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Due to circumstances in our life right now, 

I will not be posting reviews for an unknown amount of time.

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Thanks so much!

If I... I Will by Debbie Covington

Will You Let the Crowd Stop You?

I've recently taken on a roll that I never saw myself ever being in: Women's Ministry Leader.  Not that it is a bad position to be in, or that I don't love the place God has me, but I always wanted to be the one getting fed, not feeding. I wanted to be the one to go to cool women's retreats, not planning them.

But God has me in a place that I have stepped out from the crowd to move deeper in my relationship with Christ, and in doing so I am encouraging the women in my congregation to go deeper too.

So, what if I didn't have the courage or strength like the suffering women in Mark 5 to step out of the crowd into uncomfortable waters to pursue Jesus? What if she'd never taken that step and touched Jesus gown, would she have died from her issue? Would she have had another chance in life to get healed by the Ultimate Healer?

Who's to say. But what I do know is that you don't always get a second chance.

Pursuing God and encouraging women in my life to move closer with me, not only makes the step a little less fearful, but also makes my step a little more worth taking.

So I ask, do you need to step out of the crowd, or are you going to allow them to hold you back?

This thought provoking devotion sprung up in me due to studying Debbie Covington's new book,  If I...I Will.  Pick up a copy for yourself.  It is well worth the read.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 
If I…I will: simple words, but do we ever move past the “ifs” in our lives? Do we know in our hearts and minds that God indeed will help us to achieve our dreams and goals? If I…I Will is an insightful look at the healing of the suffering woman in Mark 5 whom Jesus healed. And just like that suffering woman, we must step past our suffering, the words we may hear, our own thoughts, and the crowds around us to reach for Jesus. What if we reach Jesus? Will He change our lives forever? Will He heal us? Yes, indeed! Maybe Jesus won’t follow the way we envision the healing or the change to happen, but faith in Jesus will forever change us. So, step out and reach for Jesus’ hand, and begin the adventure of a lifetime.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 Debbie Sutton Covington writes and speaks on women in the church. She is also the founder of Journey of Sisters, a ministry that encourages women in their walk in faith through weekly devotionals, monthly newsletters, and fellowship opportunities. Debbie and her husband Kenny and their dogs live in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Debbie has written a book entitled If I..I will 






Read guest posts, book reviews and other stories by following this blog tour. You can find it at Red Couch PR.



 
 The Legal Stuff: This book was provided by Red Couch PR.

Devotions for the God Girl: A 365 Day Journey by Hayley DiMarco

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 
What does it mean to be a girl who follows God? That's the question bestselling author and teen mentor Hayley DiMarco helped teens answer in the bestseller God Girl. And now in this 365-day devotional, she guides girls ages 14-18 on a daily journey of learning more about who God is and who he created them to be.Each one-page devo contains a scripture verse of the day along with a brief reflection that unpacks spiritual truths about becoming a woman of God. And in each entry Hayley challenges girls to choose God's way in every area of their life--with their thoughts, actions, and daily choices about everything from friends and fashion to faith.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
Hayley DiMarco is chief creative officer and founder of Hungry Planet, where she writes and creates cutting-edge books that connect with the multitasking mind-set. She has written and cowritten numerous bestselling books for both teens and adults, including Dateable, Mean Girls, Sexy Girls, Technical Virgin, and God Girl. Hayley lives with her husband and daughter in Nashville, Tennessee.










MY REVIEW

I have not had the opportunity before not to read any of DiMarco's books. I have read one that she wrote with her husband, but never one of her books.

I swooped up the opportunity to review this devotional for teens because I have worked with teen girls before (and I have two daughters that will soon be teenagers before I know it) and I know the importance of having a good solid, down-to-earth, Biblical-view devotion that girls really want to read and can relate to....

I have found one!

I love everything about this book.  The cover is gorgeous, yet simple and inviting.  The devotionals are not only thought-provoking but grounded into God's word and relative to teen girls everywhere.

I love that the fonts are a little different to accent certain phrases, words and thoughts. This is eye catching and makes it easier to grasp important tidbits.

Available November 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

 
 The Legal Stuff: This book was provided by Baker Publishing.

Toto's Tales by K.D. Hays and Meg Weidman

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 

Toto the terrier and his pet girl Dorothy have their world turned upside down by a cyclone that rips their house from ground and spins it into the land of Oz. In this strange place, cats grow way bigger than they should and they speak the same language as Dorothy. So now Dorothy spends her time talking to a giant cat, a walking scarecrow, and a hollow man made of metal.
The five of them follow a brick road to see the Great Lizard who is supposed to give them something. Although Toto is hoping for a pork chop, he will settle for a trip back to Kansas. But when they reach the Great Lizard (who turns out to be a big human head), instead of helping them, he sends them out to kill a witch.
Toto enables them to survive attacks by killer bees and mad wolves, but the annoying monkeys with wings prove too much even for him, and the monkeys are able to carry him and Dorothy to the witch’s castle.
Once there, he realizes the witch is after the shoes that Dorothy picked up when they first landed in Oz. He also realizes that the witch can be destroyed with water. It becomes a race to see if the witch can trick Dorothy into giving up the shoes before Toto figures out how to melt her.
But even if he destroys the witch, they still have to figure out how to get home…

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
K.D. Hays and Meg Weidman are a mother-daughter team who aspire to be professional roller coaster riders and who can tell you exactly what not to put in your pockets when you ride El Toro at Six Flags. Meg is studying art in a middle school magnet program. For fun, she jumps on a precision jump rope team and reads anything not associated with school work. K.D. Hays, who writes historical fiction under the name Kate Dolan, has been writing professionally since 1992. She holds a law degree from the University of Richmond and consequently hopes that her children will pursue studies in more prestigious fields such as plumbing or waste management. They live in a suburb of Baltimore where the weather is ideally suited for the four major seasons: riding roller coasters in the spring and fall, waterslides in the summer and snow tubes in the winter. Although Meg resents the fact that her mother has dragged her to every historical site within a 200-mile radius, she will consent to dress in colonial garb and participate in living history demonstrations if she is allowed to be a laundry thief.


MY REVIEW
I wanted to read this alone before reading with my kids. I have few book lovers of my own, but I am very cautious about what I allow them to read.

I plan to read this with my kids!

The twist on telling the story from Toto's point of view was a fun twist. The ideas and perspective made for thought provoking read. I never really took time to think about things from the pets point of view, or even from my child's point of view.

Hays and Weidman have a good flow and good writing style.

This book will stay in my kid's home library.


 

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