The Vertical Self by Mark Sayers

The Vertical Self by Mark Sayers is all about learning the difference between Western Culture and Biblical Culture. Living in the United States of America, I have grown up with a lot of material possessions. I am used to having television, video games, air conditioning, a lot of books, clothes, cds, movies, etc. Living for the material possessions is living horizontally. That is the way most people live. Often times people, myself included, let these material possessions get in our way of living for God. God wants us to be holy. God wants us to live vertically. Many Christians live vertically in some places (like church) and horizontally other places (like with friends). This is not how God intended for us to live our lives. We should be consistently vertical! In this book, Mark Sayers gives advice backed up by the Holy Bible to help us learn to live vertically all of the time. We need to stop caring about how others judge us and only care about how the Lord judges us and how we live. This book does a great job of explaining that concept! This book challenged the way I live my life and I would recommend it to others!

Mom's Devotional Bible Review

I recently read the Mom’s Bible. I received a copy of it through Thomas Nelson Publishing’s book review program. It is the easy to read New Century Version (NCV) that takes even the most difficult concepts and makes them easily understandable for every reader. This Bible has a nice hardcover that makes for a good shelf presentation. I thoroughly enjoyed the section called “Answers to Questions Kids Ask.” It is a good tool for parents and caregivers who may not know how to answer the many questions that their children may ask about God. There are other sections throughout the Bible that are well written and have good information that every Christian woman should know. There is also a topical index. I normally like to use a topical index since it makes it easy to look up various scriptures on the same subject, but the topical index in the Mom’s Bible only references one Bible verse per topic. It seemed odd to me that they would choose just one verse when four or five could be used.
Overall, I enjoy using this Bible during my personal time with God. I would also recommend it to the other mothers in my life.

Burried Alive by Roy Hallums

Burried Alive is the true story of Roy Hallums, a civilian contractor in Iraq who was held hostage for 311 days. During this time, Roy was beaten and not given sufficient food. There were bugs and filth everywhere. Roy lived in a hellish place for 10 months while his family had to deal with the possibility of never seeing him again. Roy details his days of being hostage from his side and his family’s side. He used his daughter’s journal to help with what his family was going through while he was being held hostage in Iraq. Roy does not go into depth about is faith, as would be expected in a book being published by Thomas Nelson, but nonetheless, the story of a man held hostage for 311 days and coming home alive is a good one. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Roy’s story. It kept me on edge the whole time. I would recommend this book to my friends and family.

Max Lucado's Fearless

I am a huge fan of Max Lucado's books and have been since I was 14. This book is no exception to the quality and depth that Max Lucado provides in his books. This book has helped me to see that I should not have fear in my life because I have been washed in the Blood and He is with me daily.
Fear is not something that is of God. In Christ, there is no fear. Lucado does a good job in pointing this out. Everyone has fears, even if they do not want to admit it. Some people fear things like water, bridges, germs, or spiders. Other people fear the not so obvious things like rejection, being unloved, or dying alone. The world says that if you have overwhelming fears, you can take medicine and it will make it all go away. That is wrong! The only way to rid your life of fear is to trust in God and His love. Max Lucado shows us that there are over 20 times in the Bible when Jesus tells us “fear not.” This is something that most Christians overlook, but if it was said that many times, it needs to be focused on!
Fearless also shows us that the opposite of fear is faith. Faith that we will get the job. Faith that we will have a good, healthy life. Faith that we will have a long and happy marriage. Faith that our children will grow strong in the Lord and have a family of their own one day. Faith that no matter what our circumstances are, God is there with us and He is in control of it all.
Every Christian should read this book!