Andrew Smith's Blog

Book, Music, and Movie Reviews

Slow Down: Embracing the Everyday Moments of Motherhood by Nichole Nordeman Book Review and Every Mile Mattered CD Review








Nichole Nordeman is back with a brand new book, “Slow Down” filled with colorful photos and CD, “Every Mile Mattered”. The book begins with explaining how she got the idea for the hit song, “Slow Down”. The song describes what every parent goes through and how we all wish that the time would slow down between every passing stage our children go through. Nichole Nordeman is a mother of two children, Charlie and Pepper. Throughout the book, she shared countless stories of what she learned along the way about parenting. She went into detail about the challenges she encountered when she became a new mom to her son, Charlie. He had a condition called gastroesophageal reflux and he had trouble keeping food down the first eighteen months. He was constantly crying, hungry, and he only slept three or four hours. She revealed how this difficult time birthed her hit song, “Brave”. The book also contained stories from Natalie Grant, Amy Grant, Sara Groves, Jen Hatmaker, Patsy Clairmont, and much more. Later in the book, she shared about the decision to walk away from her music career at the height of it and how she has returned after ten years. She shared about how she told her fans it was because of her wanting to be a stay at home mother. In this book, she revealed it was because her marriage was failing and she was trying to save it. This book will offer encouragement to parents and they will realize that they aren’t alone. They will be reminded the significant of slowing down and not rushing through life. 




Every Mile Mattered CD features 11 songs. The album begin with the title track and it discussed how we all have many miles, bridges burned, wrong turns, and shed tears. The song coveys how they are all important and every mile mattered. “Dear Me” is another song that fans will connect with. This one was written as a letter to yourself and how we are guilty of not following Jesus 100%. This one talked about really being Jesus to people who are in need and who are hurting. This is a very moving song with emotional lyrics. One of my favorite songs was, “No Longer”. This one had an upbeat tempo and it describe Jericho, the Red Sea, five stones and how we all struggle with living our lives. The song is a declaration about living with your heart on fire and not letting fear to control our lives. We no longer have to with a safety net, we can be stronger and freer. Another one of my favorites is, “Listen to Your Life”. This one describes all the voices we hear every day and how they all compete for our attention. We all at times are worried about who has the floor to speak and who holds the bullhorn. At other times we are all wondering who is going to steer. Nichole Nordeman reminds listeners to listen to your life and listen to God and His small voice and letting His Spirit flow through you. I also love the song, “Sound of Surviving”. This one talked about how we let fear control us where we won’t share our stories. Many of our stories are often filled with bullet holes and they aren’t always beautiful. This song is an anthem for reminding ourselves that we are still here, we are surviving, and we’re not done fighting. This album also contained a new version of, “Slow Down” which features her daughter, Pepper singing the lyrics alongside her mother. This version is a very personal reminder of all the different stages, we hopefully will see our children grow up in. 




If you would like to purchase a copy of the book and CD, check out the links below:













Thanks to Capitol Christian Music Group for the book and CD to review. 




 



 

0 comments:

Post a Comment