Through The Storm - Book Winner

The winner is (**Drum Roll please**) Melanie of BellaMella. Congrats!

I wish I could send everyone the book, but alas the drawing was random.

Melanie - I'll be mailing the book out one day next week. I hope you enjoy it.
Everyone go visit Melanie and tell her congrats and welcome her to our blog community. She is a newer blogger, but becoming a fast friend, and a wonderful encourager (not to mention a sister coffee-addict. Yup - she fits right in here!)

Through the Storm - Book Review & Give Away

Through the Storm is a book by Lynne Spears with Lorilee Cracker. I was intrigued to read the book because it was published through a Christian publishing house (Thomas Nelson) and co-written by a Christian author I've read before (Lorilee Cracker.)

The back cover of the book seems to lead the reader to believe it's about Lynne's daughter, Britney Spears. It says "We all want our children to succeed. What happens when they do? Britney wanted to sing every since she was a little girl." The subtitle even says "A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World." If you're looking for a book about Britney this isn't it.

It is truly a book about Lynne Spears and her walk through life. Unfortunately it tries to take on too much of her life, jumping here and there in a haphazard fashion which I found to be somewhat confusing.

The sad thing is, this could have been two good books. One book could have been about her meeting & marrying Jamie Spears, raising their children and all the ins and outs of their life. That would have been an interesting book. The other book could have been about her love for his sister, Sandra, and Sandra's death at the age of 59.

By combining both topics into one book it seemed to try and squeeze to much in there. And the chapter called "Friendships," while a nice tribute to her friends would have been better served in the acknowledgements section than in the actual book.

Lynne does sum up her faith in the chapter "A Mother's Heart." The best part of the book says "I wish I would have gone deeper with my children in terms of building up their faith We always went to church and vacation bible school...but I see now that they could have benefited greatly by drawing closer to God through daily Bible reading and devotional reading. They said their prayers every night, but in retrospect, I should have helped them understand the power of prayer for every situation life throws at us."

Those sentences are something every Christian should read and learn from. We don't want to make those same mistakes in raising our own children, but want them to have a living vibrant faith, not just a tradition with no depth. If even one person reads those words, and changes their direction with their kids, than I say the book was worth being written.

Overall, I'd give the book 5 out of 10 stars. It wasn't horrible, but it was simply average.

***Because I received this book for free for the purposes of reviewing it, I'd love to give it away. If you'd like to win the book, leave me a comment saying so, and I'll randomly draw a winner and mail you the book free of cost. (Winner must provide their mailing address). Comments received through noon Saturday will be eligible. I'll draw and announce Sunday).

If you don't want to win the book, you can still leave me a comment, just say "but I don't want to win the book."

Feet

I love this picture. My four year old was playing with my camera and inadvertently snapped this photo of her precious little toes. I could kiss her sweet feet all day. They are tiny, cute, fat and flat, simply precious. I also love baby feet. There is something about those tiny little feet that pull my heart strings.

I do not like adult feet. Quite the opposite. Imagine feet in Jesus' day. With dirt roads, and just sandals, they had to be dirty, dusty, calloused and stinky. Ewww. All travel was by foot, so it was considered proper etiquette and hospitality to offer water to guests to wash their feet. If one was wealthy they'd even have their servants wash the guests' feet.

When Jesus visited a Pharisees home, a "sinful woman" visited him there. She wept, washing his feet with her tears, perfume, and wiping them with her hair. Jesus said "this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet." She knew Jesus represented salvation from her sins. Jesus confirmed this when he said "Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace." (Luke 7)

It is easy to think of falling at the feet of a Savior in heaven in white robes; clean, holy and righteous. However, this woman had the faith to fall at the feet of her Savior in his human form. In Todd Agnew's Song "My Jesus" that I blogged about here, he sings about the modern day church: "Jesus would never be accepted in my church, the blood and dirt on his feet might stain the carpet."

May we all have the faith of the "sinful woman," not to proud to kiss the feet of her Savior, regardless of the circumstance.

John 13:1 -- [ Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet ] It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

James 4:10 -- Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

1 Peter 5:6 -- Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to all veterans, but especially my husband.

United States Military Academy Graduate
Vietnam Veteran
Bronze Star Recipient
Insignia of the Signal Corps - Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
(awarded by Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces for his work with their army)

Duty, Honor, Country - Hero

Captivated by Christ

The She Speaks Conference I attended in June was motivating for both writing and speaking. As a matter of fact, they taught that writing and speaking go hand in hand. While many writers began gearing up for their speaking ministry, I got a clear word from God, "Wait." I didn't know why I was to wait, but I obeyed. While others may have began scouting out speaking opportunities and preparing their ministries, I waited.

