Published April 14th 2015 by Waterfall Press

* I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley to review.
An Empty Cup started out to be promising and I liked the observation and depiction of Amish life but towards the latter part of the story I think my interest waned a bit. The story seemed to me not to have a clear focus. I understood that part of that focus was Rosanna's difficulty with saying no and allowing herself to be pulled in all directions by family and community. Though it just seemed to be not quite clear enough or either two-dimensional and not quite fleshed out enough for me. I was relieved that Rosanna finally learned that you can't give when you have nothing in your cup to give but darn I felt wrung out through the process.

The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life's Hard

The Hardest Peace:
                                                                Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life's Hard

                            by Kara Tippetts, Joni Eareckson Tada (Foreword)

                                    Published October 1st 2014 by David C. Cook

* I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley to review.

I have experienced the pain and grief of losing a parent to cancer and I am leery of reading books about people dealing with cancer, either it is maudlin or emotionally removed from the storyline. I applaud the author in her handling such a sensitive subject with a deep understanding and maturity in dealing with an illness as serious as cancer. The honesty and transparency was much appreciated and the spiritually insight really blessed me.

The author's emphasis and understanding that each of us has a personal story that the Lord has given us, rather it being one of pain or hardship is not to be feared but rather embraced and received in grace. We don't need to control our hardships or avoid the pain but trust the Lord and accept this particular story that is a part of the Lord's design. Avoiding pain is ultimately not the thing we strive to do in our Christian lives.

This quote resounded within me:

"What is the chief end of man?" The answer, the beautiful answer every heart needs to hear: "To glorify God and enjoy Him FOREVER." That forever being this side of heaven and the next. Longevity is not the answer, but it is my soft heart's desire. But to give glory forever-yes, yes. That is my longevity in this place and in the next."

After reading this book I felt encouraged and enlightened to a different way of viewing pain, illness and hardship. I strive to read books that have changed my spiritual outlook for the better and this is one of those books.

     by J. Robin Wood
               Published February 3rd 2015 by BJU Press/JourneyForth

* I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley to review.

I am a mom with daughters in their 20's and 30's and I imagined that it would be correct to say that I am in a position to read this book and relate very well to it. The author is a younger mother with toddlers and still I assumed that I could relate. Initially I did but I did not relate to how she presented her book. I could not grasp her analogy of "supermom" and relating it to the flesh that we all struggle with. Albeit "supermom" in this case represented sin, which I know is "the flesh". I felt that there was too much focus on sin, fleshliness, being unspiritual, selfishness but especially on sin. After a while I felt like I was being eaten alive by a literary shrike. A shrike is a bird that picks at its' prey until they die. I know I am being dramatic but there seemed to be little let up with all the self castigation. And suffice to say, I could have easily fallen into a self castigation party myself but I have done enough of that in my youth and not so distant past.

I am very aware that we as Christians should do quite a bit of sin awareness work but this book and approach was over the top and I wonder if some poor mother would sink into a depth of depression after reading this book. I do believe that I might be too harsh but I think as Christians it could be an easy downward spiral of concentrating on our flesh and sin too much. It in itself can also be a sin, a idol of sorts. I am so glad that we leave it at the cross each and every day. To be fair there were snippets of good moments in this book but not enough for me to carry over into my review. Thank the Lord for grace and His gentle care in how He pinpoints our failures, shortcomings and sin. I love how He shows this to us and how we can come to Him for renewal and forgiveness. There is a sweetness in the process, I end up feeling loved and not condemned. I would have liked to read more of that in this book. I think having a fair and balanced approach that is both Biblical and spiritually logical is key to a very serious issue.

A Travelogue of the Interior: Finding Your Voice and God's Heart in the Psalms

     by Karen Dabaghian
                                        Expected publication: April 15th 2015 by David C. Cook

* I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley to review.

A Travelogue of the Interior was all that I had hoped for and then some. Not an amazing start to my review but straight forward if I say so myself. From what I gathered from the synopsis this book was something I knew I would glean rich and insightful spiritual gems, I was not disappointed. The author outlines the book in such a way that you are taken along for the ride in her journey but she welcomes the reader to join her in her adventure in the book of Psalms. Right from the start she invites the reader "to read a psalm a day, unpack it and the write a poem in response". An invitation to join her adventure down the river of Psalms and hopefully discover yourself along the way.

There are several chapters that explores subjects such as lament, sin, prayer and thirsting after God, among others. I mention these because they spoke to me the most. Oh, and one more which explores gender and how especially women struggle with how we(and the world)view women. I constantly highlighted many sections and even added a few of my own notes.

This quote really resounded within me, a section referring to being a parent:
"I let them go because it is good for them, and it is good for me. I let them go because that is, after all, part of what parenting is, a daily, sometimes gut wrenching decision to entrust our children to God and teach them that they belong not to us but to God. To instruct them and then give them opportunities to discover on their own that God uniquely made them to reflect God's image in the world, that they are capable of following God wherever He leads."

There were parts of the book that I related to only because I have journaled and spent the time doing the spiritual digging. I love reading books that reaffirm the journey that I often wonder if others have walked or experienced. When I do come up to similarities like my own I am both encouraged and spurred onto higher heights. I know that many people will grasp the spiritual truths and prompts while reading this book, I most certainly did.

