Sarah
Jamie Ivey writes a book telling her story while reminding you how hers, and even each of our stories, are woven into the grand narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. She shares the particulars of how the Lord intervened in her life and saved her not for self-glorification but to normalize brokenness, encourage transparency, facilitate real conversations in real community, and punctuate the significance of godly grief leading to godly sorrow as well as confession and repentance.
Stories are beautiful. A beautiful manifestation of the diverse God we serve and opportunities for vulnerability, begetting vulnerability and reflecting the myriad ways our loving Father's faithfulness, steadfastness, and sovereignty are interwoven throughout the entirety of our lives. Jamie does just this with her story, and I cannot wait for this book to be published, as I'm already thinking about all the people I want to buy this book for.
I received this book for free as part of a pre-launch team. I was not compensated in any way for my review, and my rating and all opinions expressed are of my own volition.
This book is a must read. I read this book as part of Jamie Ivey's summer book club themed around racial reconciliation, a theme which instantly drew me in. While I am a half white, half-Asian female, I have been predominantly seen and identified as being white. I don't know what it's like to be unfairly stereotyped because of the color of my skin. My parents didn't have to talk to me at a young age about specific words people might one day use to describe me, words that would express ignorance, hate, or perhaps a mixture of both - because of the color of my skin.
Ganshert states in her Author's Note that she has “stepped into a sensitive space. I am a white girl. I have a black daughter; even so, I'll never truly understand what it's like to be black in America.” Not being able to understand didn't stop her from trying to challenge readers to grow in empathy, have conversations, access resources that challenge biases and prejudices. This book truly did just that for me. I may never know what it's like to be black in America, but I can start asking questions. Have conversations. Have humility to recognize the perhaps even unconscious ways I make assumptions about people based on appearance or the color of their skin. See all the resources available to get out of my comfort zone and try to see the world from a different point of view.
Thank you Ganshert for promoting a stance of humility and recognition that everyone, everyone has a story. That everyone has struggles. That even in 2018, books like this are needed because racism does still exist. I'm grateful for an opportunity to pause and reflect to consider the injustices those in the black community (and other communities of color) have faced and still face even in the 21st century. May empathy remain even after “the characters and the plot fade away”.
Such a great resource for women - Harris bravely and vulnerably shares her personal struggle with pornography and her journey into God's grace. She punctuates the necessity of community, God's word, prayer, confession, repentance, vulnerability, and more community in battling sin. What it is to love God more than to just hate sin. She writes not as someone in an ivory tower whose struggle is solely past tense, which likely resonates with any women reading this book who have sin struggles of their own, perhaps similar perhaps different. It was so encouraging to read how others willingly walked alongside her to support her fight and serve as pictures of the unwavering love God had and has for her all along.
“God is always in the process of redeeming brokenness and restoring lives. That's the beautiful thing about grace. It doesn't just save you from your sorry self. It doesn't pull you out of the water and plop you on the beach, shivering and half-drowned. Grace rescues and restores. It pulls you out of the water and gives you a purpose. It gives you life.”
Incredibly helpful resource as I'm re-entering the counseling space. This book would be most helpful for someone new to the biblical counselor role looking for encouragement, guidance, and structure for how to approach counseling from a biblical perspective. I imagine it may not be as helpful for someone who has a good deal of counseling experience because it does go into detail for the beginning, middle, and end of the counseling process (as the title aptly states). There are some helpful references to primarily CCEF articles at the end of the book if you have a membership or are interested in paying for some additional resources. I read this as an e-book but likely will get a physical copy for easy reference as I continue growing as a biblical counselor.
Incredibly practical. Borrowed this book from the library but will definitely be buying to have as a reference. This book will serve as a great resource as our almost two year old son gets older. My husband started reading the book and kept saying all throughout how he wanted to take time to do the exercises himself, and I felt the same way. Will be recommending this book to other boy moms!
