Book Review: The Imperfect Disciple.

The Imperfect Disciple: Grace For People Who Can’t Get Their Act Together

By: Jared C. Wilson

OH YAY! A book on how to love those crazy people who can't get their acts together... and about 12 pages in, I realised I am that person.

I am so excited to share this book with you, I love when I get to read a book and it impacts my life in a positive way. Take a gander below at my review. I love this book. I think you might too!

Share the love,

M.

Ever thought you’re the only one who doesn’t have their act together? Can’t get their lives figured out? Well the great reality is you are not, I am not, we are not. We are the norm, we are the ones who fall short, the ones who suck at stuff, and the ones who are sensitive enough to realize by ourselves we will never measure up. But thank goodness we don’t have to do it by ourselves. 

Many people view discipleship as, chilling with a laid back, berkenstock clad, Jesus while he tells stories … But is that really what discipleship is? 

This book moves into the messiness of discipleship, not the Sunday school version of what we’ve been taught. It’s deep, it’s profound, yet simple. Maybe it’s just that it’s never been laid out this way for me before. 

When I first read the title of this book, I thought, “oh perfect, skills and grace for loving those other people who can’t get their acts together”… only to be gently guided into realizing I am that person. I’m the one who can’t get there act together, I’m that girl. I’m the one that needs more grace than anyone, and it’s true. Maybe I was just afraid of saying it out loud, I’ve known all along that I need Jesus… but which Jesus do I need? The Sunday School version of Jesus or The Jesus At The Well, prodding, questioning, loving on purpose. I’m in need of the one who pursues me, not someone just timidly waiting for me to let Him in, I’m in need of the one who is knocking, not just a docile, “well maybe she isn’t home” knocking, but a persistent, relentless pursuit knocking…

This book hast taken me on a journey into the depth of discipleship, relationship, and grace.If you are that person, the one who falls short, feels like they suck at stuff, you are not alone, you are in good company. I’d encourage you to take a read…

** Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. 

Fear Fighting a Book Review.

Fear Fighting: Awakening Courage to OVERCOME Your Fears

By Kelly Balarie

Fear is sneaky, once you let it in, it grows like a weed in your heart, suffocating ideas, hopes and dreams. Then it starts telling you, you aren’t good enough, you’re not like those people, you will never be part of the in crowd. Your skills aren’t good enough. Your art will never measure up, no one wants to hang your work in their home. Why would you even try? Shut up already. Seriously… 

Fear has a way of making us shrink back instead of shine, it has a way of making us feel insignificant, like it doesn’t matter, like we don’t matter. The crazy thing about fear is; it’s usually lying to us (I say usually because if you are standing on the ledge of a 27 story high building, with the wind whipping around your hair, you ought to be scared- that fear is real). The fear we are talking about is the one that likes to keep us so preoccupied with nonsense that it leaves no room for reason. Now, I like to think I’m a reasonable person. I can break down a situation to the lowest common denominator, even though once I’ve broken it down, the problem doesn’t necessarily disappear. Why is that? Because fear has it’s clammy little hands in every aspect of our lives. 

Fear Fighting by Kelly Balarie, is a book about just that, it’s a book about recognizing fear in our lives and refuting them with the truth. This book is scattered with scriptures, life affirming prayers, stories and testimonies, from the author’s own personal experiences. It’s pulled together a little bit like an old quilt that your gramma may have made. Materials, patterns, and threads that you recognise but have come to a new light in their new life as a quilt, a comforter. This book is a comforter and a guide to the ultimate Comforter, the Holy Spirit, leading us and guiding us gently to focus on Jesus. 

When I read through this book I immediately connected knowing that fear can gain a grip that is sometimes uncontrollable and hard to shake. I also know what the Bible says, if you are a reader of my blog, you know I have personally had to deal with some weird unshakable quirky fears -sharks in the bathtub?- anyone?

