Do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and petition, present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4 :6-7

Blessed is than man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who believe. James 1: 12

So do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5: 6 -7

And the one that I think sums it all up for us:

…….because God has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you So we say with confidence. “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me ? “.Hebrews 13:5-6

I have always been in awe of the way God meets my needs, especially the ones I never knew I had. Making friends has not been difficult for me. Sustaining and growing friendships, however, is my weakness. In the last year God has blessed my life abundantly by surrounding me with true Christian women who have filled a tremendous need in my life. These are women from all walks of life, different age groups, in different stages of a their walk with Christ. They have taught me intimacy and how to be open and vulnerable. They have encouraged me in my marriage and with my children. They have guided me and instructed me in God’s Holy Word. Oswald Chamber’s says in his book , My Utmost for His Highest, “True friendship is rare on earth. It means identifying with someone in thought, heart and spirit.”. This Thanksgiving I want to thank all those women who have offered their true friendship to me. Your advice, wisdom, compassion and love mean more than you can ever know.

Author: William P. Young

Summary: From Amazon.com

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. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant “The Shack” wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!

Positive Elements: This is a wonderfully descriptive and vivid story of the relationship between one man and his heavenly father. Mack endures through one of the most horrific tragedies imaginable to a parent: the loss of a child. During his grieving he has given up on God, church and all things associated with religion. In the story God reveals himself to Mack in many ways on many different levels. Simply, He shares in Mack’s pain and then brings him comfort.  This story is a reminder that God does not like it when bad things happen to us but that he can purpose good out of it for those who love him. (Romans 8:28).  With God’s restoration, Mack was even able to do something unimaginable to many of us; forgiving his daughter’s perpetrator. The burden of bitterness was lifted and Mack was able to have a life fulfilled. I am reminded of the verse in Isaiah 40:31 which says, But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary; they will walk and not faint.  Even in the midst of our suffering we can make a choice. We can flee and let bitterness, anger and doubt seep in, as it did in Mack prior to his meeting at the shack. Or we can embrace it and put our hope in the Lord that he will work it out for His will and purpose.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content: The premise of the story revolves around the kidnapping and subsequent murder of a young girl. While not graphic in detail, the topic itself can be uncomfortable for many.

Profanity: None

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: I believe that this story provided an amazing insight into the restoration God provides us in our suffering. His hand is always at work in our lives. One of the verses that comes to mind is James 1:2-4 which says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trial of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Mack certainly did not find joy in his suffering but God was faithful to him and joy came to him as he persevered through his trial.  I do have some issues with some of the theology presented in the book. Particularly with respect to the trinity. At one point Mack notices nail prints in God’s hand. I don’t believe there is biblical evidence for this to be possible. In one scene, Jesus tells Mack with regards to his followers that he had no desire to make them Christians. Christian by definition means follower of Christ and his teachings. I would urge every reader of The Shack to keep your Bible handy while reading as to reference any theological discrepancies.

Author: Harry Bernstein

Summary: From Amazon.com

“There are places that I have never forgotten. A little cobbled street in a smoky mill town in the North of England has haunted me for the greater part of my life. It was inevitable that I should write about it and the people who lived on both sides of its ‘Invisible Wall.’ ”
The narrow street where Harry Bernstein grew up, in a small English mill town, was seemingly unremarkable. It was identical to countless other streets in countless other working-class neighborhoods of the early 1900s, except for the “invisible wall” that ran down its center, dividing Jewish families on one side from Christian families on the other. Only a few feet of cobblestones separated Jews from Gentiles, but socially, it they were miles apart.
On the eve of World War I, Harry’s family struggles to make ends meet. His father earns little money at the Jewish tailoring shop and brings home even less, preferring to spend his wages drinking and gambling. Harry’s mother, devoted to her children and fiercely resilient, survives on her dreams: new shoes that might secure Harry’s admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that the entire family might one day be whisked off to the paradise of America.
Then Harry’s older sister, Lily, does the unthinkable: She falls in love with Arthur, a Christian boy from across the street.
When Harry unwittingly discovers their secret affair, he must choose between the morals he’s been taught all his life, his loyalty to his selfless mother, and what he knows to be true in his own heart.
A wonderfully charming memoir written when the author was ninety-three, The Invisible Wall vibrantly brings to life an all-but-forgotten time and place. It is a moving tale of working-class life, and of the boundaries that can be overcome by love.

