraging me to not hide from people outside of my home when they may offend or insult me.

Here are some fun things I found on the Moody Publisher's Women page to go with this study. Also if you go on the page, you will find a study tool (Download Excerpts) from Moody Commentary which allows you to read the commentary to go with the the Scripture found in the study. (AWESOME.)

Moody Publishers also allow ministry leaders the ability to receive a FREE copy of this study to use with their study groups, which I think is pretty awesome. 

Illustrated Journaling Bible

Finally!!!!

I have wanted an illustrated journaling bible for SO long. And finally I have one thanks to B&H Publishing sending me one to review!

My immediate reaction: LOVE!

It is very beautiful! It is made to lay flat as you journal and color the illustrations in the bible. The one that I have is leather on outside grey and white with gold. I like that the illustrations are either Scripture or nature. There are also some articles within the bible that ask and answer a question. One is "How to Read and Study the Bible." This one that I have is an HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) version. I actually really like the translation. It kind of puts me in the mind of a NASB translation. I also like that in the beginning of the bible it explains the translation, what manuscripts it used, and features found in the bible. It is a decent size, large enough to read without my glasses yet small enough to toss down in my diaper bag to take with me.

Being able to color in the illustrations is a great help in calming me down when I am upset or having a hard day. It just focuses my attention to the Scripture I am coloring in.

This is the outside of the Bible.

This is what the inside looks like. As you can see I have been having fun.

Another shot of the inside of the bible. As you can see there is room to color and room to jot down some notes.

These are the color pencils that I use in the bible (on sale at Walmart for $0.50). I personally do not recommend anything heavier than a color pencil or gel pen considering how thin the pages are and especially not markers as I think they'd bleed through.

The Jump to Trust God

This book addresses a few different topics of application of the Christian faith: 

• When we trust God's love for us, 
• when we choose to walk with Jesus, 
• when we choose to relax
• when we take the time to notice God in everything, 
• when we choose to invest our time and finances into God's kingdom, 
• when we choose to be kind to everyone, 
• and when we place our hope in God. 

When we do these things, Rusty then explains the different ways God shows up in our lives. Each topic of application is explain in an "if then" circumstance. IF we choose to walk with Jesus, THEN God will show us how. Too often we forget, all of the Christian life starts with a choice. A choice to trust God, to accept Jesus Christ, to confess our sins and turn our backs on that sin (repentance). But after we make that choice, we must live our lives in such a way that we start to look like Jesus Christ: walk like Jesus, talk like Jesus, point people past ourselves and on to Jesus.

This book is endorsed by Kyle Idleman (he wrote the forward) and I truly have enjoyed his books (Not a Fan & Gods at War). So that helped me become interested in the content of this book. And after reading it, it puts me in the mind of the Believe series of books by Randy Frazee. They seek to aid us in our walk in Jesus, in our relationship with God. And this book does the same.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to the application and benefit of application of walking with Jesus, trusting God, choosing God.

{fyi: I got this book through the BookLook Blogger program in exchange for my HONEST review.}

A Woman of Excellence

As a wife, as a mom, I strive to be the best version of me that I can be. 

I know it sounds a bit cliche but its true. I have daughters and their first impression of what a woman is and should be is me. So I try my best to be that for them.

I was recently given the opportunity by Tyndale Blog Network to review Becoming a Woman of Excellence by Cynthia Heald. I have the 30th Anniversary Edition, which has some added perks that the original does not have. 

And I cannot be more satisfied with a book. First, this is not a book you simply just read through. It is a literal bible study. While it has its portions that you read, you cannot read the book without writing in it, without being involved in it. It requires that you read the bible and interpret what you read and apply what you read. This book makes you memorize scripture because when I can memorize scripture then I can pray that scripture and that scripture becomes very useful to me.

This book calls for change. For improvement to the woman that you are. As a woman, I don't want to just exist. I want to be the best. And not by this world's standards but by GOD's standards.  God's standards of excellence is far greater than anything than I could ever image. It requires me to lay down my personal desires. To die daily to my flesh, which is saying no to what I want and saying yes to what GOD wants. When I choose to become a woman of excellence, I am choosing God's Will, God's purpose, and God's best for me and my life. And that inevitably affects my husband and my children. It teaches my son the type of woman he should want in his life. It teaches my daughter the type of women to strive to be as they mature.

So is this a book that I would personally recommend? Absolutely! Actually two private Facebook groups will start this bible study next week! 

Just a Little Time with Jesus

You ever hear that saying, "When I rise give me Jesus?"

Well here is a book that can literally help us do that without taking up loads of time. 

For many of us mamas, we don't always have an hour to devote to quiet time with the Lord in the morning, no matter how much we'd like some seasons of life only afford us bite sized quiet times. 

And that is why I like Sheila Walsh's devotional 5 Minutes with Jesus Peace for today. 

It allows to get a quick devotional and backs it up with Scripture. And for moms who are always busy, peace is always a good place to star the day off with. 

Even if you don't have the time to do the devotional, skip past it to the nuggets of Scripture and treasure them up in your heart. I think this devotional will get even more use from me after I give birth and my level of busyness gets higher.

Below are actual (personal) photos of the devotional. As you can see from the photo on the right, the devotional is not TOO big that it cannot be thrown into a purse or diaper bag. And the photo on the left shows some of the nuggets of Scripture in one of the daily devotionals.

{FYI: I did receive this book through the BookLookBlogger Program in exchange for my HONEST opinion.}