"When God Writes Your Love Story" a book review

by Allie Loyd

                This book  was lent to me by a good friend (I’ll call her Lindsey). I must admit, I’m terrible at reading...well, finishing non-fiction books (especially the devotion kind). But after an awkward meeting with Lindsey during which I had to admit I hadn’t even started the stack of books she had given me, I finally buckled down and started reading...only to stop three chapters later due to certain issues of the heart.

                See, despite the book’s *ahem* misleading title, it is not purely about waiting for God’s perfect timing and finding your perfect match. This book is about oh so much more. 
                It teaches the importance of your relationship with Christ, of serving and loving others more than yourself, of living truly a set-apart life for God. Once you have the foundation, you can have a truly fulfilling single-season and God-written romance. 
                But the Ludy’s don’t stop there. 
                They tell of their own experience through the world’s messed up dating system and how they each came to hold their views of dating and marriage. They encourage and exhort those who seem ‘stuck’ in the season of singleness and offer practical advice on how to make the most of these years in ‘the wilderness’. And to those who feel like they have tainted their purity and ruined their chances at a God-written love story, they offer the blood of Christ.
                   If this had been just another book on Christian marriage and dating, it would have hardly made a difference in me. It speaks some harsh truths, but those always turn out to be the ones worth listening to. 

"Its (not that) Complicated" a book review

The cute cover caught my eye; the convicting words caught my heart. 


   The book, "It's (not that) Complicated" by sisters, Anna Sophia and Elisabeth Botkin, is marketed as a guy-girl relationship book, which it is, but the well thought-out and Biblically sound principles that they bring to the table, go far beyond this single area of relationships.
   It's most basic premise is a call to love our brothers-in-Christ more than we love ourselves, but I found myself being convicted more over the way I loved, (or, more accurately, did not love) my family members, close friends, and even God.
    In short, this book broke me. It broke my pride, my self-conceit, and my hypocrisy. It held a mirror to my face, and bid me see what manner of person I truly am, and not what manner of person I think I am. Hard on the flesh? Definitely. But oh how glorious for my soul!
   I would encourage anyone struggling in their relationship with God, friends, family, or even guys, (since, that is, in fact the main theme of the book) to get their hands on a copy of this book and then buckle up, because you will never be the same. 


*You can purchase the book, by clicking on the link above, which will take you to the Vision Forum website. 


** The Botkin sisters, have written one other book, and have many audio resources, but I'm not sure that I would not recommend them. Most of what they write and say, seems quite biblically sound, but there are some things, that I'm not sure I can completely endorse. So, if you are inclined to study more of their works, please use discretion.

In His Presence

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

-Psalm 139:7

   As I have been reading "Loving God with all Your Mind:, I have been learning to think on what is true (Phil.4:8), and to apply that to my life. I'm not very good at it yet, but today as I was memorizing and meditation on Psalm 139:7, I realized that this is a very important Truth, one that should impact every moment of my life. The Truth is this: God is with me every moment of every day. Yikes! That is a scary reality, as I think of all the things I have done, that I would never think to do if I knew that I was in the presence of the King of the universe. But how am I to act now that I know? Since I found this Truth in the Psalm's, I decided to look at a couple more that dealt with living in the presence of the Lord. After my quick search, I found three verses that  I think lay down some good guidelines. 

   The first one is: "... come before His presence with singing," Psalm 100:2b. Even though we are always in His presence, I think this is a good practice to have in the morning, as we consciously enter His presence at the start of our day. Isn't the first sound we often hear in the morning, the singing of the birds? 

   The next verse I found is: "...in Thy presence is fulness of joy..." Psalm 16:11. This one is one, that sometimes I just have to believe, even when I don't feel it. It is a Truth that is often hard to understand, but since the Bible says it, I just have to believe, that God will supply the joy that He says is found in Him.

   Finally, I found Psalm 31:20, which I think is one of my favorites: "You shall hide [those who fear You] in the secret place of Your presence...". I love it! He hides us and shelters us in His presence! What a wonderful Truth to have tucked away, ready to throw at the enemy. 

   I know that there are many more Truths to be found, but I don't have enough time or space to get them all down, so I will let you mine for the rest. I hope that this verse has challenged you as it has me, and that you will keep it in the back of your mind as you go throughout the day. 

"We ought to try to live so we would feel all right if we should find Christ walking with us someday."

-a character in Grace Livingston Hill's book, "Cloudy Jewel"

Stepping Heavenward

I have been reading "Stepping Heavenward" by Elisabeth Prentiss for the last couple of days, and I have never been so blessed by a book! Although it was written in the 1800s it is more applicable than even most modern books. It is written in diary format and so many of the emotions of Katy, the main character, so many of the things that she struggles with are things that I have said before. In fact, in the few days before I picked this book I was really struggling with some doubts and some questions and I'm sure that God was smiling as He knew that He was going to use this book to answer every one of those questions.
    I'm probably butchering this, as I can't seem to articulate everything I want to say, but I truly cannot recommend this book enough! In fact I would love to buy everyone of you a copy if I could, but since I can't I'll just tell you that you can buy the book here. I hope that you do buy it and are as blessed as I have been!