Family Trip to Georgia

We were able to take a family trip to Georgia over Labor Day. Here are the highlights!

We celebrated Lauren AND Kaleb's birthdays which were in August:

Trip to the Georgia Aquarium:

If you have 3 minutes and 48 seconds, I highly recommend you watch this video. There is no visual stimulation, but the audio will more than make up for that, I promise. Brianna made up songs all the way to Georgia and I was able to capture part of one. I couldn't video her though or she would have stopped. This is hilarious. I can't wait to have her listen to this in ten years!



Baseball: 25 seconds



Baseball: 40 seconds

Home to Heather Creek Series - Win an ALL-New Kindle Paperwhite!

Guideposts Books is thrilled to announce their brand new series, Home to Heather Creek, by Kathleen Bauer. The first two books, Before the Dawn and Sweet September, release this fall.

Guideposts is celebrating the launch of Home to Heather Creek with a Paperwhite Kindle Giveaway!

Enter Today - 9/16 - 10/5!
One winner will receive:

• A Paperwhite Kindle
• Before the Dawn and Sweet September by Kathleen Bauer

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 5th. All winners will be announced October 7th HERE.

Purchase your own copies here.

I have to say, I really, really enjoyed these two books. I was grateful to receive both books which are books 1 and 2 in this new series, written by a few authors under one pen name. I read the first book in one day, and the second one in less than two days. These books are fun, interesting, and will keep your attention. You will love the characters and get wrapped up in their lives right away!

The series begins when a grandmother and grandfather have to take in their three grandchildren when their mother suddenly passes away. The first book is entirely the beginning of their new lives together, as a new family - strangers, really - in a new place. The kids are all in those pre-teen and teenager years which makes it even more difficult. The grandmother struggles with the regrets she has from raising her own children and finds she has to rely more and more on other people to help raise these children.

The second book is still focused a lot on the adjustment of all of them to family life. There are totally new adventures, though, in this book. The kids seem to be really struggling, and Charlotte, the grandmother, is really second-guessing her parenting skills.

The family has to rely on friends and God, or else they are going to break under the pressure of trying to rebuild their lives.

I loved the conversations in this book and loved the writing styles of both books. I highly, highly recommend these series. I really want to read the next one when it comes out!

Thank you to Guideposts and Litfuse Publicity Group for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Fired Up Review - Enter to Win a Kindle Fire HD!

I received a book by Mary Connealy called "Fired Up." It is book two in the Trouble in Texas series. I had not read the first book in the series, but after reading this one I definitely think I would like any other books by this author. I guess this book is technically a "historical romance comedy", which sounds like a mouthful, but it is definitely enjoyable! In fact, I was chuckling a little before I realized it was supposed to be a comedy. The rapport between some of the characters is very cute and humorous.

This story features a woman who has been burned by two husbands in the past and her love story with a man who refuses to see his potential as the town doctor. There is some mystery when the doctor seems to be the target of a murderous lunatic and no one can figure out who the culprit is. You will also go on their adventures as they deal with Indians, measles, unruly children, personal baggage, and just trying to make it in the 1800s.

I will definitely read another book by Mary Connealy. If all of her books are this enjoyable, I look forward to cracking them open. I recommend this book and/or series to you if you enjoy historical fiction. You can certainly read this book without reading the rest of the series if you just want to test it out.

Purchase your own copy here.

Check out the author's website here.

Thank you to Bethany House and Litfuse Publicity Group for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
Enter Today - 9/17 - 10/8!

By Grace Alone: Effects of the Law

I am going to break from blogging about the Psalms for a little bit, although I'll still be studying them on my own. I've just finished an incredible book called "By Grace Alone" and I really want to share some thoughts from the book. I think it contains extremely important concepts for Christians and some misbeliefs that nonbelievers may hold. Please join me on this journey and share with your friends. If there is anything you want to look more in depth about, please consider purchasing the book. "By Grace Alone" by Derek Prince is available at most bookstores and on Amazon.

We've looked at why the Law was created, and it was not to achieve righteousness. So now we look at nine results the Law brings to us if we come under its influence.

1. The Law stirs up sin.

Romans 7:5 - "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death."

Romans 7:9 - "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."

