“I had allowed myself to fall back into the same cycle of nagging and shouting at my children."

God’s Promises for Families, Noelene Curry

Review By: Twianna

 

Book Synopsis:

Could it be that we, as adults, often undermine God’s love for our children and limit His presence in their lives because of our own hurts and pain? In desperate times where broken families, teen suicide, abortion, AIDS, and other issues are on the rise, how can you raise your children to be Godly, yet not religious, and teach them to have a healthy long-lasting relationship in their marriage? In God’s Promise for Families, author Noelene Curry gives practical advice on how to raise children to with a deep sense of their own value and worth and how to teach them that God loves them and rejoices over them. She emphasizes some practical Biblical ways to discipline and pray for your children as they seek after God’s presence in their own lives.

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed reading this book and I could relate to the author as a mother. Noelene has written this book in a practical way that can relate to anyone with children and teenagers. In the book she covers topics such as:

Children are a Blessing, Despite what we think

Choosing God

Our Obedience

God’s Assurances

Marriage based on God

Our Value Reflected through God’s eyes

I can relate to Noelene’s exerpt from the book, “I had allowed myself to fall back into the same cycle of nagging and shouting at my children. Instead of immediately taking control of a situation, I had allowed their behavior to carry on until I lost my temper then blamed them for making me lose it”.
When I read this statement I laughed, because I can totally see myself in this position. How often to we become preoccupied with other tasks and ignore the issues in front of us thinking it will go away or the problem will resolve itself. I find I have to be actively engaged with my children and when I am not they notice. There is so much information and this book God’s Promises for Families offers a unique Christian perspective on dealing with issues in your home and in your marriage. I believe it will encourage and inspire you and offers good quality Godly advise to help strengthen your home. One thing that Noelene stated in her book is that “Christians often come under attack through various forms whether it be emotional, spiritual or a physical attack. It is during this time when we must ask God to increase our faith. We need to constantly listen to what God wants to say to us when we sincerely seek His will and answer for us.”
I couldn’t agree more! During the tests and trials that we go through as a believer in Christ instead of leaning, trusting and depending on the Lord to help us through the situations we go the opposite direction. It is during this time that we need to pray and exercise our faith and God is so faithful He is just waiting to show Himself strong on our behalf. I enjoyed reading this book and I am sure that you will too. You will laugh and cry and gain a deeper understanding of family from God’s perspective.

"There is an active, destructive, and intelligent enemy who’ll do anything to derail you"

Crushing The Devil, Pedro Okoro

Review by Twianna

 

 

Book Synopsis:

There is an active, destructive, and intelligent enemy who’ll do anything to derail you from realizing your full potential and accomplishing your purpose. He adapts his temptations and tricks to suit your natural inclinations and desires, modifying his lure to match your lifestyle. The enemy opposes and resists you, and tries to stand in the way of the answer to your prayers. For those times, God has given you the power and authority to crush the enemy! In Crushing the Devil, Pastor Pedro Okoro, (New Covenant Church, Wallington, UK) awakens your soul with this guide to spiritual warfare and victory in Christ. Defining spiritual warfare, he tells how to equip yourself with weapons needed to fight the battle.Crushing the Devil dares you to take God at His Word-because winning the battle doesn’t require physical brawn, but spiritual brains!

My thoughts:

This book is a spiritual weapon for those who are believers in Christ. This is an awesome resource and reference to accompany your Bible study time. In this book Pastor Pedro Okoro provides you with scripture references to reflect upon as well as biblical tools in order to have a victorious life over the enemy as a believer.

Topics covered in this book are:

Right, Capacity, Ability

Who Are You?

Spiritual Warfare

Strategy in Spiritual Warfare

Your Authority Over the Enemy

Fulfilling Your Obedience

Walk The Talk

In his book Pastor Okoro states ” To submit to God is to trust and obey. Put differently, to yield to God is to walk the talk. Without total surrender and complete submission to God, we cannot firmly resist and stand firm against the Enemy. Resisting the enemy means standing firm against him in prayer and opposing him with the Word of God. For this to happen, you must pray with the help of the Holy Spirit. Pray all manner of prayer. Speak the Word of God into the situation you are faced with…” you can read the full quote taken from page 200 in the book.

 

There are so many different areas of spiritual warfare to cover, you have to get the book for yourself. You will be equipped with a renewed spiritual mindset and made aware of the devices the enemy uses to hinder our progress, ministries and your Christian faith walk.

