Reading, Writing & Pondering

    Does your prayer life feel stale? Like all you do is ask God for stuff? A Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving by Wendy Speake is a 30-Day devotional and ask fast that just may rejuvenate your prayer life.  I know people who like to do a gratitude journal during the month of November to go along with Thanksgiving. This is a good devotional to go along with Thanksgiving too, although it can be done any time of the year. The book is based on Psalm 100. Each day there is a verse to focus on, a reading, and ends with a prayer and some journaling that you could do. From the publisher:  When life is bright and blessings abound, are you quick to feel grateful and lift a song of thanks to God? What about the seasons when heartache and hopelessness overwhelm, and deep soul-sadness threatens? When life feels awful, do you find it awfully hard to persevere in praise and rejoice in God’s goodness? Discover strength and renewal in times when praise feels more like a sacrific...

  Loneliness is widespread, even in a world where we’re constantly connected. Having lots of acquaintances or followers doesn’t necessarily mean having meaningful friends hips.   Make Friends With Anyone by Wayne Francis could be a helpful book for those who are wanting to make new friends in real life, not just on-line. Make Friends With Anyone starts out by explaining the foundations of friendship. The author is a pastor and he feels the Bible sets the foundation for friendships so the first part does have a lot of Scripture. This part felt rather abstract to me but I understand his point. Francis then expounds on the various depths of friendships. He uses visiting the ocean and beach as the basis for his depths of friendship. There are sunbathers, surfers, snorkelers, scuba divers, and submariners as his descriptors for types of friendships starting with the least in-depth to the most depth in relationships.  In the last section of the book, the author encourages the...

  The Good Farmer and The Worried Donkey by Hannah E. Harrison is a beautifully illustrated and written picture book aimed at children ages four to eight. This sweet book tells the worried donkey's story. Charlie the donkey goes from working for a miller who sometimes got angry at him because he wasn't strong enough and didn't always do things correctly. The miller then sold the donkey to a farmer. Charlie worried about disappointing the farmer. However, the farmer is patient and caring and helped the donkey along the way in his new role. I think The Good Farmer and The Worried Donkey is a sweet story to help children see that God loves them--no matter what. Through this story, children learn that God is always there to help, even when they doubt themselves. They also can learn that God is patient and caring in the process.   I love the sweet watercolor pictures of both the donkey and the farmer--as well as all the farm animals and fields. The last page in Good Farmer a...

  I like to support authors from my home state so I wanted to read This Side of the Sky as the author is from Iowa and lives near me. This Side of the Sky by Laura Wifler is a book of poetry mainly aimed at women.This book released on September 15 and is now available every where books are sold. This Side of the Sky includes 101 poems and Scriptures for women. The book is divided into 5 acts with an introduction, an intermission and a benediction. The book is printed on thick ivory paper and the poems are arranged in a lovely format. The author explains the book in the introduction and what each section represents. The poems are beautiful and many are relatable. She also explains that she didn't start out to write poetry and how her poems came to be. This book is aimed at Christian women and Scriptures are woven throughout so many women can likely relate no matter what stage of life they are in. This Side of the Sky includes  poems on motherhood, friendship, marriage, woman...

    Worthy Girl by Marshawn Evans Daniels is based on Ephesians 4:1, " I urge you to live a life WORTHY of the calling you have received." Worthy Girl is a large beautifully illustrated picture book aimed at girls ages four to eight. The book is fairly large, measuring a little over 10 inches squared, and it is 32 pages long. This book features a dark-skinned young girl so would be good for children of all ethnicities. A couple of pages show children of all skin colors in the illustration, which I especially like.  The book is mainly written in rhyming prose although that starts and stops a couple of times as the book sort of shifts gears. I think it is a book that sends positive messages to young girls. It is definitely aimed at Christian children so it is religious in nature.  Bible verses are included in the text too.   Purchase link:  Worthy Girl by Marshawn Evans Daniels I received a copy of this book from the publisher through FrontGate Media. All o...

  Katie Powner is another author that I always look forward to when she has a new release. The Second Chance Trailer Park was a character-driven novel full of fun characters. Meredith McGillicutty is ready for a change of pace. After she gets passed over for a promotion at work, she is ready to retire. She not only follows through and does retire, but she lies about her age to get into a retirement community. However, Peaceful Pines Retirement Community may not end up being as relaxing as she dreamed about. There are a lot of fun older folks that Meredith gets to know there, as well as a couple of younger ones, so there is a little mix of ages. I enjoy older characters as I worked in a nursing home as an activity assistant for a couple of years and met some older characters myself. I not only enjoyed getting to know Meredith, but I enjoyed the other characters at Peaceful Pines. The characters seemed real and had some true-to-life struggles. It also had some humor and heart becaus...