I was very interested in this book by Randy Alcorn when I first saw it listed as one I could read for review. Every single person in the world has this question, "Why do bad things happen?" And I wanted to find out what this author had to say about the subject.
Personally, I thought the beginning of the book was very good. Randy Alcorn talked about where evil and suffering comes from. He gave Biblical answers to the questions of where the pain began, what our choices are, and who causes natural disasters. He still had me interested when I began reading the second chapter, but if I am honest, I will tell you that he totally lost my interest somewhere around the fourth chapter.
While his arguments were Biblically and intellectually based, I don't really feel that this book reaches down to those people who are seriously suffering through a situation.
If I was not a Christian, I do not think that I would have read this book past the first couple of chapters because it would not have been what I was looking for.
But, because I am a Christian and I had a task at hand, I continued. I had to wait a couple of days, though, to continue past the middle of the book. When I finished it today, I thought the last few chapters were good again.
I think Chapter 11 is my favorite... it's called What We Can Do. Really, the first suggestion is to "become a student of God's Word." I think that is possibly my favorite line of the whole book. To know God, to really know Him, we absolutely have to read the Bible. He is the Word. The Word is Him.
If anyone is looking for some grand answer as to why suffering occurs, however, I would not recommend this book. It is more intellectual than practical, in my opinion. When people are looking for answers, they want to feel like the books they read will reach them in a place that makes sense and appeals to their brokenness. The Bible is good for that.
I don't believe this book will give you the answers you are looking for in the midst of suffering.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
I Want Audacious Faith
I was excited to read this book because of what I have heard about it. I have also watched a couple of the *Sun Stand Still* messages from Steven Furtick online. But this book surpassed even all of my high expectations.
In the chapter entitled Wave Jumper, I especially liked the analogy about God lifting us up in the middle of the heavy waves. "He only requires that we have the faith to wade in as deep as he leads and keep reaching up to him." Steven Furtick has lots of examples in his book that back this statement up.
He does not just give advice on how to live with audacious faith... he lives it himself.
The segment "The Ramen Noodle Revival" was very moving. God took something seemingly small, food, and turned it into something great. Just like the loaves and the fishes. This was the point in the book that I started believing that God could use me for something great. In fact, I laughed, I cried, and I read it aloud to my husband.
Furtick is also realistic in his chapter "When the Sun Goes Down." So many of us watch as the sun goes down on our dreams, and we get to a place where we don't want to dream again. He mentions how all of our favorite plots of stories have conflict, but we wouldn't want our own stories to be written that way. However, "It doesn't work that way. It can't work that way. Because you'd never see how strong God is if there were no oppponent for him to overcome in your life."
And then, "The process is the point."
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for God, to anyone looking to boost their faith and move forward in the direction God's plan will take them... for anyone who has been disappointed and hurt and disillusioned with the church. This book points people back to the person of Jesus Christ. He is the one who is able to do all of the things that we hope for in this life.
I want a faith like Joshua. I want that Audacious Faith.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
In the chapter entitled Wave Jumper, I especially liked the analogy about God lifting us up in the middle of the heavy waves. "He only requires that we have the faith to wade in as deep as he leads and keep reaching up to him." Steven Furtick has lots of examples in his book that back this statement up.
He does not just give advice on how to live with audacious faith... he lives it himself.
The segment "The Ramen Noodle Revival" was very moving. God took something seemingly small, food, and turned it into something great. Just like the loaves and the fishes. This was the point in the book that I started believing that God could use me for something great. In fact, I laughed, I cried, and I read it aloud to my husband.
Furtick is also realistic in his chapter "When the Sun Goes Down." So many of us watch as the sun goes down on our dreams, and we get to a place where we don't want to dream again. He mentions how all of our favorite plots of stories have conflict, but we wouldn't want our own stories to be written that way. However, "It doesn't work that way. It can't work that way. Because you'd never see how strong God is if there were no oppponent for him to overcome in your life."
And then, "The process is the point."
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for God, to anyone looking to boost their faith and move forward in the direction God's plan will take them... for anyone who has been disappointed and hurt and disillusioned with the church. This book points people back to the person of Jesus Christ. He is the one who is able to do all of the things that we hope for in this life.
I want a faith like Joshua. I want that Audacious Faith.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesdays With Morrie
I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. And when I saw it at the library the other day, I quickly grabbed it off the shelf and placed it in my already large stack of books to read.
This is another example of a book that encourages us to live life to its fullest extent. Morrie was dying of ALS, and he could have just given up to the disease, but he didn't. He was a teacher by trade, and he continued teaching up until the last day of his life. He may not have been in a traditional classroom, but that didn't matter.
It also showed the importance of younger people taking an interest in older people. They have a lot to teach, a lot of experiences that need to be shared and a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom that we will never know about if we don't take the time to get to know them.
This story is a true story, and it's very touching and real. I think it's a great book, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Mitch Albom's books.
This is another example of a book that encourages us to live life to its fullest extent. Morrie was dying of ALS, and he could have just given up to the disease, but he didn't. He was a teacher by trade, and he continued teaching up until the last day of his life. He may not have been in a traditional classroom, but that didn't matter.
