Listen Love Repeat by Karen Ehman (book review)

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God has really been speaking to my heart in the past year or two, showing me how self-centered I have become. And it's easy to do that when you have gone through a crisis as we have and having a new baby. But He really is calling me to "other center in living in a self-centered world." That is the subtitle of "Listen Love Repeat " by Karen Ehman. 
image via Proverbs 31 ministry

I found great practical advice in this book. How to listen for the "heart drops" that other people leave in every day conversation. We must listen for things such as their favorite childhood toy, their favorite drink, a hardship they are going through, something they are celebrating, or of many various other things. We can you and then use these things to come alongside them in their sorrow or joy or reminiscing.

Other-centered living seems like it would take a lot of work, but I believe that it takes one very precious thing: time. Time is a precious commodity in these very busy days but something that I feel that we actually have more to give of then we realize.
image author's website

This book shares advice on how to share with those we love, those who are necessary (like librarians and mailman and garbage man), how to come alongside those who are hurting, and how to share a life of welcome. It even digs into how to love those who are lonely and unloved, and the cranky and cantankerous! I know that I have a few of each of those in my life.

Some of my favorite things from this book include her ideas for cooking for a crowd, her advice on how to love those who don't know allow Christ, "kindness rather than judgment. Choose it every time."
image via thegildedwife.com

I also love the set up of this book. I love her chapters are separated in various people we may meet. And in the back she has a "quips and quotables" portion where she share some of the things that really wore what I had underlined in the book. I noticed many books doing that now, which is wonderful when you are writing a very few or you really need those practical tips at your fingertips. 

In our very western self-centered world, this book is a breath of fresh air that I am very thankful to have read. I cannot wait to use what I have learned in my actual life. To love those nearest to me, that was hurting, and even those who are cantankerous.

Disclaimer: I received this book in order to write an honest review. All opinions are my own and may differ from others' opinions.

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