Sunday, September 2, 2012

Review of "Whole" by Lisa Whittle


The holes in your life can ultimately be what make you WHOLE.  Very thought provoking.  Lisa Whittle shares her heart and life to illustrate the truth that although we will have challenges, things that shake our beliefs and life in general, that God still wants us to be whole.  Our experiences can be just that - experiences.  Not the sole definer of all that He has made us to be and the end of our story.

She is very transparent in her story (it seems she holds nothing back!) and I admire her for that.  From her notes at the end, I thought it was interesting that she felt she was supposed to "come at the book from my failures, not my successes".  It's an interesting perspective and a powerful one, I believe.

I was really excited to read this book, as I have so much in common with Lisa Whittle.  She is a pastor's daughter, she's been married the same amount of time as I have, they planted a church (we are planting now with our 1st anniversary in a few weeks), and we have both experienced holes - as well as some wholeness through a deeper relationship with God.

My favorite part is towards the end of the book; due to a number of circumstances she is feeling pretty raw, and God says to her, "Lisa, I love you.  I know you are hurting right now, and I know why.  But in these months of doing Thrive Church, have you gotten to know Me better?"

She answers yes.  He says, "If then you have gotten to know Me better and you were created for that purpose, how can you consider your experience with Thrive Church a failure?  It is instead a wild success."

I was so moved by this because I've been there (challenging circumstances, feeling like a failure, when will things ever "get better", and although I wouldn't want to live those specific circumstances again, necessarily...I am grateful for the result of knowing Him better.  Priceless.  A wild success.  :)

Visit www.TyndaleRewards.com for more information about the publisher of this and other great books.

Review of "Night Mare" by Dandi Daley Mackall

Ellie James is ready for the perfect summer, enjoying her family, friends, and especially Dream, her backyard horse.  Through a sad series of events, it turns out that Dream was not abandoned as they all thought, but ran away from her owners and now they want her back.  Although it's clear that the boy who owned Dream (he named her Jinx) can't possibly love the mare as much as Ellie, she struggles to do the right thing and let Dream go graciously.  Just when you think there might now be a happy ending, the author provides a creative (and not cheesy or overdone) way for everyone's dreams to come true.  And the miracle touches more lives than just Ellie's.


This was probably my favorite book of the series.  Whether you have a horse crazy girl in your house, as I do, or you just want a fun and poignant story to read, please check out this series!

Visit www.TyndaleRewards.com for more information about the publisher of this and other great books.

Review of "Chasing Dream" by Dandi Daley Mackall

Fourth grade is almost over, and Ellie James is loving having her own "backyard" horse.  She wants to do everything she can to make sure the world knows just how wonderful Dream is.  So she creates the "First Annual Fourth Grade Horse Race" and focuses her energies (at the expense of her promises to her family, friends, school work, etc.) - but when Dream doesn't win the race, she begins to question her worth.

This is a wonderful story of a girl trying to do the right thing but learning that God doesn't love you for what you do or how perfectly behave....He loves you because you're YOU.

I completely recommend this series.  Whether you have a horse-crazy girl in your house like I do or just want to check out a good story, please read these books.

Visit www.TyndaleRewards.com for more information about the publisher of this and other great books.