There was a moment, well, perhaps more than a moment that I almost abandoned the book. I had my spiritual feet shook a bit and I had to reassess to continue or not. I like being honest in my reviews and life and I cannot pass this up. The author has a scientific approach to creation and mentions with much obscurity and refers to "evolution" in one of her chapters. I about did an internal flip and my heart and mind starting reacting and I was having a battle with her using "that" word. After all, we all know that you don't say bomb on a plane and I couldn't help thinking of that analogy when I saw the word evolution in a Christian book no less! I promptly looked her up on the internet and was in a righteous huff while looking up her name and what the Christian community is saying about her. Truthfully I couldn't find anything other than her blog. Suffice to say, she is unclear in the book exactly what she is really trying to say about creation. I don't think she is saying that we weren't created by God and etc but I had to let it go and figure that it isn't up to me to challenge her or to get into a huff and abandon the book. It is well worth the ruffling of the feathers and truthfully I got over it. The love and genuinely of her life and walk with the Lord clearly comes through her writing and right now in my life, that is enough.

My last thoughts is if we are to avoid any ideas or personal theories out there that are different from ours; we as Christians might as well stay home, never turn on our tv or turn on our computers. There are all kinds of people and certainly Christian brothers or sisters that might have an opinion or belief that differs from our own. I realized after my initial reaction and letting it go and carrying on with the book, I learned many spiritual truths in my doing so. I love when a book challenges you and then you see the Word or the Lord in a fresh and new way. That is how I felt by the time I finished the book. I plan to buy a Psalms journal and do exactly what the author did and invite the Lord along for the ride. 

     By Hugh Halter
                                         Expected publication: July 1st 2015 by David C. Cook

* I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley to review.

How do I start? My goodness this book was a mind twister and I don't mean in a bad way but in a good way! I am a Christian who feels reluctant to declare to be one because of the bum rap that we Christians have been dealt with. I don't blame the world of non-believers because basically I understand the reaction and feelings. Anymore I cringe and shake my head equally of what I see in the world  <i>and</i> within the ranks of my Christian brothers and sisters.
This book is about judgment and how we, as Christians have failed royally and shamefully in that area. We are called to first love God and then love our neighbor which I feel means <i>everybody</i> regardless of color, beliefs or sexual orientation. This book outlines in detail that call to love and not to judge. We as Christians have taken on such a judgmental stance so much so that most people hate us and want nothing to do with the "love" that we are suppose to show and hand out.

This book will do a number on how you view your fellow man and woman and unearth hidden and not so hidden attitudes and judgments. The author starts out with a scenario of his judgment in a given day. I related to that immediately. To be human is to be judgmental and I feel that it is an innate trait within us. The author explores this tendency to judge. Be prepared to have you look sincerely and honestly with yourself and a "religiosity" that is often solidly intact in all of us. He hit upon so many points that I think the Christian community needs to hear and to think about. If you are a rigid, severely conservative, self righteous Christian, be prepared to have a few of your hard earned ideals thrown out of joint!
Here is a quote from the book that resounded within me:
<i>"let us live as a true aroma of Christ instead of a stench or fume of brimstone. If it is Christ in us, if God is making His appeal through us, then why do we keep trying to protect our image and our values? We should instead be image bearers and let people be with us so they can pick up on our values. May wisdom be proved right! May the church come alive! And may you live with Jesus." </i>

         by David Martin 
                                                                 Published  by WriteLife

* I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley to review.

I really didn't know what to expect from this book and I had an open mind. A few of the short stories or rather essays were interesting and there were a few good ideas. I learned of an event under the Wilson Administration termed the United States Occupation of Veracruz which occurred in 1914. I never had a clue about this part of our history and I enjoyed reading the back story leading up to the 7 month occupation. The essays afterward seem to proclaim a general view that Christianity is false and the attitude about religion is negative. The book ultimately ended up to be in my opinion "anti-Christian". This fact pushed back my enjoyment and the rating for this book.    

     by M. Esther Lovejoy
                                                                    Published by Discovery House Publishers          

*I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley to review.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book as sometimes I can be quite hard on books especially ones that lean towards the self-help genre. Though being a Christian book the term self-help seems a bit ludicrous because we are ultimately not relying on the self but leaning upon the Bible and the Lord. I think there should be a sub category all of it's own in regards to books of this nature. Esther Lovejoy brings to our attention in a new way of looking at suffering. Actually she uses scriptural references and personal experiences. I really appreciated the personal insight and her being transparent in bringing to light how her own personal suffering can often bring a certain spiritual sweetness to a person's life.
She quotes and refers to many authors and the spiritual greats of the past to illustrate the depth and potential "sweetness" to suffering. I liked how she laid out her chapters and her exploring  the subject of suffering. We are all born to suffering because of the original sin. It is a human inclination to veer away from suffering and pain. She illustrates through her own personal story and understanding that we all suffer and not only do we suffer pain and disappointments but Christ suffered as well. What we think is something that only we humans have understanding and experience of, Christ did as well, we are not alone and are not victims of suffering. Suffering can be a tool, a sweetness to the whole human experience. Our suffering is where we can be ultimately in the vulnerable place of reaching out to our Heavenly Father and being comforted.
I appreciated her emphasizes and time spent in exploring the depth of pain and the fact that we can lean on the Lord and expect to be heard and comforted. I am looking forward to more books by this author, I was pleasantly surprised by the wisdom in this book.