Just Open the Door - Jen Schmidt

Do you have a heart for hospitality?  Do you wish you did?  Were you raised with an example of inviting people into your lives?  Do you want that for your children? Jen Schmidt's Just Open the Door - How One Invitation Can Change a Generation will walk you through her own journey to learning godly hospitality, as well as giving encouragement and examples for her readers to do the same.

This is one of those books that I picked up because I thought, "hey, sure, I'd like to be more hospitable, and I'd like some ideas on how to do that," and then, wow, conviction and challenge comes walloping in.  Jen's hospitality doesn't just include hosting a pretty girls' dessert night once a month, or inviting your kids' best friends over for a barbecue on the fourth of July.  No, Jen's hospitality is of the anytime, any kind variety, the keep-a-room-for-anyone-who-needs-one variety.  She leaves the reader with no excuses to not open their door and find someone to invite in, not a messy house, not a lack of money, no pre-planning necessary.  From spur of the moment invites that result in 75 people at her apartment, to a party that continued with no power, she demonstrates hospitality in all kinds of situations.  However, don't think that she's some sort of perfect party planner; she confesses to moments where she wants to hide behind a closed door, and her children have convicted her by speaking up that they miss having people over.  Instead, she speaks very clearly that the "open door," isn't just a physical opening of her tangible front door, but rather an opening of her heart to God's plan for her life and for Him to use it in any circumstance, using hospitality to draw people to Him. 

In addition to the call to begin with opening your heart before opening your door, she also gives very concrete examples of ways to show hospitality.  With ideas like keeping a frozen pound cake in the freezer, with options to "dress" it up for a spontaneous coffee date, or very real advice like throwing everything in a room in a bin and hiding it in the shower when someone's on their way, her advice is practical, and practicable. 

I give this book 5 stars; it certainly calls the reader to its purpose and gives clear examples of the joy and change that can come through opening your heart, and then opening your door.

You can find Just Open the Door HERE.
You can find Jen's blog with more hospitable and frugal living tips HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

Live Free, Adult Coloring Book - Margaret Fienberg

Live Free - Craft God's Word into Your Heart through Creative Expression

This adult coloring book is a creative combination of journal, coloring book, and scripture study.  It encourages its user to linger on each page, drawing the printed scripture into their hearts and minds.  Each coloring page comes with an accompanying journal page for reflections and prayers.  There are no journaling or prayer prompts, just pure scripture to inspire and reflect upon.

The coloring pages themselves are a good mix of geometric, floral, and nature designs.  The paper is high quality and I have had no leak-through with the gel pens I've been using.  My only complaint with this book might be that there aren't enough pages!  It does seem to be on the thin side for a coloring book, and comes with a relatively high retail price.  However, I'm sure you could find better deals and sales if you watch (There's one now on CBD, and on Amazon!)

I really enjoy this adult coloring book craze, and I was excited to receive this one as a review copy from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.

You can find Live Free HERE.

You can find Margaret Feinberg's site HERE.

An Insider's Guide to Praying for the World - Brian C. Stiller

An Insider's Guide to Praying for the World contains 52 chapters of countries, people groups, and situations throughout the world in need of prayer.  Authored by the Global Ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance, the stories and prayer guides are given a personal touch and the urgency of current needs for real people.

As my children grow up in a world that's constantly changing, I want them to be aware of where God is working, and where the prayers of His people are needed not only to change the situations around the world, but the hearts of the people who join with Him in prayer.  I requested this book for review to help open their eyes, as well as my own.  While we haven't completed the book, hoping to take our time to read and pray thoughtfully, and stretch our understanding of the world we live in.  The breakdown of this book makes it easy to go through as a family, with the combination of particular countries, people groups such as the Muslims, and larger issues such as prisons and persecution.  Current data, a history of the country, and maps for each chapter help give us context and perspective.  Tips on group use or personal use, as well as a prayer journal at the conclusion, add to this in-depth prayer resource.  My only concern with the book is that specific data and prayer concerns can only remain current for so long.  I wish that each chapter came with a link to an active ministry, or an updated website where the reader could check in to see if there are updates on situations and prayer requests.

