Archive for March, 2008
I’m just waiting for the hits… if you Google the title (minus the subtitle listed below), you might land on a book which has a little different meaning… nothing to worry about here.
What Women Want: The Life You Crave and How God Satisfies written by Lisa T. Bergren & Rebecca Price
Have you been to the self-help section of your favorite bookstore? You’ll notice that there are literally hundreds of ways, methods, and techniques you can use to “feel better about yourself” or “get rid of those negative attitudes in one day” or my favorite, “wish your way to a better you”.
This book is so much more than a self-help book. It is a Bible study designed by women, for women. I am constantly amazed at how God works in my life, especially through the books I read. These authors could never have known what areas of my life I would be struggling with at the exact moment I’d read their book. And yet, it seems as if I could read this book over and over (and work through the accompanying workbook pages) and still come away refreshed and renewed.
Many times I will read a book and think, “My husband would really like this chapter.” Or, “I’ll have to let my husband read this book; he’d like it.” This is not such a book. “What Women Want”, the movie with Mel Gibson, is probably what you think of when you read the title. However, you will love to recommend this book to any woman of any age, circumstance, or background. Each woman who reads this book will know they are a PCOG, a Phenomenal Creature Of God. And that’s exactly what we are.
March 18th, 2008
I was contacted by the authors and/or their publicists to read and review 4 books for my MOPS newsletter. (Then, after the review was published, we were free to give the books away as door prizes to 4 lucky MOPS moms.) I recently gained permission to post these reviews on my blog. The books are listed in the order I read them, not in any ranking order. Enjoy!
The Busy Mom’s Devotional written by Lisa T. Bergren
Each year for Christmas I receive a devotional book as a present. I’ve seen all kinds.. The ones with Scriptures to read each day. The ones with short inspirational thoughts to start your day. The ones that make you journal to your heart’s content. Can you guess my success rate with these day-to-day, minute by minute devotional books? Yep, most of them are sitting on my bookshelf, half-read or even unread.
This book is different. I’m serious. The subtitle of the book is 10 Minutes a Week to a Life of Devotion. Only 52 stories packed inside this book, and she includes spaces for you to jot down your thoughts and prayers or even your shopping list, because of course, Moms have so many things running through our minds when we should be praying! Perfect for a type A person like me. (If you’re not type A, keep reading.) Bergren takes a beautiful passage of Scripture from The Message Bible (paraphrase) and adds a short story about her life to illustrate it. Although we Texas girls can’t identify with her stories of the Montana lakes or the cold winter’s temperatures, you will nod your head in agreement with her adventures in parenting. To say “I’ve been there” is a bit trite, but true. I wanted to include one of her stories in this review, but I honestly couldn’t choose just one.
The phrase “Busy Mom” is an oxymoron. If you’re a Mom, of one or especially more children, you will be busy. This book is a great way to steal away some time to focus on your Heavenly Father. After all, if we’re not focusing on Him, then the focus on other things will be blurry. I highly recommend this book for reading.
March 18th, 2008
Did you ever have role models? There are wonderful women in our church that I have looked up to for years now. I have watched them raise their families, teach Sunday School, and hold various positions of notoriety in our town. I still think they “hung the moon”. But I think I held some unrealistic expectations of them. After all, they are human and they are capable of every emotion, good and bad. I just never saw their bad side.
Don’t think that something has happened to one of these women to make me change my mind about them. I am just realizing now that it’s time for me to stop aspiring to be one of them and to follow my own life’s plan. I can’t be them; I’m not them! It’s hard for me to think that maybe somewhere other little girls might be looking up to me, wanting to be like me. (And I don’t say this to be proud, I say it because I have a daughter that will hopefully want to be at least a little bit like me.)
So how do I be “all that I can be” without joining the army? How is it possible for me to aspire to be perfect, when I fall so laughably short? I keep running across these verses -
“…the older women [should] be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” - Titus 2:3-5 (NIV)
The New Living Translation says if the older women do these things, “then they will not bring shame on the word of God”. Wow. What a responsibility. I don’t claim to be old, but I know I’m older than most of the people I am around, and I know my life choices make me “older” than most. (being married, having kids, etc.)
So, I don’t want to be a role model. I want to be a Titus Woman. Next week I’ll pick out my costume. Hopefully it will have a cape.
March 15th, 2008
People keep asking us the question, “So, what have you been doing lately?” as if we sit around doing nothing all day. Well, mainly we’re trying to keep our sanity because the kids keep catching fevers every time we leave the house. And when we are well, we’re trying to keep the kids from tackling each other, as in Exhibit A.
Ah, Kennedy is going to be one tough cookie. I pity the fool that tries to date her - Big Brother is gonna get chu!
More updates when I can get videos of Colby reading his books and Kennedy saying “uh-oh!”
March 10th, 2008