Jesus Freaks: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus: The Ultimate Jesus Freaks Revised and Updated Edition by DC Talk and the Voice of the Martyrs Book Review

In Jesus Freaks, DC Talk, TobyMac (Toby McKeehan), Michael Tait (lead singer of Newsboys), and Kevin Max have all teamed back up to included new and revised stories about martyrs who some died while standing up for their beliefs in Jesus. The book is written about the hit song by DC talk entitled, “Jesus Freaks”. This song discussed the topic of refusing to hide from the truth of being a Jesus Freak and not caring what others say about us and living boldly out our faith. The book begins with all three artists discussing the topic of Jesus Freak and what it means to them and also where it originally began. It also included a message from The Voice of the Martyrs and they defined and explained in detail what is a martyr. The book included stories from real people who stood up for their faith in Christ and was persecuted for it. Some of these included: Chinese Christians from the Underground Church, Thomas, Paul, Matthew, the First Jesus Freak (Stephen), William Tyndale, and much more. Each chapter included a story and ended with reflection and a scripture verse. In the back of the book, they also included a special section about the persecution in other areas of the world today and it breaks it down into the countries and what being a Christian can cost them. 

 

 

One of the stories included was about Mee who was 19 years old in Laos. She was faced with a difficult decision to claim her Savior or deny Him. One day, a Communist guard pointed a gun at her and told her he would shoot her in the forehead if she continued to believe in Jesus. She told him that he could kill her body but her spirit would still live. He didn’t shoot her or her sister but he warned her that he would watch them and he walked away. Mee made the choice to believe in Christ when she was given a few months to live. She was battling thyroid cancer since the age of 14. She eventually went to church with her sister and she told God she would serve Him, if he would heal her. A month later at the checkup, the cancer was completely gone. So, when the guard threaten to kill her, she made a choice to stand up and be a witness for Christ no matter what the cost.  

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who is seeking a collection of stories about what it means to be a Christian and how to have unshakeable faith even when faced with imprisonment, tortured, and death. I immensely enjoyed how the book included people in the Bible who was persecuted for believing in Christ. I also liked how it included personal stories from all over the world about how they chose to stand up for what they believe in. I liked how it contained the power to give readers courage to boldly confess their love for Jesus and to become a Jesus Freak. I have read some of the original book when I was a teenager but it’s been a few years now. I liked how they enclosed stories all the way up until 2018 so it’s still pretty current. 

 

 

 

 

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

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Freaks-Stories-Those-Ultimate/dp/0764237284

Mom Vs Dad: The Not-So-Serious Guide to the Stuff We’re All Fighting About by Lucy and Tom Riles Book Review

In Mom Vs Dad, Lucy and Tom Riles have written a brand-new book about family, marriage, and parenting. It encouraged readers to choose whose sides they are on at the end of each chapter. A little background on Lucy and Tom they married in 2008 and they met in a coed softball league in LA. At the time, Lucy loved to wear a cowboy hat and jean shorts. He described his first thoughts on falling in love with her. They revealed the timeline on how they got engaged and married and how the kids came. In the book, Tom briefly discussed how he has worked as a warm-up act for Ellen for over 15 years. They shared in the book how they disagreed on a lot of the small challenges. But they had a strong relationship when it come to the bigger important issues. Lucy opened up about losing her mother to stage 4 melanoma in the first year of their marriage. They also discussed the challenges they faced with their first child and how she had a serious heart defect and was given very low odds-on living. When she was born, they did open heart surgery and this improved her life and is now a thriving child. They opened up about having 5 pregnancies and how they experienced a miscarriage and a stillborn. Lucy shared how she stated how she has four children even though one died stillborn. They shared that they wrote this book to make couples laugh and to have fun with their spouse and to realize the power they can have in their marriage together. 

 

 

The book discussed multiple topics such as: your wife wearing heels on vacation, sharing food with your partner, complicating a spray tan, phone charging etiquette, hoarder, dad wearing cargo shorts, santa, controlling the thermostat, vacation without the kids, co-sleeping with kids, taking kids to restaurants, right time to have the sex talk, fake symptoms to get out of sex, toothpaste tubes, and much more. Each chapter switches from both authors and shared their views and what they believe. It ends with asking readers who side are they on. 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who is ready to dive into the topics we face in our marriage and parenting. This book had a unique style in encouraging couples to choose are they on the mom’s side or the dad’s side. Even though, I’m not married or have kids yet I was able to find the humor and see the types of things married couples go through. I loved how they included all sorts of topics couples more than likely fight about on a daily base. Some of my favorite was sharing food, expiration dates, co-sleeping, stressing about messes, cutting your kids hair or taking them somewhere, what age to buy cell phones for your kids, and much more. I immensely enjoyed how open they were in sharing their views on the topics and how they both disagreed on many of the topics but they are able to still stay married to each other. I liked how they were able to share with readers their own personal stories to help readers to relate to. I also connected with Tom’s side of the story when he shared his painful experiences and he compared them to childbirth because like him I broke my toe right before covid-19 hit and I had just recovered before the shut down and all of the new challenges. I also have had kidney stones and I personally think they can compare to childbirth. If you’re looking for a new parenting and marriage book, and you’re seeking a good heartfelt laugh, then read this book! 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

https://www.amazon.com/Mom-vs-Dad-Not-So-Serious-Fighting/dp/154603689X

Empty Out the Negative: Make Room for More Joy, Greater Confidence, and New Levels of Influence by Joel Osteen Book Review

