When God Calls a Writer (Deanne Welsh) Book Review

2018 Reading Challenge

6. When God Calls a Writer by Deanne Welsh

Synopsis:
Is God calling you to write? Do you have a burning desire to write books and use words to inspire people and change the world?
When God Calls A Writer is a book about knowing that your desire to write is both a gift and a calling from God.
In When God Calls A Writer Deanne Welsh weaves the story of Moses with the story of a writer. Do you wonder if God is calling you to write, but you feel unqualified? What are the signs that God is calling you? Do you struggle to hear God's voice and guidance about your writing career? Are you eager for a powerful transformation in your faith and your writing?
Learn simple and strategic ways to allow God to connect with God, hear Him and allow Him to direct your writing journey.
Author Deanne Welsh shares her own story of insecurity and self-doubt and what it took for her to walk, first with doubt and then with confidence, into God's call for her to write. She gives you practical steps for listening to God and hearing His guidance, as well as the most important questions to ask as you begin your ministry-career of ideas, words, and stories.
By the end of this book you will have practical strategies to keep you focused, the specific questions to catapult your writing career forward, and the traits to develop and pay attention to for unstoppable writing success.
Your "yes" changes everything.

My Review:
I was interested in this book because I believe writing is one of my God-given talents.

This is a book aimed at Christian writers who believe that they are called to write. It gives encouragement if you don't believe you're suited for the job. The whole idea is to look to God to get through insecurities and any obstacles that stand in the way. With belief and faith in God, anything is possible. The book offers advice, tips, and exercises to find that faith in God and writing with Him will enable you to accomplish your call to write. It is short, but can be invaluable by writing with God, instead of without Him.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

~Meg~

Photo Credit:
https://medium.com/@deannewelsh/free-book-when-god-calls-a-writer-446fb8a9b589

Missing Kylie (Mark Myers) Book Review

2017 Reading Challenge

19. Missing Kylie by Mark Myers
      Prompt: a book about a difficult topic

Synopsis:

None of us like to hear the word no – especially as an answer to prayer. So how does a father reconcile a lifelong faith in God when confronted with the word no regarding something as critical as the healing of his youngest child?
This book is a two year journey through that wilderness of no. It contains few answers and many questions, but ultimately a faith that there is a loving God who chose a path we will never understand on this side of heaven.
When Kylie was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2014, her father believed that she would be completely healed and become a living testimony to God’s faithfulness and goodness. That is not the story that God wrote. A writer and blogger, Mark began posting about his struggles of heart and faith with a unique ability to mix humor and heartache. His genuine and often raw style seemed to resonate with many hurting people and his words were shared on many platforms.
Upon Kylie’s death in February 2015, he began a journey to find purpose among the ruins heaped on him, his family, and his faith – documenting both progress and set-backs. With several never-before published writings including an especially poignant letter written by Kylie just days before her death, this book is a compilation of blog posts and journal entries that allows you to walk alongside him for this season. It will bring both smiles and tears. You will feel his hope and faith while he faces the struggle, endures the pain of devastating loss, then embarks on a desperate search for meaning, while always: Missing Kylie.

My Review:

No one wants to hear the word cancer, especially when it's a child. But that's what happened to Mark and his family. His daughter Kylie was diagnosed with cancer and Mark only wanted to believe that she would survive. But it was an aggressive form of cancer that ultimately led to her death ten months later. Mark writes about the effects his daughter's cancer journey had on not only Kylie, but the rest of his family, before and after her death. The most poignant writing came on his journey of searching for purpose and meaning after Kylie died. There's no book out there that tells you how to grieve after someone dies because everyone is different and everyone deals with loss and heartbreak differently. Mark's struggles with hope and faith is understandable as it's real and genuine, but he also mixed it with a touch of humor which actually worked in an unique writing style. What I particularly enjoyed was the letters that Mark, his wife, and his other daughters wrote to Kylie around a year after her death.

Final Note: It's okay to question faith and God during hard times. But it's also important to remember that He's always with you and He will get you through it. It won't happen overnight, but with time and prayer, we, with God's support and grace, have the power to overcome those hard times.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

~Meg~

The Shack Book Review

2017 Reading Challenge

12. The Shack by William Paul Young
      Topic/Prompt: book that's becoming a movie in 2017

Synopsis:

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his "Great Sadness," Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.