Positive Elements: This book is a beautifully written memoir of world many of us know nothing about. The story begins with the author recalling his childhood from age 4. The details and landscape of his everyday life are vivid and engrossing. On the surface it would appear that Harry Bernstein did not have a happy childhood. His father was emotionally and most of the time physically absent. He was often teased and harrassed walking to and from school because of his Jewish faith. Harry’s mother was perhaps the most memorable character in the book. What an amazing woman. She sacrificed her self in every way for her children. She truly is an inspiration to everyone. This memoir is a testament to the resiliency of children. It was also a real look into the divisive world of Jews and Christians. Bernstein realizes that whether Jew or Christian, underneath we are all have the same emotions and hope and dream of the same things. It took a tragedy then a celebration to bring the two cultures together.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content:There are several situations of domestic violence in the story. However these situations are not too graphic. There are also several instances of children fighting.

Profanity: Some negative connotations and slurs referring to Jews and Christians

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: I loved reading this book. Bernstein faced so much adversity in his childhood. History has always informed of us of the tension and bitterness between Jews and Christians. I have never read a book that brought it to a reader from such a personal persepective. The lively characters from Bernstein’s childhood will make you laugh, want to cry and smile at the small victories. What a triumph for him to pen his first book at 93. I am looking forward to reading the sequel The Dream.

Author: Denise Jackson

Summary: From Christian Book Distributors

Take an inspiring behind-the-scenes glimpse at one of country music’s most famous couples. Learn about Alan and Denise’s struggles and success, their love story and the near-failure of their marriage—and how rediscovering their faith dramatically shaped their lives. Includes an exclusive CD featuring their wedding song and Alan’s new composition about their shared journey. 256 pages, hardcover from Nelson.

Positive Elements: Mrs. Jackson takes readers inside an honest and poignant journey of the struggles she faces in a celebrity marriage. The Him in the title refers to God and not her famous husband. If you think that you will be getting an inside scoop on Alan Jackson’s personal life you will be dissapointed. Though raised in a Christian home, Denise’s child-like understanding of God failed to comfort her during several major life crisis, including the separation from her husband. When every attempt to console herself during crisis failed, Denise decided to renew her relationship with God. She surrounded herself with Christian women, participated in Bible studies and sought counsel from godly men and women. Matthew 7:7 says, ” Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” I find that in my own walk with God that when you desire Him and His will doors are opened. I was pleased to see that Mrs. Jackson focused on her self and her own spiritual growth instead of opting to fix her husband’s flaws. She makes comments that she is no scholar of the Bible yet Scripture is referenced throughout the book in an encouraging manner. To me this reinforces the idea that God and His word are open and available to all of us and are applicable to our everyday walk with its struggles and triumphs.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content: None

Profanity: None

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: Finally a celebrity couple who really gets who God is and what he can do. It seems everywhere these days celebrities are endorsing this faith or that, dabbling in mysticism or some other New Age religion on the path to happiness. The Jacksons have discovered what so many in their industry have not found: that pure happiness and contentmen comes from our Lord. Denise makes it clear how easy it was for her to be enticed by wordly things when she lost sight of God. I admire her honesty in the book. Admitting personal failures is always taking a risk with your readers . I applaud this couple at their desire to restore their marriage and for doing the hard work to keep their family together. Mrs. Jackson does unecessarily include many references to her material possessions and extravagant wealth. I suppose she does this to provide the readers with a complete picture of the lack of fullfillment she felt despite “having it all.”

My family faced a battle this week. Without going in to a lot of details, part of our fight occurred in the public forum. It was truly and Joshua vs Jericho battle. We, along with many friends and family prayed that God would be glorified and His good and perfect will be done in this situation. God intervened for us and gave us success in our battle. The fight continues though, and even if the end does not result in a positive outcome for us, I will continue praise and thank God for the amazing way He has shown himself to me this week. God is Awesome!!

