Category: Book Reviews

Some of my favorites. There are tons!

The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children, by Stormie Omartian

Book Reviews, Brokenness debshelly@cox.net
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Nothing will make you feel like you got something all wrong like a prodigal child.

And often the only thing you can do for a prodigal is PRAY.

Wait. Keep. Your. Mouth. Shut.

Because:

  • You can’t fix them – only God can – there is a hard line between letting an adult child learn a difficult lesson and helping them get back on their feet.
  • God can change everything! “If you have never prayed for your adult child before, or if some bad things have happened to him or her before you learned how to pray, do not be troubled. God is a redeemer.  Redemption is His specialty. God will redeem a troubling situation in our lives when He is invited to do so.” Stormie Omartian
  • There is only ONE perfect parent, and you’re NOT it.  When we send our children out into the world most of us have done the best we could.  We taught them right from wrong.  We equipped them.  We have to stop beating ourselves up over mistakes our adult child(ren) may make. They have free will just like we do. We have to trust that the Lord can teach them what we failed or didn’t know to teach them. God can redeem them and teach them what they need to learn. God often does that through trials, suffering and consequences. We need to stay out of the way and just PRAY!

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Why I read this book…

I co-led a group of moms in a study of this book about 10 years ago. My children were just coming into adulthood.

Since then I’ve prayed for my adult children to remain faithful to God’s Kingdom, know the future God has for them, to choose godly mates, understand God’s purpose for their lives, for good health, for safety as 3 sons are in the military, to resist evil and temptation, to be good parents, and much more. This excellent book addresses the why and how to pray for these things.

Recently, during a particularly difficult time in one of our children’s lives, I literally prayed the written prayers found on these pages…because it was the only thing I knew to do. When we do not know what to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, or we simply pray what someone else before us has prayed.

I highly recommend this book!  Stormie Omartian is well known for her many books on prayer, for moms, for wives, husbands, parents, grandparents, for whatever stage of life we are in.

Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family by Paul David Tripp

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This book has a profound message!

I used to think I had the power to change my children. That if I followed the prescribed parenting formula they would be perfect.

Where was this book when I had four boys, 5 and under, homeschooling and struggling to stay on top of everything!

It’s never too late to change direction and make a change in your parenting techniques. It doesn’t matter what age your children currently are.

It will help you to stop blaming yourself for how your children may have turned out and give you tools to help them…and yourself.

Author, Paul David Tripp, shares such a practical, God ordained message, not only on parenting but on life in general, that we can’t afford to miss what he says.

Whether you are getting ready to parent your first child, are in the middle of parenting a whole bunch of kids, if you are a teacher, a youth leader, an empty nester or a grandparent, you need to read this book! Highly recommended.  Click here to order a copy.

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Why I read this book…

I’m considered a “senior citizen” (just barely though) and all my children are adults, most with children of their own, so why am I reading a parenting book?

Because God is still parenting me and I still have a lot to learn!  Time, age…but mostly years of realizing how much I need grace and mercy from my Heavenly Father, helped me develop a more grace-filled parenting approach.

“Personal contact with Jesus alters everything!” Oswald Chambers

essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

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“The way of the essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better…or learning to filter through all those options and selecting only those that are truly essential.”  Greg McKeown

That’s what I want.  To be able to figure out what it is that I can do that will not only make the most impact but more importantly will have eternal impact and be what God sent me here to do.  I want to invest in the right activities.  We have to reject the idea that we can fit it all in.  If we choose carefully we can make one or two wise decisions and every other decision will support it or uphold that decision for years to come.

In “essentialism” you will learn the core mind-set of an essentialist or a minimalist mindset, how we can discern what the vital few activities in our lives should be, how to eliminate the trivial and do the vital things effortlessly.

McKeown says, “…for the first time, the preponderance of choice has overwhelmed our ability to manage it.  We have lost our ability to filter what is important and what isn’t.”

This will be an essential read for me in 2018! Pun intended.  Highly recommended!  Click here to order a copy for yourself!

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Mother & Son, The Respect Effect: What Every Mom Needs to Recognize in Her Son

Book Reviews, Boy Mom debshelly@cox.net
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On the back cover of the book, Mother & Son, wife of the author, Sarah Eggerichs, states, “As a mother, it is never too early and never too late to apply this message…” This is such a true statement! Whether your son is a toddler or a forty something (or older) dad raising his own family, you can learn how to communicate and relate to those boys. One thing I realized fairly early while raising boys was that by the time they reached puberty or were close to it, they had a need to be treated like men more than children. They would go back and forth between being a child and wanting to be a man but if I continued to treat them as a child the relationship suffered. One chapter in this book talks about how boys (and men) desire “shoulder time”. Shoulder time is allowing your son to just sit next to you without riddling him with questions about his day or simply just admiring whatever he is doing. Just watching. He will open up to you much more quickly this way and even invite you into his world.

I love the following insight by Eggerichs who says,

“Moms need reminders to be a little friendlier toward their sons, especially when someone is severely testing her patience, which most often is her boy.”

Do you respond in a friendly way when your sons test your patience? Or are you impatient and unfriendly. I know I could have done a lot better in this area. But like Sarah Eggerichs says, it’s never too late to apply this message.

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Why I read this book.

