Review: God Gave Us So Much

God Gave Us So Much 

Written by Lisa T. Bergren

Illustrated by Laura J. Bryant

God Gave Us So Much is a treasury of three of the God Gave Us books.  Included are God Gave Us the World, God Gave Us Love, and God Gave Us Heaven.  They feature an adorable polar bear family.  

 

God Gave Us the World is about other types of bears from all over the world and how each kind is suited just right to live in it's own environment.  It tells of how God created Earth to be our home and created every creature in it.

 

God Gave Us Love is about love ;)  It talks of loving others even when they are hard to love and how being patient and kind goes with love.  Grampa also tells Little Cub of God's love for us and sending his son for us.

 

 God Gave Us Heaven talks about heaven, gently about death and how wonderful heaven will be.  It compares good things in this world and how much better it will be in heaven.  It also tells of Jesus making it possible for us to get to heaven.  

 

I really enjoyed these books, they are just delightful.  The illustrations are so endearing and fun.  I love watching Little Cub learn from her wise parents and Grampa and then being treated in such a respectful way.  Too often in our culture, even in children's books, the people in authority are portrayed as mean, unintelligent, or unimportant.  The content of the book is important to children and easy for them to understand in the way it is presented.  

 

I give God Gave Us So Much 5 stars.

 

I was provided a free copy of this book for the purposes of review, the opinions expressed are my own.

Siesta Scripture Memory Team Verse #1

My first verse in the Siesta Scripture Memory Team verse one:

Deut 6:4-7
4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
NKJV

Challenges and Commitments

With the new year started I am going to participate in some challenges and make some commitments. 

The first being to read the Bible in 90 Days with all the ladies at Mom's Toolbox.  This is a difficult challenge that I have not completed in the past, I got quite a ways into it and let life overwhelm me.  I would like to finish strong this time.  I hate to think that I am approaching 30, have been a Christian for quite some time, but have not completed a cover to cover reading of the Bible.

The second being memorizing two new verses a month with the Siesta Scripture Memory Team.  I enjoy memorizing scripture, but usually do it as a passive process of learning with my AWANA girls.  Hearing them quote verses week after week I absorb from hearing them.  I want to make a more active commitment.

I am also thinking that just for fun I will join the Jane Austen 2011 Challenge just for fun.  I have never read a Jane Austen novel, just seen some wonderful movies, so reading a few this year would be great.  I do not know which ones yet.

Give the Word Bible Giveaway and Contest

You can win Bibles, study materials, and a trip to Orlando!  And you vote for a ministry to receive Bibles.

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Review: City On Our Knees

City On Our Knees
by Toby Mac

City on our Knees shares stories of Christians making a difference.  Some are willing to be martyrs, most are just willing to live a life radically devoted to Christ.  Some are are centuries old, some are very recent.  Mr. Mac spotlights these believers and shows how we can all apply wisdom from their lives. 

City on our Knees is a very enjoyable read.  The book itself has a really fun, artistic cover.  It would make a great gift to all the Toby Mac fans in your life as well as the young believers you know.  I think it can show the youth who are struggling to live out their faith as well as the typical me first generation what God can really do if you are surrendered to Him.  I will be excited when my children are old enough to read this book, for now I think I will lend it to my nephew.

I was provided a free copy of this book from Bethany House for the purposes of review, the opinions expressed are my own.

No More Christian Nice Girl
When just being good nice-instead of good- hurts you, your family, and your friends
by Paul Coughlin & Jennifer D. Degler, PHD

No More Christian Nice Girl is about how Christian women fall into traps of niceness instead of goodness.  The book explores the ways God has called us to be His good Christian women.  It is written in a way that is easy to read and has a story running through the book demonstrating the way a nice girl lives and how she changes, it is a good way to apply what the authors are writing about to a real life scenario.

Something about No More Christian Nice Girl just didn't sit perfectly.  I did enjoy it and think there are many valid points in the book.  I know what it is, it is that I just don't want someone to read this book and come away with an attitude of harshness.  I really did enjoy the fact that false niceness is a sin and Jesus wasn't always a "nice guy".  There are times in our lives when we have to stand up and do the right thing, standing for what is good.  I do not think I am a "Christian Nice Girl", but I do hope I am kind and balance out truth in love.  I do recommend this book for women, especially if they feel caught in a facade of being a "nice Christian girl" and really just living a life of self-protection.

I was provided a free copy of this book from Bethany House for the purposes of review, the opinions expressed are my own.

Review: The Church Awakening

The Church Awakening
An Urgent Call for Renewal
by Charles R. Swindoll

The Church Awakening is about the postmodern church.  Mr. Swindoll talks about the problems the Church is facing and how the Church is dealing with issues in the postmodern culture we are living in.  He points out how incorrectly some believers are dealing with them as well solutions to the problem.

The book starts out with where we are a Church.  Then Mr. Swindoll identifies challenges, struggles, solutions, and priorities, using the rest of the book to hash out those themes.

I really enjoy Mr. Swindoll's point of view on the issue and his transparency of how his church has failed in this very issue and what they have done to turn things around.  Directing believers back to the Bible and solutions from Scripture to be relevant in the society we are living in as believers.  The book itself is an easy to understand and is written for the layperson or a pastor.

If you would like to read a part of The Church Awakening to get a taste for the material there is a Book Browse available.

I was provided a free copy of this book from The Hatchette Group for the purposes of review, the opinions expressed are my own.