Tag Archives: God’s love

Reviews

Book Review & a Giveaway: She Walked Before Us

8 Comments
She Walked Before Us

She Walked Before Us provides a refreshing look at the life lessons we face, through the obstacles our Biblical counterparts faced. The narrative gives a background peek into how women might have responded in that day, knowing the human race has faced daunting odds across the boundaries of time. Do we struggle with hate and happiness, bitterness and in finding better attitudes? Women in the Bible did, too, and we can learn from them in this journey of life.

Jill Eileen Smith is the author of She Walked Before Us, as well as series on Daughters of the Promised Land, Loves of King Solomon, The Wives of King David, and The Wives of the Patriarchs.

In She Walked Before Us, we face the mirror of the human condition, and ask questions about motive, trust and control. The characters remind us control is an illusion, but God loves us through everything. We explore the difficulty of forgiving hurts and wounds, knowing pain rarely leaves us the same. Know this: courage to forgive is a grace God gives. You don’t have to muster up that ability by yourself!

I like the format of fictional narrative woven into nonfiction format. Jill Eileen Smith gives us plenty to process, as we study the lives of women from the Old Testament. If you’re caught between the now and the not yet, she would tell you, it will all be worth the wait.

I am giving away not one, but two copies of She Walked Before Us to two readers in the continental United States. Leave a comment on my blog (at the top of this post, under the title). You will be entered into the drawing to be held on Friday, January 22. Tell me about your favorite Biblical woman. Get an extra chance to win, when you share this post on social media (let me know where).

Sally

Disclosure of Material: I received a complimentary copy of this book from The Blog About Network book review program in exchange for a fair and honest review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR Title 16, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Blog About

Encouragement, Faith, Reviews

Book Review: The Stress Cure: Praying Your Way to Personal Peace

Leave a comment

Stress Cure

Do you think The Stress Cure: Praying Your Way to Personal Peace might be an unrealistic premise? Anytime you use a hook and promise a “cure,” you set the bar high. Can Shepherd deliver?

Linda Evans Shepherd “is the author of over thirty books, including How to Pray through Hard Times (which won the 2012 Selah Christian Life Award), Experiencing God’s Presence, When You Don’t Know What to Pray, and When You Need a Miracle (which won the 2013 Selah Christian Life Award).” But her qualifications are born in the school of suffering, where she struggled with the questions of life’s fairness in her eighteen-month-old daughter’s injurious car accident.

There are gems sprinkled throughout the book:

“Building a bridge to peace involves gaining a better understanding of God and the tools he’s given us, which include prayer and God’s Word.” (p. 15)

“Having (God’s) Spirit inside us doesn’t necessarily mean we know how to yield to him. And this yielding could very well be the key to experiencing less stress in our lives.” (p. 31)

Yielding to God’s Spirit could very well be the key to experiencing less stress in our lives.

Click To Tweet

“If everything always went our way, how would we ever discover that God can flip our difficulties into good…?” (p. 38)

“The best way to develop a grateful heart is to learn how to walk in step with God.” (p. 66)

“Jesus changes our hearts from a slum to a palace fit for his presence.” (p. 94)

“If you are caught up in situations beyond your control, the solution is not figuring out how God can save you; it’s trusting that he will.” (p. 97)

“When our negative attitude comes because we don’t like where we are or what we have, we need to do a ‘will’ check: God’s will versus our will.” (p. 137)

Shepherd is a gifted storyteller, weaving details of Scripture in narrative form in order to clearly illustrate God’s truths. She’s so good at the craft, in the middle of a story, she turns the point back home to point out personal application. So much so, that you don’t see it coming!

But the biggest “ah ha” for me, came in the stories of her own battles surrounding her infant daughter’s car accident, coma and resulting disabilities. Shepherd clearly understands the need for stress relief in its many forms, and her narrative is a reminder of the power of story to connect a reader to the greater truths of God’s love, care and compassion.

This is an important book, because Shepherd brings hope. She reminds each one that “God is with you. He’s at work in your circumstances now.” (p. 77)

Is there anyone who does not experience stress in some form today? This book is a must-read for all. It provides space to stop reading in order to write out a personal application, as well as modeling steps of prayer to process the change needed. It provides fresh insight into troublesome stories in the Bible and reminds us of our calling to love and be loved.

Could Shepherd deliver on her promise to bring a stress cure? Yes, she did! The illustrations, Scripture passages and written-out prayers all served as a stress reliever, ushering in the peace of Christ!

Sally

Disclaimer: I received this book as a contest giveaway in The Book Club Network, Inc.