Book Review: Where is God in Your Life

A few weeks back I was fortunate enough to become part of an AWESOME program called Pump Up your Book.  You sign up to be a book tour host and they send you the book to review PLUS the author of the book I reviewed is actually going to be making a guest post!!  Neato Frito right??

The Book I chose was "Where is God in Your life" by Sue Provost.  Here is a little bio on the book,


"As Christians, our spiritual journey is constantly brings us back to Jerusalem, to the death and resurrection of Jesus, which gives meaning to all that we do.  Strengthened by God's Spirit we join on the walk to wherever, we share meals, and we tell stories.  We remember.  God, as we go along life's way, will help us to be aware of His presence with us.  He will open our eyes and, makes us expectant, eager to be met by Him.  We will never complete our spiritual journey..."


My review of the book:
This book is chock full of wise and thoughtful insight on the behalf of the author.  Provost points out right away that building a strong relationship with God is a vigilant everyday process.  She outlines the different levels of faith and she provides in her book a layout and process to hosting/directing 3 Christian Spirituality retreats that are meant to enrich your lives .  Now personally I have never participated in a retreat so initially I thought that a large portion of this book was going to be difficult for me to follow, but that was sooo not the case.  I found the retreat both thorough and insightful.  

The three retreats are initially broken down into levels, similar to a beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.  The first workshop lays the foundation of the Bible out to understand the basics and shows you the retreat-ee how the Gospels are truly the foundation for His Church.  The second workshop is for those that are a little farther advanced on their spiritual journey and gives insight as to how Jesus has been portrayed over the centuries.  The third workshop is for the more advanced believer that needs some guidance as to where they go from here. 
 Everything about the weekend retreats was broken down into time periods, keynote speakers, points to discuss, important values to take away per day.  It was all well thought out, vividly described and easy to follow.  I feel that this book offers answers and guidance to help believers on all walks of life without being judgmental, to really learn how to know Jesus.


This book while asking some difficult questions it also offers tools to help you really delve into where your personal relationship is with Jesus, i.e. questions at the ends of chapters to really see in black and white what your feelings are.  Provost stresses that loving God and knowing God is not just a check in box, stamp of approval engagement--Loving and knowing God is done by letting go and letting His Spirit fill your heart. 


Overall I thought it was an excellent book and a kind of tough read for me, I tend to gravitate to a more casual dumbed down version of Christian Literature, but thats personal preference.  That being said, there is hands down without a doubt some very valid points and thought provoking questions that did enhance MY thoughts on my relationship with God. 

Review of this book provided by the author/publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. In no way did the furnishing of the book affect the outcome of my review.  All opinions are 100% mine.  

Stay tuned because Sue Provost will be providing a guest post for this blog in the coming weeks!!

DVD Review-Read and Share: The Jesus Series, Life and Miracles DVD

I was recently granted the opportunity to review the "Read & Share Bible: Life and Miracles DVD ".  Naturally with 2 littles I jumped on it.  Here is a little background on the DVD; it is "...Animated straight from the pages of the popular Read and Share Bible by Gwen Ellis, the Jesus Series introduces children to the story of Jesus Christ.."  This is the 3rd DVD of the R&S Trilogy.  


Now we personally do not own the Read and Share Bible or any of the DVD's so I had no personal expectations about the DVD.  I loved watching and hearing Bible Stories when I was little and I think its nice that my kids and I can also share in that experience.  The DVD is about 30 minutes long (which I think is perfect for little 3 year wandering minds), so I was able to corral Bonnie AND Clyde to sit with me to watch.  Some of the Bible Story highlights were: 

• Miracle of fish and loaves
• How Jesus called and led his disciples
• Jesus healing the sick

My oldest daughter knew several of the stories told in this DVD so I could tell her attention waned at times but the little one was totally enthralled with the entire DVD.  The animation style was similar to older style cartoons but my kids love classic cartoons so it didn't bother them at all.  But I could see where some kids were be less interested because of the animation style-just something to note.  Overall I thought the stories were good, animation style satisfactory, and good values were impressed upon the young (and old!) viewers.  

Also the story flow was not very continuous, it jumped around a little bit, went from one story to another but it didn't bother the kids or me so I just went along with it.  All in all I think its a worthwhile purchase for a family that wants to share Jesus and his miracles through Television/DVD Format.  I would probably buy the other two DVD's in this trilogy because I think they are a great fit for my family.

Book Review: I am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirby

I am fortunate enough to have great online friends and this gal introduced me to this very cool site that allows you to pick a book, review it and keep it. Uhh can we say love at first (web)site?? Anyways here is a review of the book I read.

"I am Hutterite" is a vivid and enthralling memoir of Mary Ann Kirby's early life on a Hutterite colony. Hutterite colonies are somewhat reclusive, devoutly religious and nearly 100% self sustainable. Mary Ann tells the story of her years on the Hutterite colony- how the colony worked, school was run and the gossipy politics of everything else in between. She is able to draw you in right from the first page.

As a person who has never heard of a "Hutterite colony" I was completely fascinated with all the daily working of Hutterite life and what it entailed. Through Mary Ann's words you are able to feel the whole spectrum of emotions- from the love she felt to the anguish she experienced; you name it and it was expressed through the clear and colorful words on each page. Hutterite lifestyle sounds tough, fulfilling and yet distinctly detached from modern day "English" households, and this book made me want to experience it first hand. Mary Ann wrote this book after talking to her son about her upbringing and as a result you can just feel the emotions that each story brought to the surface. "I am Hutterite" is a very easy read and completely 100% compelling, once I started the book I could not put it down. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone--I promise you will not be disappointed with what you read.!!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.