This story is dark and complex. While seemingly centered around the death of the daughter (Lydia) of a Chinese-American family in the late 1970s, it's about so much more. You learn about the mother and father's upbringing and the baggage they bring to marriage and parenthood. Then there's the baggage of being Chinese-American in a predominantly white community. You spend time seeing through the eyes of Lydia's older brother Nath who can never quite garner the affection of his parents the way Lydia can. Lydia's younger sister Hannah sees and understands so much but is often forgotten and unnoticed. Readers also hear from Lydia who serves as the vicarious fulfillment for her parents' lost opportunities and unrealized dreams.
The family is dysfunctional, and uncomfortably so. Perhaps the discomfort comes from how relatable their dysfunction is. The Lee family is broken in ways I witnessed growing up and have experienced as an adult as well. They hide. They say the wrong things. They hold back from saying what they really want to or what they actually mean. They are selfish. They have regrets. Who isn't able to relate to this kind of brokenness?
Through flashbacks, foreshadowing, fast forwarding, shifting perspectives, and some questions left unanswered, Ng presents a fascinating exploration of family dynamics and grief.
Vincent's primer may appear to be short and simple, but I found myself reading slowly to better reflect and think on what the Gospel actually is and why this matters. One could say he is repetitive, but I found this useful because I need the reminders. I don't preach the gospel to myself daily, and I greatly appreciated the myriad scriptural references that serve as reminders of what the gospel is and who I am because of it. Jesus not only died the death I deserved but defeated death in rising again. God spared no expense in justifying those who would believe through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. He has equipped believers with the Holy Spirit to live a life forever changed, forever loved, forever glorifying God and not self. Vincent emphasizes the loving-kindness of God and balances well the grace freely offered alongside the truth of sin's destructive nature and our sin nature apart from God's redemption.
Reading this primer reminded me how amazing these truths are and the benefit of reading the Bible regularly. It's an encouragement to take time to write out gospel truths I can reflect on and find ways to review them daily.
Here is one of my favorite quotes: “But by the grace of God I am what I am and I have what I have, and I hereby resolve not to let any portion of God's grace prove vain in me! And to the degree that I fail to live up to this resolve, I will boldly take for myself the forgiveness that God says is mine and continue walking in his Grace. This is my manifesto, my daily resolve; and may God be glorified by this confidence that I place in Him.” (p. 52)
I loved this book. Timothy Keller diligently explores arguments people have against Christianity and why these arguments do not hold up. He then walks through the reasons for faith using scripture with many a reference to works from the likes of C. S. Lewis and Jonathan Edwards.
I believe in God, and I believe in the gospel - that God sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross in our place as an ultimate act of love so that we may be forgiven and live radically changed lives as a result of this love. I believe that we exist to glorify God and make disciples of all nations, displaying His light and love for all to see. I believe I am called to repent of my sins and am forgiven because God is just and right to forgive and where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more; an active and not passive grace that with the indwelling Holy Spirit has changed my heart to become more like His.
Reading this book affirmed this all the more for me, pointing me to God, His greatness, and the Bible as trustworthy and authoritative. This is a book I would happily share with those who are believers and those who are not, those who are seeking to better understand hang ups people have with Christianity and what faith is, what the gospel is. I think this book can further encourage believers to dig in to their faith, understand what they believe, and how to communicate that to others.
I first became interested in reading this book after hearing Kat Lee on Jamie Ivey's The Happy Hour podcast. She was passionate about having intentional starts to the day, and that resonated with me. I like to think I'm a morning person, but my mornings don't really reflect that... Anyhow, I love Kat's approach to breaking things down and starting with a 3-minute morning routine. That may sound silly, but isn't that far more achievable than aiming for 30 minutes or more when it's been 0 minutes for basically my whole life? The counselor in me especially loves this approach! Most importantly, I greatly appreciated how Kat connected having a morning routine to pursuing holiness, pursuing God, and spending time with our Creator each and every morning. I'm excited to start my 3-minute mornings!