Kelly brought a concept to light I have never thought about, this concept of waiting versus abiding. When we are waiting for something, it’s like we have no job to do there is nothing we can be doing, we are just sitting, twiddling our thumbs and waiting- but the idea of abiding, abiding in Christ, abiding is “putting matters of God over matters assuaging our restless mind” (chapter 9). So abiding is a heart condition, it’s a condition that you trust God to do what He needs to do for you, and in that time you will cover your fears and your anxieties in his word. You will abide in Him as He works for you. I loved this… We have been waiting for along time to have children, this waiting when you feel like nothing is in your control and it is easier to get angry, easier to let fear take over, easier to ask the questions what if this never happens than it is to hope- Those easier things Allow lies to build and ultimately they become our life truths… we begin to believe them as truth. But Abiding in Him is giving God all of those fears, giving it all to God knowing that what he has is better than anything you could ever have imagined. Abiding in Him is active, it is an action you take, it’s making the choice every day to trust.

I really enjoyed this book, I loved that it brought up topics and issues that I deal with and it gave simple (because with God it is simple, and we tend to overcomplicate everything) realistic ways of working through fear. The biggest concept in this book is that fact that we need to give it all to God… What is the point of worrying about tomorrow, we have no control, so why do we try so hard to control it?

If you are having issues with fear, anxiety, control-  if fear has you constantly worried about what others think, your hubby getting bit by a snake in the pool, your children falling off cliffs 4 counties over so you won’t let them play outside… if fear has it’s grip on you, this book might just be the one you need to read to set yourself free and start truly living in the authority we have been given, to stop focusing inward and start focusing upward…


Share the love,
M.


Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc

LostBumblebee ©2017 Bible Verse: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear- 1 John 4:18
Donate to download | Personal use Only | www.lostbumblebee.net

Made Well a Book Review from the Heart.

A Book Review: Made Well: Finding Wholeness in the Everyday Sacred Moments. Written By Jenny Simmons

When we think about healing we think of this miraculous, one moment sick-the next moment healthy, kind of healing. But what happens when that doesn’t happen? What happens when we are called to a journey of becoming whole, a journey that is marked with hard work, emotional battles, a journey that takes putting one foot in front of the other everyday to being made well. When we respond to the invitation that Jesus gave so long ago, and still gives every day, an open hand, a sweet whisper to our hearts “Do you want to be made well?”, with a resounding yes… our journey can look different than expected. This book is a guide, a love letter, a soothing balm to the soul on a healing journey. A Journey through pain, through hurt, through sickness to a place of peace, a peace that passes all understanding… That can only be received if we accept this invitation.

As I was reading though this book there were so many moments when my heart leapt because she was speaking directly to pain and hurt in my own life. Jenny has interwoven personal stories all throughout this book -weaving a tapestry that we can all recognize even though our journey may look different, we see the common threads, the heart hurts, the unseen hand, that hind sight as 20/20, and even though we may never know the purpose, we know that we are on the road to being made well. 

The concept is simple, yet so profound. It grasped me in the first few pages, my heart recognized that I needed to read this book, that this was a message for me, for my hurt moments, for my hurt heart. 

If you are ready to accept the invitation “Do you want to be made well?” then this book is for you. It will encourage you - you are not alone, you are being made well, we are being made well… and You are worth being made well. I am worth it. And we are so loved. 

As many of you know I have had my own hurt heart, my own issues with fertility and no babies, and a hurt heart, a mother’s heart that has never been filled, a heart that is mourning the loss of a lifetime of dreams, a heart that is on a journey to being made well. A heart that has chosen gratitude and hope… a heart that somedays physically aches in my body. I live a life that sometimes catches me off guard and takes my breath away, drops me to my knees, hurt. I don’t understand, I may never understand, but what I do know is that I responded to the invitation “Do you want to be made well?” and in doing so, I have journeyed a long way on a road of healing.

Healing hurts. Healing is hard work. Healing takes time, healing can take a life time… sometimes healing may only come on the other side of glory, but healing does come… and we will be made well.

Thank you Jenny for writing this book, sharing your heart, your hurts, your victories, your stories. Thank you for re-introducing us to Jesus, the ultimate healer, friend, confidant and Saviour.  This book is such an encouragement to me, it read my pain, it spoke a healing balm to my heart, and it has moved me in ways I cannot express.