If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death or life, neither angels or demons, neither heights or depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31b, 35, 37-39

Title: The Other Mother

Author: Gwendolen Cross

Summary (from Publishers Weekly):
Gross’s third novel (following Getting Out) documents the front lines of the Mommy Wars, but its real strength lies in exposing the complex inner battlefields motherhood can open up. Eight months pregnant Amanda, a successful children’s book editor and dedicated New Yorker, picks up with her lawyer husband and moves to suburban Teaneck, N.J. Her new neighbor, Thea Caldwell, is a full-time mother of three who still lives in her childhood home and who arrives bearing brownies. When the newcomers take extended shelter in the Caldwells’ basement following a damaging storm and, later, when Amanda hires Thea as her newborn’s nanny, the growing intimacy between the two breeds resentment, bitterness and misunderstandings. The series of external crises designed to create tension and suspense are, in the end, less compelling than the women’s own inner demons, revealed through alternating, and overlapping, first-person narration. Jersey resident Gross shows the strife between SAHMs (Stay at Home Moms) and WOTHs (moms who Work Outside the Home) to be a lot more nuanced than it’s often portrayed. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Positive Elements: The author takes the reader into the well defined lives of a stay-at-home mom and a work-outside-the-home mom. Many books on the subject tend to favor one position over the other. This story presents both sides of the story with a compassion and understanding. Each mom faces complex and challenging situations unique to her chosen walk of life. However, the author also links together the common bonds all moms have regardless of work and home status — the love of our children. This book is an easy read and a good story. The chapters are told from the point of view of the main characters alternately. This enables the readers to understand the opposing viewpoints of both moms, while never really favoring one over the other.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content: None

Profanity: There were a few instances of strong language. Unfortunately, it wasn’t essential to the story of the book.

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: This is not just another book about the so-called mommy wars. I enjoyed this book in part because it explores the issues we moms face on a daily basis ( guilt, vulnerablity, time for ourselves, parenting mistakes, family choices). Women are always comparing ourselves to each other. We do it with husbands, houses, dinners, etc.. It gets worse when we have children. Amanda and Thea both take on judgemental attitudes to each other and in turn take moments to question their own respective positions as as working mom and a stay at home mom. One particular moment in the book turned me off. During an emotional and heated moment between the two women, they kiss. Its hard to determine the author’s intent with that scene. It is not described as coming from anything sexual but more from need of being comforted. It was a strange scene and should have been left out. This book would be very good for dicsussion in a book club.

We are called to evangelize our faith. Who better to start with than our own children. It occurred to me not long ago to really take a close look at how I was modeling and living the Christian walk for my children. While some things were looking good, I admit there were some areas in which I was lacking. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 states, “These commandments I give to you today are to upon your hearts,impress them on your children. Talk about it when you sit, at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.” We have made some changes in our daily schedule that allow us time to focus on Christ. Here are some practical things we do in our home to make Christ the focus of our lives.

Prayer. In the morning before we leave the house we kneel in front of the door and hold hands. We pray for protection over each member of our family as they enter the world. Then we pray for whatever event or activity we will be participating in that day. On days I forget, my girls are quick to remind me in the car but you can’t hold hands in the car. We also pray regularly at our meals. We have started to remember praying when we eat out as well. Lastly, we always close our day with prayer. At that time we thank God for the blessings of the day and say a special prayer for any family and friends that may be sick or struggling.

Church. We strive to make church attendance an integral part of our lives. My girls know that Sunday is church day. Its is as normal for us as getting up to go to work any other day of the week. On Sundays when we can’t make it for some various reason, my girls are always disappointed. My 5 year old asked me the other day why her aunt didn’t go to church. She thinks everybody does! Our church has Wednesday night activities for the whole family. This past year Halloween fell on a Wednesday, I wanted my children to know that church will always take precedence over anything else. We were able to go trick or treating for a short time and make it to church on time. However if I thought it would interfere with church we would have not done it.

Daily Living. Throughout the day I am trying to be more conscious to live out my daily Christian walk. I wake up at 6 a.m. to have my quiet time with the Lord. On several occasions my 3 year old will be up with me. I let her lay quietly on the couch with a book. Usually she just sits there and stares at me. She know that mommy is meeting with the Lord and needs her quiet time. When we are in the car we are only listening to Christian music. I love our local Christian radio station (although with the girls in the car its usually Veggie Tales). It is neat for me to see my girls learn and sing the same songs I sang as a child.