I give this book 4 stars; I feel that it is a well-written, nicely laid out prayer guide, and I look forward to studying it more in depth.

You can find An Insider's Prayer Guide to Praying for the World HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.
You can find the World Evangelical Alliance HERE.

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers, in exchange for my honest review.

Out of the Depths - Edgar Harrell. USMC

Out of the Depths is the true story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, during WWII.  Written by one of the survivors, it recounts his enlistment, service, harrowing ordeal and his survival.  As he spent 5 days in the open sea, he watched his fellow shipmates sickened, attacked by sharks, taken by hallucinations, and separated by the ocean swells.  During the entire ordeal, he turned to his God and trusted Him for his salvation - both physical and spiritual.

Reviewing a non-fiction book is always difficult, especially one with such a horrific, true story of shipwreck and survival.  Who am I to look at this man's indescribable memories and suggest he should have recounted them differently?  I cannot even imagine the pain and suffering that occurred, let alone the emotional turmoil required to relive them through telling his tale for others.  And yet, he does so - not for the drama or any recognition, but to chronicle his journey of faith from head knowledge to heart-felt passion about his dependence on the God who saved him from the depths.  He does so to inspire faith and patriotism in others, and in this he succeeds.

Given my reluctance to criticize this man's tale, there were a few things that could have made the story more reader-friendly.  There were a lot of naval details included, which could have enriched the story if I understood them; overall, the author did a good shop of describing ships' sizes and travels, but there were several sections I glossed over because there were a lot of technical details that weren't explained.  Additionally, the quotes from other survivors that are sprinkled throughout the book lent weight to the horrors of the situation, but they felt disconnected from the story itself.

The book does do a good job of opening the reader's eyes to the horrors of war and the unspeakable things our troops go through to ensure our freedom.  For this reason, and for the undeniable glory given to God, I give this book 4 stars for the story it has to tell.

You can find more about the author, the book, the crew, and other resources regarding the USS Indianapolis HERE.
You can order the book there, or HERE (includes an excerpt).

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

Called to Controversy - by Ruth Rosen

Moishe Rosen did not grow up in a home that believed in Jesus as Messiah.  He originally scoffed at his wife when she introduced the idea as truth to him.  And yet, he was let to a belief so full of passion that he could not keep it to himself, but felt called to bring this truth to his people, the Jews.  His ministry took him cross-country several times and led to an organization that brought the truth of Jesus to Jews internationally.

I am not typically a reader of biographies, and it took me a long time to get through this book.  The delay was not due to my disinterest in Moishe Rosen, on the contrary, I found him to be a fascinating person and his passion for Jesus and for the Jewish people to know Jesus as Messiah was incredible.  However, I found the book to be less than its subject.  Maybe it was precisely because Mr. Rosen led such an incredibly interesting life that it was hard to narrow down the stories to include in his biography.  The result was a mishmash of anecdotes and facts that muddled the timeline of Moshie's life and his ministry.

On the plus side, although the book was written by his daughter, Ms. Ruth Rosen, the descriptions of Mr. Rosen's personality felt impartial, and his praises as well as his flaws were accounted for.  Ms. Rosen was not only his daughter, but she was heavily involved in the Jews for Jesus organization, and thus had full access to Moshie's life as both father and leader.

As a person, Mr. Rosen's work was incredible and his life story and his life work are an amazing testimony to the Jesus whom he called Messiah.  As a book, Called to Controversy could have been a more succinct account of that life and work.

I give this book 3 stars.  I am glad that I read it, but I did struggle to get through it.
The website for Jews for Jesus can be found HERE, and their work continues on without their founder.
Ruth Rosen has her own page in the staff section of the organization's website HERE.

