Thrive Student Edition: Digging Deep, Reaching Out By Mark Hall Book Review

 

Thrive is a book about thriving in this world and not living in survival mode and going through the motions of everyday living. It is written by Mark Hall lead singer of popular recording group Casting Crowns. Mark Hall strongly believes too many Christians are just trying to survive through this life when in fact Jesus came where we could live our life and live it abundantly. In part one of the book, he compared our lives to a tree and we need to have roots that run deep and that is only possible by digging into the word of God regularly. The next part is reaching out to others like branches on a tree.

 

I would recommend this life changing book especially to every single high school and college aged student. I liked how Mark Hall revealed personally details about how he struggled with negative thinking and seeing himself the way God saw him. He also openly admitted that after a long-term relationship ended he held a gun to his head and tried to take his own life. What helped him was digging into the word of God and listening to His voice instead of the enemy. Mark Hall also failed the entrance exam for music majors and he struggled to know what to do with his life. In this book, he is actively trying to assist students into discovering their gifts that God has given them and how to use it for His kingdom.

 

One of my favorite chapters was, “The Eagle and The Yardbird”. This story was basically about a lost eagle that was living with a bunch of chickens. The chickens believed he was just an ugly yardbird who wasn’t like the other chickens. He was chastised for shrieking instead of clucking. He was told to follow everyone else and act like them. He never knew he was an eagle and he had so much more in store for his life. I really connected with this story because so many people struggle to believe what God has declared over their lives and they struggle with accepting and loving themselves like God does. We get caught up in believing what other people say about us and we believe their lies. Mark Hall pointed out the one way to fix this is having our roots into the word of God. This book helped me to realize that I have to work on making sure my roots are planted on solid ground. If you’re looking for a book on thriving and living an abundant life, then read this book!

 

 

 "I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program."  

 

 

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

 

http://www.amazon.com/Thrive-Student-Edition-Digging-Reaching/dp/0310747570/

NIV College Devotional Bible Book Review

 

The NIV College Devotional Bible is written to engage college aged students into reading the Bible and the devotionals presented in the Bible. This particular Bible has 222 devotionals on topics that college students will enjoy and it has a supportive appendix. The Bible has a “table of weights and measures, a subject index search, a one year reading plan, 60 day overview of the Bible, 30 days for beginning your walk with Christ, 30 days with Jesus, 20 not-so-famous Bible stories, 30 days of prayer, 30 days of promises, 30 days of leadership, 30 days of knowing God, 30 stories of great Faith”, and many more. The devotionals were spread throughout the Bible and they consisted of a personal or historic story entwined to a scripture passage. Each devotional also contained three critical questions for readers to contemplate on and to respond to. 

 

One of the devotional for instance, discussed the hardship of death and the terrible agony of losing someone that you loved. This specific day dealt with 1 Corinthians 15:35-38 and Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth describing to them that when believers die, that isn’t the end for them. He explained that sting of death is sin but through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we have the final victory. The devotional told a personal story about Andy meeting with Pastor Tim for coffee. It had been a year since Andy lost his precious wife. They caught up like old friends on what happened and what they have been going through this past year. Andy admitted that he understands now what Paul stated in this passage about the sting of death and where pain hurts. Andy began to open up about the difficulty of witnessing your seven year old daughter and on her birthday, she makes a wish for her mother to return and came back to her. The pain hits Andy when he has to check ‘widowed’ in important documents. He also sees his little five year old son drawing pictures of mommy and she is far off from everyone else, looking down from Heaven. This is one devotional that is truly heartbreaking and sad. This one came in a significant time because this past weekend, I lost my great grandmother and I know that she lived a long life. But death still stings, no matter when it happens. This devotional and passage was a wonderful reminder that if we are saved and we know Jesus as our Savior, we will one day have victory over death.  

 

I would recommend this astonishing Bible to every single college aged student. If readers will consider and read through the passages and devotionals spread out on these pages, their lives will be forever changed and impacted. Mediating on the scriptures was very easy and user friendly with this Bible. I really liked and connected with was beneficial section in the back of the Bible. I immensely loved the “thirty days of promises” featuring “when satan attacks you”, “when you’re waiting for an answer to prayer”, “when you’re uncertain about the future”, and more valuable passages. I enjoyed the design of the hardcover Bible and it was very appealing and it reminded me of school colors. This would be a phenomenal resource and graduation gift to any high school student entering college and any college student. 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program."  

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of NIV College Devotional Bible check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/NIV-College-Devotional-Bible-Zondervan/dp/0310442575