Married to the Cloth

Sitting in the shadow of shame? Dealing with the guilt and regret? Feeling Lost and Hopeless? Are you feeling stuck and just do not know how to move forward? Sometimes you just need some one to tell you how, to give you a plan. This book is that plan. "Discover how pain that is not transformed becomes transferred. Embrace the freedom of being okay with not being okay. Learn that a life of trusting is far more magnificent than a life of pleasing. Because hurt people hurt people, but free people have the power to free people." "No matter how well put together the people around you may appear, I promise you, EVERYONE needs healing." Learn how to trust people, not just please people. It comes back to making 4 choices: Choice #1: Choosing to Transform Instead of Transfer Choice #2: Choosing to Be Okay With Not Being Okay Choice #3: Choosing to Trust Rather Than Please Choice #4: Hurt People, Hurt People, But Free People, Choose to Free People ...

I am not divorced, separated...not even thinking about it. However, we have counseling situations and my dearest friend is going thru this with her kids. This book is an excellent resource as it highlights things one may not have thought of addressing or considering. Statistics, surveys, advice and 10 yrs of experience come together in Tammy Daughtry's book.  The Author seeks to help you become a TEAMM - an acronym for "The End Adult Matters Most". Part of that is being a stable and effective parent, which is the first topic dealt with in the book.  Other topics include Parenting when things are impossible and when things go wrong, and advice on moving forward in your life after divorce. Two homes, two rooms and One Child? How to make the child feel at home in both locations. "The life of a child of divorce is not the same as the life of a child from an intact family" Tammy uses examples from "constructive and productive" coparenting fam...

How does the beauty of Jesus’ reign break into the mess of our broken lives and world?   Rick McKinley 's book This Beautiful Mess from WaterBrook/Multanomah  was provided to me for review (complimentary copy). I had seen it on the shelf at my local bookstore, but that had only succeeded in putting Sixpence songs in my head. I am grateful for the opportunity to read it. Rick McKinley serves as pastor at Imago Dei. The book is divided into 3 main parts: Part one Discovering the Kingdom. Part two Re-visioning life in the Kingdom. Stop analyzing and be present in the Body. Part three Practicing the presence of the Kingdom. (reminiscent of Brother Lawrence and AW Tozer) Fans of Experiencing God will connect with recognizing where G-d is at work and letting Him do the work in and through us to bring about change. Rick shares personal experiences as well, how their church is moving, growing and seeing change. New for this edition: an updated preface, thre...

Forgiveness is more than an act of stuffing and "forgetting". This book contains 50 stories of how others have come to have true forgiveness, and find healing. These are stories of those who have gone through divorce, betrayal, addiction, abandonment, death, and pain, and have found healing.The book is divided in four sections: Forgiving Others, Asking for Forgiveness, Forgiving Yourself, and Embracing God's Forgiveness. With scriptural references along side the stories, this book makes an excellent counseling resource. I do not know if forgiveness is every something that becomes easy or easier, however hearing the stories of those who have gone before, offers hope as well as opportunity for introspection. Where am I resentful? angry? holding on to past hurts? What areas do I need healing and forgiveness in? Is there hope after such pain? "There's something that feels important when I sit down with the responsibility of somebody's life story in front o...

There is a beauty revealed when we are vulnerable and share what G-d has done for us. Elisa Morgan has served as the President and CEO of MOPS International, Inc. (Mothers of Preschoolers), a Denver-based non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging, equipping and developing every mother of preschoolers to realize her potential as a woman, mother and leader in the name of Jesus Christ. As the leader of a thriving ministry, she could have easily portrayed the false face of perfection. Instead she has chosen share the struggles she has endured, and the blessings that came from heart ache. 2 Corinthians 1v 6-7 "If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort." Hoping that the comfort she has received, Elisa shares her story...

Lauded as the first book to discuss an interfaith way of life for families.  Being Both weaves the stories of Susan Katz Miller and others, primarily the Jewish and Christian families who have pioneered the concept of interfaith education for interfaith children. Susan  grew up with a Jewish father and Christian mother, and was raised Jewish. As one who struggled with her own identity and recognition as a Jew, she is one of the many who are choosing to raise children with both faiths. Interfaith is more than  a growing trend. This book is increasingly necessary. Recently Haaretz published a piece on Defining 'who is a Jew" (HERE) asking the question "If a Jew need not live in Israel, need not speak Hebrew, need not be committed to formal communal relations with other Jews, need not believe in the God of Israel and His Torah, and does not necessarily have to be the child of a Jewish mother, who then, is a Jew?" "28 million Americans have a spouse or p...

Erin Brynn 's travels have taken her from Africa to India to Southeast Asia and most recently to Afghanistan. As I do work with A Tour of Roses, I chose this book to review because of the title. And like myself she has 6 children. :) Erin shares the history of Afghanistan and the people groups and cultures. The book is a compilation of letters written home and personal reflections as almost "post scripts", looking back on what she had prayed or hoped and how G-d fulfilled those. Erin shares stories of trust, loss, hope and adventure. She shares with us the deep burden she acquired for the people and the country. I enjoyed the book very much. If you are interested in missions and adventure, you will enjoy this book. Quotes: "I knew the Lord had specific plans and purposes for the people we would encounter during our time in Afghanistan, but I never gave much thought to what He had in mind for me personally. God desires that we be His vessels of love toward others, ...