There are a few ways to interpret these verses. If there had never been any commandment, Adam would never have sinned. When the commandment came, sin came to life, and we died. One thing to think about is the story of the Israelites worshiping the golden calf. They broke the first commandment basically as soon as it was put into place. The commandment stirred up sin. Sin had been dormant until the commandment came. The Law doesn't bring people near to God. It keeps them away from God. 

We are saved by grace and then we determine we are going to earn our way. Then what happens? We lose our joy, we lose our peace, and we become a slave again. If we continue, we become nasty, edgy, critical, religious people whom no one cares to be around.

Prince suggests that coming back under the Law is the great danger that threatens every believer. We are saved by grace and then after a little while we think, "Now I'm living a really clean life, I've learned a lot of very valuable principles, I know the Scripture, and I have my quiet time every morning. I can walk in victory by my own efforts." Clearly, the end of this kind of thinking is a disaster. Endeavoring to live the Christian life by your own efforts is the greatest single hindrance to walking in the Spirit.

Romans 8 is a great passage about the Spirit-filled life. But if you are to live that kind of life, you cannot expect instant results. 

2. The Law strengthens sin.

1 Corinthians 15:56 - "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law."

Romans 6:14 - "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."

If you are under the law, sin will have dominion over you, because it is the law that strengthens the dominion of sin over you.  

3. The Law produces transgression and wrath.

Romans 4:15 - "Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression."

You are not a transgressor without the Law. And transgression produces wrath on the part of the one against whom we transgress.

Think of this like a situation with a child. A child may jump off your coffee table. You can't get mad at them the first time, because they didn't know not to do it. So you explain to them that that is wrong and dangerous and not to do it again. Five minutes later, they are doing it again. So guess what? There's a little wrath involved the second time! Once there is a line set (the Law) and then it is crossed (transgressed), there is a consequence (wrath).

4. The Law causes condemnation.

Romans 8:1, 3 - "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh."

The Law can never set you free from condemnation; it can only bring you under condemnation. As long as you live under condemnation, you cannot live in liberty. And condemnation can only be abolished by dealing with the problem of the Law.

5. The Law keeps us under Satan's dominion.

Colossians 2:14-16 - "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days."

God annulled the Law through the death of Jesus, and having done that, these verses confirm that He disarmed the principalities and powers. Jesus stripped them of their ability to dominate us. How? He revoked the Law. A radical transformation must take place inside us before we will abandon our faith in the Law.

6. The Law brings a curse.

Galatians 3:10 - "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days."

If you are under the Law, you must do the whole Law, all the time. If you don't, you are under a curse.

Jeremiah 17:5 - "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord."

Legalism is the attempt to achieve righteousness with God by keeping a set of rules; it is adding to what God has required for righteousness. This is the person who has tasted the grace of God, but we go back to trusting in our own ability and our own rules. In so doing, our hearts depart from the Lord.

Almost every significant movement in the Church began in the power of the Holy Spirit. Today, however, many are relying on the flesh; they are relying on their own efforts, programs, promotions and rules.

Legalism is a person who has begun in faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit, but now they are seeking to become perfect in the flesh. Do not try to keep the Law, because you certainly will not succeed!

7. The Law brings a double enmity.

Ephesians 2:14-16 - "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby."

There is not only enmity between God and man (because we become transgressors if we don't keep the Law), but there is enmity between those under the Law and those not under the Law (particularly with Jewish people). 
    
8. The Law produces bondage.

In Galatians 4:21-25, Paul uses an allegory of Abraham's two sons. One of his son's mothers was a slave, and produced a slave. Paul is warning the Galatians that if they come under the Law, they will come under bondage. 

Romans 8:14-15 - "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

The Law uses fear to motivate us. We have become so used to that kind of motivation that we believe religion is supposed to be a fearful existence. The New Testament message, however, is not a message of fear.

9. The Law produces persecutors.

Galatians 4:29 - "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now."

Grace always frightens and offends legalism, and the religious legalist will always react with some form of persecution. Who persecuted Jesus and the apostles? The religious legalists.

The root: self-dependence.

