I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God - Review

I AM: 40 Reasons to Trust God

By: Diane Stortz

Publication: February 2nd 2016 by Thomas Nelson

224 pages

Genre: Non-fiction, Christian, Parenting, Devotions

Source: Own

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Goodreads description--God’s names tell us who He is, what He is like, and what He does. This beautiful book covers 40 of the Bible’s many names and descriptive titles for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Jehovah Jireh

The Lord My Shepherd

Immanuel

Rabbi

I Am

Through Bible stories, short devotions, and prayers, children discover the meaning of each name and how it relates to their lives. As they develop understanding of God’s character and His love for them, children will grow to know, love, and trust the great I Am more and more.

Those who know your name put their trust in you. —Psalm 9:10

I wanted to start a daily devotion with my kids. But I was struggling because I had this idea that I needed to create the devotions from scratch. I needed to pick the topic, and research it, and plan a lesson, and maybe even have activities to go along with it. And I just kept thinking about the amount of work that would go into something like that. I wondered where I would find time to research and plan such a thing. I thought about using an existing devotion, but theology differs so much from denomination to denomination that I was afraid of buying something and having to filter the content for them. But ultimately, I decided that I couldn't keep putting this off. So I researched some children's devotionals, and I kept coming across this one.

First, how beautiful is this cover? The illustrations in this book is one of the first things that attracted me to this book. I remember some of the children's Bible books that I was exposed to as a child, and I remember thinking that I didn't enjoy looking at them. This book is beautiful. Really engaging and gorgeous artwork all the way through.

I couldn't think of a better place to start a devotion with my children than about who God is...His character...His story...His pursuit of man. I wanted not just a bunch of children's stories to tell them: creation, Noah and the flood, and David and Goliath. Those are great, but I wanted to show them the WHY behind it all...the WHO. We don't get as much out of the stories if we're not focusing on God and His part in it all.

Doctrinely, I didn't find anything that I disagreed with until maybe the last one or two that were focused upon Revelation, which is the most controversial book in the entire Bible.

Most importantly, I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God created a dialogue between myself and my children. We conversed and discussed God and spiritual things and questions more than any other time. My son, who we have struggled with behavior issues, was the most interested. He requested this devotion frequently as our bedtime story, whereas my daughter would sometimes groan. Even if the kids weren't excited about reading from the book, it still sparked discussion more than not using anything had in the past. I can count that alone as a win. For me, I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God was a win all around and deserves 5 Stars. If you're looking for a family or children's devotion--especially a first one--I highly recommend this book. Have you read I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God? What did you think? Let me know!

Love & Respect in the Family - Review

Love & Respect in the Family: The Transforming Power of Love and Respect Between Parent and Child

By: Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

Published: November 5th 2013 by Thomas Nelson Publishers

208 pages

Genre: Self-Help

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--Children need love. Parents need respect.

It is as simple and complex as that!

When frustrated with an unresponsive child, a parent doesn't declare, "You don't love me." Instead the parent asserts, "You are being disrespectful right now." A parent needs to feel respected, especially during conflicts. When upset a child does not whine, "You don't respect me." Instead, a child pouts, "You don't love me." A child needs to feel loved, especially during disputes.

But here's the rub: An unloved child (or teen) negatively reacts in a way that feels disrespectful to a parent. A disrespected parent negatively reacts in a way that feels unloving to the child. This dynamic gives birth to the FAMILY CRAZY CYCLE.

So how is one to break out of this cycle? Best-selling author Emerson Eggerichs has studied the family dynamic for more than 30 years, having his Ph.D. in Child and Family Ecology. As a senior pastor for nearly two decades, Eggerichs builds on a foundation of strong biblical principles, walking the reader through an entirely new way to approach the family dynamic. For instance, God reveals ways to defuse the craziness with our children from preschooler to teen, plus how to motivate them to obey and how to deal with them when they don't. In the Bible, God has spoken specifically to parents on how to parent. This book is about that revelation.

I’m not a parent yet, so I might have a skewed perception of this book. Husband and I do plan to try to expand our family in the near future, so that combined with how much I enjoyed Love & Respect (about the husband and wife relationship) made Love & Respect in the Family a perfect choice for me. As with Love & Respect, some of these principles discussed in this book are obvious, but the way Dr. Eggerich spells it out makes so much sense and clarifies a lot.

Dr. Eggerich points out that when a parent and child get into it you never hear a child say, “you don’t respect me,” and you usually don’t hear a parent say, “you don’t love me.” No. The child says, “you don’t love me,” while the parent replies, “you’re being disrespectful.” This was such a revelation for me--and SO true! Dr. Eggerich even follows it up with another obvious point—it is the parent’s job to be the mature one in these "Family Crazy Cycle" situations. The parent is the one who has years of experience on the child. The parent is the one who should be mature enough not to lower themselves to the antics of children. This makes so much sense to me as to why parents and children have the strained relationships that they sometimes have—the parents never grew up. They never matured. They are still selfish and self-centered creatures who haven’t learned that they have to take the high road in order to avoid the "Family Crazy Cycle" that Dr. Eggerich discusses.

Truthfully I should have written this review the day I completely the book. I feel like I’ve forgotten so much of the wonderful text already, which indicates to me that this is a book that I will need to read more than once. Dr. Eggerich does a good job showing you how to exit the "Family Crazy Cycle" and some great parenting advice that is indeed extremely applicable. And he does it in a way that both shows his own parenting successes and failures. He’s the first to admit that he and his wife did not parent perfectly—as no one can. He’s not arrogant with his advice and forceful in saying “this is what you must do in order to be a good parent.” Yet his advice is both Biblically based and common sense.

Love & Respect in the Family is another book that I think every person ought to read. If you are a parent, if you had a parent, if you ever plan to be a parent. Love & Respect in the Family is broken down into easy to understand concepts that will make a big impact on your family if put into practice. Not being a parent myself, there were a couple of things that I wonder about, but time will tell for me. I’m giving Love & Respect in the Family an easy 4 stars. My only negative was that I thought the book felt complete at about the 75% mark. While the remaining portion still held valuable information, I felt it was time to wrap things up. Have you read Love & Respect in the Family? What did you think? Let me know!