What a beautiful way to start a new year… knowing that healing takes time, healing hurts, but we’re all going to make it through, because we have accepted the most beautiful invitation ever… 

Do you want to be made well? 

Share the love,
M.

Please Note: Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc .

LostBumblebee ©2016 | Made Well | Printable 8x10in. | Personal Use Only | www.lostbumblebee.net

LostBumblebee ©2016 Made Well,
Desktop Image 72 dpi, not for print, personal use only, www.lostbumblebee.net

LostBumblebee ©2016 Made Well,
Desktop Image 72 dpi, not for print, personal use only, www.lostbumblebee.net

LostBumblebee ©2016 Made Well,
Desktop Image 72 dpi, not for print, personal use only, www.lostbumblebee.net

Beloved Mess... a book review.

Have you ever read a book that came to you at the perfect time, in the perfect moment, packaged perfectly to speak into your life? This is Beloved Mess for me. Just when I needed it most, I started reading it. Just when I was confronted with a situation in which I needed to show grace, I was in the middle of it. Just when I feel like a failure at giving grace... I read the final words, and grace floods over me... soaks me, and I just melt into it and know... that I am ok. All is ok.

I can't recommend this book enough, for everyone... everyone who ever felt they didn't measure up, for everyone who ever felt like somehow you were just not good enough, for anyone who ever thought that grace is great for others, but I just don't deserve it... for those covered in shame, hurt, heartache... this book is for you, this book is full of hope,  overflowing in love, and just absolutely dripping grace... from every page... it's ok to not measure up, none of us do, and we never will...

I have been blessed over the years to be able to read and review books, and I tell you the honest truth, I was never really that interested in sharing my thoughts about them. But this one, I can't say it enough or loud enough- you need to read it! I needed to read it. I need to reread it. I need to get it into my heart... it is a simple explanation of the most complicated yet most simple concept ever... grace... how did I miss this all these years?

I've created 2 prints to stand as reminders that you are His Beloved... His Beloved Mess... and you are just perfect in His eyes...

My official review... It doesn't even do justice to the impact this book has had on my heart...

Have you read this book?

Share the love,
M.

Beloved Mess: God's Perfect Love for Your Imperfect Life 

Kimm Crandall

Grace. What’s so awesome about Grace? How about the fact that we don’t deserve it, yet our entire lives are enrobed in it, dripping with it, and yet some of us still don’t see it.  Kimm’s book, Beloved Mess, is just what the doctor ordered, it’s the unveiling of this truth, this grace, it’s the peeling away the layers of the most mysterious, yet most simple concept ever. Grace. We don’t deserve it, we can never earn it, it is given to us because of Jesus. Period. 

This book is a small, yet powerful book, with chapters and questions that lead you into a discussion- either with others in a group, or with yourself. Answering the guided questions helps you come up with a personal understanding of just how amazing this grace is. 

Personally this book for me was an eye opener, it talked about what we think we know to be true, versus what is really true. 

Now, just because we have this knowledge, doesn’t mean -by any means- that it will all of a sudden be implemented in our lives. It will be a journey, maybe a journey that we suck at… but the amazing thing is this; the knowledge that we are all a mess, and we will never live up to the the Law, and there is nothing we can do to earn it… we are complete and utter mess-ups… and that is exactly why Christ came to die.  He wasn’t a mess-up. He is perfect, and when God looks down on us, He sees us enrobed in all of the love and goodness that is Jesus… and showers us  little mess-ups with His grace. We can’t get away from it, even if we try. We are soaked and slathered in it every moment of every day. No matter how far you try to get, how far you run, you cannot outrun the love and the grace that abounds towards you.

I read the digital version of this book, and I cannot wait to get a hard copy, the hubby and I are living abroad and so getting the physical book is a little difficult. But this is one book that I will be adding to my personal library, and sharing with my friends. It is a book that I feel everyone needs to read. I loved it, and I will be rereading it, and hopefully starting a book club so I can share it with others.

Beloved Mess unravels the beauty of this amazing grace that we so desperately need in our lives, that’s slathered over us daily, and yet we still don’t see it, or feel it… this book helps peel away the blinders we put on either by personal expectations and or the expectations of others. 

