Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions For Kids

Sarah Young has written the book "Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions For Kids". It was listed for the starting age of 3. I was so excited to get this book in the mail! The cover art is super cute. The devotions are good, but I think I will wait a little while longer before using this book again with my kids. We tried this for a few sessions and it just didn't work for my 4 year olds. Maybe because they are boys, or because they are 4, but there were not pictures in it. The content is great, but they enjoy the visual parts of Bible reading at this time.

I think this is an awesome devotional for kids. Since I have gotten it, I now see on Amazon the listed age is 9-12. That is appropriate. Get it! Reuse it! Gift it!

I received this book free from Booksneeze in exchange for a completely honest review of the book.

"Outlive Your Life"

We live our lives for the day we stand before the Lord. We pray, seek, and yearn to hear the words "Well done, my good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25:23 NIV)

"Outlive Your Life" by Max Lucado is an inspirational read. He helps us look past the horrific statistics that we hear every day, and have learned to live with. Rather than seeing the whole, we can look at the part and take notice of the one person we can help. The way to make a difference, the way to make it last, the way to outlive your life and make an eternal change.

Max Lucado takes a practical look at Acts and the call of the church, and helps make it relevant in todays society and generation.

This book is motivational, well written, and practical to anyone that reads it.

Join Max Lucado on Facebook or Twitter.

I received this book free from Booksneeze in exchange for a completely honest review of the book.

"One Hand, Two Hands"

Max Lucado amazes me how he goes from a serious adult book, to a whimsical kids book. My boys thought this book was funny, and were repeating parts as they walked away. They did get a little lost when it talked about the smell of hands when depending on what they play with, "stinky cheese".

"One Hand, Two Hands" is a cute book for children. The discussion points on the last two pages help bring up kind things we can do with our hands. The only thing I did not like about this book was the phrase that included "Pooey". I know it's not a horrible word, but I have to watch what my three boys hear for "yucky words" or it seems to stick with their vocabulary. Fortunately the first time we read the book and I by accident said it, I was able to move on fast enough so it did not stick in their heads. All the times since I have changed the word.

It does not change the meaning of the book to show how helpful our hands can be! My favorite part is showing how they can use their hands to hug their Mom & Dad.

I received this book free from Booksneeze in exchange for a completely honest review of the book.

"The Butterfly Effect"

The adult's version of "The Boy Who Changed the World" has been written by Andy Andrews and is called "The Butterfly Effect".

There was an Ashton Kutcher movie with same name a few years back. Andy Andrews also takes this same look at this so called "butterfly effect".

If you are not familiar with this concept, Edward Lorenz proposed his hypothesis at a 1963 New York Academy conference that "A butterfly could flap its wings and set molecules of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air— eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet."

I applaud Andy Andrews for writing this book. He stepped out and discussed a concept that brings up more questions than answers, but still brings to light the Christianity side to this concept. We may have not been using the actual words "Butterfly Effect", but I would say it's safe to say that most Christian's believe in a concept like this. Andy brings out scriptures to go along with this inspirational book about our choices and how they can effect others for decades beyond our grave.

Of course this book will have scholars debating and could have Christian's on the defensive. It is written to inspire Christians and non-Christians to think about their actions and its effects. I enjoyed the challenge.

I received this book free from Booksneeze in exchange for a completely honest review of the book.

"The Boy Who Changed the World"

As a mom of three boys, I was anticipating reading to them the book "The Boy Who Changed the World" by Andy Andrews.

It starts out talking about a little boy named Norman and how he grew up in the corn fields of Iowa. Then he used his knowledge of agriculture as an adult to help feed billions of people. Then it goes on to tell the story of 4 additional great men of our history and how they grew up.

This book is beautifully illustrated. I also highly applaud this book for the message it is trying to get out there for our children today.

However, I had to rate it 4 out of 5 stars. The only reason why is because my boys had a hard time keeping up with which person we were talking about and the names that went along with their story. I wish this book had a little more details about each person, and made them into their own "chapters" or even their own books. Kind of like a toddler Bible and how it separates out the stories. I am overjoyed at this attempt to bring the story's lesson down to a younger age, and will continue to read this book to my boys. However, I will only talk about one of the men at a time, so as not to confuse them.

I received this book free from Booksneeze in exchange for a completely honest review of the book.

"The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven"

"The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven" is an amazing book. Kevin Malarkey writes this book about his son, Alex. While fighting for his life in a coma, Alex sees so many amazing things in Heaven.

I purposefully don't want to give too many details of the book. I don't want to spoil it for you! Honestly, I could not put this book down. For my friends that truly know me, I can lean more towards the pessimistic side of things. As a firm believer in Christ and His miracles, this sometimes does not gel with the rest of the church as a whole.

As I read this book very critically, I sobbed. Reading the words that Alex says gave me chills. Then reading with Kevin wrote made my heart as a parent grieve with him. I appreciate his candor on how difficult this has been on him and his marriage. I relish the words written by their friends and family that also show themselves as "real" and would not believe it themselves if they were not there to witness it.

I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to see a minuscule glimpse of heaven through the eyes of a 6 year old boy.

Thank you, Alex, for letting us see through your eyes. Thank you, Kevin, for sharing this with us.

I received this book free from Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for a completely honest review of the book.

"Never Let You Go"

"Never Let You Go" by Erin Healy was an intense book! Single mom, deadbeat druggie husband that left her, murdered sister and now the one accused of her sister's murder is on parole. She has to come to terms with the past demons coming back to haunt her. The surprise twists and turns of this book were a pleasant surprise!

I have never read a book by Erin Healy, but I will look for her books to read again!

I received this book free from Booksneeze in exchange for a completely honest review of the book.