 

At the end of every chapter there is a section that includes Food for Reflection, Prayer Features and Action Points. In each one of these subsections Pastor Okoro provides important action points and lessons to reflect on, to encourage you and teach you how to examine yourself spiritually and walk in faith in every area of your life. I believe this book will be a blessing to you and encourage you in those times of difficulty. It was an eye opener for me and I have learned so much by reading this book.

For more information please visit: www.deepriverbooks.com
To purchase the E-book Kindle version visit: Amazon

"She loved the discovery of the ancients skeletons"

The Sacred Mountain, Dalen Keys
Review By Edna's Grandaughter

 

 

I passed this book on to my granddaughter and she read it for me, so I am going to post what she said.

First of all she loved anything to do about archelogical sites so she jumped right on. She loved the discovery of the ancients skeletons as Will Evans was on a trip to the reservation and thought he was going to just play skateboarding and being lazy. But when he arrived he and his friends begain a search to try their hand at finding out about a old take of a boy disappering while exploring the mountain.

 

She really enjoyed this book and I want to think Deep River Books for sending me this free book for a review.

"This book has helped me understand and appreciate this time period and the history of it so much more."

From an Orphan to a Queen, Esther  By Titi Horsfall

Review By Cara

 

 

 

I will always be a fan of courageous women. That is why this book, From an Orphan to a Queen by Titi Horsfall caught my eye. This is a story about the courageous heroine of the Old Testament in the Bible--Esther. 

In From an Orphan to a Queen, novelist Titi Horsfall laces historical and biblical events with fiction, weaving a tender and vivid recreation of Esther’s journey. The biblical account of Esther is a story of deliverance and of prophecy fulfilled, through an amazing interplay of characters and divinely staged events. In this book, our heroine’s story comes to life as a tale of hope and personal discovery… a tale of a girl whose hopes and fears were not all that different from young women today. Chosen by the king, young Esther was forced to replace another wife, mother and queen. With the encouragement of her uncle Mordecai, Esther risked her life, revealing her identity as a Jew to influence the king to reverse an execution order against her people. Her brave actions forever changed the course of history.

Although I've heard and read the story of Esther many times, this book brought Esther and her story to life for me in a whole new way. Sometimes the Old Testament stories get a little jumbled and confusing for me, because there are so many foreign names and places, and I find them hard to relate to at times. Author Titi Horsfall has done a marvelous job of giving the background for all that happened in Esther's life and making the reader feel like they are part of the story. I have so enjoyed reading this book, because it has helped me understand and appreciate this time period and the history of it so much more. I also now realize that I can relate with Esther more than I thought. I think we all can relate with the realization that only God knows our future and when we trust in his plan, he will give us greater blessings than we could have thought of for ourselves.

I think this book will appeal to almost everyone, as it weaves history with inspiration and hope, war and politics with family and personal struggles. I can't recommend this book enough, and I hope you are all blessed by it as much as I have been.

Living Prayer brings fresh insight to this ancient prayer and gives us the tools to transform our prayer lives.

Living Prayer by Dennis Fuqua
Book Review By Jan M.

Dennis Fuqua (pronounced few-kway), the director of International Renewal Ministries, and author of Living Prayer, challenges you to take Jesus' command on how to pray more seriously than ever before.

The events in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11, took place in two different times and settings, but in both Jesus told his followers, "This, then, is how you should pray," and gave them the words which we now call "The Lord's Prayer."

Part 1 of this book introduces you to the prayer and explains why and how it can be helpful to your life.

In Part 2, each line of the Lord's Prayer is broken down with explanation to help us have a deeper understanding of the meaning. Having learned the Lord's Prayer as a little girl, I can still recite it today. Before reading this book I would have told you that I understood the meaning... but, I'd never studied it in this way. I appreciate James Mulholland's quote which compares the prayer to making a marriage vow. Even though it only takes a few minutes to recite, it must be lived out for years in order to become meaningful.

In Chapter 7, the explanation of "Let Your will be done," was especially eye-opening. I came to understand that His will is less about what we do and more about who we are and why we do what we do. His will = His commands

I thought Chapter 9, "Forgive us our debts," was especially well written. I often hear people who are confused about what forgiveness means. It doesn't mean to 'forgive and forget.' We can and do remember offenses, but we must choose not to retaliate. We can get mad, but not get even. If you have questions about the topic of forgiveness, I recommend this chapter. It's written in a way that is easy to understand and remember.