Out of the blue, I received a phone call from a local congregation asking for me to speak at their Women's Lunch. I now realized why God had wanted me to wait. I tend to run ahead of God. With this speaking opportunity coming my way, with no effort on my own part, I had to give glory to God. It's not me, it's Him. He wanted to remind me of that.

God also gave me a topic to speak of at this event. The word "captive" came to mind, and so I called my speech "Captivated." While God gave me a clear topic, He did not give me the material. I've been praying, studying, meditating and writing. I'm finally in the home stretch and ready.

On Saturday as I was finishing up my speech, I began thinking about adding a song. We're doing an invitation at the end of my talk, for anyone who wants to learn more about Jesus. The women will be given a chance to come up and pray with the Women's leaders and me. So I began praying for a song to play during this time of invitation.

Saturday evening, during my normal blog reading time, I visited a dear blogger Sharon Sloan at Joy in the Truth. She had posted a song that had been speaking to her heart. The title of this song? Captivated, by Vicky Beeching. I was stunned. I expected God to answer my prayer, but not in such an "in your face" way. Undeniable, unbelievable, without a doubt the song meant for my talk, straight from God in an answer to my prayer.

I am captivated. And if this is what it is like to be captive to Christ, I never want to be set free.

Romans 6:22 -- But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Then Sings My Soul Saturday - 11/8

Participating in the meme at Signs, Miracles & Wonders called Then Sings My Soul Saturday, where we share what song is touching our soul this week.

Since I was baptized by immersion on Monday, the song that is on my mind is Dive, by Steven Curtis Chapman.

The chorus:
I’m diving in, I’m going deep, in over my head I want to be. Caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head I want to go. The river’s deep, the river’s wide, the river’s water is alive. So sink or swim, I’m diving in.

My friends, I did dive in, and the water is just fine. :-)

(if the comments don't load, refresh the page and wait. Blogger is slow today and the comment section doesn't seem to want to load.)

Advocate

Advocate: (1) a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc. (usually fol. by of): an advocate of peace. (2) a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor.

In life, we often are in need of an advocate, or must even be our own advocate to authority.

My husband had rotator cuff surgery in May. He healed well and didn't need any physical therapy (PT), and retained full mobility. However, several month after surgery he began experiencing pain again. The surgeon suggested it was just inflammation, and urged icing and anti-inflammatory meds. My husband, a former Army ranger and not one to be wimpy, was certain something was amiss.

Advocating for himself, he head back to the doctor again. The doctor this time scheduled my husband for PT. My husband endured a couple of grueling therapy sessions and insisted the pain level was too much. He headed back to the dr again, this time advocating for a MRI which showed the surgery had in fact failed, and the muscle was completed severed from the shoulder joint. He had surgery to repair this yesterday.

Had my husband not been his own advocate, the doctor would have written it off as general pain and not have done the MRI. My husband had to advocate for himself to the authority (the dr) to be proven not guilty of being a wimp, but in fact having an injury.

Often times, we need an advocate in court...this one we hire (an attorney). This advocate presents our case to the authorities (the judge or jury) in hopes that we are found non-guilty.

We, too, need an advocate in our spiritual life. If we were to stand before God on our own and present our life to him, he would in fact say "GUILTY" of sin, and we would be sentenced to life...a life in hell. But we have an advocate. This advocate is Jesus, who stands in our place and presents his life to God, and God proclaims "NOT GUILTY" and we are set free from our sins.

On Earth we have another advocate. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, his advocate to us. The Amplified Bible calls the Holy Spirit our intercessor, advocate, and strengthener. This is that little voice that says STOP when we are about to sin, or urges and encourages us to do the right thing.

Too many times in life we must be our own advocate, fighting for what is right with little or no support. I am thankful that I have a heavenly advocate who intercedes for me, so that even though guilty, I may be pardoned of my sins, to be free in Christ.


1 John 2:1 -- My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. (NLT)

Job 16:19 -- Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. (NIV)

John 14:16 -- And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever. (Amplified Bible)