Duchess By: @SusanMayWarren

Susan May Warren is one of my favorite authors, however; I was never a fan of historical fiction,…

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Ephesians: Discovering Your Identity and Purpose in Christ

Sue Edwards has put together an amazing and challenging study on the book of Ephesians. From the…

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Mornings with Jesus 2012: Daily Encouragements for your Soul

-Judy Baer, Gwen Ford Faulkenberry, Tricia Goyer, Sharon Hinck, Keri Wyatt Kent, Erin Keeley Marshall and Camy Tang

Leave a comment at organicshoes.wordpress.com on the post or on the give away page to be entered to win a copy! Be sure to include a valid e-mail address to be contacted by in case you win!

Mornings with Jesus has brought together the collaborative efforts of many of your favorite authors. This book will give you a fresh perspective and help in building a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior. This book will encourage you to seek His Word each morning to experiences various attributes of God’s character, from Healer to Comforter to the Son of God. These authors have shared their experiences and teachings of Jesus through 366 daily devotionals.

Each day you will begin your morning with a verse from Jesus’ teachings as well as a devotional around the Word followed by a daily challenge to take a step of faith. This book will not only encourage you but help you to dig deeper and to challenge your daily walk with God. 

The devotional from January 24th, from Tricia Goyer revolves around Colossians 3:23-24

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Goyer reminds about how we are all motivated by rewards, as kids star charts and contests, certificates and trinkets for good grades and good behavior. With Jesus we receive an eternal reward, an eternal inheritance, we don’t receive a certificate for serving Christ. Our days are filled with rewards for the things we do, raises and promotions for a job well done, even in social media we are rewarded with comments, likes and retweets for saying things others enjoy, when we don’t get a response we wonder, is anyone reading this? Why hasn’t anyone responded?

It’s hard to keep our focus, to remember that these earthly rewards are not what matters, Jesus will not be stamping your degree, your certificates with stickers or good job stamps, our reward is Jesus. Our work should always be done for Him, not for earthly rewards. Today lets remember that everything we do should be a reflection of Christ, and every step we take should be to honor and glorify God. To let His light shine through us.

This book was provided complimentary from the publisher through the Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

-Elle

Made to Crave Devotional: 60 Days to Craving God, Not Food

Lysa TerKeurst

After the success of Made to Crave, Lysa TerKeurst has returned with new insights, as well as some favorites in a 60 Day devotional to help aid people on their weight loss journey. This devotional is not like any dieting book you have seen, rather than telling you how and what to eat, when you should exercise and how many miles you need to run today TerKeurst is tackling the root of the problem of battling a weight loss journey. The cravings. We all have them, we fill our needs with food, we emotionally eat, crave more when we are bored and the list goes on.

TerKeurst has come along beside us to help us see the reasons behind those things and how we are placing food as an idol and turning it into a god. Instead she wants to help us re-evaluate and crave God more not food. This book is full of great snapshots and some tough challenges. Made to Crave is not only for those searching to lose weight or get a handle on their cravings, this book has information to be gleaned by everyone that can speak into many aspects of your life. Definitley a book to look into as we search to crave God more and more each day.

I received this book complimentary from Zondervan through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

-Elle

By Denise Hunter, Colleen Coble, Kristen Billerbeck  and Diann Hunt

     Smitten, Vermont has always been a small town where everybody knew their neighbors, families loved the small town communities and never thought that someday Smitten might not be there. When the mill in Smitten is forced to close, no one is sure what will happen to their town. The majority of the workforce is hired by the mill, which also generates most of the towns income.

     While having coffee one night, four single friends, Julia, Natalie, Reese and Shelby come up with an idea to save Smitten. For years the town has been made fun of for it’s name, but now the friends have decided to use the towns name to re-market the town as a honeymooner’s get-away. With plans set, and the women of the town on board transformations start to happen.

     As Natalie, Julia, Shelby and Reese get the town on board and help in the transformations of the town they all start on a journey towards something they never expected, to finding love in the least likely of places and with the most unlikely of people, some of which not supportive of the girls changing Smitten into a ‘girly’ town. Will the town be able to pull this off? To come together and support each other? Will the guys in town try to keep it from happening?

     Award-Winning Authors Colleen Coble, Denise Hunter, Kristen Billerbeck and Diann Hunt have come together with a story of four single women in a town about to go under. Together they have weaved a tale of the best of friends who you want to become your own friends. By the end of this book you will have fallen in love with Smitten.

This book was provided complimentary from Thomas Nelson Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

To learn more about Smitten go to http://www.smittenvermont.com/

-Elle

Susan May Warren’s The Shadow of Your Smile

Susan May Warren has captured our hearts and brought us into Deep Haven once again to share the lives of Eli and Noelle Hueston, in this small snow covered town the Hueston’s marriage is on the verge of collapse, after going through the loss of  their daughter the Hueston’s were unable to find their way back to one another. Unsure of where the future leads Noelle takes a trip to the city which ends in trauma, leaving her with no memory of the last twenty five years. With no recollection of her children, her husband or the daughter she lost, Eli and Noelle are given the cahnve to find one another again.