Read this book, get lost in the simplicity of grace, let it roll over you and flood every area of your life, swim in it, soak it up, and share it with others… 

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

LostBumblebee ©2016 MDBN
Beloved Zephaniah 3:17
personal use only

LostBumblebee ©2016 MDBN
Beloved Zephaniah 3:17
personal use only

One Dress, One Year. A Book Review.

One Dress. One Year.
One Girl’s Stand Against Human Trafficking.

By: Bethany Winz with Susanna Foth Aughtmon

This book fully intrigued be right from the title- to the subtitle- to the fact that the girl who was wearing this dress was a 16 year old with a heart to end slavery.  Human Trafficking is a phenomenon that plagues our world today more than ever. The statistics are unbelievable and infuriating… but what have I done to end it? Nothing really… But Bethany Winz has. She has written a book about her personal journey through 366 days of wearing the same black dress to raise awareness and funds to stop modern day slavery.

This book is written like a journal, which made me feel like I was part of this project, following along and participating. It has a real personal vibe, as Bethany shares her personal struggles with feelings of unworthiness, being overwhelmed, not loveable, and of being a teenage girl with curly hair in hot humid florida.  Her personal story which intertwined between mini blog narratives is interesting, honest and pure. 

A great read, motivating, encouraging and engaging. I feel it would be fantastic for youth and young adults to read in order to encourage them to look outside of themselves and into the world around them, and understand that it doesn’t take a year of wearing the same dress, or a big commitment to do something, or to be part of something, what it takes is a willing heart, and a little bit of courage, armed with those two things, the world will change- one day at a time, one person at a time. For Bethany, it was one day at a time, in one dress.

What will you do today to help raise awareness? One teeny tiny small thing, done daily will amount to big things over time...

Share the love,

M.

This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. in exchange for my honest review.

Every Little Thing...

Every Little Thing
Making A World Of Difference Right
Where You Are

Over the holidays I was blessed to have a little time to sit and read this fantastic book by Deidra Riggs. Every once in awhile I will write a review of a book, but I stopped that awhile back because I wasn't finding books that resonated with me, and that I felt were valuable to you. This one, however, is pretty awesome... if you think your life is mundane, normal, not spectacular... just average... this one is for you...  I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think you might too!

Take a read!
Share the love,
M.

Every Little Thing, Making a World of Difference Right Where You Are

By: Deidra Riggs

Once I started reading this book, I was hooked… I wanted to keep reading, hearing more, listening to her stories… This book is full of intertwined tales of Deidra’s life that swirl and whirl like blowing snow with parables from the bible that eventually settle in the soul and resonated in my own personal life, and I’m sure will resonate in yours. Moments of weakness that only in times of real honesty could we ever possibly admit that we might be ‘like that’… but she does… and she mixes it with biblical truths that turn us and keep us focused on the heart of the Father.  

Deidra reminds us, that no matter where we are, what we are doing, in our simple little lives, that we are encouraged to partner with God in his plan and make moments that matter. Doing the house work, or gardening, or cleaning, or parenting, or not parenting, having a career, being a house wife, right where you are is holy ground and we are encouraged to celebrate those moments, taking the mundane and making it beautiful.

My favourite chapter was all about Nebraska, I read it, I laughed, I reread it, I laughed… in her story of Nebraska, she shares her own personal struggles, but also unfolds the truth to us that we’ve all got a Nebraska. It might not look the same, but there is some road in our lives, or some experience, or even a real place, that we are called to walk through. A situation that if we were given the choice, we would much rather get it over with as quickly as possible instead of actually going through it. 

It truly is a book all about a journey of a normal life. Someone like you, or someone like me. It isn’t about having a soap box, or a platform, or a congregation (now you may have all of those, but most of us don’t) It’s about not allowing fear to grip your heart and paralyze you in the life that you’ve been given and seeing that you can make a difference right where you are.

In the simple and in the mundane, we actually will find true life and joy, if we accept the invitation to live fully and loved by our God. 

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc."