Live Love Lead: Your Best Is Yet To Come!

Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Faith Words.  I received a complimentary copy of Live Love Lead to facilitate this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Long before I knew who Brian Houston was, I was a fan of Hillsong United, his church's music group.  In high school, their song "Shout To The Lord" got me through the rough parts of my dealing with my parents' already crumbled marriage and other family issues.  There was so much I wanted to shout to God during those years.  I ended up writing it all out in my prayer journals instead.  When I heard "Shout To The Lord" for the first time it gave me a feeling of peace that I desperately craved.

It was a reminder that no matter what was falling apart on around me, I could take refuge and find comfort in Jesus.  Years later and their song "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" is a song that has not only moved me to tears (on more than one occasion) but one that I listen to daily because there are still times when my feet (faith) may fail.  During, before and after these trying times I need this reminder to "keep my eyes above the waves" because I am God's and He is mine.  Just like this song, Pastor Houston's book, Live Love Lead: Your Best Is Yet To Come!" will serve as a reminder to keep your head above the water because our best days are in the making.

Being a Christian is hard.  Definitely not for the lazy.  Seriously, Jesus (and his disciples) left behind some enormous footprints for us to walk in/follow.  And there have been and will be times when I struggle with wondering if I can overcome certain things in my faith walk.  Divided into four parts- A Big Life, A Difficult Path, A Narrow Gate and A Glorious Future- Pastor Houston shows us through personal accounts that it is possible to overcome issues like doubt, family tragedy, outside judgement, shame and other things that can interrupt our faith walk by using our unique God-given talents and tools to carry out our God-given purpose.

What I loved most about reading Live Love Lead was Pastor Houston's openness and honesty about his Christian journey.  From wanting to be a preacher, but being terrified of public speaking to finding out his father, a former pastor, was a child molester, he is nothing short of honest about the trials and struggles he, his family and congregation have endured.  I found his honesty to be very refreshing and a reminder that no matter our background or past mistakes, God can turn any negative situation into a positive.  He can heal even the deepest of hurts.

The Bible never promises us sunshine and rainbows 24/7.  After all not even Jesus' life was always a series of ups.  In fact, he died on NAILED to a cross between two thieves while many of the very people he was dying to save mocked, spit on and did worst to him.  Talk about lack of appreciation!  

Also, I loved the fact that Pastor Houston touched on the fact that despite the modern times we live in, we don't need to rewrite the Bible to fit the current standards of our society.  Instead, we can use elements from our current society to help further spread the Word.  For example, making more movies with a faith based theme/focus, gospel artists not being afraid to create and try new sounds to better appeal to their target audience or even using Facebook to host Bible study groups.  Sure times have changed, but God's Word has not.

One of the most important points I think Pastor Houston made in Live Love Lead is that as Christians we often confuse our roles with God's and Jesus.  As carriers and current day disciples, it's our job to spread the word through loving our neighbors as ourselves and as Christ loved the church.  We have to leave the soul saving to Jesus (that's why he died on the cross after all) and the judging to God.  Because we're not always going to agree with the beliefs and lifestyles of everyone we meet (Christian or not), it's important that we remember our role so that we don't unintentionally hurt others or turn them against Christ.

Live Love Lead is definitely one of my must-reads.  It was wonderful to get a first account and background on how Hillsong and all of its ministries came to be.  Pastor Houston's story is inspiring, riveting and touching.

About The Author

Brian Houston is the senior pastor of Hillsong Church Australia.  He hosts one of the fastest growing daily international broadcasts in the world.  He is also the Executive Director for Hillsong Music, one of the world's largest producers of Christian music.  He and his wife, Bobbie, have three grown children and live in Sydney, Australia.

To find out where you can order your copy of Live Love Lead: Your Best Is Yet To Come! check out his official website or visit Hillsong.com.

A Sapphire Season

Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Faith Words.  I received a complimentary copy of A Sapphire Season to facilitate this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

 

1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us that "Love is patient and kind," but often times we forget the patient part.  Being patient doesn't just apply to being slow to anger or act when it comes to our loved ones.  Waiting on God to do His will in our lives is part of remaining patient as well.

In Lynn Morris' A Sapphire Season, we meet Lady Mirabella Tirel.  Once upon a time Mirabella was in love with the young and handsome Captain James Pryce, but due to the disapproval of her parents and his untimely death the two never married and she ended up heartbroken.  Her quest to get married no longer centered mostly around finding a spouse she could connect to romantically.  Instead, as Mirabella prepares to head to London for the "Marriage Market" season, she's determined to take a more practical and less fairytale-ish approach to snagging an engagement.  Little does Mirabella know God is about to derail HER plans for His own.

Sir Giles Knyvet has been Mirabella's best friend almost since before they were born.  Being neighbors it was inevitable that these two were destined to bond and be a part of each other's lives.  Like most besties these two confide almost everything to each other.  However, Giles is sitting on a secret.  He wishes Mirabella saw him as more than just a friend (if only Biz Markie had been born in the 1800s).  And to make matters worse, Giles' parents left him with a mountain of debt to settle.

Mirabella on the other hand is rich and too oblivious to the fact that her best friend is head over heels in love with her.  In fact, she doesn't become "aware" of Giles until they dance one night at a ball.

"I suppose it's that I've never really been aware of Giles as man.  No, that's silly, of course I know he's a man.  I just never have been so conscious of his physical presence, how I can feel the warmth of him, and I've always loved his scent, . . ."

Now that these two are aware of each other, will they each overcome the obstacles blocking their paths and join in holy matrimony?

A Sapphire Season, a historical Christian romance, is a delightful and easy flowing read.  I'm a hopeless romantic and have always been a fan of historical romances because of their romantic and tasteful feel/content.  Lynn Morris does a great job capturing this in my opinion.   While so many authors of doing Alpha males, it was nice and refreshing to see Giles being portrayed more as an average guy who's kind of shy/hesitant to put his heart out there so soon. 

I could relate to Mirabella being so scarred by her past experience that she felt like she had to choose between putting her heart on the line for romance or being practical and pushing love on the back burner in order to get married.  Heartbreak is never easy and it can break us if we allow it.  And focusing too long on those past heartbreaks and being a rush can cause us to miss out on THE one God has placed right in front of us.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading future books from Lynn Morris and seeing what adventures her characters will take me on next.

About Author

Lynn Morris is the bestselling author of over 25 novels.  She is the daughter of Christy Award-winning author Gilbert Morris, with whom she has often collaborated.  She lives in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

You can order a copy of A Sapphire Season from the following retailers:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Indiebound

Were you and your spouse best friends before you got married?

Someday Home

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Faith Words.  I received a complimentary copy of Someday Home to facilitate this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Deuteronomy 31:8 says, "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."  However, Lynn Lundberg, Judith Rutherford and Angela Bishop can't but feel forsaken as each of their lives have been turned upside down my tragedy.  Someday Home by Lauraine Snelling tells the story of how together these three women help each other manage grief, start over and renew their faith all while forming a friendship.

The book opens with Lynn, whose life came crashing down almost two years prior when her husband Paul got sick and died out of the blue.  Talk about a major heartache.  I loved that as the reader I got to see Lynn battle not with overcoming her grief, but learning how to manage her grief so that she wasn't constantly reliving the past.  With the family's plumbing business slowing down and not bringing in enough money to support three families (Lynn and her two sons, Philip and Tommy) and being worried that's spending too much time depressed and alone, Philip suggests that Lynn sells her house and moves next door with him and his family- Maggie, his wife, and their three kids (2 boys and 1 girl).

Of course, Lynn will hear of nothing of the sort.  For her the house is not just a home, but her connection to her late husband and the memories they made over the years.  Judith spent much of her life taking care of her ill parents.  Her father promised her that she'd be taken care of when he passed for being such a good daughter and caring for them.  After her father's passing, she realizes that her definition and her father's definition of being "taken care of" weren't the same at all.

Instead of leaving Judith the family's estate to with as she will, her father set up a trust to have the estate turned into a heritage center.  She can't help but feel like her father deceived her.  And while we're talking about deception, can you imagine going out and sitting down to dinner in a fancy restaurant to celebrate your 25th wedding anniversary only to have your husband tell you that he filed for divorce earlier that same day?  Despite doing everything to remain a sense of appeal to her husband, this is exactly what happens to Angela.  She's completely blindsided by her husband's sudden need to find himself.

These ladies all meet after Lynn visits with her doctor who suggests that she look into shared housing as a solution to both financially help her be able to stay in her home and as a way for her find a new form of companionship through friendship.  Stubborn and a bit skeptical, Lynn needs a little push and her kids give her just that when Tommy decides to announce on his Facebook page that his mother is opened to sharing her home with other middle aged women who are at a crossroads in their lives and are seeking an alternative living arrangement.  Thus, the ladies meet and soon a friendship between the three start to blossom.

It's not all rainbows though.  While Judith and Lynn seem to bond the fast, it takes Angela a while to come out of her shell in my opinion.  Lynn also struggles with change and has a bit of a meltdown when her boys help Judith build a chicken coup on the property.  In the end these ladies learn how to work past their differences and become not only friends but a sisterhood.  

This was my first reading a book by Lauraine Snelling and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Lauraine did a great job of telling all three women's stories and creating characters that readers will become emotionally attached to.  Get your Kleenex or hankies because I did shed a tear or two reading this book.  I also applaud Lauraine for tackling serious issues such as moving on after death and divorce and painting a realistic portrayal of what it's really like.

I enjoyed the sharing living aspect of Someday Home as well because it's a lifestyle that I've grown up seeing since I was a baby.  I have three aunts on my mom's side who all share my grandparents old house.  Their stories are almost ideal to the main characters with one of my aunt's having loss her husband pretty quickly after he was diagnosis with liver disease and another who went through a rough divorce while trying to balance being a new mom and stopping her health from failing after her pregnancy put too much strain on her weak heart.  And my other aunt opted to stay home and become teacher once my grandparents got sick to help take care of them and pay for medical expenses.

Reading Someday Home has really made look at their situations through fresh lenses.  I never really took into consideration how challenging it must be to have three families under one roof.  Sure there have been times when they disagree, but that's what families do.  But now I feel like I have better sense of the amount of compromise and humbleness that it takes to fully embrace shared living. 

Last but not least the main characters' stories have reminded me that at the end of the day God always has a plan for our lives.  We just need to keep our minds and hearts open to allowing His will to be done instead of our own.  No matter how dark the road ahead of gets, He's always with us and will lead us to sunshine again if we allow Him.

About The Author

Lauraine Snelling is the award-winning author of more than 65 novels.  Her books consistently appear on ECPA bestseller lists and have been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German.  A hallmark of her style is the empathy with which she explores difficult issues in her compelling stories.  Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a bassett named Sir Winston.  

You can order your copy of Someday Home from the following retailers:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Indiebound

Also, don't forget to check out Lauraine's official website for more information about her other works and to stay in the loop about future book releases. 

Would you ever consider shared living? How do you deal with sudden life changes?

Staying Grounded With #JesusDailyBook

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Faith Words.  I received a copy of this book to facilitate this review.  All opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Mommy of 2.  Wife.  Blogger.  Writer.  These are just a few of the hats that I wear on a daily basis.  By far one of the best hats that I wear is being a Christian!  For me, part of being a Christian is making time for God's word and finding a way to put that word into action.  I have admit that doing so can be challenging, especially now that we're in the thick of the Christmas holiday season.

This is where having a great devotional comes in handy.  Recently, I received a copy of Jesus Daily: 365 Interactive Devotions by Dr. Aaron Tabor from the lovely folks at Faith Words.  (Yes, he is a real MD and graduated from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.)  They also sent me an extra copy to share with a friend or family member and a Jesus Daily tee shirt.  You can find out who I'm gifting the extra copy to in the YouTube video at the end of this post.

Faith Words couldn't have reached out to me at a better time to review this devotional.  As mentioned, the Christmas season is one of the busiest times of the year, making it easier to get caught up and neglect your Bible studies.  Jesus Daily is perfect for those of us who want to get in a daily word and lesson, but find that some days we are more pinched for time than others.  

Each day is broken down into three sections: key scripture, devotion (message) and Daily Interaction (Connect mission/call to action).  My favorite part of this devotional, besides the message of course, is the Connect/Daily Interaction.  I don't want to only study God's word, but I want to put what I'm learning into action and it was a challenge for me figuring out a way to do so besides what I'm already doing.  The Connect gives me a starting point.

Also, I love that this book is not littered with biblical jargon.  I've read books like that before and it was hard for me to connect to the overall message.  Dr. Tabor was definitely thinking of the everyday person when he wrote this.  I've been reading this book to Moo and JJ during bedtime and they love it, especially Moo.  Because the words are simple and easy to read as well as understand, she's been able to get a good understanding of what's being said.

I can't tell y'all how much it warms my heart that she's even more interested and inquisitive about our faith.  I think every parent desires for their children to show an interest in whatever their faith is.  As JJ continues to progress, I'm sure the message will sink in more for him too.  Lastly, I love that this book was inspired by the 27 MILLION fans of Dr. Tabor's Jesus Daily Facebook page.  

Being a Christian isn't just about inspiring non-believers, but believers as well.  I think it's absolutely awesome and amazing that Dr. Tabor was touched by either something someone wrote on his page wall or through a private message.  He then channeled the inspiration to in this book.  

I'm really looking forward to starting from the beginning of this book when January 1st rolls around in a few weeks.  And if you're looking for a devotional book for yourself, your family or a loved one try this one.  Or maybe you're just curious about the Christian faith.  You're not sure if you want to believe.  Give this book a try.

You purchase your own copy of Jesus Daily: 365 Interactive Devotions from Walmart, Barnes & Noble and ChristianBook.com.  You can also use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter my giveaway for a chance to win your copy of Jesus Daily and a Jesus Daily tee shirt.  Yes, Faith Words was nice enough to throw in a giveaway as well. (Thank you!) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway