A Net in Time

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The Worthy Project

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (The Worthy Project) through Raincoast Books.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated. 🙂 

I really struggled with putting together a review for The Worthy Project.   I struggle with the plethora of self-esteem books and I disagree with the statement on the book cover. In a nutshell, that statement says that if there is something in our lives we are struggling with that it points to a self-esteem issue.  At the same time, I recognize that there are people who need help establishing boundaries, so perhaps this book might be useful for them.   I decided I’d give you the information and let you decide. 

The worthy project

The Basic Details

The Worthy Project: Learn your value, own it, celebrate it, is a 224-page softcover book written by Meadow Devor.  Six chapters, along with an introduction and afterword round out the pages.    This is a book written by a woman for women.

Meadow Devor lives in California, where she works as a self-development teacher and author.  She has written Money Love and The Art of Wayfinding, and has appeared on Oprah. 

Raincoast Books sent me an ARC version to review. 

So What Do I Like?

I love the case studies.  Actual examples of women who struggle with their image along with practical examples of small changes they could make to help life be better for them. 

Each chapter will give you a work project, in this case called “Your Worthy Work”.   These are projects you need to undertake in order to progress in whatever area being worked on.  The reader is always encouraged not to turn this into a shaming, self-doubt, activity.  It’s just a look at something in your life that could use some tweaking.  

In fact, throughout the chapters “snapshots” of your life are used as talking points.  Snapshot of your front door, a snapshot of your living room, a snapshot of your laundry etc.  People are encouraged to look at those pictures carefully and examine how they feel. These snapshots give you a place to start your “becoming a better you”. 

Journal questions.    I would honestly find these questions really difficult or impossible to answer.   BUT I know that others would find them very helpful so I’m glad that she includes them to help people sort through their thoughts and emotions. 

Easy to read font and the bold print that makes the important points easy to locate.  I could EASILY skim read this tome and get all the highlights just be focusing on the highlighted text. 

What I Found didn’t work for me

This book may have been written for women, but it wasn’t written for THIS woman.  🙂  And I’ve written my thoughts more than once. 

Suffice it to say, this book was not written with me in mind. 

I suppose I’m a bit too “let’s just get on with things”.  I don’t focus on self-esteem or whether or not I feel good about everything in life.   These “snapshots” of life… of needing to look at specific stuff in your life in the light of how you feel about it… I suppose I don’t have the patience for it. 

I’d rather focus on getting on with getting on.    And I’ll admit, sometimes it is hard to just get on.  But I have to wonder if one really needs to look at all these snapshots in life and have to evaluate them in light of how a person feels about themselves.  I just want to shout STOP being so inwardly focused!!! 

And I suppose that’s what I find lacking in this tome.  It’s so internally focused and life can’t be run that way.  Not for the good of society.  Different seasons of our life demand more or less internal attention to ourselves.   For the good of ourselves, our families, and others in our sphere of influence.

Should you get it?

I don’t know. I haven’t read a whole lot of this genre, but this one, The Worthy Project, just left me feeling irritated. (sorry)

YOU, my reader, maybe just the sort of woman who needs this book.  You need that time of reflection and internal processing and find accessing all your emotions easy to do.   If so… I’m delighted for you.  And want so much for you to become the woman that God wants you to be.   Go be that woman, get the assistance you need to be that woman.   

Healing takes time

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Heal, that’s the word for today.  When I saw it early this morning I thought hmm… rather appropriate on a week when I’ve been battling some mystery illness.  When being healed as soon as possible matters to me.  I want to get back to work and life!  I have things I want to get done.   And then as I think the song with the line “heal our land” pops in my brain.  Is it possible to combine them?  In the end what came was Healing Takes Time.

Healing Takes Time

Healing needed
a church split
people hurting
hard words said
community involvement
people want it fixed NOW!
but… this healing
takes time
a listening ear
a pastor faithfully
presenting God’s word
talking, helping, listening,
reminding, disciplining,
presenting an alternative view
Slowly and surely
hurts heal even as
ramifications still rumble.

Healing needed
husband wife
struggle with
infidelity, or loss,
or theft or any
of the multitude of sins
that infest the world.
Trust lost takes time to regain.
Conversation, heart-talks,
prayer and time alone so
needed through time.

