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Sunflower Faith — Sun, 20 May 2012 05:00:53 +0000

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{Book Review} Saving Savvy by Kelly Hancock

Sunflower Faith — Sat, 19 May 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Saving Savvy: Smart and Easy Ways to Cut Your Spending in Half and Raise Your Standard of Living and Giving by Kelly Hancock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who can deny with today’s economy, the importance of finding ways to save costs in grocery, meal planning, daily way of life and work with a budget that fits with whatever size family you may have?

With, “Saving Savvy”, readers will learn not be encouraged how using the slow cooker in a way that saves both time and feed the family, but learn vital tips, be encouraged through Scripture and just learn basic common sense tips that one will learn from God and Grandma’s way of handling money.

What I like about “Saving Savvy” is that this is a book, that is applicable to anyone. There is no, “I can’t apply to this home”, but the tips that Kelly Hancock, shares to reader, can be used in any size home and income.

With free templates in the back of the book, I really recommend, Saving Savvy” for homes that are looking to both save money and also live generously, using ideas and materials that are already at home, can be easily bought or for the more savvy, found through the classifieds or grapevine (such as a deep-freeze freezer that is helpful for stocking meat).

Her writing is simple and its nothing that one would read and think, “That is too complicated”, but instead show how by making little changes in our lives, we can make a difference in how we are spending and can adjust our standard of living.

This is not a cure-all, solve all your money troubles, but to be read as a book, to help correct bad spending habits, teach ways of approaching shopping and be able to live a life that encourages not only one’s way of living but even one’s way of giving.

***Thank you to Worthy Publishing for the opportunity to read, review and share this book with others***

{Book Review} Muscular Faith by Ben Patterson

Sunflower Faith — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Muscular Faith: How To Strengthen Your Heart, Soul, And Mind For The Only Challenge That Matters by Ben Patterson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fighting the good fight.

Finishing it at the end.

1 Timothy 6:12 inspires, strengthens and encourages us to not give up and to push forward and in Ben Patterson’s, “Muscular Faith”, readers are encouraged the same thing with practical, biblical, down to earth encouragement that at the end of the book, will have you fired up to push forward, not give up and be encouraged through practical, yet biblical reading.

This was a book that I didn’t want to put down and when I was finally finished with it, it was dog-eared, underlined, filled with post it notes (my personal rating system of when a book challenges, inspires and leaves one thinking) and I recommend this to readers who may find themselves often at a cross road in life.

We live in a busy world with conflicting messages and if there is anything that we need is a fight that is muscular to stand the test of time and Ben Patterson’s book, “Muscular Faith” does that.

Think of it as a push to strengthen your faith and what is it, why do you believe, what you believe book that will have you going, I can do this and I will be able to do this.

The writing is thorough, not simplistic, but also not academic that the average layman can not pick up on the basic principles and ideals that Ben Patterson shares in,”Muscular Faith” and for those who are looking for a stronger faith as a Christian, this is a well written book that is worth adding to one’s library, be it on a kindle, nook, or in paperback form.

Ideal for bible study, be it personal, or in a group, “Muscular Faith” is a book to read.

***Thank you to Tyndale for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my personal thoughts about the book***

What I Didn’t Know by Rhonda Shrock

Sunflower Faith — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:00:24 +0000

I always knew I wanted to be a mother. As a girl, I played house with my dollies, shushing them when they cried and kissing their plastic heads.

Looking back at that girl, I realize now that there was a lot she didn’t know. This morning over my fresh-ground coffee, this mother of 22-1/2 years scratched out a list of 10 things she didn’t know then that she knows now.

1. I didn’t know – how could I? - just how completely a tiny, helpless scrap of humanity can capture the heart and hold it forever.

From that first whooshing heartbeat and the first butterfly brushes, a mother’s heart is never again her own.

For all eternity, it enlarges, walking and pulsing and moving outside of her body; in my case, in the shape of a blue-eyed boy with rooster tails. Times four.

2. I didn’t know that the size of a mother’s heart is always changing, stretching to embrace each new baby that comes, then growing again to love their friends and then their own families.

3. I never knew, as I changed my dolly’s dress, how many reasons there are to worry when you’re a mama.

Didn’t know about the nighttime vigils.

Didn’t know the anxiety of separation, the terror that floods when you turn around in the grocery store and they’re gone.

Didn’t know about the fear of the pond next door or the concern that pays for swimming lessons.

Didn’t know the thousand-and-one reasons that keep a mother awake, whispering prayers on her pillow in the dark.