I am the mother of four boys plus I have a husband. Now, I also have seven grandsons. My husband says all the time, “I could use some shoulder time.” Often my husband asks me if I would like to help him in the garage or go along to do something with him. He doesn’t really want help, he just wants me to hang with him, admire him and do “shoulder time.” That’s what energizes him. My boys are now ages 28-34. My grandsons are newborn to eight years old. I’m going to apply these principles to those boys and see what happens. Remember it’s never too late to improve your Mother & Son relationships!

Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers; Finding Freedom from Hurt and Hate

Book Reviews, Brokenness debshelly@cox.net
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In Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers, author Leslie Leyland Fields tells the compelling story of her own journey to forgiveness of a distant, emotionally absent and sometimes abusive father. The author skillfully weaves the stories of others who are on their own paths of forgiving a parent. A very helpful part of the book is at the end of each chapter there is a section written by Dr. Jill Hubbard, a clinical psychologist, who tells the reader not only what the author is dealing with but practical solutions and fresh ways to look at these issues. Fields writes,

“many of us repeat even the most harmful of behaviors modeled by our parents – unless we recognize and confront them.”

This is a great resource for anyone who is dealing with a broken relationship with a parent for whatever reason. A lot of it is painful to read if you’ve been in this situation, but as Dr. Hubbard writes,

“When there is no awareness, acknowledgment, surrender, confession, remorse, or repentance, there is a very predictable runoff that spills over from one generation to the next.”

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Why I read this book…

I had to forgive my father and mother. I did that many years ago before reading this book but it’s a process. Pain needs to be peeled away, spoken about, to allow the new to grow, to allow the beauty to emerge. I also realized that the following by Fields is true in my situation – “Most of us have parents who did not mean it for evil, whose lapses and failings and absences were not intended to wound. They would take it back if they could. Many were in the grip of illness and circumstances they did not know how to change. They were weak, without understanding, trying to make their way without resources, not knowing how to raise children. Most did not mean it for evil, but even if some did, God was still present, and He still intends to use it for good in our lives, and for the good of others around us.”

My parents were in the grip of mental illness. Both of them, often at the same time. They were trying to make their way without resources. And when I realized God was present with me through those childhood years and He still intends to use if for good not only in my life but in the lives of others, I can run towards forgiveness rather than away from it. Forgiveness is my ticket out of a self-made prison.

A Family Shaped by Grace: How to Get Along with the People Who Matter Most

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A Family Shaped by Grace by Gary Morland is a breath of fresh air. Morland writes of being raised in a dysfunctional family, pulled into alcoholism, and bringing these traits into his own marriage and family. That’s the first chapter. In the remaining 14 chapters he tells us that if this is your “normal,” how you can change it. Morland’s Timeless Tools of Family Peace (chapter 5) is well worth the price of the book but he doesn’t stop there. If you want to change the trajectory of your family and leave a different legacy for your children and grandchildren to pass down, then read this book A Family Shaped by Grace!

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Why I read this book…

I grew up in a family where BOTH parents suffered from severe mental illness. I had very few examples on how to be a wife and mother. All that I learned I learned from my mother-in-law and friends who I thought were doing it right. Also I didn’t become a Christian until I was 23 years old so I made a TON of mistakes in life between 14 and 23. At age 23 a dear Christian nurse I was working with led me to the Lord. Nothing grieved me more than when I discovered how much I had done wrong and what that would do to my future marriage and family. But God is a God of second chances. God doesn’t treat us as we deserve. He shows mercy and grace and will restore what the locusts have destroyed (Joel 2:25). I needed (and still need) all the grace I can get!

Blue Like Jazz

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Blue Like Jazz  is Donald Miller’s personal memoirs about his journey into and through anger and confusion about Christianity, self-doubt, the struggle to “love people just because they exist” no matter their situation in life yet not abandon the truth of scripture. Miller is so quirky, honest and transparent about his search for true meaning that it may make some parents want to ban the book but if you hang in there he leads you straight to Jesus. (It’s not in any way graphic or inappropriate, just says what every one is thinking but not saying). I love how Miller points out that God never withholds love to teach us a lesson and that to have influence or get people to listen to you about spiritual matters they have to sense that you like them and that you care. And he likes Ravi Zacharias and Brennan Manning! Highly recommended.  Click here to order!

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Why I read this book

In our women’s Bible study group, between us, we have many kids in the highschool and college age group. A lot of our kids were reading the book and we thought we could gain some insight into their mindset. We were very surprised how much we really liked Miller’s take on all things religious.

The Sacred Search

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If you are looking for a great book on the subject of relationships, dating and marriage this is an awesome read! It will change your perspective on the subject. Author Gary Thomas shows us what it means to keep God at the center of our relationships and to focus on a greater mission in your future marriage. A great gift for that special single person in your life! I highly recommend this book.  Click to order The Sacred Search.

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Why I read this book…since I am WAY past “searching” for anyone…

Oh boy, where do I start.  I SO wish I had this book and read it at about age fourteen! I didn’t want my only daughter to make the same mistakes in this area (and there were a LOT) so I read this before giving it to my daughter. Even after 35 years of marriage it was helpful (in a reverse kind of way) to bring healing to my soul.  Plus it led me to a whole list of other books by Gary Thomas on marriage like Sacred Marriage, A Lifelong Love, and Cherish that will bless your marriage no matter what state it is in. So if you have a teen boy or girl, young highschool or college age son or daughter, don’t hesitate another minute.  Order Sacred Search for them now and read it to them or bribe them to read it!