The Shadow of Your Smile brings you through the grief of a family, the hurt and the pain of a failing marriage, the loss of a loved one, and a family searching for how to make things work. Join the Hueston family as they serach for peace and the joy they once had and to a new understanding of redemption and forgiveness.

Warren has produced another fabulous Deep Haven book that captures your geart and will remind you of a few lessons along the way and how a family that came through a tradgedy can find each other once again.

I was provided this book complimentary from Tyndale Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

-Elle

 ”You already have what it takes to finish well!” declares John Bevere in his latest book, Relentless. So many times as Christians we let the day go by us, living to just get by, to get through each day, through Relentless, Bevere reminds us that we are not meant to ‘just get by.’ That are goal is not just to finish, but to finish well! We have been equipped with the tools to take control of our situation through the grace of God and to live relentlessly for Him.

Bevere challenges us to take a stand and to declare the promises of God over every situation. Relentless is jam packed with information which at times became overwhelming with all the information squeezed into a single chapter. Bevere uses biblical truth in support of what he is asking us to do, to live relentlessly for God. The level of conversation within the book digs deep into the ancient greek roots of words and bible translations, Bevere has done his research on the topic as he shares stories and examples of what a life living relentlessly could look like.

There are some points within this book that I do not agree with, but for the most part I enjoyed the information and had a lot to think about. At times the chapters are daunting and are so packed full of information it is hard to process everything. This is not a book to read over a weekend, it is a book that needs time and consideration and be prepared to take notes! By the end of this book you will be ready to stand tall and strong and by becoming Relentless in our faith “we will become something to be reckoned with, a genuine threat to the kingdom of darkness.”

I received this book complimentary from Waterbrook Press through the blogging for books program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

-Elle

The Voice: New Testament

The Voice New Testament is a brand new translation that reads more like a story and helps to engage and help readers to make a more personal connection with the Word.  The Voice presents itself as a story rather than an informative textbook that allows its readers to get up close and personal with the life of Jesus.

The Voice offers a new and innovative way to get into the Bible, in this translation Biblical Scholars, writers, and many others have come together to keep the integrity of the original text but to also pay attention to the word usage in that time and the inflection of what is being said. In this translation different forms of type help the reader to understand the text, standard type references the dynamic translation, the italicized words offer help in completing ideas and inflection, delineated material helps to expand on themes within the text. There is also a convenient screenplay format that helps to eliminate the need and misunderstanding of who said what within a text.

I really enjoyed the layout of The Voice as well as the extra information that gives insight throughout the books. The screenplay format is great also! Eliminating the who said what and placing text into this format makes for an easier read and flow of the story, the text flows more smoothly. The extra inflections and side notes are very helpful. This Bible gives you a new way to look at and understand verses that you may have read before in the past. It gives you the ability to read a story you’ve heard for years with a fresh set of eyes!

I received this book complimentary through the BookSneeze program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

 To see a side by side comparison of The Voice and The King James Version go to  http://www.hearthevoice.com/compare-translations

The Full Bible Translation of The Voice will be available in April

For more information on The Voice translation check out their website at http://www.hearthevoice.com

-Elle

Whole

By: Lisa Whittle

     Have that feeling that something is missing? Feel like something is holding you from from life? relationships? a job? school? anything? Lisa Whittle has brought it all out into the open. Our lives are filled with holes, and often times we let those holes hold us back, we let them control who we are and the decisions we are making. Now what if those holes in our life are the things that will in the end make us whole?

     Through Whole, Whittle shares her experiences of finding the holes in life and turning them around to be filled with God’s presence when he makes us whole. Whole takes an honest look at who we are and takes us on a journey to a full relationship with God where we can take those holes in our life and become whole in Christ.

      This book will keep you encourage and uplift you to finding those holes in your life and filling them with God’s love, Whittle has compiled through her own experiences and others an honest look into how we allow things in our lives to grow and control who we are, she hows us how we are not called to be controlled by those things and that only God can fill the voids in our life. This book will have you re-examining your relationship with Christ and finding out how you can fill those empty parts of your life with Christ and all He has planned for you.

     I highly recommend this book, be preparted to take a look at your life and re-evaluate everything, get ready to continue on a journey to becoming closer to our Savior through His amazing healing and grace. Get ready to become whole.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale Publishing in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed are all my own.

-Elle

Thank You, God, for Blessing Me

By: Max Lucado

     Max Lucado’s latest children’s book Thank You, God, For Blessing Me is the perfect bedtime story for toddlers and pre-schoolers. The beautiful artwork and Lucado’s story are a great pair that will captivate kids of all ages. The story follows Hermie the caterpillar as he thanks God for everything he has received throughout his day.

     This story is written for young kids to be able to understand how much God gives us on a regular day and that we should remember to thank God for all of the blessings He has brought to each of us. Kids will love the character of Hermie and his friends, all the new Hermie books are a great set of children’s books to add to any collection.

I received this book complimentary through the BookSneeze program and Tommy Nelson Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

-Elle