4. No one told me that loving so much means that you will hurt hard and keen; that what pains your child hurts you even worse.

I didn’t know then that a playground taunt travels through that smaller heart and lands square in yours, stinging and burning like fire. I didn’t know that motherhood makes lionesses of us all and that there’d be days I’d have to bite my tongue and pray to not sin.

5. I didn’t know how exhausting it is, being a mother. I didn’t know that it takes everything you’ve got and then some.

Didn’t know the bone-deep exhaustion; how it strips you bare and shows how selfish you can be, but, too, that you have more strength than you know.

6. I didn’t know, playing house, how much joy mothers feel; joy so big that it makes up for the pain.

Just looking at those eyes and the curve of the cheek can make you so happy it hurts.

Watching them grow and find their talent and win at something…all the money in the world can never buy that kind of happiness.

7. I didn’t know how making babies and raising them, how it binds you to their father.

I didn’t know the intimacy you feel when your eyes meet above those tousled heads, and your smiles say, “Just look at what we’ve done.”

8. That girl in the homemade dress, she didn’t know that letting go is one of the hardest things a grown-up mama will ever do.

Rocking those babies in that small rocking chair, she didn’t really know that babies grow up and walk away and there goes your heart, out into the big, wide world. No one told her that part.

9. I had no idea how rewarding it is, being a mother.

How the happiness that comes from boy kisses and awkward hugs can’t be bought or sold.

How proud you feel when you see what they’re growing up to be and that all the planting and pruning and watering and feeding is finally making fruit!

10. I didn’t know how much my babies would enrich my spiritual life or how they would change the way I pray.

I didn’t realize they would lead me to a deeper dependence on the Heavenly Father or how I much I would need His wisdom to raise them aright.

These are things I didn’t know before I was a mother. But I know them now. Oh, how I know them now! And I’d do it all again.

Rhonda Schrock lives in Northern Indiana with her husband and 4 sons, ages 22, 18, 13, and 5. By day, she is a telecommuting medical transcriptionist. In the early morning hours, she flees to a local coffee shop where she pens “Grounds for

Insanity,” a weekly column that appears in The Goshen News. She is an occasional guest columnist in The Hutch News. She’s also blogged professionally for her son’s school of choice, Bethel College, in addition to humor and parenting blogs, and maintains her personal blog, “The Natives are Getting Restless.” She is a writer and editor for the magazine, “Cooking & Such: Adventures in Plain Living.” She survives and thrives on prayer, mochas, and books.

Exciting News – the latest Pearl Girls book, Mother of Pearl: Luminous Legacies and Iridescent Faith will be released this month! Please visit the Pearl Girls Facebook Page (and LIKE us!) for more information! Thanks so much for your support!

Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother’s Day blog series – a week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today’s best writer’s (Tricia Goyer, Sheila Walsh, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Bonnie St. John, and more).

I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.

AND … do enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/6-5/13 and the winner will on 5/14. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents. If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit ww.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother’s Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls. And to all you MOMS out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

Rest

Sunflower Faith — Sun, 13 May 2012 05:00:16 +0000

{Book Review} Precisely Terminated

Sunflower Faith — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Precisely Terminated by Amanda L. Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Written by Amanda L. Davis, an award winning author of the,”Cantral Chronicles” a dystopian triology, “Precisely Terminated” is book one of a new series that is based on a dystopian world where computers control a person’s entire life by virture of implanted chips.

The central character, Monica, is a sixteen year noble, whom, at the age of four was rescued from a death sentence that wiped out, not only her family, but the residents of the “city” that they had reside in.

Focused on Monica, discovering her fate, and the hopes of millions who lives are placed on her shoulder, “Precisely Terminated” is a thrilling and psychological science fiction story that plays with many questions of “What If” and yet threaded not with subtle messages of gloom, but rather subtle messages of hope as Monica, with the help of others, seek to find a way for a better life for all the people of Cantral and Cillineese.

Geared more for young adults and older, “Precisely Terminated” is a very engrossing story that blends a dystopian view of an unspecified future with wonderful story-telling.

If you enjoy reading science fiction, “Precisely Terminated” is a book to explore.

*** Thank you to Glass Publications for the opportunity to read and review this book***

What I Am Not by Tricia Goyer

Sunflower Faith — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:00:46 +0000

Becoming a mother is a complicated thing. Not only am I trying to negotiate a relationship with my child, I am trying to negotiate a relationship with myself as I attempt to determine how I mother, how I feel about mothering, how I want to mother and how I wish I was mothered.— Andrea J. Buchanan, in Mother Shock3

Sometimes the easiest way to discover who we are is to know who we are not.