 

 

In Empty Out, Joel Osteen has written a brand-new book about dumping all of our negative thoughts. We need to learn to let go and release all of the guilt, worry, doubt, offenses from the day before. They are only holding us back from living our best joyful and peaceful life. Joel describes it as a container and our heart is filled with many different negative emotions and it is weighing us down. He explained to readers that we get to make a choice on what we allow in our lives and what we think about. Joel shared how we need to learn to drop whatever bad baggage that happened today or even 5 minutes ago and to let it go. He looked at scriptures and how Jesus declared that the pure of heart will see God. He illustrated how our hearts need to be like a catheter and how it cleanses and purify our impurities and we need to get into a habit of releasing the negative things that are infecting us. He looked at the topic of unforgiveness and how the bitterness is hurting us. He revealed how we need to release our own failures and receive God’s mercy. He teaches readers how to be free from guilt. He also looked at how we can forgive others. He shared personal stories from others such as, Mary Johnson and how she was able to forgive someone who killed her own son. 

 

 

I would recommend this life changing book to anyone who is ready to change their thinking. This book will help readers to drop the negative baggage and to let go of our mistakes, hurts, pains, and whatever things that didn’t work out. I liked how he reminded readers to dwell on the positive and how if we focus on the positive instead of the negative, we will see an improvement in our lives. We will also have less room in our thinking, if we choose to go after the positive. I also enjoyed how he gave great encouragement to readers on how if they choose to give their spouse compliments and to have a higher fresh attitude, then we could possibly see a vast difference in our marriage. You could also apply this thinking to all of relationships and in our workforce. I immensely liked how Joel helped us to make room for right Godly thoughts and how we can increase our joy. 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Empty Out the Negative, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/154601599X

Praying for Emily: The Faith, Science, and Miracles that Saved Our Daughter by Tom, Kari, and Emily Whitehead with Danelle Morton Book Review

In Praying for Emily, Tom, Kari, and Emily Whitehead has written a personal autobiography about the journey that they had to face as a family. A little background on Emily’s parents is Tom works for a power company and Kari works as a registered dietitian and research project manager. They open up sharing about how they got married and how they struggled having a child. They eventually were blessed with a little girl. They described Emily’s personality as someone who loves to laugh, has high energy, loved being outdoors, and a prankster. In the book, Tom also opened up about a few health scares and how he was diagnosed in his twenties with Crohn’s disease and how it affected his family. Sadly, this wasn’t the only health scare that was about to come to his family.

 

 

 

They begin the book by explaining that Pam, Kari’s mother was watching Emily during the day and she noticed some bruises on her arms and legs. Emily was a high energetic child so they didn’t think much of it at first. Later that night, Kari noticed that she had a total of 21 bruises on her body. She also realized at around this time Emily’s gums was bleeding when she brushed. She explained all of her symptoms to her sister, Brenda who is a nurse and she told them to get her checked out because all of this was signs of leukemia. Emily was still running around and playing outside on her swing. Tom and Kari thought maybe she was still fine other than the bruises she appeared fine. Later in the night, Emily woke up screaming that something was wrong with her legs and they tried a warm bath and she screamed that it was too hot. They took her to her doctor and then the ER for blood work and it was confirmed that Emily’s blood cells are 90% leukemia cells. Throughout the book, he walked readers through the different hospital visits and stays and what Emily experienced and faced along the way. Kari also started a blog to get people to pray for Emily and to keep everyone updated along the way. They also shared how the chemo failed and the cancer come back a second time. Then later in the book, they revealed how Emily received a miracle by being the first child to try an experimental treatment plan that included something called, CAR-T cell therapy. She eventually recovered and was cancer free. This in turn lead to documentaries and meeting President Obama and them starting the Emily Whitehead Foundation.  

