S Club Mama

I have to be honest that I wanted to read this book because I'm a fan of Alistair Begg. I've listened to him on podcasts and LOVE his accent (you guys, I'm a sucker for accents). I do realize you cannot listen to a paperback but I knew of Begg enough to realize this content was going to be GOOD! "Made for His Pleasure: Ten Benchmarks of a Vital Faith" by Alistair Begg is a fantastic book! image via AmazonSmile Even the two forewords were great, written by John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul - admonishing us as readers to "rejoice in the treasure you are holding in your hands, because it's richness will provide a clear path to follow...to that monumental face-to-face meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ." "Made for His Pleasure" itself was a joy to read. A humble urging to help us align our lives with Christ. I want to share some of the takeaways I wrote as I read: In regards to spiritual fitness, Begg says that "our commitment to o...

I love celebrating the 4th of July - always have. I remember so many years of going to the local Independence Day parade, their firework show, and fireworks at my Grandma's house. Tonight the firework show brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the past. I miss my Grandma (not because she's passed away but I just don't see her often). I am so thankful for technology that allows me to talk to her whenever I want (which is never often enough) and that in a few weeks I will get to see her. image via   The same cannot be said of God. I do not have the technology to physically see Him. I do long to see Him and will some day. But for now, I am learning to practice the presence of God. That sounds kind of hokey, doesn't it? How does one practice that practically? For me, it's very simple. It comes down to being conscience of God every second of every day. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm very bad at this! I am just learning to do this, though. Lear...

I had a very hard time deciding whether to review this book or not because of the controversy surrounding Brandon Hatmaker and his wife, Jen . I decided to take a look at this book, reading it as I would any other book - with an open mind and a critic's eye (does that sound weird? I like to take a very close look at books, not just skim the surface). Please do not take this book review as condoning the statements made by the Hatmakers but take this book at face value. image via BookLook "Trading a shallow religion for a deeper faith" is the by-line that caught my eye about "A Mile Wide" by Brandon Hatmaker . I want a deep faith, fully connected with a relationship with my heavenly father. Sometimes I feel close to Him, other days He feels miles away...but I know He is always with us...so is it me? Probably. I am fleeting and sporadic in my spiritual disciplines. In order to learn more about how to grow a deeper faith, I picked up Hatmaker's book. I re...

I am always on the lookout for books that can strengthen the faith of my children. What I've often found is that through strengthening their faith, mine is as well. "Can I Really Jnow Jesus?" by Carolyn Larsen is one of those books that is easily read but is full of the right material. image via me; I love how clearly the gospel is presented Too often and I find that children's books are not deep enough to take our children from drinking spiritual milk to eating spiritual meet. I think that this is a book that bridges that gap. It is split into three parts: questions and answers about Jesus, questions and answers about salvation, and questions and answers about prayer. I like this book is factual and when it can use history to cement the Bible, it does. One question is "how can we know Jesus really existed?" and the book says, "the Bible, of course, tells us that Jesus existed as a human on earth." Then it goes on to tell about a Jewish...

Filmmakers are finally listening to audiences and going with more family friendly movies. War Room has done amazingly in the box office, God's Not Dead 2 is gaining steam in production, and Woodlawn (in theaters October 16) is highly anticipated! The tagline for the movie is One Hope. One Truth. One Way . The setting for the movie is Birmingham, Alabama in the 1970s. The story is a talented high school football player who must stay true to his faith and talent as he battles racial tensions in a very racially sensitive time in history. This is a true story of "how love and unity overcome hate and division." images via Grace Hill Media Sean Astin (Rudy, Lord of the Ring trilogy) stars in this film along with newcomer Caleb Castille, Nic Bishop (Covert Affairs), Jon Voight (Ali, National Treasure), C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders, Red Dawn), and Sherri Shepherd (The View). images via Grace Hill Media It's directed by The Erwin Brothers (October Baby, ...

Last Christmas, Big A gave me a gift that I loved: a book. Not just any book but one I'd wanted to read called " Sticky Faith " by Dr. Kara E. Powell and Dr. Chap Clark. He had heard her talk at a conference and knew I'd wanted the book (thanks to my wish list on Pinterest), so that's the one he got. In "Sticky Faith," Dr. Powell told of her study through the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) about why kids are leaving the church and their faith after high school. It was a real eye-opener for me who found Christ AFTER high school to know that kids really go the other way. When I had the chance to read " The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family " by Dr. Kara E. Powell, I was really excited to get some real-life ideas and insights into how to help my children grow their faith and keep it later on. image via BookLook A lot of our faith talks with the kids are organic. Squirt and I talked a lot about Christ and the resurrection at a funeral visitat...

Last night, I was thinking back to Moose's parent-teacher conference. Really great (for both kids, actually). He's participating in class - raising his hand in math, focusing. He only leaves the inclusive classroom for a few sensory breaks as needed. It's really hard to believe how far he's come in the past 4-5 years. For those of you who didn't know him as a two-year-old, the young man he's becoming is incredible. The only downside to his conference was talking about him socially. He is SUCH a friendly person. He says hi to everyone, is really nice, has a big ol' heart. BUT. He prefers to play by himself. And when he plays with other kids, it's always them playing what he wants to play. It's difficult as a mom to watch your son purposefully keep himself apart from others. Now, I don't want kids who just follow the crowd (who really does?) but I want them to have friends. And elementary school is a pivotal time to make those friends or at least...

With all of this excitement (?) over Miley Cyrus at the VMAs, I think it's very appropriate to be posting this review over "Grace Unplugged" by Melody Carlson and "Own It" by Michael & Hayley DiMarco. "Grace Unplugged" is about Grace Trey, daughter of Johnny Trey - a one-hit-wonder from the past whose life is changed drastically by the Lord Jesus Christ and turns his music career into a life of a worship pastor. His daughter is in their church's worship band under the direction of her dad, but wants so very badly to be in the spotlight. When her dad's old manager wants to resurrect her dad's hit (with her dad as singer, which he turns down), Grace takes the plunge to make herself a name in lights using his hit. Running away from home, traveling down the path of musicians to play at bars to "pay her dues," Gracie Trey (her stage name) dives deeper down into the road we too often see in young starlets. When a new frien...

Yesterday, Anthony & I were baptized at church. To clarify a few things - Anthony was baptized as a baby, I in 8th grade. His was not his choice (of course) and mine was really out of fear of hell. In the denomination in which we were raised, it's believed that you must be baptized to be saved. We believe differently now. We believe that salvation comes from knowing that Jesus Christ paid for your sins on the cross with his own blood. Baptism is an outward confession of that faith. We have both been following the Lord for almost 10 years and were really convicted the past few weeks to be baptized. We were blessed to have our friend Cale baptize us; he's played such a large role in strengthening our faiths and has become one of our best friends. And then our boys were there to watch us (usually they'd be in children's church); that was really special to me. Squirt is still pretty young and may not have this as a long-term memory (but he kept talking about how ...