• We are not our children. We all know mothers who go overboard trying to make themselves look good by making their children look great.

I saw one woman on the Oprah television show who had bought her preschool daughter more than twelve pairs of black shoes just so the girl could have different styles to go with her numerous outfits!

Just as we -don’t get report cards for mothering, we also -don’t get graded on our child’s looks or accomplishments. While you want your children to do their best and succeed in life, your self-esteem -shouldn’t be wrapped up in your child.

Life as I See It:

My individuality will never end. There will be no one exactly like me, not even my child. She will be like me in some ways, but not at all in others. I -wouldn’t have it any other way.— Desiree, Texas

• We are not our mothers. I remember the first time I heard my mother’s voice coming out of my mouth.

The words “because I told you so . . .” escaped before I had a chance to squelch them.

It’s not until we have kids that we truly understand our mothers — all their frets, their nagging, and their worries.

It’s also then that we truly understand their love.

Since you are now a mother, it’s good to think back on how you were raised. If there were traditions or habits that now seem wise and useful, incorporate them into your parenting. You also have permission to sift out things you now know -weren’t good. Just because you’re a product of your mother, that -doesn’t mean you have to turn out just like her. Repeat after me, “I am not my mother.”

• We are not like any other mother out there.

Sometimes you may feel like the world’s worst mother. After all, your friend never yells at her son — and sometimes you do. Then again, your friend may feel bad because you have a wonderful bedtime routine that includes stories and songs. In many cases, the moms you feel inferior to only look like they have it together. All moms feel they -don’t “measure up.” Instead of feeling unworthy, we should realize that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The key is where we place our focus.

The Bible says, “Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without . . . comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we -aren’t” (Romans 12:5 – 6, MESSAGE).

The problem with comparison is, we always measure our weaknesses against the strengths of others.

Instead, we need to thank God for our strengths. We can also ask God to help us overcome our weaknesses — not because we want to compare ourselves, or look good in someone else’s eyes, but because we want to be the best mom out there.

Tricia Goyer is a CBA best-selling author and the winner of two American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Awards (Night Song and Dawn of a Thousand Nights). She co-wrote 3:16 Teen Edition with Max Lucado and contributed to the Women of Faith Study Bible. Also a noted marriage and parenting writer, she lives with her husband and children in Arkansas. You can find her online at triciagoyer.com or at her weekly radio show, Living Inspired.

I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.

I am a Christian

Sunflower Faith — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Source: itsyourslord.tumblr.com via Ginger on Pinterest

She’s…My Everything by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Sunflower Faith — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:00:44 +0000

“A mother is one who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take.”

–Cardinal Mermillod

Just a few more months. My mother was hoping Dad would hang on long enough so they could celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary in April. But on January 1st, as the sun rose on the new year, my dad’s worn out heart beat its last. Dad had battled Alzheimer’s Disease for ten years. As many of you know, AD is a long, hard journey. Hard on the one afflicted with the disease, hard on the caregivers.

But not without its blessings.

Four years ago, as I began researching stories for Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World, my path crossed with a handful of Plain families who were coping with Alzheimer’s.

It was just about the point when Dad’s illness was shifting from early to mid stages AD and the timing was a divine accident. I learned so much as I observed the calm acceptance of these families.

Rather than waste time shaking a fist at God for allowing this disease to take their loved one, they put their energy into trusting God’s sovereignty. They didn’t deny the difficulties and complications and sadness of Alzheimer’s, but they didn’t dwell on them. “God has a plan,” one woman told me. “He always has a plan.”

Something else I noticed was how privileged my Amish friends felt about caring for their loved one. Caring for the elderly, they believe, is the time to give back to them.

Those encounters shaped my perspective of Dad’s illness. I started to pay attention to how God provided answers to new wrinkles created by Alzheimer’s, just in time. God may be slow, but He is never late.

I started to cherish special moments or good days with Dad—just as he was at each point in his illness. Not mourning the past, not dreading the future.

I really miss my dad.

I miss his scratchy whiskers and the way his eyebrows would wiggle at us, even as words failed him.

Yet I have such peace in my heart that he was well loved and well cared for, right to the very end. And as hard as Dad’s end of life has been, it isn’t the end. We will meet again.

As the saying goes, “Some may see a hopeless end, but as believers we rejoice in an endless hope.”

There’s a beautiful story that illustrates my parents’ 59-year marriage. This event happened about a year or two ago.