This was another page-turner, like the former, and had an ending I did not expect. I found myself wanting to continue on the adventure alongside Strike to figure out who did it, learn more about each of the potential suspects, and see if there would be more opportunities for Robin to play a larger role. In essence, I enjoyed it and was gratified upon finishing the novel, although it did happen quickly and felt somewhat rushed. All that being said, I give this book 3 stars in part due to the aforementioned rushed ending as well as the language and some of the graphic subject matter because it's frankly not my cup of tea. I don't plan on re-reading or keeping my copy of the book either for this reason. I recognize the rawness and details such as what may be found in the book (particularly regarding Bombyx Mori) may draw many a reader further into the mystery or others may not think twice about it, but it's not what I prefer in what I read. I'd like to see how the story moves forward and may end up reading the next novel, but we shall see. Perhaps it is naive of me to expect writing for the same audience as the HP series when Rowling used a pen name and appears to want to separate this work from HP, but I think it's also fair for readers to have their own preferences when it comes to reading anyhow.
This book was an enjoyable read - yet another great work by Donald Miller. I felt challenged to dig deeper into what I believe and why I believe those things. He presents the gospel of Jesus in a way that is by no means groundbreaking and yet is still challenged the sense of complacency I have felt in my own faith walk. He presents the gospel as more of a romance and even presents the Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as symbolism of that romance (a perspective I had never heard and found very intriguing). As always, Miller is extremely candid and the novel is full of personal and entertaining anecdotes that only serve to drive his points further. A great read!
This book offers a fascinating perspective as to how “outliers” became the exceptions to the rule. The points he brings up are ones that I have never really contemplated and overall found this book to be such an interesting read. I liked that Gladwell provided plenty of statistical data to support this propositions as well as numerous interesting anecdotes digging into the personal lives of the examples he uses. I have a few people in mind who I'm going to recommend this book to already!
Honest and convicting read truly exuding Chan's love for the Lord and for people to know and love the Lord in a genuine way. This would be a great read for any believer wanting to think more deeply through what it means to live out having a crazy love for God. I appreciated Chan's exhortations to avoid complacency and blunt challenges to live a life that actually serves to glorify the Lord and point others to Christ. Some of the theology seemed shaky, which is the only caveat I would give anyone reading this book; however, this book is still a worthy read giving me much to continue thinking through even after finishing it.
I bought this book a year or so ago based on the synopsis, thinking, “One day I'll read this. Probably.” Like so many other books I've bought, I put if off. I wish I had read it sooner though because now I am dating/we're planning to get married before the year's end, and there is a lot in this book that would have been helpful to think through before getting to this point (e.g., stewarding singleness well, pursuing God more and pursuing my self-serving plans less, trusting God and praying more now rather than waiting for a relationship to enjoy a sense of contentment and fulfillment).
However, I'm still thankful for reading this book when I did because of how applicable Segal's challenges are and how relevant the content truly is to everyone and anyone at any stage. I would absolutely recommend this book to single, dating, and married people alike so long as readers are prepared to think through living a life in pursuit of the Lord and His will now, not putting this off until you've found “the one”. No where does Segal promote the idea of finding fulfillment and identity in romantic relationships, putting off boundaries because there will be consequences, or living a passive life not worth deepening because of singleness.
Hope people keep picking this book up to read it and are encouraged as I was to live a God-honoring not-yet-married life now and one that continues to glorify and honor Him when I am married.
Oh wow. Reading through this book brought about quite a bit of reflection and self-criticism, not always easy to swallow. My phone has become a crutch for me. An escape from boredom, awkward social situations, quiet, and even my own thoughts. Reinke challenges readers to think deeply about their relationship with their smart phones. He neither calls for complete condemnation nor acceptance but rather encourages stewarding your smart phones both thoughtfully and intentionally. The questions throughout were particularly helpful in examining my heart's desires when engaging with my phone such as wanting affirmation or feeding my people-pleasing tendencies. This is a must read for EVERY believer in this digital age!
