Friday, May 29, 2015

Controversial Topic - Family Size

Just a quick thought of mine on family size.  Yep I am going to talk about the thought of letting God decide your family size.  Most people think if you let God decide your family size you will end up with over a dozen children or more.  Wrong, I am a prime example that is not true.  I have two boys with a 8 year difference between them both and then one child in heaven that I lost to a miscarriage when the youngest was about 1 and 1/2 years old.  We have let God decide our family size and he closed my womb when I was about 29 or 30 not long after the miscarriage.  Would I like to have more children yes I would but that is not in God's will for us.  I get really irritated when other Christian's that have let God decide give me the attitude oh you chose to only have two children here on earth you did not leave it to God.  Nope we left in God's hands.  Just because I don't have a large family doesn't mean that God is not in control.  Sometimes it seems like people don't remember that even in scripture not everyone had large families.  Seriously I don't remember reading that John the Baptist was the oldest of a large family (since Elizabeth was advanced in age I figured he was their only).   I understand that large families get looked down upon in Christian and Secular society. But small families have a tendency to get looked down upon by some in the Christian community but not so much in the secular society.  Its one of those things that not everyone is going to have a large family.  Also I mean seriously if God wanted to you to have children nothing can stop him neither birth control or even money if you are meant to adopt.  Also we should not look down on those that can't have any children.  I am thankfully I had my children young (I was barely 19 and almost 27 when I gave birth to my two sons) if I had waited until my 30's I would not have them.   Also there is nothing wrong with being single and not having children.  I just want Christians to look at couples or people with no children, a few children or lots of children the same way which is God has blessed them in His own way.


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

How To Love Your Neighbor by Amy Lively


"How to Love Your Neighbor without being weird" by Amy Lively is a book about sharing the Lord with the people in your specific neighborhood.  I picked this book to review as I thought it would be interesting and a good read.  But it ended up rubbing me the wrong way.  I am not saying that we are not love the people that live near us but this book takes the Good Samaritan story about loving your neighbor and making it sound like that it is just about loving the people that live around you.  Which it is about loving everyone around you and far from you also.  It is an interesting read but it did not really give me very many tips.  One of the big things that really kinda of bugged me was the insistent attitude that you must invite and get to know the people in your neighborhood.  Well not everyone lives in a safe neighborhood where you can just go and invite your neighbors over to you home. Sometimes we forget not everyone can live in nicer neighborhoods where you can do that.  Even small towns can have neighborhoods where there is drug dealers and neighbors shooting at each other. I have seen both of those as a child and teenager in my neighborhood and I lived in a small town (population of about 1,800 people).  Yes we knew our neighbors but we also knew some we just would not invite over for coffee.  Even as an adult I have lived in areas that it would not have been safe to invite people over.  I could not just move so I could be in a nicer neighborhood.  Sometimes loving your neighbor is knowing they are there and praying for them otherwise you could be risking your family's safety.  The other point of the book that rubbed me the wrong way was the constant use of the Message paraphrase it is not a good paraphrase at all so any book that uses it a lot bothers me also.  This book was so not for me.  Before you write me off as though I have never done something for the women in my neighborhood I did at one time lead a women's Bible study at the home of one of my neighbors.  So yes I have done some of the things she does recommend for us women to do even though I am a major introvert.  I will say for some people this book may be helpful but it was not for me.

I was given this book from Bethany House Publishers for my honest review.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

From Good To Grace by Christine Hoover

"From Good To Grace, Letting Go of the Goodness Gospel" by Christine Hoover is about letting go of the idea that we have to be good after we are saved to stay saved.  No, its not a book about embracing the idea that we can sin as much as we want.  Its about letting go of the belief of if I study God's word more, volunteer more, do more and more that God will love me more.  Its not like that these things are wrong but are we doing them for man's praise or thinking that God will love us more or because we love God.  Its a heart issue.   I still enjoyed the book.  It was really a reminder for me to look at my heart am I doing stuff cause I love God or cause I think I have to do it.  I especially love this part " Believers can be cliquish according to their personal convictions and choices, unfriendly to outsiders, and critical of those who look or act differently than their chosen uniform cause.  The characteristics are ungodly, a blatant sign of people who have never come to understand God's grace and love for them personally.  They may know it intellectually but refuse it intimately and, therefore, cannot extend it to others."  That bit really it hit me as I have been at the receiving end of being excluded from believers cliques.  I really did love how she pointed out that God's grace isn't selective and it is unity not uniformity.   I also really enjoyed how she brought up the fact that some decisions don't affect the gospel at all for example public school or home school. The first and last part of this book for me were the best portion the middle seemed slow and scattered.  But I will still recommend this book as it was very helpful for me specially lately.

I was given this book from BakerBooks for my honest review and was not required to give a positive review.

How To Get Dressed by Alison Freer


"How To Get Dressed" by Alison Freer is not only a book on how to look your best no matter your style but how to take care of your clothes.  I have never read a fashion that gave as much information as this one did.  It was at times to the point of overwhelming when it came to tips.  I love how the author did force her likes and dislikes on us readers but told us how to make our own style look its best.  She gave tips on how clothes fit and taking care of them.  And not just quick little tips I mean very detailed tips.  One area she goes into detail that I really appreciated since its something I do a lot and that is shop in vintage and thrift stores.  This is one book I plan on keeping for reference as it was the best I have ever read on actual fashion tips.  Now I will say there is one warning on this book and that is it can be overwhelming to try to read everything in it.  I would recommend reading a section that you are interested at a time.  Other than that I highly recommend this book.

I was given this book from Blogging for books and was not required to give a positive review.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Mentoring Rant

  Rant warning!  If you don't want to maybe be offended then please go find pictures of puppies or kittens or bats (ok bats are cute to me)
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Here is even a space photo of my latest Goodwill rotation shoes.  Yes I know so 90's but I love them.


More Space
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Picture of another Goodwill find except the buttons I added them.

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Still here then if you get offended your problem not mine as I warned you.

I get so tired of hearing oh it is a good thing to be mentored or to mentor someone specifically in the Christian arena.  You know what it would nice if I knew how that felt.  Yes I was mentored as a teen but that was for a very short time by a former black panther party member (long story and yes I know odd since I am a pale white girl).  But as a Christian Woman I have never been mentored by another Christian woman or even mentored another woman. Yes I have tried to be mentored but since I am more of an introvert I get ignored easily. I have tried to mentor other women but most run from me as I am not your typical Christian woman I mean see some of my previous pictures that might give you some idea why and that is not including some of my views on topics that are not black and white in scripture.  So you know what I do I get mentored by books or podcasts of solid Christian women, like Elizabeth George, the ladies at Naomi's Table podcast, Equipping Eve on No Compromise Radio or you-tuber Alana L.  But sometimes I just want someone local that I can talk to.  I am not normal if I try to act like everyone around me then thats not me and I have to be how God created me.  Even if its the bat loving odd person I am.  Yes I know this post sounds angry but I am not angry just annoyed (yes there is a difference).  Yes I have put myself out there but usually I just get shot down. So I do the most important thing which is to cling to Christ.   But scripture talks about us being mentored and mentoring others it would just be nice for that to happen to us "weirdos".  Yes it may seem like I have given up on the mentoring thing maybe I have but I know I am not the only one who feels this way.
Rant Over

PS To my real life friends I still care for you, I just needed to vent and make people think.


Sunday, May 10, 2015

30 Events That Shaped The Church by Alton Gansky


"30 Events That Shaped The Church" by Alton Gansky is what the title says 30 events that the author believes shaped the church the most. This has a lot of different views on some well known and some not so well known events in Christian history.  This is not a strictly history book but a mix of history with the authors viewpoint on bits of history.  I will admit I did learn more about some events but some I was just not sure as being a big thing to Christian history.   Those ones are the Jesus movement and the Scofield Bible I am just not sure if I agree with author's view point.  I liked this book but I did take it with a grain of salt as its not strictly a history information book but a viewpoint book with history spread throughout it.  So I will recommend it with the reminder that it is not a strictly history type book.

I was given this book from Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group.

No Place To Hide by Lynette Eason


"No Place To Hide" by Lynette Eason is an action packed mystery involving Ian Lockwood who is wanted for terrorism and his old friend Jackie Sellers who is helps him run from the law and the real bad guys.  This books does not start with a slow beginning we start right from the beginning with Jackie  meeting up with Ian then them running from everyone.  The story is not just about the present it also brings into the history of Jackie and Ian into play.  Once I started reading this book I could not put it down it is a well developed story with characters I wanted to know more about.  I will admit there was one spot in the book I was worried that it was going to go into a topic in a way that I was not looking forward to.  But it did not do that, yes I know I am being vague in what it was but it is a vital part of the story so I will not say it. Now I will warn you that it can be a violent book at times but the story it deals with is not a cotton candy type of story, so I expected it.  However I still really enjoyed reading this book and I highly recommend it as a good clean mystery.  

I was given this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

The Heart of the Amish by Suzanne Woods Fisher


"The Heart of the Amish" Suzanne Woods Fisher is a book on forgiveness which the Amish usually are the most forgiving people out there.  This book was very powerful to remind me to forgive people even if they have not asked for forgiveness.  It is a book that is a really good reminder on how forgiveness is not for them but for you.  I will admit I was worried that the author was going to have the forgive and trust again attitude for some situations but she did not.  Since we are to forgive but not to trust, as trust and forgiveness are two separate things.  Once you start reading it you will not want to put it down.  The stories in here are just so powerful and wonderful.  This book is definitely one to share with many others. I highly recommend it,

I was given this book from Revell publishing for my honest review and not required to give a positive review.

Friday, May 1, 2015

The Pharaoh's Daughter by Mesu Andrews


"The Pharaoh's Daughter" by Mesu Andrews is a historical fiction novel from that goes from story of the Egyptian princess that saved Moses in the book of Exodus.  This the first time I have ever seen a fictional book that takes the stand point of Pharaoh's daughter in the Exodus story.  Most books take Moses's side or his Hebrew family's side so this excited me to read from the princess's view point.  When I first started reading this book it did slow me down for a little bit with all the Egyptian names and keeping them straight once I got them down I was off and running on my reading.  One warning on this book though it is graphic when it comes to the violence that was happening in that time but it was not wrote in a way that makes it seem like it was just added for our entertainment.  We sometimes forget that this story time frame in the Bible was not a light violence time frame.  I am glad the author did not hide the historical fact that this time frame in history was not peaches and cream.   I loved how she uses historically record combined with scriptures.  The research the author did was amazing.  I also learned something new from scripture that I never noticed before thanks to this book and that is in I Chronicles 4:17-18 how a daughter of Pharaoh was married to Hebrew man. This is one of the best historically fiction books I have ever read.  I plan on reading more from this author as she researches her stories.  If you can't tell I highly recommend this book.

I was given this book from Blogging For Books and was not required to give a positive review.

Thoughts on my hubby

27 years ago was the summer before my senior year in high school and I went for a walk that would change my life forever.  I just wanted to ...