Today a conversation with
a lad reminded me of
how some people get ill
and healing is fast, it’s like
it seems that no time
is wasted, and others,
get ill and six months later
recovery is still progressing.
Fast or slow,
recovery takes time.
Sometimes, prayer results
in God’s intervention, and
surprises happen.
Healing, regardless, takes time.

Healing takes time

Scripture Speaks

James 5:14-15

“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.” 

1 Corinthians 10:13

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 

Galatians 6:1-3 

 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.  2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.

An Encounter: Easter

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (An Encounter: Easter) through Ascot Media Group.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated. 🙂 

So I’ve reviewed two of the An Encounter books before.  You’ll find Christmas and Lent reviews up.  Now I will freely admit that these are Roman Catholic-based devotions.  And you may wonder why I would willingly review them.  🙂  I review them because seeing scripture through a different lens can often be beneficial.  It does mean you need to be alert to scripture inaccuracies, or twists, but sometimes you’ll glean truth that amazes you.  You’ll see a glimpse of God that you hadn’t expected to see.   

An Encounter: Easter gives me a chance to take a closer look at how God graced us with his son, and how his son willingly went to the cross for us.   Do I agree with everything written in this devotional? No, I don’t!  I haven’t read it all, and some devotionals are making me say “Oh Lord, thank you for your mercy”.  Other posts, as what happens with most devotionals, have me digging deeper into scripture saying “but that’s not in this passage!”   So there are pros and cons.   More on that later. 🙂

An Encounter: Easter

The Basic Details

An Encounter – A Daily Discovery in Divine Word: Volume III Easter was written by Maurice Nkem Emelu.  Emelu is a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Orlu in Nigeria. Running at 226 pgs, this catholic devotional was published by Bien.   You will be taken through the 50 days of Easter, following the lectionary, with 68 readings.  The extra readings are in case you want to use an alternative devotion for a particular day.  Each reading has a prayer and a time of reflection.  This is the third in the An Encounter Series.   I received a copy from Ascot Media Group for my review.

Looking more closely at An Encounter: Easter

Despite this being a Catholic Devotional I did not find any readings from the apocryphal books.   Each devotional can be used with different scriptures depending on which lectionary year you are in. 

Each devotional reading is 2-3 pages long for the most part.  In flipping through what I did not read I noticed a few VERY short readings. 

Each reading comes with a time of reflection and prayer.  From the readings I did, I found the time of reflection and prayer very appropriate. 

I know of a few denominations that have a lectionary that pastors can follow.  If they do so, it ensures that every three years the entire bible is read.  Sometimes these lectionaries include alternative readings.  Following the lectionary, this devotional also provides alternative reflections.

Add it to your shelves?

I don’t know.  The others I read in the series I didn’t find anything objectionable in the parts I read.  For me to hit one (early that I so thoroughly disagreed with has me wondering if this third book is lacking.   I don’t think I will ever understand people putting their own ideas into the text.  Scripture stands on it’s own and doesn’t need us interjecting ideas into it that don’t belong. 

All that said, some of the readings had me reaching a deeper understanding of the mercy of God.  I was enabled to see his grace in my life anew.   So, should you choose to get this devotional, An Encounter: Easter, know that some readings you will disagree with and that will have you digging into scripture to discover the truth.   In some ways that’s not a bad thing, but oh, I do dislike when teachers skew God’s word because they are trying to make some point. 

More Than My Scars

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (More than My Scars) through Nuts about Books.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated. 🙂 

I did not know the story of Kechi Okwuchi before I read More Than My Scars. I enjoyed reading her story, but at the end, I felt like I wanted to know the rest of the story.   Like I just got a glimpse of God in action in her life and wanted to know more.  That’s a good thing yes?  To want to know more of her story? 

Learning about More than My Scars

More than My Scars: The Power of Perseverance, unrelenting faith, and deciding what defines you is a 240-page autobiography by Kechi Okwuchi. Baker Books put together this soft-cover tome.  Because of her story, I actually took the time to look up the Golden buzzer she got at America’s Got Talent. 

Kechi is one of two survivors of a plane crash in Nigeria.  She was a 16-year-old Nigerian student at the time and was burnt over most of her body. In More than My Scars she talks about her healing process from that incident.  She takes us up to her win of the Golden Buzzer at AGT. 

