Reach Out Gather In by Karen Ehman

 

Do you struggle to entertain? I have to admit that I struggle with it. Of course, right now we aren't entertaining due to Covid, but I hope one day that will all change again for most of us. Reach Out, Gather In by Karen Ehman is her new interactive 40-day journal written to help women learn to open their hearts and homes more easily to others.

Reach Out, Gather In starts out with an introduction by the author where she shares how much it meant to her when someone reached out to her as a young woman, invited her in and changed her life by sharing the love of Jesus with her. The book is divided in to five day interactive journal sections: Why Welcome?, Family First, but Not family only,  Find Me Somebody to Love, Discovering Your Niche, Meet Their Needs and Refresh Their Souls. Then through each day on the 40 day journey, Ehman shares a mixture of her story and Bible verses to help the reader reflect on how they best want to open their hearts and houses as they go forward. There are questions at the end of each day with space to write in the book for the journal part of the book. Throughout Reach Out, Gather In there are also recipes that readers could use when entertaining. At the back of the book, Ehman includes information on figuring out your spiritual gifts along with space to write down those gifts on a "Spiritual Resume" page. There are also two pages of memory verses to cut out and learn at the very back of the book.


Karen Ehman writes Reach Out, Gather In like she is sitting down with you and sharing over a cup of her apple cinnamon tea. The book is easy to read and understand. There is a fair amount of space to write the answers to the questions but if you are a long writer, you may consider an additional journal. This would be an especially great book for a young woman just starting out on her own. However, it is useful for someone at any age. There are also a lot of recipes throughout the book. I was disappointed to see that there were none for people eating gluten or dairy free or even how to modify the recipes that she has. My local church offers space for special diets on the meal train page and I think it is good to remind those who are entertaining that that is always a good question to ask and be aware of. I also wish there was an index to the recipes at the back of the book but there isn't any any where in the book. In fact, I didn't even know recipes were part of the book until I started reading it. Otherwise, the book is nicely arranged and put together and full of good information on entertaining and making others feel welcome, as well as figuring out your own spiritual gifts. Reach Out, Gather In would be a good purchase for yourself or for a gift.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

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