Lead Me: Finding Courage to Fight for Your Marriage, Children, and Faith by Matt Hammitt Book Review

In Lead Me, Matt Hammitt opened up about his personal story and how he was able to rediscover his courage and to fight for his marriage and be a leader. Matt Hammitt was the lead singer for Sanctus Real until 2015. They had a few hit songs such as, Lead Me, Forgiven, The Face of Love, and much more. In the book, he went into detail about his journey with the band and the life on the road. He felt God was calling in to let go and trust Him to still provide for him when he left the group. He wrote each member of the band a personal letter explaining why he was leaving after twenty years together. His marriage to Sarah had its up and downs and they would fight often.  Readers will get to see a glimpse into their marriage and how Matt realized that he had to make a change. He explained how we can get so focused on our spouse failures that we miss seeing our own.  A lot of the struggle on their marriage was the fact that he was always gone and she felt like he needed to be home more. He admits to most of the fights he can’t even remember what they were about. He is the father to four kids. One of his kids, Bowen had a battle of health challenges that tested his faith and direction for his future. He had congenital heart disease and a host of issues that shaken them. 

 

 

In the book, he explained how he was named the barf king. He shared how he was called this because when he was in first grade, he was waiting at the water fountain. He threw up because he struggled with anxiety. The stress grew as he got older and he was diagnosis with irritable bowel syndrome. He covered how he experienced bullying and how this affected him. He shared how he attended church regularly and then it changed when his family was asked to leave the church. They found a new church but still encountered some challenges times. 

 

 

 

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Christian music and they are ready to discover helpful marriage advice. I was greatly touched by his story and reading the behind the scenes of Sanctus Real. It was interesting to read about the hit song, Lead Me and how it has changed lives and has helped men to lead their families. His wife was the one who called him to step up and lead their family. The book contained very beneficial advice for marriage and what they learned thru trial and error. He also did a blog during the time Bowen was born and it became very popular and even lead to a GMA interview. What was really surprising was how one of his daughters kept have a recurring dream that her brother would die and he was the same age as his parents on stage. I enjoyed reading about the life story of how Sanctus Real come to be and the message behind some of the songs. He also told the story about how the idea of the name of the band come to be. 

 

 

 

“I received this book free from Multnomah for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Me-Finding-Marriage-Children-ebook/dp/B07STS1JCY/

My Personal Favorite:

Why I Believe: A Psychologist’s Thoughts on Suffering, Miracles, Science, and Faith by Dr. Henry Cloud Book Review

In Why I Believe, Dr. Henry Cloud is a personal book about part of his life mixed with what he believes on suffering, miracles, science, and faith. He shared in the book at the young age of ten years old. He was at a camp in North Carolina and he felt a sharp pain in his soul. It was a lightly Christian camp and he felt a calling to the Creator. He explained an illustration of a judge condemning us for our sins and crimes. Jesus stands up telling the judge to spare us and He would instead take our fines. This is to convey how Jesus tried for all of our sins and mistakes and He paid in on the cross. This is the first time he felt the presence of God and His love for him. He shared his up bring and how his parents displayed their faith in God and how this influenced him. He also shared how at four years old, he was sitting in Sunday school when he leg began to hurt badly. He would be screaming in pain for hours and he has to be hospitalized. They did lots of test and blood work. He admitted to feeling very afraid and alone. They considered amputating his leg. He explained how his mother heard a voice that told her to leave now and take him to another hospital. His new doctor knew right what the disease was and it affected his hip and he would have to remain in a wheelchair. He then realized that God intervened on his behave with his parents faith. He felt very different from others and he struggled with being normal.

When he was better, he decided to jump into sports especially golf. He played through the pain for two years until he had to give it up at age 20. At this time, he also gotten broken up. He struggled with depression and feeling like a complete washout. He lost his life purpose and started searching for a new path. He recalls being in his dorm room and being drawn to open his Bible and the page opened until Matthew 6:33 and how seeking first the kingdom of God and how all things will be added to you. He started searching actively for God and he turned to Him. He explained how people came into his life and helped him strengthen his faith. This helped to dramatically change his life with the help of mentors and friends. The depression finally went away. He was instructed by God to trust him and to follow him this led him into going after psychology. 

One of the chapters of course discussed what the greatest obstacle of all is. This how does a good God allow evil to exist and suffering. He like most have experienced lost and witnessed others and heard others who had gone through horrible events. He shared how everything is related to death and a separation from God. God gave us freedom from the beginning and we chose a different tree. We lost our disconnect from our Creator but still we had a path through the crucifixion that would save the world. If we want to have relationship with Christ, we have a chance to seek Him. He clarified how there is no answer on his side as to why we have to go through things. We have to have faith that Jesus knows better than we humanly do. Even when Jesus was dying on the cross, He asked His own dad why he had forsaken Him. He even explored cognitive thinking and psychology and how we can look at suffering in this way to see a different approach. 

I would recommend this life changing book to anyone who is wondering what a psychologist thinks about science, faith, suffering, miracles, and much more. I immensely loved how he covered the entire spectrum of faith, doubts, and what his own personal beliefs are. I thought he did a wonderful job is going through details about what psychology has taught him and influenced his Christian beliefs. I really enjoyed hearing from a psychologist approach to faith and suffering. I appreciated how transparent he was in reading about his thought and learning more about his background and how he came in know Christ and how it changed and grew over the years. One of my favorite sections was on that he shared how psychology aligned with things that are also addressed in the Bible and this enclosed an entire list that breaks it down for readers. This book will assist readers into growing deeper in their questions and faith. 

I received this book free from Worthy Publishing for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

 

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

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Believe-Psychologists-Thoughts-Suffering/dp/154600341X/

This Kind of Love: The Overwhelming Power of Promises, Patience, and Faith by Kaelin and Kyrah Edwards Book Review

 

 

In This Kind of Love, Kaelin and Kyrah Edwards have written a brand-new book about their love story and how they lived through some of God’s promises. They opened up about how they met first back in Junior High. They had two classes together the first day of school and then the second day they were separated because the classes were too full. They became texting buddies and they tried for more but at the time they decided to just stay friends. Kyrah wasn’t allowed to date until she was sixteen. She opened up about how her parents fought constantly and struggled in their marriage. She also discussed how her girlfriends at the time introduced her to church and the youth group. This was the first time she got to know God and His ways. Kaelin was a little different and he grew up in the church and his dad was a pastor. He discovered how he like to work the production side and with the sound system. He explained how he struggled with dating the Godly way and how he chose to date with the intention to marry. Kaelin revealed how a lot of her life at the time was spend on Twitter and how she had gotten her phone taken away by her father for a whole year. She still wasn’t allowed to date and, in the book, they go into detail about how that changed and how they eventually fell in love and got married. In the book, they also revealed how they created a YouTube channel, Kaelin and Kyrah and how they gained a lot of views from a popular prank video when Kaelin threw his phone into the pool. They opened up about marriage life and what it has taught them and how they are learning to navigate the adventure of parenting two small children. 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who is looking for a new book that covered dating, marriage, parenting, and life in general. I liked how they shared both of their backgrounds and in the book, they switched and shared from both prospective. I immensely liked how open they were in sharing their struggles in their marriage and how they overcame and dealt with them. I also was surprised to see both of their decision on waiting until marriage to have sex. I liked the message they shared about waiting on God’s timing and waiting on God to reveal His plans for our lives. 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Hachette Book Group/Faithwords for my honest review.” 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

https://www.amazon.com/This-Kind-Love-Overwhelming-Promises/dp/1546017526