Looking Deeper

Three sections divide up Kechi’s autobiography.  Each covers a different part of her recovery process. We are brought into her pain, her dreams, her growing awareness of God’s call on her life, and her family’s love and care for her. 

Each of the sections is introduced with a dark page with white writing.  Very simple and straightforward.

You’ll find the font easy to read and nicely laid out.  A standard adult read.  🙂 

The story of Kechi and her recovery is interesting.  I found her relationship with her family to very tight.  They all had a strong bond with each other. Her mother proved to be stalwart in her healing process.  It was eye-opening to me all the processes a burn victim needs to go through.   I can see how some people would be overcome by the pain and just sink away. This is course, makes Kechi determination to keep fighting a remarkable feat. 

Kudos to Ms. Okwuchi for using the hard things that happened in her life to effectuate change.  Advocating against bullying, speaking on the behalf of various people groups, and speaking of her faith in God. 

Should you read it?

More Than My Scars is worth reading if you are looking for a tale of inspiration and hope.  It is most excellent to see God at work in the lives of his people. It was incredibly inspiring to see God at work as she was healing.  Meeting her best friend’s mom the way she did was all God’s timing. How she learned to make her Mom’s faith her own faith… was most excellent indeed.  So definitely worth the reading. 

I did struggle with two things, well, maybe three.

  1. When I finished the story I thought… but there’s got to be more to tell?  This biography leaves so much yet to be said. There’s got to be more to her life than healing from her burns and her showing on AGT. 
  2. She expressed anger that her mom didn’t love her with everything she had.  That her mom had the audacity to love Christ more than her.  This caused me to take a step back from the story and I just couldn’t connect well with her.
  3. The dreams.  I never really know what to do with the dreams that people have and how they interpret them. Does God work through people’s dreams?  I think so, I wouldn’t want to limit his actions in this.  But he’s also given us his word and that just speaks more clearly.  The lack of God’s word being used as support just didn’t sit well as a result. 

Overall though, a well-written story from the point of the view of the burn victim, and how God used the events in her life to draw her into his heart. 

Knowing God

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Okay, so I saw the five minute Friday word which this week is the word know but didn’t have time to write the post.  Since then I’ve had the song Be Still and Know, that I am God, Be still and know….. running through my head.   I thought for sure I had done a hymn study on this song, but nope!  All I did was find two posts that referenced this song.  Listen and Stillness.    It’s led me to ponder what it means to be knowing God.

knowing God

Knowing God

Knowing God
can happen in the blink
of an eye,
a sudden awareness that
there is something bigger
out there, a something
bigger that cares about
what is going on the world.
Sometimes that knowing comes
from a vision, a dream, or
sudden insight based on
events in the natural world.
God speaks in ways we
cannot comprehend.

Knowing God
is sometimes a quiet
growing understanding.
Of seeing others living
out their faith and asking
questions that lead to answers.
Or a growing up within a
Christian community that
leads to knowing the
reality of God’s existence.
A seeing God in action that
confirms an inward knowing.

Knowing God sometimes comes
about as the result of directed
conversation and a drawing
out of knowledge.
People willing to engage
in conversation directing
thoughts toward the
God of the universe.
People following the lead
of the Spirit’s prompting.

Knowing God happens
in so many different ways,
we should never discount
how one comes to faith,
but always seek to be
one part of the puzzle
that helps a lost
sheep come into the fold.

knowing god

Hearing God

Acts 9:3-6

. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Proverbs 22:6

Start children off on the way they should go,
    and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Matthew 28:18-20

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Love is for Roaring

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Love is for Roaring) through Raincoast Books. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated. 🙂

Want a cute picture book that speaks to the power of good friends in your life?  Check out Love is for Roaring! Because you know what?  Not everyone expresses love in exactly the same way!  Sometimes we need some help to figure out how each person (or even yourself) expresses love.  

Love is for roaring

The Basic Facts

Bloomsbury Children’s books together with Raincoast books sent me this wonderful picture book entitled Love is for Roaring.  This hardcover book with dustcover is written with children 4-8 years old in mind. At 32 pages it’s a bit shorter than some of the picture books I’ve reviewed lately. 

