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Showing posts from August, 2016

With All Due Respect

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I was really interested in reading With All Due Respect: 40 Days to a More Fulfilling Relationship With Your Teens & Tweens by Nina Roesner and Debbie Hitchcock because I have a just-turned 14 year old who has always been a difficult child and is now a difficult teenager. I have tried many different tactics, but I hadn't tried this one yet. The concept intrigued me and I liked the way it was broken up into a 40 day challenge. I love it when there's a clear cut plan laid out that I can follow step by step, broken down into specific actions. The book description reads: "With All Due Respect is a handbook for parents navigating the difficulties of the tween and teen years. Roesner and Hitchcock help parents identify what successful relationships look like and give easy-to-follow lessons in enforcing rules, communicating lovingly, resetting relationships, overcoming fears and exhaustion, and handling rebellion. Each day features a story every mom can relate to, down-to

You Are Not Alone

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You Are Not Alone: Hope for Hurting Parents of Troubled Kids by Dena Yohe is a much-needed book in this day and age. So many teenagers are self-harming, engaging in destructive behaviors, being bullied, and more. This book is unique in that it is written not as a how-to guide to fix your child, but as a book from one hurting parent to another, commiserating, sharing coping strategies, resources, and most importantly the knowledge that you are not alone in this struggle. The book description reads: "“I can’t tell you how to keep your child from making mistakes. But I can equip you with facts, tools, and resources. I can show you that you can survive this nightmare. I can encourage you that one day—somehow—you can thrive again.” —Dena Yohe, You Are Not Alone You would go to the ends of the earth for your child. So, if your teenager or young adult is in the midst of crisis due to self-injury, mental illness, depression, bullying, or destructive choices, you probably feel broke

A Different Kind Of Happiness

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The subject of happiness is a really hot topic in Christian circles right now. I've recently read several Christian books on happiness and they each bring a different perspective to biblical happiness. I was really intrigued by the description I read for A Different Kind Of Happiness: Discovering The Joy That Comes From Sacrificial Love by Dr. Larry Crabb and couldn't wait to read it. The description, which reads: "How to Love When You Don't Feel Like Loving Everywhere we look, we see evidence that love is in short supply. Terrorists and political corruption, school shootings and troubled marriages, impatient online sniping and character assassination--all point to the fact that we do not know how to love one another as Jesus commanded and modeled. We put our own interests and happiness first, despite the fact that the greatest happiness comes through sacrificial love. In this book, Dr. Larry Crabb shows readers how to understand the deep and perfect love we are

Jesus Talked To Me Today

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Jesus Talked to me Today: True Stories of Children's Encounters with Angels, Miracles, and God is a compilation of 41 short (2-4 page) stories. Based on the title, I was expecting the stories to be more by children, but they were all written by adults recalling memories they had from childhood or when they were teenagers, or stories related to them by other children. Some of the stories were very unclear as to who the story happened to or how the author knew about it, so that was a bit confusing. The book is written in a Chicken Soup For The Soul style, so if you like that series you will probably enjoy this book. The book description reads: "A Heartwarming Story Collection of Children's Encounters with God, Angels, and Miracles Children have a special place in Jesus' heart. He said they are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and their angels continually see the face of God. Perhaps that's why children seem to be more receptive to supernatural experiences

When Death Draws Near

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When Death Draws Near is the third book in Carrie Stuart Parks' Gwen Mercey series. The first two books are A Cry From The Dust and The Bones Will Speak. I haven't read the first two books in the series yet, but I decided to pick up When Death Draws Near because the description was so compelling. The book description reads: "Gwen Marcey takes death in stride. Until she’s faced with her own mortality. Forensic artist Gwen Marcey is between jobs when she accepts temporary work in Pikeville, Kentucky—a small town facing big-city crime. But before Gwen can finish her first drawing of the serial rapist who is on the loose, the latest witness vanishes. Just like all the others. Gwen suspects a connection between the rapist and the “accidental” deaths that are happening around town, but the local sheriff has little interest in her theories. When her digitally-obsessed teenage daughter joins her, Gwen turns her attention to a second assignment: going undercover in a serpent

Really Bad Girls Of The Bible

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I've always loved Liz Curtis Higgs' books, and I was excited that her publisher was issuing a reprint of Really Bad Girls of the Bible: More Lessons from Less-Than-Perfect Women with a new Bible Study and Discussion Questions included. In this version of the Bad Girls series, Liz discusses eight "really bad girls" from the Bible and what we can learn from them, including the Medium of En Dor, Jael, The Adulteress, Athaliah, Bathsheba, Herodias, Tamar the Widow, and The Bleeding Woman. The book description reads: "Discover the Truth About God’s Sovereignty from the Bible’s Really Bad Girls. Eight of the Bible’s most notorious females strut across the pages of Really Bad Girls of the Bible with troubles that still hit home in the twenty-first century. The Medium of En Dor crossed over to the dark side. Jael stood up to a ruthless enemy. The Adulteress was caught between a rock and a hard place. Athaliah made a bid for power that ended badly. Bathsheba captu