Reading, Writing & Pondering

  Before the pandemic, I would say life moved much too fast for many of us. In Jennifer Dukes Lee's new Bible Study, Growing Slow, she encourages us to slow down and enjoy life. Growing Slow Bible Study starts out with a short chapter on how to get the most out of the study as well as an introduction to the study from the author. She then has 6 chapters to be covered over six weeks:  1. Cultivate: Turning over the Soil of Your Heart 2. Plant: Becoming a Good Soil Girl in a Fast-Paced World 3. Grow: How to Flourish under Pressue 4. Harvest: Grow. . .and Make Disciples 5. Celebrate: Let's Get This Party Started 6. Heal: Leave No Stone Unturned If you noticed, there is a trend in this study to relate to the land. Jennifer Dukes Lee lives on a generational farm and has seen land used for farming for many years. She relates that land use to claiming God's promises. Through looking at land in the Bible and in the world today, Lee relates it all to helping us slow down in life. Sh...

Taste and See by Margaret Feinberg merges Food, Friends and Bible Study. Recipes are even included! For a Christian, I just don't see how it gets much better than this. Each chapter in Taste and See is a culinary adventure with a different location featured. The author shares her adventures as she mixes food and God together and comes up with a recipe for the reader learning and growing through each chapter. At the end of each chapter, Feinberg offers an activity to do with family and/or friends around the table. There are also several recipes that look truly delicious. I especially like that the Bible is set in the Mediterranean area so these recipes are all a part of the Mediterranean diet that I choose to do each day for my health. There are recipes for baked halibut, lamb lollipops, sour dough starter and bread, roasted figs and Brussels sprouts, and gluten free dark chocolate cookies. In the back of Taste and See , there is a list of all of the recipes for easy referenc...

Are you looking for a new study series for your couple that you are pre-marital counseling, a small group or young married couples group? I recommend checking out the The Growing a Strong Marriage series from Hendrickson Publishers. In the Starting Strong DVD with the study guide, viewers see strong Christian couples share both the fun things about their marriage, such as how they got together, and the challenges that they have faced and overcome in their marriage. The couples featured in the DVDs are couples that many of us have heard speaking or have read their books: John and Stasi Eldredge, Chip and Theresa Ingram, Gordon and Gail MacDonald, Les and Leslie Parrott, Art and Lysa TerKeurst, and Gary and Lisa Thomas. Their is something sort of comforting about seeing how well-known people have also struggled and worked out problems that is encouraging and reminds young couples that they can work things out too because marriage has some challenges at times. The Starting Strong D...