Reading, Writing & Pondering

The right relationships in your life will make the difference between happiness and misery, according to Van Moody, author of The People Factor. Van Moody writes a comprehensive book on relationships that I found to be a treasure chest full of relationship wisdom. Van Moody is a pastor in Birmingham, Alabama. He shares what he has learned through his life, his work as a pastor, and from Biblical relationships to help the reader gain a higher relationship IQ. The book is divided into 3 parts: The critical laws of relationships, How to make difficult choices in letting people go or changing relationships, and the essentials of great relationships. At the end of each chapter, he also includes relationship reminders summarizing the highlights of each chapter and several questions to answer to assess your relationships in your life. I would highly recommend this book to everyone I meet. I can see it will be one that I re-read and continue to learn and grow from. I have had a few ...

Honoring God Through the Daniel Fast is a smallish book about partaking in a Daniel Fast. If you are new to the Daniel Fast, this little book might be just what you are looking for. It covers all of the basics that you need. This book is just the right size to give you the information that you need to begin the fasting journey. The author helps you through Scripture to understand the fast and the spiritual aspects of this fast. He then offers lists of foods to eat on the fast and foods to avoid. He shares his and his wife's journey and how they benefited from doing this fast. He shares recipes for such dishes as Cranberry Spinach Salad Frenzy, Mexican Style Black Bean Fiesta, 15 Bean Soup and Emergency Snack Mix, as well as more recipes. I haven't yet tried any but they seem to be easy to follow and prepare and there were a few that looked good for my family. He also offers devotions to read at the beginning of each week, along with questions to ponder while you fast. I d...

Packing Light by Allison Vesterfelt is a travel adventure for the armchair adventurer. I enjoyed this memoir of 2 single women traveling to all 50 states on their own. One with dreams of being a singer and the other with dreams of becoming a writer. As they go into the adventure and living their dreams, they sell almost everything to do so. . and along the way, they decide what to keep and what to get rid of to continue to journey without getting bogged down. . .both physically and in their spiritual and relational lives. I enjoyed this book but I like memoirs and biographical books with a spiritual slant. I come from the background that you can always learn something from reading someone else's story. I could especially relate well to Allison's story because I have a similar personality.  . .I don't take risks easily. . .and I would need a nudge to go on this type of journey myself without chickening out. Then the adventure itself was fun to read about as the girls f...

How to Be Rich by Andy Stanley offers advice on REALIZING that we are already richer than most of the world. He doesn't really offer advice on How to GET rich, which might be your interpretation of the title. However, the back of the book clearly explains Andy Stanley's premise that you are already rich and how best to "be good at it." Andy Stanley has a practical down to earth style that helps me clearly understand how to relate Scripture to my life and I truly appreciate that about this book.. I already knew this book was about becoming a more generous person and using whatever resources God has entrusted me with because I have seen Andy Stanley's sermon series on this topic. If you've also seen that sermon series, and are interested in the book, I would encourage you to get it. The book offers more details and examples. Andy Stanley encourages you to think about your wealth as God's and not yours, because, after all, you can't take it with you...

The Millionaire Map by Jim Stovall is a book written by a millionaire for those who aspire to be millionaires. I'm not sure I have consciously thought I'd like to be a millionaire, until I saw this book available to review. Then I thought, why not? I was also interested in seeing the book because I enjoyed The Ultimate Gift book and movie so much that I was interested in learning more about the author. This book offers readers an opportunity to learn how to make a sort of map to guide their lives towards becoming a millionaire. He offers his personal story and even encourages readers to contact him by phone or e-mail if they want to learn more from him. I was inspired by his story because he shares how he started from nothing and built his personal fortune up. He offers some advice from his personal experience and from the experience of other millionaires. One key piece of advice he offers readers is to look at the background of those you're learning from or working wit...

I don't know about you, but sometimes making health changes can seem overwhelming. 30 Quick Tips for Better Health offers a variety of health tips to help you make small, do-able changes towards better health every day. These tips offer some good advice on all areas of your health--reducing stress, eating healthy, fasting, exercising, and changing your negative thoughts to becoming more positive. I really liked this little book as it is a good size to carry with you or to pick up and read whenever you have a little time. It would also be a great book to use as a devotional every day of the month because each tip starts with a Bible verse and ends with a prayer. There is also space to jot down ideas of how you can implement the information specifically for yourself. I plan to re-read it in January to help me to start the new year focusing on better health. I think that by following these tips and doing a few at a time, baby steps in health gains could be made over time. Also, ...

I was so excited to get my copy of The Daniel Plan in the mail to review. . .and I was not disappointed when I read it. The Daniel Plan combines the expertise of Rick Warren, Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman to offer a Christian book with a plan that is not only holistic but is one that most people could realistically follow. I've read several books on the Daniel Fast. . and I've done the Daniel Fast with a friend 3 years running. I know my life has benefited from it. . .but to sustain it long term hasn't been easy. This book makes a basic holistic health plan easy to follow for the long term. While it is not just like the diet Daniel ate in the Bible, this book offers more than a short term diet or partial fast--and it does focus on whole foods like Daniel ate, but not with the same restrictions. I think this book offers something better in its long term plan to live a healthy life for God. I wholeheartedly agree with Rick Warren that we need to honor God with our body and...