One Month To Love: 30 days to deeper relationships

What is truly important to you?  In the end, it will all about relationships.  Everyone longs to be treasured for who they are, understood, and valued, in spite of our weaknesses. We want deep and rewarding relationships with others.

While not written as a devotional book, One Month To Love:  30 days to grow and deepen your closest relationships could be used for that purpose and what better 30 days to choose that the ones leading up to Valentine's Day?   What would you do if you knew that you had only 30 days to show someone how deeply you loved them, that in 30 days they would be stripped from your life or you from theirs?  Even if you have more than 30 days with those you love, don't you want those relationships to be all they can be?  One Month to Love by Kerry and Chris Shook is broken down into 30 short chapters, one for each day of the month, giving you ideas and tools you can use to ensure that those you care so much about know how important they are and that you have a truly meaningful relationship with them.  Breaking it down into 30 days allows you to put into practice each strategy the Shooks bring to light before moving on to the next day.

Might you be in the position of having fragile relationships in your life, whether it be with your spouse, children, siblings, or parents?  One Month To Love will offer strategies you can use to help bring those relationship to a place of mending and restoration.

The Shooks have broken the critical pieces of relationships into four categories, one for each week:  The Art of Being All There, The Art of Acting Intentionally, The Art of Risking Awkwardness, and The Art of Letting Go.  The ideas are simple, really, and easy to integrate into your everyday life--things such as being in the moment (definitely a shortcoming of mine), offering some intentional out-of-the box offerings of love, expressing your feelings, and letting go of hurt and pride.  Uncertain how you will go about putting into practice these tools?  Each chapter ends with a challenge box offering three ideas of how to do so.

If you do have relationship that aren't what you hoped they would be or if you simple want to strengthen those relationships that are already strong and healthy, One Month to Love will give you insight that will encourage you and change the way you love, not just those you do love.  Will it be easy?  Probably not but what relationship that is valuable to you is easy?  Relationships take time and effort and God designed us to be in relationships both with Him and others.  Make the most of the time you have with those who matter most to you.

For more information on the authors and other publications, visit http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/author-spotlight.php?authorid=75698


I did receive this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  I was in no way obligated to leave a positive review.

Lord, I Give You This Day

Do you remember when you were first saved and you surrendered you life to Christ?  Was that the only time you had to turn over your life and surrender your days to God?  Probably not.  For me, surrendering and recommitting my life to Christ is a daily and sometimes minute by minute thing.  As Kay Arthur pens, "surrendering to God is not a one-time occurrence; it's a matter of continually bowing our hearts before the Lord, laying our desire for control at His feet (something I need to do just about every second says the reviewer), and rising again to do whatever He asks us to do, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Surrender means inviting the Potter to reshape us and transform us, moment by moment, into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.  It means taking God at His work, trusting that He can and will use even our most painful circumstances for our good and His glory". 



Easy?  Not so much.  However, in surrendering, it allows God to work through us and complete the work he began in us.  Life changing?  Yes! 

Lord, I Give You This Day by Kay Arthur is a wonderful tool that will help you surrender each day to God's will and care through scripture, narrative, and prayer included in each daily devotional.  Each is short enough to read in just a couple of minutes so no excuses for not beginning each day focusing your attention on the One who made you. 

Most of my reviewed titles end up in one of three church libraries but not this one.  I'm looking foward to beginning each day this year under the teaching and wisdom of an incredibly gifted author and seeing how God uses this book, her words, and the Holy Spirit to change me.  Lord, I Give You This Day would also make a wonderful gift.

Thank you Kay Arthur for another great book designed to draw others closer to God. 

I did receive this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  I was in no way obligated to write a positive review. 

A welcome addition to my Christmas book collection

Everything Christmas.  Just the title makes it almost perfect to me.  There is no better time of the year than the days leading up to Christmas--time with family, anticipation of Christmas day, baking, Christmas carols, special movies.......

Everything Christmas is a book that can only enhance those days leading up to the celebration of our Savior's birth.  There are twenty-four "chapters", one for every day in December leading up to Christmas day.  Each contains quite a variety of pieces from short stories, decorating/craft ideas, recipes, ideas for activities to make for a meaningful season, to historical information about Christmas and traditions from around the world.   Whether used as part of a private devotion or as a family time advent time together,  Everything Christmas will become a book you pick up year after year.  Many advent books have already been written but none that I am aware of like this one.  I thoroughly enjoyed the direction this one took even if it did lack a bit on the true reason for the season.   Don't think that I mean that Christ wasn't included in this book but more as a side-bar rather than the spotlight.  My one regret:  I will most likely wait til next Christmas season to enjoy the recipes and book to its fullest since I didn't have it in time for the 2012 advent season!

Whether you have been making family tradition for decades or are newlyweds attempting to create some new traditions for your family, Everything Christmas is packed full of ideas.  I can't wait for next December!!!!

I did receive this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  I was in no way obligated to leave a positive review.

Secretly Smitten

Over the last year, the town of Smitten, Vermont has seen many changes.  With all the townsfolk pitching in, Smitten has become a tourist destination, particularly for those seeking a romantic getaway.  Authors Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerback, Diann Hunt, and Denise Hunter have also banned together to share four heartwarming stories of the citizens of Smitten.

In "Love Between the Lines", little Mia finds in the attic,  the dog tags of a soldier believed to have been killed in the Korean War.  But this wasn't just any soldier, this man was her great-grandmother's first love.  As far as is known, the man's body and his tags were never recovered.  So, how did they find their way into the attic of this Victorian home?  The grandaughters won't simply leave it alone but long to get to the bottom of the story.

In "Make Me A Match", Zoe Thomas is opening her own matchmaking service.  When single William Singer moves to Smitten as the new city manager, Zoe is moved by his handsome face but knows change is in store and that he will only be around long enough to make those changes.  Or will things really go as Zoe first imagines?

Anna Thomas' knit shop, Sit 'n Knit is the primary setting in "Knit One, Love Two".  When her husband left about ten years ago she wanted to fulfill a dream.  The shop is her life and a place in Smitten where women came to be encouraged and creative.  But love is the last thing she is interested in, especially another military man like her first husband.  But Michael Conners is around quite a bit to help his mother who is a dear customer.  Sparks and words begin to fly but could that be the beginning of something?

"Love Blooms" centers around Claire Thomas.  Everyone had someone to love--except her.  She had her plants.   Not that she didn't love gardening but she was turning 30 soon and she hadn't found love much less a husband and the children she longed for.  She certainly didn't want to end up like her old maid aunts.  When a stranger shows up in Smitten looking for a job, Claire give him a chance.

Secretly  Smitten is the second novel in the Smitten series.   Each story is somewhat of a continuation of the prior one but has a different Smitten citizen as the main character.  They will all warm your heart and keep you wanting more of the Mayberry-like town of Smitten.  Are the stories predictable?  Yes.  But the characters are fun, quirky, and very lovable.  The writing style of the four authors is quite similar so you most likely won't realize that you are reading something by a different author. I thoroughly enjoyed the first in the series but did enjoy this one even more.  If you are looking for a light-hearted fun Christian romance novel, pick up Secretly Smitten.

I did receive this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way obligated to leave a positive review.  The views are my own.