The hardest tendency to curtail in our own lives is depending upon ourselves. The inner motivation of sin, in its essence, is the desire to be independent of God. The essence of Adam and Eve's sin was the desire not to depend on God any longer. The one person who perfectly sets forth the opposite of the desire to be independent is Jesus. The picture of Jesus is total, continuing dependence on His Father. 

John 5:19 - "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."

John 6:57 - "I live by the Father."

Jeremiah 17:5 - "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord."

The one who trusts in himself makes his flesh his strength, and in so doing, his heart departs from the Lord. If we rely on our own efforts all we ever propagate is more flesh.

Habakkuk 2:4 - "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." (Also quoted in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38)

You can humble yourself and in faith depend on the Lord, or you can trust in yourself and your soul will be lifted up in arrogant religious pride.

If I am always doing the right thing in my own strength, I can boast. But if I am simply trusting in the grace of God and depending upon Him, I have nothing to boast of. Faith excludes boasting.

Here is a list of five things we commonly trust in rather than depending on the grace of God.

1 - Wealth

2- Nobility or social position

3- Education or knowledge

4 - Power

5 - Religion

God gave the Law to bare open the root of self-dependence, and the Gospel of grace puts the ax to it.

Red Like Blood Review

I'll be honest. It took me a few weeks after receiving this book to open it. "Red Like Blood: Confrontations with Grace" by Joe Coffey and Bob Bevington just looked like it was going to be a really deep book, and I had read so many deep books lately I was looking for something a little more uplifting.

The day I opened this book to read it, I finished it. That is no lie.

The book is deep, because the authors are obviously talking about grace, which can be confusing, glorious, breathtaking, mind-blowing, and of course, deep. But these authors talk about grace that makes you feel like you're talking to a friend, or just sitting around swapping stories with these guys.

One author is a pastor and one is a self-proclaimed prodigal. The story of how their paths crossed in life is amazing enough, but the grace that was extended to bring forth their present-day relationship couldn't have any foundation other than Jesus Christ.

As you read this book you will find yourself grinning and chuckling to yourself, pondering over the people that you meet in their stories, and wanting the grace and joy that they talk about so frequently in these stories. These guys are real. They are upfront, blunt, honest, and to the point. And I love it.

I do feel like I need to point out that there were a handful of curse words in the book. I was surprised by this and felt the words were unnecessary. I did not feel that I should throw out the entire book because of this issue. I don't agree with the words being used but I think that the book is going to positively affect many, many people regardless of these few words.

If you want to read a real book about grace, and you can get past some of the "uncomfortably honest" stuff in the book, this is the book for you.

Thank you to Cross Focused Reviews and Shepherd Press for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

God in My Everything Review

I am counting myself blessed that I got to read Ken Shigematsu's new book. It is called "God in My Everything: How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God". I mean, I'm pretty sure he wrote this book for me!

How many times have you said, "Reading this book changed my life". Well, I am saying that about this book and I literally mean that it has changed my life. I am telling everyone about this book. I read this book and then two days last my pastor preached a sermon on living "intentionally". I felt like his sermon and this book went together incredibly well, and I felt like God was telling me to make some decisions.

I'll be honest, when I started this book I wasn't that impressed. It took me quite a while to get into it. I was reading it just to be able to give it an honest review. Then, about halfway through, I "got" it. I understood where he was going with this whole idea of God being in my everything. And when I finished the book, I sat down and created a Life Plan. Seriously. Don't laugh, because like I said, it's changed my life.

The author got these ideas about God being in everything in our lives from the monks. He talks about making "rules" for your life, but assures you that these rules must bend. For example, although the monks fast, if a visitor comes to their door, they will greet the visitor and break their fast, because the fellowship over a meal is more important than their fast. After I read this book I literally sat down with a notebook and wrote down things for each chapter that are discussed. Shigematsu gives you helpful directions when creating your "rule" for each category, so you're not lost.

The first category is "Sabbath". The author's Sabbath rule is "Take a 24-hour Sabbath once a week". This means no technology, no work. Focus on God and family. Another woman's Sabbath rule is to rest and have worship either on Saturday or Sunday, depending on what is going on. You do it to fit your schedule and what you need to feel rested and have that reflective time with God. My Sabbath rule states that my Sabbath will be on Sunday. This means no shopping and no school work unless absolutely unavoidable. Sundays will consist only of church, friends, family and rest. It is my day to recharge. Since making this plan I have been doing this and it is unbelievable what a relief I feel on Sundays now. I can totally focus on church when I'm at church and my family when I'm at home. I'm never thinking about what I "should" be doing or "could" be doing, just what I'm doing. It's a beautiful feeling and I think I am more there for my church and family than I had been in the last few months.

