A Lovely and Inspiring Devotional--"The One Year Experiencing God's Love Devotional" by Sandra Byrd Review

"The One Year Experiencing God's Love Devotional" by Sandra Byrd is a lovely and inspiring devotional book!  Sandra Byrd is one of my favorite authors, so when I saw she was coming out with a new book I jumped on the chance to review it.  I haven't read any of her non-fiction books before, but I can now say that I am just as pleased with this book as I am with her fiction books!  My husband and I are currently reading through Tyndale's "The One Year Devotions for Couples: 365 Inspirational Readings" by David and Teresa Ferguson, so I am familiar with Tyndale's "One Year" line of devotions. 

Ms. Byrd breaks her book up into months and has a devotion written for each day of the year.  Each month loosely follows a theme that goes along with that season and/or month.  Some of her devotions go along with the season or day (for example, there are ones that are Christmas themed).  I also think you can read the devotions any day of the year, no matter what month or season you are in and still get a lot out of it. 

For each day, the devotion has a short section to read and a correlating verse.  At the end of each month, there is a benediction.  In the devotions, Ms. Byrd uses stories from her own life, quotes, parts of hymns and recipes to make each one unique and interesting.  Sometimes there are application questions to help tie in what you have read and apply it to your life.  The devotions are filled with Scripture and are Biblically based and accurate.  They are also Gospel focused.  I have many of the devotions and pages marked as I love them so much and I want to go back to them to remember the truths and encouragement shared.  Some examples of my favorites are her devotions on hard seasons, having joy during hard times, Surviving and Thriving, and “The Best of Times” (which has a Dicken theme).  This book convicted me and encouraged me in my walk with the Lord.  I highly recommend this book!

Content: This is a clean read.

Rating: I give this book 5 stars.

Genre:  Christian non-fiction; Self-help; Devotional

 

 

I want to thank Sandra Byrd and Tyndale House Publishers for the complimentary copy of this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I express in this review are my own. This is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR 16, Part 255.

 About the Author: 

After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published more than fifty books.

Sandra’s series of historically sound Gothic romances launched with the best-selling Mist of Midnight, which earned a coveted Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society. The second book, Bride of a Distant Isle, has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. The third in the series, A Lady in Disguise, published in 2017. Sandra is excited to continue writing Gothic romance and will be adding books to that genre beginning in October 2018 with Tyndale House Publishers.

Check out her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, which was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2011, and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012.

Sandra has published dozens of books for kids, tweens, and teens, including the bestselling The One Year Be-Tween You and God Devotions for Girls. She continued her work as a devotionalist, this time for women, with The One Year Home and Garden Devotions. Her latest book, The One Year Experiencing God’s Love Devotional, will be published in October 2017.

Sandra is passionate about helping new writers develop their talents and their work for traditional publishing or self-publication. She has mentored and coached hundreds of new writers and continues to guide developing authors toward success each year via novelcoaching.com.

Please visit http://www.sandrabyrd.com/ to learn more or to invite Sandra to your book club via Skype.

To purchase the book click here

Review of "Made to Crave for Young Women: Satisfying Your Deepest Desires With God" by Lysa Terkeurst & Shaunti Feldhahn--Not Just For Teens

 Made to Crave for Young Women: Satisfying Your Deepest Desires
with God by Lysa Terkeurst & Shaunti Feldhahn is a book that speaks to women of all ages.  I was drawn in by the subtitle of the book, Satisfying Your Deepest Desires with God.  I really struggle with this, but I know that is what the Christian life is all about.  I read the rest of the book's description, and it seemed like it had some fresh ideas that weren't what is normally covered in a lot of the Christian Living books out there.  I did see that it is for Young Women and it seemed like it was aimed at high-school teenagers.  I saw that there was also another Made to Crave that is for women, but that one is just all about a woman's struggle with food, eating and weight and how she puts those cravings ahead of God.  This Made to Crave for Young Women seemed to cover a lot more areas of struggles besides food that I thought would be more helpful to me. 

Once I read it, I was so glad I had decided to give it a try!  If you struggle in any other area besides eating, I would recommend this book over the other one because of the wider variety of examples and struggles that the authors cover.  Of course, you have to remember that the two authors are speaking mostly to a teen audience, but as I am in my mid-20s and read a lot of young adult books, it did not bother me.  It is also written in a way so that anyone can relate to it.  Don't we all still deal with the same struggles that we dealt with in high school anyway, in some form or another?  I know I do.  Sorry for those who are still in high school, but those struggles do not go away, they just keep coming back in different forms.  That's why it is so important to learn as early on as possible how to conquer those struggles with God's help!  Lysa and Shaunti give the reader great practical advice on how to do that and make God our number one heart's desire.

The main point of the book is that we as humans put other desires and things in our lives before God.  These "things" are what the authors call "God substitutes."  They are emotional
(the desire to be loved and accepted), physical (to be comforted by physical satisfaction and pleasure) and material cravings (a desire for something that makes us feel special, improved or new).  These aren't necessarily bad desires in themselves.  The problem comes when we automatically go to them first instead of God.  These are desires that God wants to satisfy and only He truly can. 

There are so many good things that I appreciate about this book.  I love how Lysa and Shaunti go through each of the desires and give examples of what they are and how to overcome them.  The authors are honest, genuine and down-to-earth.  Lysa and Shaunti also give engaging personal stories from their lives to which many will be able to relate.

I find it to be very helpful that practical examples are interspersed throughout the book.  Each chapter has a step-by-step action plan at the end that gives the reader a way to apply that chapter to her life.
An example is how Lysa and Shaunti believe one's cravings can be retrained.  You will crave what you are focusing on.  They give ways to change one's thought pattern by replacing the negative thoughts with positive ones through Scripture (they provide the reader with specific Scripture and exercises to help with this).  By filling themselves with God and Scripture, the reader can be satisfied with God alone.

This is truly a wonderful read and I grew in my walk with Christ as a result of this book!  I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.  It is a clean read. 

I want to thank Zondervan, Lysa Terkeurst & Shaunti Feldhahn  for the complimentary copy of this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I express in this review are my own. This is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR 16, Part 255.

For more information on Lysa Terkeurst, go to her website.
For more information on Shaunti Feldhahn, go to her website.
Tons of resources and freebies on Made to Crave for Young Women at this site.
Go here to read the first chapter.


 

     As I state in my welcome paragraph, I used to pick up a book, get halfway through, and then get to a really graphic part.  Needless to say, I have stumbled across many books that were not "clean" reads, just to chuck them across the floor in frustration after having invested many hours of my time and emotions into the book and characters.  But being a Christian, I remember Philippians 4:8 when considering my reading material:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  

     That is why I rejoiced when I discovered Goodreads, because I saw that others would write in the "review" section whether a book was "clean" or not.  Because let's face it, if someone loves Regencies, there is not a ton of Regency Christian fiction out there.  (Luckily there has been a whole lot more that have stemmed up recently though!)  Now those of us who desire to have integrity in what we read can help one another out.
     I also love reading Christian fiction, which is the majority of what I read.  It is great to read reviews of Christian fiction to see what is good out there and I really appreciate those who write those reviews.  I hope to help others by doing the same!