Encouraging Words for a Discouraging World: 10 Biblical Promises to Bring Comfort in Chaos by Dr. David Jeremiah Book Review

In Encouraging Words for a Discouraging World, Dr. David Jeremiah has written a new book to embolden readers with a special resilience to overcome challenges. We are all faced with upsetting news reports or we receive a dread phone call from a loved one. We get crushed to our knees in fear and discouragement. He explained how the Bible is filled with the knowledge and hope on how to survive in troubling times. He shared how Peter discussed God’s promises and how they can sustain our faith. His promises are infallible and will last until the end of time. Each chapter contained a short story, a short quote, questions, a spot to journal, and a prayer. 

 

 

In the book, he opened up about how in 1994, he discovered he had a mass in his abdomen. It was lymphoma and he felt tired all the time. He shared how pain led him to diving into God’s word and he would study and reflect on God’s promises. He explored Paul and how he experienced thorns in his own life and satan was the one causing him to be buffeted. He had his own share of afflictions and scholars are mixed on all of the health issues he could have faced. This is directed to how God’s grace is sufficient to us and His strength is perfect in our weaknesses. He even asked God to remove the thorn three times in his life and God wouldn’t. God was still active in his life and gave the strength to continue on and run his race. 

 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book filled with true encouragement to inspire you while you are in the mist of feeling down and hopeless. I also appreciated how he stated the importance of journaling and remembering what past victories we have conquered. It was motivating to read about how David would journal and remember his past successes and gain wisdom from the past. We can use this as an inventory tool to recall God’s faithfulness in our lives. I liked how positive this book was and provide a rekindled hope for the future even when confronted with discouragement. 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from Thomas Nelson for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Encouraging-Words-Discouraging-World-Biblical/dp/1400211344

Raising Emotionally Strong Boys: Tools Your Son Can Build On for Life by David Thomas Book Review

 

In Raising Emotionally Strong Boys, David Thomas helps parents in understanding how boys are wired and how to raise them. He has been counseling boys for over 25 years. The book shared how men are more prone to substance abuse, suicide, infidelity, and pornography. He explained how emotionally strong boys are resourceful- able to work through emotions, aware- knows his strengths and weaknesses, resilient- ability to cope, and empathetic- able to understanding feelings. In the book, he shared how boys are more prone to physically- hitting, biting, kicking, and screaming. He discussed the importance of having a space where they can release their energy and intensity. This could be a kick stand, punching bag, stress balls, pull up bar, trampoline, yoga mat, just to name a few. Boy also struggle with showing their emotions since this is a sign of weakness. Many of them have been taught to convert their fear, sadness, and disappointment into anger. He looked at Jesus and how he was a man. He displayed compassion, humility, love, and more in the face of being tempted and betrayed. 

 

 

 

One of my favorite chapters was the one on anxiety and depression. He shared how he hates when boys tell him that they don’t know when answering a question. He shared how firstborns are more likely to experience perfectionism as a way to handle their anxiety. One of the things he teaches boys is how to properly breathe. He makes them try combat breathing for three minutes. He first instructed them not to use screen time at all and they don’t use technology at first- apple watch or apps. I think this is a wonderful thing to try. I also liked how he looked at depression. One of the most shocking things is the topic of suicide and how one man dies every minute on average. 

 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome parenting book to anyone is raising boys. He did an excellent job at exploring the emotional sides of boys and how we can navigate through anger, anxiety, depression, and much more. I immensely loved how he looked at models and mentors and how we need to make sure we identity who is in our top five circles in our son’s lives. I loved how he encouraged parents to spend time with the adult figures in their son’s lives to understand how they are influencing our kids lives- ex: coaches or youth group leaders. I also liked the topic of habits and practices and how he included tips to build new habits. 

 

 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Bethany House/ Chosen for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Raising-Emotionally-Strong-Boys-Tools/dp/0764239988/

Wrestling for My Life: The Legend, the Reality, and the Faith of a WWE Superstar by Shawn Michaels with David Thomas Book Review

 

 

I’m a member of the Family Christian Bloggers and they provided me with a free copy of Wrestling for My Life” for this review.

 

In Wrestling for My Life, Shawn Michaels opened up about his days in being in the WWE and the many different struggles he went through. He began the book by sharing how he became addicted to pain pills after suffering from extreme pain from his injuries in wrestling. He admitted that some days he took up to thirty to thirty-five pills a day. His wife, Rebecca was a devoted Christian and she was praying that God will set her husband free. He experienced a wakeup call when his two year old son, Cameron crawled up on him while he was resting after taking a few pain pills and said, “Daddy’s tired”. He realized that his son was finally seeing who is dad really was. He found a local church to attend regularly, “Cornerstone” (the church where John Hagee is the leading pastor). He began to also attend a Bible study group with Keith and Priscilla Parker. They poured into his life and became his mentor and they helped him to grow spiritually in Christ. He finally turned to Jesus and received salvation. Jesus began to change his life and he was able to overcome his pain pill addiction.

 

I would recommend this life changing book to anyone who enjoys the sport of wrestling and is looking for a book filled with a message of faith. I liked how Shawn was real throughout the book about his life and how he shared how God changed his entire life around. I also appreciated how he stood his ground when he returned to wrestling after retiring a few years ago. My favorite chapter was the chapter, “Aiming to Please” because he shared about how God set him free from having to please people and now he only needs to try and please God. This is critical in running our race and completing God’s calling on our lives. I liked how the book also contained personal pictures to give us a glance at his life. This book has the power to influence people for God’s Kingdom and it’s one definably checking out!

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of “Wrestling for My Life”, then check it out on Family Christian:

 

http://www.familychristian.com/catalog/product/view/id/303091/

 

Family Christian has graciously provided me with a copy of Wrestling for My Life to giveaway to a lucky reader! (U.S. Only)
 

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First: What It Takes to Win by Rich Froning with David Thomas Book Review

 

In First, Rich Froning wrote a personal autobiography about his life and his journey in becoming a two-time CrossFit Games champion. His parents taught Rich that hard work really does pay off and is required to accomplish and be successful in life. In middle school, he grew up loving to play baseball and he had a dream of playing in the major leagues but after his parents divorced he stopped liking it. When he was a junior in high school, he tried playing football and in the third game, he dislocated his shoulder and his football days were over. He decided to give baseball another shot and when the school had a new Coach, Butch Chaffin. Coach Chaffin taught him how to work out and this prepared him to train for CrossFit, he just didn’t know it at the time. His team made it to the co-champions of that district. The rest of the book he walked readers through the problematic training for the CrossFit games and how his determination and faith kept him pressing on to the finish line. 

 

I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who enjoys books related to fitness especially to people who love CrossFit. Though I haven’t personally tried CrossFit this book taught me a great deal about the sport. I liked how real he was in sharing about the challenges and preserving through the different games no matter how massive the tasked appeared. I liked how the book contain CrossFit definitions about the different activities where readers could understand what they consisted of.  I loved how he revealed his testimony and how Jesus became his personal Savior and how he gave God credit for the glory for all of his victories. I also liked how he shared the story about how he met his wife, Hilary. Rich Froning has a remarkable that will encourage readers to never give up on their dreams and to press on even when it’s difficult to. If you’re looking for a new autobiography to read, then read this book!

 

“Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.”

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of First, then check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/First-What-It-Takes-Win/dp/1414386788/