Woman's NKJV Study Bible (Review)

This review is for The Woman's Study Bible, version NKJV, from Thomas Nelson. In my opinion, there aren't too many things more exciting than getting a new Bible. They have that great smell, and at first, I don't want to mark up the pages. That doesn't last too long, though!

This Bible is beautiful. Visually, it is printed in full color, so stories, quotes, charts and maps stand out quite a bit from the text. As you read scripture, you will find quotes from Christian women throughout the pages. When you get to Leviticus you'll find a section distinguishing between "clean" and "unclean". In 2 Kings you'll find a chart talking about "The Kings With Two Names". In Proverbs, a section discusses how God answers difficult questions. In Mark, a chart is presented showing the emotions of Jesus. In Acts, we see a timeline of Paul and where his missionary journeys took him.

I absolutely love this Bible. With the gorgeous design, the biographies of many biblical women, topical articles, book outlines, historical significance of passages, maps, charts, timelines, family trees, quotes, index, and concordance, you won't be missing anything in this study Bible. I highly recommend this Bible.

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for a copy of this book.

The Jesus Club (Review)

This review is for the book "The Jesus Club" by Brian Barcelona. This was a very cool book. I really like true stories, and this is definitely one that will inspire you.

Brian Barcelona felt the call of God when he was just eighteen. He felt an urge to save the high schools of America. At the same time, he realized his limitations - his age, and not even knowing where to start, plus the fact that he is just one person. He did have doubts, but he began to minister to local high schools. I imagine it was discouraging for him when he would hold meetings, only to have three or four people show up. He never gave up, though, and gradually he would fill auditoriums and gymnasiums with hundreds of high school students. He broke through to some who would never step foot in a church.

I love this story, and I love Brian's heart for teenagers. He proves that if you follow God's will, great things will happen. I encourage you to read this book and have the courage to step out in faith like Brian is doing.

Thank you to Cross Focused Reviews for a copy of the book.

Think Again Review

This review is for the book "Think Again" by Jared Mellinger. I really enjoyed this book. The purpose of this book is to help us realize that the gospel rescues us from false guilt, inaccurate thoughts of ourselves, and discouragement. Self-reflection is a great thing, but not when taken to an extreme. If we are so focused on ourselves that we become unfruitful and ineffective for God, then we need to change that and fix our eyes on God. We fight false guilt when we compare ourselves with other families. Mellinger gives the example of when we see a Facebook post of a family with the hashtags: "#GreatFamilyDevotions #MakingMemories #PureJoy". And then all we can think about is what we aren't doing. We have to do an assessment of our own family, our own situation, and take it to God and scripture. If our guilt is real and we have actually sinned, it can be fixed by repenting, confessing, and then rejoice as God has forgiven us. There were so many good tidbits in this book that made me feel relieved and understood. I really enjoyed this book, and it will be going on my bookshelf!

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for a copy of the book.

Conspiracy of Silence Review

This review is for the book "Conspiracy of Silence" by Ronie Kendig. This is a book from the series "The Tox Files". In this book, there is a centuries-old disease that is unleashed, and Cole "Tox" Russell is the one who is called into action. He gets together his old Special Forces team to work with trained archaeologists and FBI experts to find a cure, before the plague spreads too rapidly.

This is a book that will definitely interest you if you like some mystery, military force, global ties, and romance all wrapped up in one novel. I did find it a bit hard to get into, and there is a lot of background on the characters that would probably be clearer if I had read any of the previous novels in the series.

Thank you to Bethany House for a copy of the book.

A Fragile Hope (Review)

This review is for the book "A Fragile Hope" by Cynthia Ruchti. Ruchti is one of my favorite authors and I always try to read her latest books, because I feel pretty sure that I will enjoy any of her novels that I pick up!

In this novel, we are first introduced to Karin, who obviously has a great talent and also obviously feels unappreciated by her husband. She's had enough, and she's come up with a plan to really get him to take notice of her and realize the error of his ways. Unfortunately, her plan does not go as expected, and ends in tragedy, not just for her, but for her best friend and her husband.

The funny-not-funny thing is - Karin's husband is an up-and-coming author who is famous for his marriage advice. He spends all his free time writing books and meeting deadlines, and yet he totally ignores his wife in order to reach his goals.

Once he finds out about Karin's plan, he has to take action. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but he has to sort through her feelings based on assumptions, for the most part. And he has to learn how to deal with her feelings and his feelings. He also has to find his way back to God throughout all of this.

I really liked this book. I liked the characters and the story is definitely unique. Another great novel by Cynthia Ruchti!

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for a copy of the book.

Brave is the New Beautiful (Review)

This review is for the book "Brave is the New Beautiful" by Lee Wolfe Blum. I loved this book. I loved Blum's honesty in her feelings because what she said really resonated with me. It's so easy to compare ourselves to everyone else, and feel ourselves shrink, as she talks about in the first chapter. It's so tough to reinvent ourselves when what we're doing isn't working, but we aren't exactly sure what our path is supposed to look like. And of course, at some point in our lives, we all struggle with where we belong.

With every issue that Blum touches on, she shares personal stories that she has experienced or from other real people. She shares how they processed and the end result. She also provides reflection questions at the end of each chapter that are great for going deeper, especially on the particular issues that are affecting the reader.

I loved this book and I would definitely recommend it to others who are seeking to find out who they truly are, and live authentically.

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for a copy of the book.