My Review:

I read this book several years ago, but wanted to read it again since the movie was coming out this year. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it both times. When I read it the first time, I was left feeling confused after I finished it. This time around, I had a better understanding of what the book was truly about.

Mack's daughter was abducted and murdered in a shack in the wilderness. Several years later, Mack receives a letter from God inviting him back there for a couple days. He's basically given a choice and decides to take Him up on the offer. While Mack doesn't want to revisit that nightmare, he figures he has nothing to lose. In the several years since his daughter died, Mack had doubted and questioned his faith. During the weekend, he has conversations with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. These conversations are meant to answer his questions about why it happened and how he can overcome this dark time in his life and any other questions he has to help him re-discover God and his faith.

Controversial at best for its theological viewpoints, I wrote this review not from the theology view, but about the story itself. When we go through hard times in our lives, we often question God and everything we believe in. While this book and the God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit presented in the story are not a substitute for the Bible and God's Word, it does help provide answers to some questions you may have like why did God let this happen? The book is about the relationship between Mack and God and what God means to him. It provides some thought provoking and life changing (for some people) conversations that you may ask yourself. If you ever find yourself doubting or questioning God, you should first and foremost seek out God's Word in the Bible, but this book can be a start. It was a story filled with moments of happiness, as well as sadness, and pretty much every emotion people go through when they lose a loved one.

I enjoyed the story and the concept. When a book is fiction, you should be able to distinguish between what's real and not when it comes to a spiritual subject like God and religion.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

~Meg~

Be Thou My Vision (Faith Blum) Book Review

2017 Reading Challenge

11. Be Thou My Vision by Faith Blum

Synopsis:

Anna Stuart is comfortable with her life. She may be a 30 year old spinster, but she has her routine and enjoys taking care of her father and older brother. One letter shatters all her routines, comfort, and enjoyment. After learning of her brother’s death, Anna feels like her life will never be the same again. Then she meets two motherless boys. Did God place them in her life to lead her to a new vision of life? Can she trust God to give her the desires of her heart before she even knows what they are?

My Review:
I thought this was a thoroughly good read overall. Anna may be a 30 year old spinster, but she has enjoyed being the caretaker for her father and older brother. Everything changes one day when she receives a letter that her other brother died and he also wrote something to her right before that. Anna, torn into despair and grief, starts to question everything she believes in, God included. However, the letter also inspires Anna to seek out God again. She does it for herself and nobody else. She does have a relatively quick transformation, but it doesn't happen overnight either. When she goes back to Church, Anna is in for the unexpected surprise of befriending two boys. James and John just happen to be the preacher's sons, who are motherless and one of which is deaf (James I believe). They are drawn to her and end up encouraging her more to believe in God without even knowing it. Anna does meet Miles, of course the preacher. They hit it off, but he's so guarded that it takes him awhile to let her in his heart. Miles has had his hands full with not only the Church, but his boys, and Anna ends up being the answer to his call. Despite their personal struggles, both seem to realize that they are meant to be together. One of my favorite parts was Anna truly wanting to learn sign language so she could communicate better with James.

There was only part of the novel that I didn't really like. The Church had a gossip group of ladies who were not very welcoming to either Anna or the budding relationship with Miles. I really didn't find that to be Christian-like of what seemed to be true God-loving characters at first. And also, they knew Miles needed some support, but didn't offer any. Since it was a small Church, I thought everyone would be supportive of each other in the community and church as well.

While this is a Christian fiction novel, the story wasn't overly preachy, but still maintained that strong sense of Christian faith. I would have liked to have met some more characters from the community and got to know them as well. It was a well written story filled with some decent plotlines. I know I probably mentioned this before, but I really feel that people are in our lives for a reason and that's how I felt that Miles, James, and John were meant to be in Anna's life to gain a new perspective or vision in her life.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

~Meg~

Ben Franklin's 13 Virtues Lived By

Benjamin Franklin lived his life according to thirteen virtues. It was like his own religion and what he believed in. For that reason, I thought it could be a good follow-up post.

Note: His virtues can be found in his autobiography, hence the quotes.