I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson, as part of their BookSneeze program, in exchange for my honest review.

What Your Husband Isn't Telling You - David Murrow

In What Your Husband Isn't Telling You: A Guided Tour of a Man's Body, Soul, and Spirit, David Murrow walks the reader through the three areas of a man's life (body, soul, and spirit), and discusses the reasons that men struggle and what about his nature causes those struggles.  He defines the two driving forces in a man's life to be Provider and Protector, and then explains how those affect everything a man thinks and does.

This book left me conflicted.  While on one hand, I can foresee situations that will make me reflect on this book and how the author addressed it, I felt let down by his cynicism on both men and women.  He makes a point at the beginning of the book to acknowledge that not all men struggle with the same things, and that some of the points in the book may not apply to the reader's husband, but he doesn't seem to give the same leeway to women.  He seems to assume that that majority of his female readers will fall into all of the same pits when it comes to understanding their men or handling their struggles.  The other disappointment comes from how much emphasis he puts on the nature of men as a reason for their behavior.  He does occasionally say that men shouldn't be given free reign to act on these excuses, but by the end of the book, it begins to feel like an awful lot like a free pass for men's behaviors, and women are just supposed to understand why they happen without being able to change anything.  In addition, the author sprinkles in enough scripture to make his reasons seem Biblical, but he leaves God out of several lines of reasoning.  He talks a lot about "culture" and "society" driving the definition of a man, and leaves out that God created men to be different than women.  He even mentions Joshua from the Old Testament "dismissing the cautious advice of ten spies but accepting the counsel of two risk takers," as if Joshua was merely acting as a "manly man" instead of trusting God's provision and protection in taking the Promised Land.

My rating of the book started to fall the further I read.  In the end, I give it 2 stars.  I think it could have been much better, but I did still take a few points from it that I hope will help in my relationships with the men in my life.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Plan B - by Pete Wilson

The subtitle of Pete Wilson's book, Plan B, is "What do you do when God doesn't show up the way you thought that he would?"  Throughout the book, Wilson thoroughly examines dozens of situations, both Biblical and of modern-day people, to see what a Plan B looks like, and how we should handle it.  From Joseph's trip to Egypt in slavery, to David's flight from Saul after being anointed as the next king, from stories of infertility to death of children, failing marriages and lost jobs, Plan B discusses disappointment, grief, hope, and faith in the face of lost dreams.  Pete Wilson acknowledges that he cannot give us answers, but he can point us to the cross and the One who is there for us through every step of His plan for us.

Bear with me, I have a lot to say about this book.  I am not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading it, but I certainly wish I had read it sooner.  Plan B is the most down-to-earth Christian living book I have read in a very long time.  Pete Wilson is a humble, self-aware author who takes himself very lightly, but never treats his readers' or his subjects' pain casually.  An author who admits he is in need of the same answers he seeks to write about is one the reader can trust to dig deep and give truthful guidance.  This book does just that.  As Wilson walks through each example, he stops to examine it at every step, but he never leaves a story hanging just to make a single point that might not hold true to the rest of the story.  Every story he starts, he works through fully, giving his points and conclusions more credence than simple bits and pieces linked to each individual idea.  Both his Biblical examples, and his real-life people follow this system, and while I was sometimes on edge waiting to see how a story would turn out, I could trust that he would come back to it and finish it for me.

I have a long list of quotes from this book that resonated with me; I hate to give them without context, but maybe it will give you a taste of his writing and style.

"We must decide if we are going to put our faith in what God does or in who God is." (Emphasis mine)  The idea that even if our life circumstance is our Plan B, we should be able to trust that God has not messed up, and that he is there for us regardless of our circumstances.

Wilson also talks a lot about waiting on God.
"The question isn't 'Can you trust God?' but 'Can you wait?"
"...waiting may be the most important something you can and need to do.
What you're doing is allowing your hope to grow up.  And if you can't be still and wait and hope, even when you have no reason to hope, you can't become the person God created when he thought you into existence."  Waiting is an important part of our Plan Bs; waiting to see how it turns out, waiting to see why we even had to go through a Plan B, waiting to see just what God is doing.

In addition to the myriad of quotes from Wilson that strike a chord, he quotes several other authors and pastors with aplomb.  He uses them with enough frequency to lend weight to his own ideas, but he does not overdo it to the point of feeling that he is just rehashing other people's thoughts.

While the topic of Plan B is a difficult one, the book itself is an easy, yet thought-provoking read.  I give it 5 stars for depth of topic, ease of reading, and real-life practicality.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone struggling with how their life is going versus how they thought it would.  And, really, isn't that most, if not all, of us?

I received a copy of this book for free as part of Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program for bloggers.  I was not required to provide a positive review.

Close Enough to Hear God Breathe - Greg Paul

I never thought I would post a review on a book I didn't finish. This book is my first. I tried several times to just get through it, but every time I had to put it down. I waited and tried again, and the same. I finally give up.

I was excited to read this book - closer intimacy with God? Yes, please! Putting aside the trappings of this life to feel the heart of God? I was all about it. However, from the very beginning, between the author's crass descriptions of John the Baptist, and the irreverence with which he personalized Jesus Himself, I found myself disengaging from the text. The more I read, the further I felt the book wandered until I couldn't remember what the author's point was supposed to be. The stance he takes with the Bible ("The Bible, first and foremost, is a story...") did not sit well with my theology and beliefs, nor did his treatment of Christ on the cross.

So with that, I had to put the book aside, a little more than half finished. Maybe one day I'll give it one more try, but for now, I say no, thank you, and give this book 1 star, because even with the difficulty I had reading through it, I still found a point or two that I could apply to my life. His statement that "two things are necessary for me to be able to hear someone breathing: I must be quiet and I must be close," can help me draw closer to God, even if the rest of the book cannot.

I received this e-book for free from Thomas Nelson publishers as part of their BookSneeze program. I was not required to publish a positive review.

Life, In Spite of Me - Kristen Jane Anderson

"Disbelief filled me. I was looking at my legs...lying about ten feet away."
Kristen Jane Anderson, the co-author of Life, In Spite of Me: Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice, is also the main character in the non-fiction work. As a 17-year-old girl struggling with depression and feelings of worthlessness, with nobody telling her differently, she attempts to commit suicide, by laying down on a train track in front of an oncoming train. She survives, even when by all medical and engineering accounts she should have died. However, the train takes both of her legs, leading to a long recovery, and the repetitious refrain of "God must have kept you alive for a reason, Kristen."

The book begins with the night in question, and works both backwards to define how she came to the point of wanting to end it all, and forwards to where she works through both the physical recovery and the spiritual struggle of why she is still alive. She questions whether she would have gone to Heaven or Hell had she been successful, and she begins to work forward in her relationship with God. Her recovery isn't easy, and she relapses several times into depression, before she begins to realize "focusing on myself was the wrong thing to do. God should have been my main focus...and he wasn't." Once she turns her eyes and focus to God, she finds that she has "a beautiful story to share." From there, she feels the call to minister to others who may find themselves hopeless, and lost in darkness with nobody else to show them the Light.

The story of Kristen is an amazing one. Although it speaks directly to readers who may have considered suicide, or know someone who might, it also speaks of God's amazing grace and goodness, his faithfulness to get us through even the toughest, unimaginable situations. Kristen is honest in speaking of her weaknesses, and the story is a compelling transition from a lost soul to one found in Christ. I was amazed that Kristen even came to the point where she was "grateful" for having lost her legs, and could say that it was "worth it," because it brought her to to Christ, and it gave her the opportunity to speak to countless people who were struggling through Reaching You Ministries.

You can read Chapter 1 HERE.

I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

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I received this book for free to review as a part of the Blogging for Books program through Waterbrook Multnomah publishing group. I was not required to provide a positive review.