There are many more ways that we parents can better incorprate Christ in our lives. These are just a few practical suggestions for living out your faith for your children.

Author: Barbara Delinsky

Summary: (from Publishers Weekly) Relationships are brought to the limit in Delinsky’s splendid latest exploration of family dynamics. On a rainy night, Deborah Monroe and her teenage daughter, Grace, are driving home when their car hits a man. The victim, who turns out to be Grace’s history teacher, is unconscious but alive. Although Grace was driving, Deborah sends her home and takes responsibility for the accident when the cops show up. Deborah is juggling a lot: as a family doctor, she is in private practice with her über-demanding widower father, who is trying to hide a drinking problem; her son, Dylan, is vision impaired; her mother’s death continues to affect the family; Deborah is still dealing with her ex-husband’s new, separate life; and her unmarried sister, Jill, has just announced she’s pregnant. Grace’s guilt about not taking responsibility for the accident makes her withdraw from friends and family, and the accident victim turns out to have a more complex private life than anyone imagined. The author seamlessly resolves relationship issues without sentiment, throws in a promising romance for Deborah and offers a redemptive scene between Grace and her grandfather. Delinsky combines her understanding of human nature with absorbing, unpredictable storytelling—a winning combination.

Author: Leif Enger

Summary:
To the list of great American child narrators that includes Huck Finn and Scout Finch, let us now add Reuben “Rube” Land, the asthmatic 11-year-old boy at the center of Leif Enger’s remarkable first novel, Peace Like a River. Rube recalls the events of his childhood, in small-town Minnesota circa 1962, in a voice that perfectly captures the poetic, verbal stoicism of the northern Great Plains. “Here’s what I saw,” Rube warns his readers. “Here’s how it went. Make of it what you will.” And Rube sees plenty.

In the winter of his 11th year, two schoolyard bullies break into the Lands’ house, and Rube’s big brother Davy guns them down with a Winchester. Shortly after his arrest, Davy breaks out of jail and goes on the lam. Swede is Rube’s younger sister, a precocious writer who crafts rhymed epics of romantic Western outlawry. Shortly after Davy’s escape, Rube, Swede, and their father, a widowed school custodian, hit the road too, swerving this way and that across Minnesota and North Dakota, determined to find their lost outlaw Davy. In the end it’s not Rube who haunts the reader’s imagination, it’s his father, torn between love for his outlaw son and the duty to do the right, honest thing. Enger finds something quietly heroic in the bred-in-the-bone Minnesota decency of America’s heartland. Peace Like a River opens up a new chapter in Midwestern literature. –Claire Dederer (taken from Amazon.com)

Positive Elements: This book is has an original plot and unique characters. What a change from the standard novels you find in bookstores today. The author uses rich and descriptive language that enable the reader to actually believe a sometimes unbelievable story. Though not classified as Christian fiction, themes of religion, faith and prayer play an integral part of the story. There are many allusions to the miracles of Jesus Christ. The book reads like the author’s memoir and its hard to believe otherwise.

Sexual Content: None

Violent Content: In the beginning of the book there is a brief scene of violence between the older brother and a pair of intruders in the house. It is not particularly graphic.

Profanity: None I recall

Drug Content: None

Conclusion: I loved this book. I applaud the author for being willing to include Biblical themes in a secular book. There are many references to Biblical stories and miracles. For instance at one time the family is feeding some guests in the home and there doesn’t seem to be enough food to feed everyone. Everytime the daughter, Swede returns to the stove the pot of soup seems to be full. Faith is a major underlying theme throughout the book. Jeremiah Land, the father, appears to be a strong Christian man who makes decisions based on his own faith in God. His children, although sometimes with blind faith, follow him on their journey. They are never sure of what lies ahead. The story is similar to the way we follow Christ. Never knowing whats ahead but trusting the He knows the best way for us. The only negative I could give this this book is that the author’s descripive language draws out the story a little longer than needed.