My sister had accompanied our mother to the doctor appointment for Dad at the Stanford Memory Clinic.

Dad had declined quite a bit that month. He was weak and lethargic, even to the point of whispering, as if it took too much energy to project his voice.

During the doctor’s appointment, the doctor told my mother and sister that Dad was now in late stages of Alzheimer’s.

Dad didn’t have much vocabulary left, but when the doctor asked him who mom was, he whispered something back. The doctor looked at Mom and asked, “Did you hear what he just said?”

Mom shook her head.

“When I asked him who you were, he whispered, ‘She’s…my everything.’”

Suzanne Woods Fisher is a writer of bestselling fiction and non-fiction books about the Old Order Amish. Her interest in the Plain People began with her grandfather, W. D. Benedict, who was raised Plain. Suzanne is the host of Amish Wisdom, a weekly radio program on toginet.com, and writes a bi-monthly column for Christian Post. Suzanne can be found on-line at suzannewoodsfisher.com.

Re-printed with permission by Cooking & Such, sherrygorebooks.com.

I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.

Simple thanks is sometimes all it takes

Sunflower Faith — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:00:17 +0000

This Week’s “In Other Words”

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. ”
Colossians 1:21-23a

Hosted this week at:

Miriam at Miriam Pauline’s Monologue

Reading this quote, reminds me of this image I saw via Pinterest that just captured my attention:

Source: twothingsincommon.blogspot.com via Sunflower on Pinterest

Isn’t both of these a great reminder of Galatians 1:10 and that through everything in life,

If convinced that we were enemies in our minds by wicked works, and that we are now reconciled to God by the sacrifice and death of Christ in our nature, we shall not attempt to explain away, nor yet think fully to comprehend these mysteries; but we shall see the glory of this plan of redemption, and rejoice in the hope set before us. If this be so, that God’s love is so great to us, what shall we do now for God?

Be frequent in prayer, and abound in holy duties; and live no more to yourselves, but to Christ. Christ died for us. But wherefore? That we should still live in sin? No; but that we should die to sin, and live henceforth not to ourselves, but to Him. (Col 1:24-29)

the hope set before us. If this be so, that God’s love is so great to us, what shall we do now for God? Be frequent in prayer, and abound in holy duties; and live no more to yourselves, but to Christ. Christ died for us. But wherefore? That we should still live in sin? No; but that we should die to sin, and live henceforth not to ourselves, but to Him. (Col 1:24-29)

we belong to God and to God alone and no one else.

It’s about all that He truly wants for us which is the best of us and not the worse and we are no longer who we once were but who we are now in and through Him.

We are reminded, looking through the Matthew Henry Commentary that,

“If convinced that we were enemies in our minds by wicked works, and that we are now reconciled to God by the sacrifice and death of Christ in our nature, we shall not attempt to explain away, nor yet think fully to comprehend these mysteries; but we shall see the glory of this plan of redemption, and rejoice inthe hope set before us. If this be so, that God’s love is so great to us, what shall we do now for God?

Be frequent in prayer, and abound in holy duties; and live no more to yourselves, but to Christ. Christ died for us. But wherefore? That we should still live in sin? No; but that we should die to sin, and live henceforth not to ourselves, but to Him. (Col 1:24-29)”

Maybe its human nature to sell ourselves short.

We think the worse of ourselves and that’s what the enemy loves and delights in; Convincing ourselves, that we are not good enough, don’t look good enough, aren’t worth enough and we find ourselves depending on other’s words for self validation and unfortunately finding ourselves, captive by our own thoughts.

Yet…God doesn’t feel that way…..after all, “but we shall see the glory of this plan of redemption, and rejoice inthe hope set before us. If this be so, that God’s love is so great to us, what shall we do now for God?”

Reading this passage, its a call that He did this all for us…so what shall we do? How about respect, give glory to Him where glory is due, and instead of saying or maybe thinking, “my time” give Him credit for His time that He gives us….maybe just a little gratitude.

Jerry Bridges points out eloquently in, “The Practice of Godliness”:

“Thankfulness to God is a recognition that God in His goodness and faithfulness has provided for us and cared for us, both physically and spiritually. It is a recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him; that all that we are and have comes from God.”

If you haven’t been a part of, “In Other Words Tuesday” before or have been thinking about it, I invite you to join, “Sunflower Faith” and others, each Tuesday, and share your thoughts on wonderful quotes shared by, “In Other Words Tuesday’s” hostesses and discover new blogs in the process!

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