So much underlining. So many dog-eared pages. Although it took me a while to get through this book (mostly due to trying to read too many books at once), God so often used what I was reading to help my own spiritual growth and understanding. There were times when the writing felt heady and other times when I could see Willard's voice and personality coming through that made the reading all the more enjoyable. This is probably a book I could read again and still be able to take so much away from and am glad I finally made my way through it!
Quick and interesting read. I love the way the book is set up - the author provides an inside look of a relationship he was/is in through words and vignettes.
I enjoyed how practical and deep this book was. The author draws in scripture and addresses the heart rather than throwing out new diet plans or diatribes about the health benefits of eating kale. She emphasizes how food fixation puts food in a position it does not belong in, usurping God as the source of our comfort and fulfillment.
The reflection questions at the end of each chapter would work well in individual or group settings. There are also varied resources sprinkled throughout that are available on the book's website with some at the back of the book as well.
I borrowed this book from the local library but want to have my own copy to reference back to, that's how helpful this book was!
If I had to sum up this book with one word, it would be “finitude”. DeYoung reminds readers of the finitude of our human condition - we are frail and weak and cannot do everything all the time (nor does God ever expect us to be able to anyhow). He provides some practical advice to remedy busyness but does not hide behind these practical points for entertainment value or to make a gospel issue more “culturally relevant”. He ultimately points to the more important truth: “If you are sick and tired of feeling so dreadfully busy and are looking for a one-point plan to help restore order to your life, this is the best advice I know: devote yourself to the Word of God and prayer” (p. 113). Rest ultimately comes not from a freer schedule but from the freedom of rest in Christ and coming to know and love Him more. How we do come to know and love Him more? By reading His word and spending time with Him in prayer. Overall, DeYoung nicely incorporates personal anecdotes, other literature on the topic, scripture, and questions to give pause and challenge the reader to examine his or her own struggles with busyness.
I'm such a sucker for Nicholas Sparks. Finished this book in less than 24 hours because I couldn't put it down. Sparks most certainly knows how to tug on the heart strings, and the ending of this novel does just that, although not exactly as I predicted. The Lucky One is a beautiful, romantic story that does not quite reside on the most feasible end of possibility but proved to be a great read all the same. I enjoyed the continual exploration into who the characters are and why they are the way they are as well. Can't wait to see the movie!
This book provides a great look into exerting change in your own life through the lens of solution oriented therapy. Putting aside Bill O'Hanlon's questionable relationship history (especially as a marriage and family therapist), he gives a lot of great suggestions that anyone could apply in his or her own life. I like the examples he provides of clients he has worked with as well as the summaries of key points reiterated throughout. Good, easy read!
Perhaps not the best installment in Tasha Alexander's series but still a great read nonetheless. I was completely off from the beginning as to who I thought the culprit might be. I love, love, love Sebastian Capet and Cecile's characters and appreciated the humor and wit they added to the story. It would be interesting to read this book again and see if anything new sticks out knowing the end of the novel.
Yet another thrilling read with a clever and unexpected ending I've come to know, love, and expect from Agatha Christie. This was more outwardly macabre than her works I've read so far (all featuring Poirot i.e. Roger Ackroyd, Orient Express, & Affair at Styles) but still fascinating and suspenseful all the same. My brain is continuing to process how the book ended... What an imagination Christie had!
I read through this book with fellow interns at my church. Although it is a secular book, it is great to see how relevant the concepts in Collins' book are to someone working in a church environment (and more specifically within a particular ministry within the church) as well as to my own personal spiritual life. It was hard to get through some of the more intensely business-oriented sections or when he began going into stocks and the like, but overall, this book is one that everyone should really read. It is quite impressive the amount of research and time Collins and his team put into the “Good to Great” study that led to this book.
Collins summarizes main points well in the grayed boxes throughout the book as well as in a summary section of “Key Points” and “Unexpected Findings” after each chapter. Reading this made me want to think about how I can go from being good to great in the way God can lead me to being and is probably a book that I will reread in the future.