It also showed the importance of younger people taking an interest in older people. They have a lot to teach, a lot of experiences that need to be shared and a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom that we will never know about if we don't take the time to get to know them.
This story is a true story, and it's very touching and real. I think it's a great book, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Mitch Albom's books.
Reba McEntire
When the television series Reba came out in 2001, I was either too busy or too tired to watch it. I had five kids - ages one to six. All I wanted to do in the evenings was to get these kids in bed! I wasn't interested in watching a tv show about someone with more problems than me!
But this year, while having Sciatica for several weeks, I started watching the series on the Lifetime Channel. And, although the theme is definitely for adults, I really liked it. If you want to know more about the show, you can look it up on google.
Now, I am not a country music fan, but there are some people involved in the country music profession that I really admire and like. Reba is one of them. And I have been curious about what would make her go into acting in a show like this one. I still can't find the exact answer I'm looking for about that, but I did read a book she wrote before she had the show. It's called Comfort From a Country Quilt.
Reba tells about her family, her travels and her experiences with life. She talks about losing her band members in a horrific crash, and I don't know if I ever heard of that happening.
I think the most important things I got from the book was that we should live each day to the fullest and to live your life with passion. She is just a girl from an ordinary place living an extraordinary life doing what she loves... singing. We all have the capability to live an extraordinary life. It depends on what you do with what you've got.
I don't think that reading the book will cause me to start listening to country music, but it does let me get to know her a little bit better.
But this year, while having Sciatica for several weeks, I started watching the series on the Lifetime Channel. And, although the theme is definitely for adults, I really liked it. If you want to know more about the show, you can look it up on google.
Now, I am not a country music fan, but there are some people involved in the country music profession that I really admire and like. Reba is one of them. And I have been curious about what would make her go into acting in a show like this one. I still can't find the exact answer I'm looking for about that, but I did read a book she wrote before she had the show. It's called Comfort From a Country Quilt.
Reba tells about her family, her travels and her experiences with life. She talks about losing her band members in a horrific crash, and I don't know if I ever heard of that happening.
I think the most important things I got from the book was that we should live each day to the fullest and to live your life with passion. She is just a girl from an ordinary place living an extraordinary life doing what she loves... singing. We all have the capability to live an extraordinary life. It depends on what you do with what you've got.
I don't think that reading the book will cause me to start listening to country music, but it does let me get to know her a little bit better.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Shack
I can now say I have read The Shack. It is an interesting book, to say the least.
I think the thing that really stuck out more than anything was that in this story, God shows up to this man in a way that he can understand... a loving person, which is really the essence of who God really is anyway.
If you are having questions about what has happened in your life, and you don't understand, I cannot tell you that you will understand those things after reading this book. However, if you are looking to find out some attributes of God, you will find some here.
I read it in two days. And I thought it was good.
I think the thing that really stuck out more than anything was that in this story, God shows up to this man in a way that he can understand... a loving person, which is really the essence of who God really is anyway.
If you are having questions about what has happened in your life, and you don't understand, I cannot tell you that you will understand those things after reading this book. However, if you are looking to find out some attributes of God, you will find some here.
I read it in two days. And I thought it was good.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Joyce Meyer
I started reading a book by Joyce Meyer called 100 Ways to Simplify Your Life. WOW! What a great book!
I have decided that I know some people who might be getting a copy of this book for Christmas this year. I have been a little depressed lately, and this book has totally encouraged me. I am so thankful that I found it at the library!
I'm going to buy a copy for myself, too.
I have decided that I know some people who might be getting a copy of this book for Christmas this year. I have been a little depressed lately, and this book has totally encouraged me. I am so thankful that I found it at the library!
I'm going to buy a copy for myself, too.
Amy Grant
We went to the library the other day, and they had a new addition there. It's a book called Mosaic by Amy Grant. Well, I have always loved Amy Grant. Yes, she's been controversial to the Christian faith because of her divorce and subsequent marriage to to Vince Gill. But she is a human being and has a human life... just like the rest of us.
I am only half-way through the book, but so far, it has been great. She has interwoven the lyrics to her songs within the stories she tells, and honestly, some of those songs have given me chills for as long as I remember.
If you need some encouragement in your life, or if you are bored, this book is a good read. And you might walk away from it feeling better than you did when you started reading it.
Oh, and I am going to add that her new song, Better Than a Hallelujah, is one of the best songs I have ever heard in my life. It explains all of our lives in a way that only Amy Grant can.
I am only half-way through the book, but so far, it has been great. She has interwoven the lyrics to her songs within the stories she tells, and honestly, some of those songs have given me chills for as long as I remember.
If you need some encouragement in your life, or if you are bored, this book is a good read. And you might walk away from it feeling better than you did when you started reading it.
Oh, and I am going to add that her new song, Better Than a Hallelujah, is one of the best songs I have ever heard in my life. It explains all of our lives in a way that only Amy Grant can.
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