At the end of each chapter there is a response section with a few questions to help you process what you've learned.

Part 3 has, what the author calls, "training wheel prayers," to assist us until we are ready to ride on our own. There are a multitude of combinations given, to suit every need.

Living Prayer brings fresh insight to this ancient prayer and gives us the tools to transform our prayer lives.

You can buy Living Prayer at Amazon.com, Christianbook.com or local booksellers

"The one thing that really made me think was the gossip that went on in the church"

Love's Tangled Web,   Keren Franklin
Review by Brenda

A picture-perfect marriage. A little harmless flirting. Two sisters, with lifelong resentments. The ultimate betrayal. Bridgette’s life, on the sun-drenched west coast of Australia, appears perfect – married to a successful lawyer, Joel, with two beautiful daughters and a leadership position in church. She even has herself fooled into thinking she’s got it all together. But there’s a perfect storm brewing, a wave of events that will sweep away Bridgette’s superficial world forever. Joel is harboring frustrations which his self-centered wife won’t acknowledge, and Bridgette’s sister is nursing an old grudge against her. When dangerous passions erupt between the two, Bridgette is blind-sided and humiliated. As destruction falls on everyone she loves, Bridgette must finally get real with herself… and with God. In the aftermath, an attractive younger man offers her his heart, but can Bridgette build a new life and a stronger love amid the rubble? Or is it possible to forgive the unforgivable? Keren Franklin spins a gripping, cautionary tale about the tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive… ourselves.

My take on this book:

It's not often that I read a book that has me changing my mind about who I think is wrong or right, but this one certainly did!

Bridgette seemed to have the perfect life. Her husband Joel is a successful lawyer in her father's firm, she has two wonderful daughters, and attends church regularly where she leads a Bible study group. The only thing is she doesn't have a great relationship with her sister Piper, who is a single mother, although their relationship isn't great they still get along, or at least they do until Piper crosses a line and does something that can never be undone, something that puts Bridgette's perfect marriage in jeopardy, and has her rethinking her entire life. Will Bridgette's marriage be over, can she ever find forgiveness for Joel and Piper? What happens with Bridgette's relationship with God?

Well this book really hooked me...  the thing is I had my mind all made up about who and what was right and wrong. In the beginning I think I was alot like the character of Amy in this story, and couldn't see past the deed that had been done. As the story unfolds though I really saw that not everything is so black and white, and could see how something like the situation in this book could happen. While I really felt for Bridgette, I also felt empathy for Joel as well as Piper, although it took me a while to get there with these two characters. The one thing that really made me think was the gossip that went on in the church. That topic alone makes this book a must read. Overall, this is a thought provoking read that would be great as a group read, especially for women's church groups, because there are several lessons to be learned in the pages of this one. I am anxious to read more from this author!

"...relevant scriptures, prayers, age-old quotes, and discussion questions for family interaction."

Lord, Bless My Child  -   Bill and Nancie Carmichael

Review By Cara

My children are some of the greatest blessings in my life, and I know that it is a great responsibility to take care of them, love them, and teach them to the best of my ability. That is why when I saw the book, "Lord, Bless My Child - A Keepsake Prayer Journal to Pray for the Character of God in My Child" by William & Nancie Carmicheal, I jumped at the chance to review it!

This book is even better than I had hoped it would be! It is a wonderful guide for parents in praying for the character of God to be developed in the lives of their children. This book offers 52 prayer concepts that fall in line with God’s plan for each child. I have been doing one concept a week, and it has been such a blessing in our lives already! Each week (each concept), you look at relevant scriptures, prayers, age-old quotes, and discussion questions for family interaction. For instance, the first concept was compassion. Not only did I have the chance to teach my son this invaluable concept, I myself grew in my understanding of compassion and tried to practice being more compassionate in my own daily life. After all, the best way to teach your child is through your own modeling.

Another part of this book that I appreciate is that in each chapter, there is also a place to journal your prayers—and later, how God has answered them. Then, if you choose to, you can give this journal to your child as a gift so they can read the prayer journal entries, and see how God answered your prayers for them over the years. I think this is such a wonderful idea, and I have enjoyed it immensely! Someday, this will be an invaluable gift to share with my kids!

The next concept we are going through is contentment, and I know our whole family can benefit from this lesson and all the concepts in this fabulous book! Thank you, Carmichaels for such a thoughtful and useful book.

 

You can find this book at tons of online retailers, and I highly recommend you start reading it as part of your daily schedule.