The Thirteen Virtues are the following:

1. "Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation."

2. "Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."

3. "Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time."

4. "Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."

5. "Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing."

6."Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."

7. "Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly."

8. "Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty."

9. "Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve."

10. "Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation."

11. "Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."

12. "Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation."

13. "Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates."

What do you think of Ben Franklin's 13 Virtues?

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

❤Meg❤

Live Original Book Review

2016 Reading Challenge

6. Live Original by Sadie Robertson

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Sadie Robertson-star of A&E’s Duck Dynasty and daughter of Willie and Korie Robertson-shares her outlook on life as she opens up about herself and the values that make her family what it is. Sadie Robertson represents everything that a well-adjusted teenager should be, even while growing up in the spotlight on Duck Dynasty. She exhibits poise, respect for her family and friends, and a faith that influences her choices. Everyone wants to know how a family as eclectic as the Robertsons are raising such confident, fun, family-loving kids. With this book, Sadie sheds light on the values instilled by her family that make her the person she is. Sadie lives by a simple list of principles that lead her to personal and spiritual growth and allow the relationships she has with her friends and family to flourish. These values include think happy, be happy; dream big; shake the hate; do something; and many more.

My Review:
I want to start out by saying that I'm not a fan of Duck Dynasty. I've seen a few episodes and it just isn't to my liking - nothing to do with their Christian lifestyle by the way. I got to know Sadie when she danced with Mark Ballas on Season 19 of Dancing With the Stars and ended up liking her because of her personality and staying true to her values.

In a time when being a Christian/Catholic is not easy, it amazes me to know that some people stay true to their faith and values despite the adversity they face, just like Sadie does. Sadie does a good job at sharing how her faith in God helps guide her through her teenage years. The teen years can be pretty rough, especially for girls. Sadie does give some great advice for getting through those challenging times. It didn't come across as being over preachy, but in some situations, it went over the top just a little.

Some of the things mentioned were repeated in different ways throughout the book and it was just using simple and basic language. Since Sadie is only a teen, there are still lots of challenges that she has yet to face. The only thing that I didn't like was that it came across as in Sadie believing that all teens are raised like she was most of her life. And unfortunately, that's not quite true. Yes, there are a lot of devout Christian families out there, kids included, who live exceptional lives as to God's lifestyle, so to say. I have no problems with that, but at the same time, you have to take into consideration and show compassion to the way others have grown up. It does sometimes takes people a while to put God first in their life and you have to be respectful of that as well.

Sadie said over and over again how she chooses to be happy regardless of what's going on, even through the tough times. That certainly isn't easy. While I agree that choosing to be happy (or hiding the fact that you're going through a hard time) is necessary in a way, it is also okay to have those bad days. Being sad and upset (this doesn't mean anger) it's normal to show those emotions as well. She does give advice to keeping emotions in check, like anger and jealousy, because people tend to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing when they feel that way.

This is a great book for tweens and teens alike. I appreciated the scripture quotes throughout the story. It just underwhelmed me a little bit as a whole. What I liked the most about this book was that it encourages you to be you, so live original.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

Meg


 

On Which Side of the Road Do the Flowers Grow? Book Review

2016 Reading Challenge

5. On Which Side of the Road Do the Flowers Grow? by Wendell E Mettey
    Topic: book that's under 150 pages

Synopsis:
During his years pastoring an inner-city church, Wendell Mettey discovered that God uses even the most blemished vessels to bring beauty into the world. In On Which Side of the Road Do the Flowers Grow?, Pastor Mettey shares the humorous and touching stories of his diverse congregation— ordinary people whose lives were infused with an awareness of God's real and abundant grace.

My Review:
Reverend Wendell Mettey shares actual stories of some of his parishioners who left an impact on him and the church. Most of them are about those who didn't believe in God for awhile and their transformations on how they got to believe in God and their faith. Then there were those who didn't miss a service for anything, showing that God was the most important person in their life. This was kind of a quick read since it's under 150 pages (hence the topic I used it for). Some of the stories were heartwarming. Only a couple lacked to be touching and compelling for me. I believe that these stories revolved around a Baptist church, as well as the struggles an inner city church faces/faced. I especially liked how he portrayed how some sinners turned their life around for the church and God.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

Meg