Loving My Actual Neighbor-7 Practices to Treasure the People Right in Front of You: A Review

Alexandra Kuykendall, author of this new title from Baker Books has written this book to help us to see how we can Love our Neighbor who lives next door or down the street anywhere nearby. She also states that we have “neighbors all over the world-but this book is specifically written to help us with our need to love our neighbor who is right close by.”

Dave Runyon, coauthor of the book The Art of Neighboring states:

We have an opportunity to send the world a message of hope by caring for the people right around us. Loving My Actual Neighbor offers practical approaches to connecting with our neighbors, our officemates, and the person we find standing next to us on the soccer sidelines.

Here are some of the points that the author covers:

Holding a Posture of Humility

Asking Questions to Learn

Being Quiet to Listen

Standing in the Awkward

Accepting What Is

Lightening Up

Giving Freely

In the introduction the author quotes C.S. Lewis who wrote:

“Do not waste time bothering whether you “love” your neighbor: act as if you did.

As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love them.

The author uses a lot of illustrations from her life and others from her church on how they practiced the art of loving ones neighbor. She suggests that sometimes we may feel awkward and sometime we won’t know what to do but we and our neighbors will be blessed when we take the opportunity to reach out to our neighbors in small or large ways.

You can order this book on line or check for it at your favorite book store.

Dssperate Forgiveness-How Mercy Sets You Free: A Review

Al and Lisa Robertson from Duck Dynasty are the authors of this recent title from Focus on the Family and Tyndale House Publishers.

I am interested in books dealing with forgiveness because I know it is one of the most needed item in this world.

In Desperate Forgiveness you’ll learn how to:

Recognize the freedom found in letting go of bitterness,

Realize the necessity and power of humility,

Receive forgiveness as well as offer it, and genuinely embrace forgiveness and live it out each day.

Let Desperate Forgiveness help you find your way to freedom today!

The authors tell their personal story which is a rather wild story and they also bring in other stories to illustrate the power of forgiveness- both receiving it and giving it.

Click here and you can read excerpts from this book on line for free. You can either order the book on line or purchase it at your local book store.

God's Truth Can Change Your Life: A Review

This new book by George R. Knight assures us that truly God’s Truth Can Change Your Life, that the Bible is where God’s truth is revealed.

Dr. Knight focuses on a number of the significant truths from the Bible. I will comment on a couple of them from this book.

Jesus: The Center of the Story

You don’t have to be a Christian to know that there is something special about Jesus. After all, even the dating system upon which our calendars are based is divided between B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of our Lord”). No wonder Jesus has been called the hinge of history. Our very understanding of history puts Jesus at the center.

The same picture is found in the Bible. The Old Testament points forward to Jesus as the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world. And the New Testament looks back on His life, death, and the church He founded to take His teachings to the far corners of the earth. Thus Jesus is not only the focal point of history but also the very center of the Bible story.

Jesus is truly the center of history, the Bible and God’s rescue plan. But those facts will do us absolutely no good unless we make Him the very center of our lives.

Judgment is Good News

For sin pays its wage-death; but God’s free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 GNT

Those who accept Jesus by faith have nothing to fear in the judgment. In fact, God established the judgment to determine who are willing to be forgiven….This is very good news!

The good news is that the Judge is on our side.

The good news is that the Judge sent the Savior.

The good news is that all who have accepted Jesus’ life and death are safe in Him.

The good news is that the purpose of the judgment is the vindication of God’s people.

I recommend this book. You can read the first chapter on line for free- click here.

The Hawaiian Discovery: A Review

This is the sequel to The Hawaiian Quilt.  Authors Wanda Brunstetter with her daughter-in-law Jean Brunstetter have written another great book.

In The Hawaiian Quilt the story is about Mandy and three of her friends taking a trip to Hawaii.  It is a cruise from California to Hawaii, then from island to island and then cruising back to California. Well two of the girls; Mandy and Ellen miss the cruise ship and end up spending a number of months in Hawaii helping at a Bed and Breakfast. Mandy falls in love with a young man Ken, who she marries, and they settle in Indiana near to Mandy’s family.

In the Hawaiian Discover Ken and Mandy have opened a Bed and Breakfast in Indiana Ellen works for them at the B and B. Then the phone call. Ken’s dad has died back in Hawaii. Ken and Mandy decide that they need to go to Hawaii to help Ken;’s Mom during this time of loss.  So they leave the B and B in the care of Ellen.

Ken and Mandy arrive in Hawaii and help take care of Ken’s parent’s Organic Chicken farm. It soon becomes apparent that they are going to need to spend quite a bit of time there in Hawaii. Ken goes surfing one day and is attacked by a shark and ends up almost dying.

Meanwhile, Mandy and Ken have put their Bed and Breakfast in Indiana up for sale and it sells and now Ellen is out of a job and is available to fly to Hawaii to be of comfort and assistance to her best friend Mandy.

Ellen is a big help and she becomes acquainted with a young man who is helping on the Chicken Farm. Ellen is Amish and the young man is English. You must read the book to learn how God worked this out for both.

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee.”  Psalm 55:22.

I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it. You can order it on line from various venues like Amazon.com or purchase it at your local book store.

Healing Depression for Life: A Review

Author Gregory L. Jantz, PhD says in the introduction to his new book Healing Depression for Life: "Help Is on the Way."

An emphatic point the author makes is that one must have a holistic approach when dealing with depression. As an illustration, he tells the story of one of his patients whose name was John. John was in his early forties and was severely depressed. He had been depressed for a long time. By the time he checked into “The Center,” he was 100 pounds overweight. He had visited various practitioners. But no one had asked a simple question, “what’s going into your mouth every day?”

It turns out that among other things John was drinking on the average twelve pots of coffee every day. John shared that no one had ever asked how much coffee he drank so he had never thought to mention it. He was definitely addicted to Coffee!

Thankfully with some help at the clinic, John adjusted his diet, cut his coffee back to almost nothing and began to exercise and he improved rapidly.

Healing depression is not only possible; it is achievable. But it will require taking a hard look at your life and adjusting your lifestyle—in some cases permanently. The whole person plan is not a magic bullet, nor is it a once for all fix. The road to wellness is less like a detour back to where you were going and more like following a new road to a new destination

Here are some of the important points that the author emphasizes:

The Curative Power of a Solid Night’s Sleep

How Overuse of Technology Erodes Mental Health

How to Tame Chronic Stress and Regain Emotional Wellness

Uncovering Hidden Addictions Can Set You Free

How Unresolved Anger, Guilt, and Fear Undermine Healing

Forgiveness Is the Remedy-and a Relief for Depression

Spiritual Practices Are Essential to Healing from Depression

Physical Activity Provides a Massive Boost to Your Mood and Metabolism

Proper Nutrition and Hydration Fortify Your Body to Fend Off Depression

Detox Your Body of Pollutants to Improve Your Overall Wellness

The Little-Known Power of Psychobiotics to Relieve Depression

Enjoy a Big Boost from Nutritional Supplements

Maintain Your Momentum for the Rest of Your Life

For more information on this book please click here . You can order a copy on line or visit your local book store to purchase a copy.