Unsinkable Faith by Tracie Miles

This review is for the book "Unsinkable Faith" by Tracie Miles. This is a great book, because it is so easy to have that strong, solid faith when things in your life are going well. Often, when a tragedy happens though, you start to sink. Your attitude goes south and you don't feel peace or joy anymore. But the author sets out to show us how to get through those patches without getting bogged down with a pessimistic mind-set.

Miles points out that there are many reasons you might have a negative mind-set. It might not even be from one particular tragic event. It might be from negativity you have received over a lifetime. It might be feeling negativity toward someone else. For example, if you spend all day thinking about what your spouse could do better, that negativity can result in negative behavior towards him. If you constantly are thinking about how your boss doesn't value you or no one does things right at your work, you'll have a bad attitude about your job. Negative thoughts can bring a lack of confidence, a feeling of being unforgivable and unlovable, and all of that can translate into your relationship with God. I love how Tracie shows us in this book how to self-reflect and create charts to help us really look deeper. For example, one of the charts has the reader write down "What I Experienced" (such as my boss got mad at me), "Misconceptions About Me" (I'm not good enough", and "Misconceptions About God" (I'm not good enough to be loved by God). There are memory verses at the end of each chapter for specific purposes, such as regarding burdens, or freedom, or being made new.

This is such a good book. We could all use a little positivity and help with getting out of our negative ruts at times!

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for a copy of the book.

Lisa Lloyd's 'Chasing Famous' Prize Pack Giveaway

This review is for the book "Chasing Famous" by Lisa Lloyd. Lloyd is an actress who has appeared on television shows and commercials, as well as in many performances at theaters around the country. She knows a thing or two about being in the spotlight, and how good that can make us feel. I mean, let's face it. Even those of us who are not celebrities (major or minor) enjoy the spotlight every so often! We like to be patted on the back for a job well done. We like social media because we can show off our kids in matching Sunday outfits, flowers our husband has brought us, we celebrate promotions and material gains and vacations. But the fact is that we should be living to make God famous. If it weren't for God, I wouldn't have my kids, or my husband, or the career I love, or my safe, sturdy house. And yet we crave so badly for approval from people around us that we continue to aim the spotlight back at us.

I love how Lisa makes each chapter something about a performance. She talks about the audience (we're seeking the approval of others), booking a job (what is God calling me to do?), photoshop (your perception of your body) and many, many other relatable things. Each chapter has several discussion questions so you can look closer at yourself and examine yourself.

I loved this book. It was easy to read and very easy to relate to. I loved Lisa's honesty, the personal experiences shared in this book, and how well she relates everything to scripture. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for a copy of the book.

"Angels: God's Supernatural Agents" (Review)

This review is for the book "Angels: God's Supernatural Agents" by Ed Rocha. I feel like I have read a lot of these books before, but this is the first time I have heard Rocha's stories and experiences. I will just go ahead and admit that I read this book as a skeptic, but also open to hearing Rocha's testimony. There are a lot of things in this book that I agree with. Rocha does a great job of explaining the duties of angels, such as worshipping God, delivering messages, healing, prophesying, instructing, encouraging, among other things, and also misconceptions about angels. For example, Rocha points out that people do not die and become angels, there are no baby angels in the Bible, angels are asexual, and they do have names and personalities.

Most of Rocha's book is based on his personal experience seeing angels or his experiences at healing services. He also relates stories from other people about their experiences with angels. Although I will admit to still being a bit skeptical after completing the book, I will say that I admire Rocha for the fact that he will not allow people to just give angels credit for everything. There is a section in the book about feathers. Rocha discusses how many times when he has seen angels, there have been feathers left after the church service. But he is quick to point out that just because there are feathers at a church service does not mean they are angelic feathers.

Anyway, the book is an interesting read, especially if you are curious about angelic encounters.

Thank you to Cross Focused Reviews for a copy of the book.

Unchained (Review)

This review is for the book "Unchained" by Noel Jesse Heikkinen. This book is a beautiful reminder of the freedom we have in Christ. Heikkinen feels that we often feel trapped by Christianity, and we miss out on the freedom we are supposed to be feeling. This book teaches us how to understand the freedom that we have and how to get there mentally and spiritually.

We so often set God up against the things we have felt in this world. We feel like he must be disappointed with us, because our parents are disappointed with us, as are our teachers, our coworkers, our children, our siblings, etc. The problem is that we believe in eternal forgiveness, but we can't allow ourselves to feel that forgiveness for what we did today. An example of this is is our prayer life. We know we're supposed to pray. We want to pray. So we buy a prayer journal. We download an app on our phone to remind us to pray. We hit several days in a row and we feel great! But then... we miss a day. And we feel this guilt about breaking our streak. Do you see that? We don't necessarily feel guilt about not praying, we feel guilt about not following the structure we set up for ourselves.The same goes for our Bible reading. If we miss one day we beat ourselves up because we got off track. Sometimes our man-made rules become more important than Jesus, and that isn't freedom.

Heikkinen assures us that we have been set free from the Law, religion (we don't have to do anything to be made right with God), sin, shame, and guilt. We want to obey out of love for God and what He did for us. Live to say yes to Jesus. Instead of focusing on all the "don'ts" in the Bible, search out the "dos" in the Bible. Do the dos, and you'll be obeying, and that will lead to freedom.

This book is chock full of wisdom, humor, and there are even discussion questions thrown in to help you take it a bit further. I really enjoyed it, and this book is going on my bookshelf!

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for a copy of the book.