You Can Do This

I love Tricia's vulnerability in sharing. It is like sitting at the table of your best friend and sharing life together. Women spend so much of their life fighting against comparison, lack of boundaries, and other's opinions of ourselves. All of this steals our confidence. Somewhere along the way, we stopped listening to what and who God says we are and starting listening to what other people say we are. You Can Do This is a reminder of our role in encouraging and mentoring the women in our lives. I will be recommending this book to young women in my sphere of influence. This is a book I read and underlined a lot. Great job Tricia!

Distorted

Mallory Baldwin is a survivor. A former victim of human trafficking, she’s been given a second chance, yet not a night goes by that she doesn’t remember being a slave to weapons dealer Dante Torres. Despite being afraid of the dark and wary of strangers, Mallory is trying to rebuild her life by turning her tragedy into redemption.
To former Navy SEAL Tennyson Walker, Mallory seems nothing like the shattered woman he rescued two years ago, and he can’t help but be inspired by her strength and resilience. So when a stalker suddenly makes Mallory vulnerable once again, Tennyson steps up as her bodyguard to keep her safe.
Mallory and Tennyson’s mutual attraction can’t be ignored, but neither can Mallory’s suspicion that Tennyson is keeping a terrible secret about her past. As the nightmare closes in, it’s not only Mallory and Tennyson’s love that comes under fire but their very lives as well. Will their faith sustain them? Or will the darkness win once and for all?

I loved this book. It had just the right amount of suspense to keep me guessing to the end. The characters are well developed. This is a story of two broken people who loved and trusted God. It deals with the aftermath of human trafficking and learning to love again with a great mystery. I highly recommend this book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

The Sacrament of Happy

Happiness is Scriptural and Lisa shows us this by using storytelling in her new book. This book is about finding happiness through God's love and abundant grace, with an emphasis on love, laughter, and family. Lisa Harper weaves in a Biblical basis for her findings and stories from her everyday life to show us how happiness can be achieved. God never promised a totally happy life on this earth. True happiness is found with God.
I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it.

I received a free advance copy of this book as part of the launch team. All opinions are my own.

Messy Beautiful Friendship

I’ve found adult friendship to be much more complicated than the friendships of our youth. This book has opened my eyes to the many ways that my expectations and "wish-dreams" have gotten in the way of friendships that are right in front of me. Here are a couple of quotes from the book that really stood out to me:

“We are not guaranteed or entitled to heart friends. They are gifts of grace, and when we catch glimpses of sisterly love, we must receive it as such with deep gratitude.”

“… the goal of friendship is to secure ourselves to the sure, steadfast anchor of Christ and, while holding to that anchor, give and receive the gift of friendship as we have opportunity. The goal is to enjoy God together with others and, as we move through life, to sharpen and allow ourselves to be sharpened by friends. We imitate Jesus with one another, willing to face the stark realities and consequences of sin, all the while persevering in our efforts to offer love, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, comfort, and care to one another. In doing so, we display to one another and the world how God loves and, through this, bring him glory. This is our destination, the point on the map we move toward: bringing God glory.” pg.39

“In our envy of other women and who they are and what they have, we have chosen not to celebrate them or allow them to get close. In our childishness, we’ve been inconsiderate in thinking that friendship is for us and about us and should be what we want. We’ve been inwardly critical, and outwardly too, though we might not have dared to address the person directly. We’ve been judgmental and partial and argumentative and a million other things that sting and divide. These are ashes of our own making.” pg. 59

“We are to observe our friends. What are her gifts? What stories has God written in her life that could become an impactful ministry to others? What lies and patterns of behavior are hindering her relationship with God? What does it seem God is trying to do in her life? As we observe, we use our words to confirm her gifts, exhort her to ministry, encourage her growth, and excite her as to what God is doing in her life. Our honey-words have the power to stir up love and good works in the lives of our friends.” pg. 132

This book has blessed, encouraged and challenged me in the way I think about friendships. This is such a helpful book and I highly recommend it.