Women Living Well: Finding Your Joy in God, Your Man, Your Kids, and Your Home by Courtney Joseph is one book that encompasses a variety of topics that every Christian woman wants to know more about. The premise behind the book is that if we want to be women living well, we need to drink from our Living Well.

I’ll admit that I couldn’t relate much when the author writes of how she lived out her faith even in her childhood. (I didn’t have a personal relationship with God until my mid-teens.) But the way she speaks of her mother – the dedication with which she had trained her daughters and lived out her faith, made me want to be a better mother for my sons.

If you’re a long time reader of the author’s blog, you’ll find portions of the book to be repetitive. But I sincerely didn’t mind, as I still took away a lot from the book.

One quote that hit me hard was related to marriage:

“I wonder: why is it noble to help men in the workplace, help orphans,
help widows, help your pastor, help the neighbors, or help your parents,
but degrading to help your husband – your groom,
your lover, and your best friend?”

OUCH!

I shared this quote with my husband, and his smug smile convinced me that he was silently applauding the author! 🙂

Onto the book’s structure itself… it is divided into 4 parts (consisting of 5 chapters each) titled:

1. Your Walk with the King
2. Your Marriage
3. Your Parenting
4. Your Homemaking

In each of these areas, the author humbly shares the mistakes she’s made, lessons she’s learned and practical tips to help us overcome our struggles.

If there was one quote that could sum up what I took away from this book, it’s this:

“It is in the secret discipline of private prayer and meditation on God’s Word
that our roots grow deep into the rich soil of holiness.”

When we quiet ourselves and spend quality time God, He equips us to be better wives, mothers and homemakers! I know this is common sense… but WOW… God wants to help us be better at what He’s called us to do! 🙂

If you are a woman looking for direction in your faith, marriage, parenting or homemaking, the biblical truths expanded in this book will definitely benefit you.

P.S: There was a Women Living Well Conference held a few months back, and you can view the complete sessions here. They are GOOD! 🙂

Disclosure: I received a free Kindle version of this book from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

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Discipleship & Discipline: Practical Parenting Help for the Desperate Mom is an eCourse conducted by Sally Clarkson and Sarah Mae.  Having already read the book Desperate that they wrote together, I knew they’d have valuable parenting tips to share.  And I was not disappointed!

Over the course of 4 webinars, Sally and Sarah Mae share a lot of lessons they’ve learnt while parenting their own children.  I love their emphasis on building relationships, acceptance and learning about the heart of our kids.  They also share a lot of great advice for parents with difficult children.

I have to admit that there are times in my life when I think I’ve messed up my boys for good – and they’re only 5 years old!  This course gives me hope that I can learn to be a better mother.  I know I’m not perfect, and never will be…  But by learning from those who’ve trod the same path before (and with God’s guidance, of course) I can be the best mother I could possible be for my kids.

There’s so much to take away from this course, that I don’t know where to begin.  But rather than letting the information overwhelm me, I’m determined to let God help me work on the main areas first – patience, heartfelt discipline and perseverance.  It’s too early to tell if there are any changes in our household, but I’m sure we’re on the right track.

Now on to the course itself… It is presented in just a single PDF document, but looks can be deceiving!  Inside this PDF you will find:

• Daily devotions
• Course outline for each of the 4 days
• 4 videos that you can watch anytime

And as a bonus, you also get:

• Core Lies ebook
• The UnWired Mom ebook
• My 24 Family Ways PDF packet

The regular price of the course is $17.99.  But you can find a discount coupon for $8 off the regular price here (valid till Friday, October 10).

Click here for more information about the Discipleship & Discipline Course

Disclosure: I received free access to the course to facilitate my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

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I must admit… although I love Christian fiction, I don’t read as many novels now as I did in my teens and early twenties.  Nowadays, I seem to favor non-fiction books that encourage me in my faith, marriage, parenting or ministry.  So anyway, the only reason I chose to review this novel was because a few other books I wanted to review weren’t available yet.  Oh, but I am so glad I got to read it!  I read through the book in a week, which is quite uncommon for me in my current state of life :).

City On Fire: A Novel of Pompeii is a historical Christian fiction book written by Tracy Higley.  The story is set in first-century Italy and incorporates everything from gladiators and Roman politicians to Jews and early Christians.  My first impression of the book was that it reminded me of “Quo Vadis”, but of course, the two books cannot be compared.

The story revolves around a Jewish slave girl (Ariella) who pretends to be a gladiator in order to escape from an immoral master.  She ends up in the city of Pompeii where a wealthy politician (Cato) uncovers her identity and is determined to keep her safe from predators.

The author subtly weaves early Christians into the story-line and brings about their meaningful encounters with the lead characters.  I love the way Ariella, a Jew who’s lost faith in her God… and Cato an honest politician on a quest for justice, both understand the truth about Christ in their individual ways.

The author has obviously done a lot of research before writing this book which is evident in the minute details.  Although the immoral state of the people at that time has been described, it is rightly presented as the result of humans falling prey to evil forces that take advantage of their weaknesses.

I loved the book, although I wouldn’t recommend it for younger readers.  A few scenes that I connected with seemed to be right out of the book of Acts in the Bible.  The last few chapters especially are fast-paced and soul-stirring.  If you like historical fiction and the stories of early Christians, you’ll love this book.

Disclosure: I received a free Kindle version of this book from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.