Christian Walk – Page 6

August 31, 2013September 6, 2013

Book Review: The Princess and the Kiss

As part of my request for theme suggestions last week, lesmiserables1 suggested a princess theme. I’ve received several other great suggestions, but this was the one I could best run with right away. I still need to read at least one more princess story for the month. So, my question for you. What are your favorite princess stories?

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess with a precious treasure…her first kiss. As suitors begin to call, the princess searches for a man who will appreciate her kiss, but all seem too caught up in themselves. Until a poor young farmer comes to the castle and offers her his own first kiss.

Yes, it’s a picture book. No, I don’t usually review picture books. Yes, I realize most of my readers are teenagers (though there are plenty of adults hiding in the woodwork!). This picture book is truly timeless. My Dad and I still occasionally pull it out for him to read to me. (Yes, I’m eighteen.) I think Dad got it for me when I was ten or eleven. The first time he read it to me was the first time I made a conscious decision that I wanted to save my first kiss for the man I marry. I’m so grateful to have had this book’s positive influence and to have the foundation of wanting to save my kiss from such a young age. So, yes, I really do recommend this book for anyone. Parents, parents to be, teens, teens younger siblings, you name it. Anyone else saving their first kiss? 🙂

May 10, 2013May 10, 2013

Book Review: Bridge Called Hope

Without raising his eyes to look at me, in a voice barely clearing the horizon of a whisper, he said, “I know you don’t love me…You just say that ’cuz you’re an adult and it’s kinda like your job. But I know you don’t really love me.”

Welcome to Crystal Peaks, the ranch of rescued dreams. Author Kim Meeder uses her gift of storytelling to capture the stories of the abused horses and needy children who come to her ranch for healing. From a young man convinced he cannot be loved, to horses fighting for their lives, the stories in this book show God’s grace as the dying light of hope is revived time and again.

I purchased this book two or three years ago at a homeschool conference. I can remember sitting on the hotel bed in the evening with tears streaming down my face as I read the first chapter, Proof. After reading the entire book and the companion book, Hope Rising, that first story remains my favorite. For a girl who grew up with “horse fever” and has grown into a deep caring for the fatherless, these books were great finds, and I continue to treasure them.

Author: Kim Meeder
Audience: YA to Adult
Genre: General/Inspirational Non-Fiction
Pages: 246

February 27, 2013

Book Review: Praying for Your Future Husband

Have you ever thought about praying for your future husband?
Will it make a difference?
There’s only one way to find out…

As Christians, we know that prayer is powerful, but sometimes we forget to apply it to important areas of our life. How often do single girls think to pray for their future husbands? Not just that God would hurry up about bringing them together, but praying for his walk with God. Proverbs 31 talks about a woman who does her husband good all the days of her life–not just the ones she knows him during. It’s time to start praying!

Dad found this book for me at a homeschool conference last year. He knows that I try hard to pray for my future husband (if marriage is God’s plan for me ;)) on a regular basis. This book seemed like a perfect match. I enjoyed reading through the authors’ stories and suggestions for how to pray for one’s future husband. Each chapter ends with a bullet point list of possible things to pray about and a story about a woman who got to see the fruition of her prayers.

Authors: Robin Jones Gunn and Tricia Goyer
Audience: Teen Girls
Genre: Christian Non-Fiction/Christian Living
Pages: 207
Publisher: Multnomah

P.S. For those of you who have been stumped by this week’s guess a quote game, I added an extra quote to help you out. These two quotes, or rather the terms used within the quotes, are two things I always associate with this book. Happy puzzling. 😉

Book Review: Will Our Generation Speak?

Are we as Christians truly being the bright lights, the strong voices of truth, that we should be? The solution for this world’s confusion is not to fix all the surface problems, however devastating and shocking they may be. Neither is the answer found in political or social improvements. The answer is for individual people to be brought to Jesus Christ and discipled. This means that individual Christians–each of us–need to be faithfully sharing the gospel, teaching others what God has taught us, and encouraging our friends to do the same.

This quote really sums up the heart of Will Our Generation Speak?. As Christians, we need to share the Good News with those around us. Yes, it is scary. No, we don’t always know what to say. But we still need to do it. From tips for handing out tracts, to suggestions for conquering your fear, Grace works through the different facets of sharing the Gospel with those around us.

As soon as I heard that one of the Mally’s had written another book, I knew I wanted to buy it. Grace certainly did not disappoint. Will Our Generation Speak? is an excellent book for Christians of all ages, but it is written specifically for young adults. The title of the first chapter says, “Only One Chance to be Young!” As young people, we have the advantage of being less intimidating in our efforts to witness. Grace encourages us to make use of this advantage and not wait any longer to start speaking. One of the biggest lessons I learned from this book is that people are open to the Gospel. When I witness I usually feel like I’m intruding on people, yet Grace tells story after story about how grateful people are to have an opportunity to learn about God and ask questions they’ve been holding inside. If you want to witness more, learn how to witness better or work on conquering your fear, this book is a must read.

Author: Grace Mally
Audience: Everyone (specifically written for Young Adults)
Genre: Christian Non-Fiction
Pages: 283
Publisher: Tomorrow’s Forefathers

Book Review: Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends

Some brothers and sisters remain best friends all their lives. Others just see each other occasionally at family reunions and maybe send a Christmas card. Which do you want?

Brothers and sisters get on each others nerves and can be just plain annoying. It seems an inevitable part of having siblings. But guess what? It doesn’t have to be that way. What if brothers and sisters could not just get along but be best friends. This book casts a vision for making brothers and sisters best friends and provides practical and Biblical guidelines for doing just that.