Written by Mike Kerr and illustrated by Renata Liwska.  These Canadian people also put together Crafty Llama which looks like one I’d like to read as well!  🙂  Renata is an award-winning illustrator of many books. Mike is an instructor of illustration at the Alberta University of the Arts.

Learning more about Love is For Roaring

Imagine a scenario where, when you think of love you just think of foofy things.  Flowers, rainbows, chocolate, or hearts.  Imagine you are asked to complete a project that focuses on love.  You are supposed to show your love.  This is an impossible task!  However will you complete it???   

This is where the beauty of friendships (and this book) come into play.

But you have a brave friend.  A friend willing to risk your wrath by asking questions.  I LOVE just love how Lion’s friend mouse chose to ask questions instead of making assumptions.  These are questions based on how mouse understands his friend.  But they lead to Lion better understanding himself and what LOVE means to him.    Such an excellent win!

The illustrations fit the mood and story perfectly.  You see all the emotions from disgust and anger to laughter and fun.  (and yes, here I’m claiming that fun is an emotion!).  🙂  

The use of colour and memory is just spot on.  A truly lovely little picture book. 

Should you get it?

Oh yes!  Have fun with your littles and learn how people can be so different in how they express love.  And even better yet, how we can all be the same.   

Love is for Roaring is by no means a complicated picture book, but it is a fun one that I think children and their caregivers will like equally well.  

This would be a fun book to use for teaching the letter R or working with a valentine’s day unit study, or just for reading with your children. 

Mostly Fiction Books

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So I tend to pick up books like bees make honey… it’s just something I do. 🙂   This post will list my mostly fiction books.  Some aren’t.  Some are great books to learn from… either because they introduce history in story form, or teach us more about ourselves, or whatever.  Books are good. Some make you think deeply, and others are just fun.  Even fun books teach us something eh?   🙂

mostly fiction books

Picture books

I don’t know about you but I enjoy a good picture book.  

Some picture books are meaty and contain SO much information.

Other picture books aren’t as good but contain so many talking points in them, it makes them fantastic. 

Mind you, others are just a fun simple read. 

I mostly priced books based on how much liked them, OR thought they could be useful additions to most any household.  

Adult fiction

Some of these books are basically new, others have been well-loved either solely in this household, or have been shared from other homes.   Some are faith-based like Miriam’s song, lady in attendance, night fall, mind games, and unknown threat.  

I happen to have a love of fantasy and murder mysteries… so you’ll see those book types in abundance.  

Occasionally I’ll try a new genre like Beach House.  Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised, and other times I’ll go back to my normal fare.  🙂   

Prices reflect my enjoyment of the read as well as my age/style etc of book at hand.   

Upper Elementary – Middle Schoolish reads

I have to admit, some of these books were fantastic!

I would happily read more of the unleashed series, Willowdeen was such a sweet story (and would make a great gift with the box it comes in), Shelby Homes and The Callers would round out my absolute favourites in this group. 

Art Books

Can you believe I only have four art books available right now?  I might come up with more as I’ve had LOADS of them pass through.  It is hard for me to send art books along though since I have dreams of doing art classes with kids.   I just can’t figure out the insurance end of it to run them out of my house. (which would be my preference).  I may have to break down though and do art through the library…

Faith Matters!!! Devotionals, Bibles and the like

You’ll find something here for both genders, a variety of ages, and so forth.

Picture books about missions, help for your marriage and child-rearing, learning about the songs we sing and so much more. Devotionals, bibles, and more.  the Bible Picture Bible Story book is the BEST bible story book I have run across.   Eventually I’ll find just the right home to pass it along to.

Videos

I’ve actually sold a couple of these and will need to look through what I still have but it’s late and I”m trying to get this done before the morning.   All are in good, playable condition. 

Science and history books I think I missed

I may have missed these in my other list, or may have included them.  I’m getting fair on tired here after a very long day and don’t feel like double-checking right now.

I am pretty sure I have more World War books…. but we are keeping quite the stack as well. 

Elementary level books

These kids books are well-loved and should find themselves into new homes.  They are good books despite their age.   I’m very flexible on pricing, best suited to elementary youth.

I think that has it all.  I will undoubtedly find more books that I really don’t need to keep any more. I’ll try to keep this updated.