Other categories are prayer (making a plan for your prayer life), the Word (devotions, meeting with other believers, etc.), friendship (how often you fellowship with friends intentionally), sex (if you're married), family (intentional time with family and extended family), "eat, sleep, swim" (your physical plan), play (yes, sometimes you have to remind yourself to schedule some play time!), money (how are you being a financial steward?), work, being a witness for Christ, and one of the most important thing he discusses - finding your one thing. Find your thing that you are passionate and focus on that. Do it incredibly well and passionately for the cause of Christ instead of pulling yourself in ten different ways and feeling pressured and burdened.

I literally have a spreadsheet now that has what I am now calling my "life plan" and I have felt more relief in the last few weeks than I have in a long time. I am saying "no" to things that are asked of me. I am making it a priority to walk around our house (like, really, outside our house) and pray specifically for things in our family. I want to be more intentional with time spent with our families. I want to have play dates with Christian friends. I want to get to know my neighbors. I just want to be more intentional in everything I do. Everything on my spreadsheet is something I am passionate about. None of it is something I "have" to do.

It may sound a tiny little bit crazy to have a spreadsheet and a life plan. But let me ask you this: Do you know your life goals? Do you know your goals to spend time with your family members? Do you have goals for how you spend the money God has given you? Do you say "yes" to everything and take on too much, or do you know how to decide what's really important to you?

You may not need this book and this outline. But I think you do. I think everyone could learn a lot from reading this book and going through and creating a plan. I am a huge proponent of this. I highly, highly recommend this book.

Here's a 2-minute video where Ken Shigematsu talks about the book.

Thank you to Cross Focused Reviews and Zondervan for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Finally Free Review

"Finally Free" by Heath Lambert is a book that I imagine many, many people need to read. The subtitle of this book is "Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace". This is the concept with which people must face their temptations in life. And it is the foundation of this incredible book.

Heath Lambert will take you on a journey in this book of self-discovery and getting closer to God. If you have an issue with pornography, this is the book to read. Lambert asserts in the very beginning of the book that the only way you can get through your struggle, as a Christian, is by grace that forgives you and grace that transforms you.

Lambert goes through several methods which can help you in your struggle against pornography. This could include having an accountability partner, including your spouse in your fight, or even throwing out your computer as a drastic measure. He also talks about internal things you will need to use to fight the pornography, like humility and sorrow. Questions are included at the end of each chapter for self-reflection.

I think this is a great book. Lambert doesn't bash Christians with this issue, but guides them on a true path to repentance and change. What's more, he speaks from personal experience, so he really knows what he is talking about. I would highly recommend this book if you struggle with pornography, or any addiction, really, or if you know someone who does.

Thank you to Cross Focused Reviews and Zondervan for providing me with a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Whispers on the Dock Review

There's a book out right now which I was able to review and really enjoyed. It's called "Whispers on the Dock" and is written by a team of authors whose pen name is Evangeline Kelley.

This is actually the third book in the Postcards from Misty Harbor Inn series, but speaking from personal experience, you do not have to read the other two books in the series. That being said, now that I have read the third, I know I would enjoy the first two. You can certainly read this one independently if you like.

This is the story of three sisters who have purchased an inn together. Each of them are going through ups and downs in their individual lives, but they're also coming together to run the inn. Each sister has such a great, fun personality that you will fall in love with them quickly and love following their stories throughout the book.

The only part that was hard for me to follow was the mystery they are trying to solve. This started back in the first book, I presume, a mystery about a woman named Hannah Montague. So in this book you will find out the end of the mystery, but it's nothing earth-shattering and I would still recommend reading the book. It was a little confusing not having read the first two books but the authors seem to consider that and remind us throughout the book the timeline of the mystery.

I do recommend this book and the series, even after reading just one book.

You can purchase a copy from Amazon here.

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity and Guideposts for a complimentary book in exchange for my honest review.