My family often receives comments on how well my brother and I get along. Since we are in our mid and late teen years, we find that amusing. At this age we should be able to get along. The sad things is, kids aren’t expected to get along anymore. My brother and I have been best friends for as long as I can remember (sure, we’ve had our spats, but they never lasted long), but this book made me more purposeful about trying to strengthen our friendship. Since strangers often notice how well we like each other, it seems like it has worked. The principles in this book can be applied to a lot of things besides sibling relationships too. There’s also plenty of humor to keep you going. Everyone I’ve met who has read this book mentions how much they like “Stephen’s Definitions.” I’ll leave you with a few examples.
Key Ring: A device that enables you to lose several keys at the same time.
Clear Conscience: Often the sign of a bad memory.
Campers: Natures way of feeding mosquitoes.”
I can attest to that last one!

Authors: Sarah, Stephen and Grace Mally
Audience: Everyone
Genre: Christian Non-Fiction/Self-Help
Pages: 273
Publisher: Tomorrow’s Forefathers

Book Review & Giveaway: Shadow of the Almighty & Through Gates of Splendor

*Giveaway Ended*

Happy day after Valentines Day everyone. I hope you had a good one. I got my college midterms done, my brother gave me earrings and Daddy bought home flowers for Mom and balloons for us. Pretty good day. 😉

Today I am reviewing one of my all time favorite books, Shadow of the Almighty, and launching a giveaway for Through Gates of Splendor. For those of you who are not familiar with these books, they are both about Jim Elliot, a martyr missionary. As usual, all you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment on this post*. So, enjoy the review and enter to win Through Gates of Splendor.

“Is the distinction between living for Christ and dying for Him so great? Is not the second the logical conclusion of the first?”

From an adventurous childhood, Jim Elliot matured into an intense man. In college, he began journaling and searching for God’s will in his life. This book uses narrative as well as Jim’s letters and journals to follow him through his college years and into his mission work in Ecuador. It showcases his love for his Lord and his desire to serve Christ, even into death. In his own, now famous word, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

This was the first non-fiction book to make me cry. In fact, I read about Jim’s death while walking on a treadmill at the gym. Awkward place to start crying. 😛 I love this book because it shows what passion for Christ looks like. I copied many passages from the book into my journal and now, a year after reading it, I still frequently think about things I learned from this book. So next time you’re looking to be challenged and inspired by a powerful book, try this one.

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Audience: Young Adults and up
Genre: Biography
Pages: 250

And, here’s a picture of the giveaway book.

*Due to the cost of shipping, giveaway is only available to residents of the United States.

February 13, 2013

Book Review: The Sufficiency of Scripture

Many Christians acknowledge that the Scriptures are inerrant–that is, that God’s Word is infallible–but few truly demonstrate recognition of the sufficiency of God’s Word in every area of their lives.

It’s no secret that the church is struggling and so are the families in it. We struggle with apathy and division. Programs and plans designed to excite teenagers about the church or create better leaders hit the market all the time, but all too often, the best and most effective answer book is left behind. The Sufficiency of Scripture is based on the “fundamental doctrine” that God’s Word is sufficient to guide and instruct our personal lives, our homes and our church. And guess what? It is! Joseph Stevens takes a detailed look at each of these aspects and uses the Scripture to outline what our lives, homes and churches should look like.

This book was given to me by a visiting speaker at our midweek Bible study. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but something made him reach into his backpack and challenge me to read this book. Dad asked to read it first and liked it so much we ended up reading it as a family during family devotions. After reading it as a family, it got tucked back onto the bookshelf for a while. Recently, I have found that it is a great go-to book when questions come up about how a church should be structured or what a Godly family looks like. I highly recommend this book.

Author: Joseph Stephen
Audience: Adults (Written for adults, but also appropriate for younger audiences)
Genre: Christian Non-Fiction
Pages: 185
Publisher: Pleasant Word

Book Review: Beautiful Girlhood

Thanks to Aubrey Hansen’s suggestion I will be reviewing an extra book in at least two of our free Wednesdays. Today, I picked Beautiful Girlhood.

Girlhood is the opening flower of womanhood. It has charms all its own. The wonderful blossoming of young, healthy girlhood, will ever be God’s great miracle in life’s garden. Girlhood is like a half-open rose. We are charmed, both by the beauty of the bud and by the wonderful coloring of the rose. We behold the familiar traits of childhood that have always charmed us and held our affections, but blended with these in ever changing variety are the graces and powers of womanhood.

This book offers good, old-fashioned advice based on the Bible. It emphasizes lessons like the importance of being careful about what we say, how to behave like a lady, and the joy of being cheerful. As the back cover says, “What can be more beautiful than the budding and blossoming of girlhood? Those years of transition from childhood to womanhood are filled with wonderful interest and promise. But young feet that travel this way may be unsteady and unsure. Each could use guidance, a helping hand along the way. To encourage our girls to a nobler life and truer ideals is the task of this book.”

This book is admittedly old-fashioned, yet it was one of the shaping forces of my tween years. I could never bring myself to sit down and read the book cover-to-cover, but I returned to it many times over. When I was little, my parents teasingly called me a ragamuffin because I loved my old clothes and hated brushing my hair. This book is what made me start caring about the way my hair and clothes looked. Every time I opened it, I would put it down determined to work on my home-keeping skills or be a better friend. A very few of the minor points expressed in Beautiful Girlhood are too old-fashioned to be carried out today, but most of the content is timeless advice that every girl should be aware of as she grows up.

Author: Mabel Hale, revised and expanded by Karen Andreola
Audience: Middle-Grade to Teen Girls
Genre: Inspirational Non-Fiction
Pages: 205
Publisher: Great Expectations Book Co.