 

 

I would recommend this inspiration book to anyone who is experiencing cancer or they know someone that is. This is the first time that I have heard of Emily’s story and is very eye opening in learning about CAR-T cell therapy and how this started. I immensely loved how Tom also shared about how he had different whispers when Emily was going through her cancer treatments and sometimes it would be like a voice and flashes of things that would be to come. He has a cool story about a kid in the elevator and how it gave him hope and then later he learned more about the boy. I also liked how Tom shared how he was more the faith believing one and how this influenced his family during the difficult season. I also appreciated how they shared the science too and how Kari loved the facts and how this helped them during their journey. In reading the book, I liked how they explained the challenges and what they learned along the way during Emily’s cancer journey. 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Praying-Emily-Science-Miracles-Daughter/dp/1546034110

Finding Quiet: My Journey to Peace in an Anxious World by Jamie Grace Book Review

 

In Finding Quiet, Jamie Grace opened up about her journey in dealing with the busy noise of a music career and how she was able to find quiet and peace. In the book, she shared how she has become a Christian recording artist and how she loves to sing, play instruments, and produce music. She also explained about how she struggled with an anxious disorder, Tourette Syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and ADHD and was diagnosed at age eleven. She revealed how deep her anxious is and how she felt silence meant she wasn’t loved or people don’t like her. She explained how she struggled with texting and sometimes feeling like if she replies too soon, she is being anxious and if she takes too long people might think she doesn’t care about them. She opened up about how she tried medication from nine to fifteen. She had major challenges with tics from her Tourette’s and they were becoming too aggressive and violent. The medication brought on new challenges and it caused her to lose her motivation and how she was exhausted most of the time. So eventually, she stopped it and then again in her twenties, she tried antidepressants medication again to help her cope with going on tour and being a full-time college student. She also tried counseling and she shared her experiences she faced along the way. She shared how she learned to rely on faith in her Creator and His strength and praying. Throughout the book, she looked at how she was able to find peace and she gave tips and encouragement to readers on how to enjoy the quiet and to let go of whatever is weighting us down. 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who has listened to Jamie Grace music and they will greatly enjoy the book. Even if you don’t listen to her music, you will still be able to connect with the book and get something from the book. I immensely loved how she opened up about her personal struggles with anxious and Tourette Syndrome. I believe people will be able to relate to her story and with listening to her songs I wouldn’t have ever knew that she struggled with all of these issues without reading this book. I also love how open she was in sharing how she went from an indie artist to a record label and then back to an indie artist. I liked how she was open about not getting a call back after the meeting supposedly went very well with a major record label and the fears she experienced. I appreciated how she shared that later she learned that being an indie artist gave her a new freedom to again work with songwriters that she wanted to work with. It turned out to working out for her benefit. I liked how she encouraged readers that even through her failed plans, she learned a mantra and shared it with readers. She stated, “My dreams won’t always come true. My plans won’t always work out.” She reminded readers that they aren’t failures and we won’t get accepted at every school or job that we apply to and we might not get married or have a baby by the time, we thought we would have. But she reminded us that we can still have hope and learn to enjoy the journey along the way. 

 

 

 

 

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

 

  

 

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

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Quiet-Journey-Peace-Anxious/dp/0764236075

Spiritual Intelligence: The Art of Thinking Like God by Kris Vallotton Book Review

In Spiritual Intelligence, Kris Vallotton explored the topic of our spiritual intelligence quotient and how we can have the mind of Christ. He explained how he was able to lead a talk session at Google and they discussed how Christianity can have an impact in the technology space. Most of them from Google have heard of IQ, EQ, and AI but not SQ. Throughout the book, he looked at how IQ, EQ, and SQ all worked together. He went into detail about renewing our minds and how we can be transformed. He explained how he studied many books on the subject of neuroscience and some were written by Dr. Caroline Leaf, such as one titled, “Why Switched Off My Brain?”. He learned how we can create positive mindsets and he revealed eight symptoms of a transformed mind. Some of these included, “full of hope, live in peace and don’t worry, like yourself, quick to forgive, believe in others, know how to think tri-dimensionally”, and much more. 

 

 

He shared what we can learn about Joshua and how he was instructed to medicate on God’s written Word and how God told him He would make him successful and prosperous. He discussed how we can transform our minds and we can choose what to believe and what negative lies that are opposed in the Word of God. This in turn will force new neural pathways to develop in our brains and help us to renew our minds.  

 

 

I would recommend this amazing book to anyone who is read to dive into the topic of spiritual intelligence and they are ready to learn more about how we can renew our minds to become more like Christ. I immensely liked how he shared the five receptivity’s: “think, know, feel, see, and hear” and how we can grow and transform our minds and lives to become closer to Christ. I enjoyed how he included a special assessment in the back of the book where readers can see and learn about unique things about their spiritual intelligence. One of my favorite stories was the one he shared about duct tape and how he was able to set people free from their oppression. He explained how he saw words written on top of people’s heads and he went up to them and asked if he could rip it off. Some of the words was abandoned, depression, abused, raped, chronic fatigue, and much more. He revealed how God was able to teach him to help set people free and get deliverance. If you’re looking for a book on tapping into the mind of Christ and transforming your mind and life, then read this book!

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Intelligence-Art-Thinking-Like/dp/0800761804