The Beautiful Wife

The Beautiful Wife is a book for the gloriously messy woman who has serious and not-so-serious questions about her role as a wife. It's a book for the woman who longs to develop deep relationships with real women who don't gloss over the dirty realities of life. It's book for the woman who wants to experience more fulfillment, passion, and meaning in her marriage.

It can be a difficult thing to understand the role of a wife in this day and age. As a matter of fact, it's always been a hard role to understand. After all, it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of job, and it may require tweaking with each new season of life. Your marriage is different than mine, and both of our marriages are different than your friend's. Recipe theology - living by a one-size-fits-all formula - leaves all women hungry. But there are answers that satisfy.

In the book The Beautiful Wife, you will find some of those answers. In fact the more you work through the book, the more you to turn God and talk vulnerably within a loving community of women, the more answers you'll find. The stories of imperfect women with imperfect marriages will refresh you and also challenge you to make changes in your role as a wife, which will improve your marriage. You can use this book with small groups of women, alone, or with a mentor and I truly believe it will change your marriage for the better and teach you that there isn't such a thing as a perfect marriage or husband.

I received the book, The Beautiful Wife by Sandy Ralya compliments of Litfuse Publicity for my honest review and this came at a perfect time for me. I'm always evaluating how my own marriage can be better and how I can improve as a wife. Just the first chapter alone was like a breath of fresh air to my heart and soul as Sandy explains her own personal struggle in her marriage and trying to find a better way to make it work. I felt as if her words were my own and could relate to her story, realizing I am not alone in my thoughts, actions and worse yet, words. However through simple instructions, I saw how I could improve my husband through my actions alone and not anything I say or try to get him to do.

The biggest eye opener for me was when Sandy taught about the unique differences and roles we each bring into the marriage, though we are equal, we are not the same. Clearly Adam needed something he didn't already possess or there would be no need for Eve. It's realizing what strengths each of us brings to the marriage and how we can use those strengths to build the other up and strengthen our marriage. Men need our strengths in encouragement, our ability to find solutions in the midst of storms and instead of us dwelling on all the things we find fault with in our husbands, we need to think about all the positives, (Philippians 4:8). I can wait to see what blessings our marriage will bring as we both work through building our marriage and work towards being the best we can be in our roles as husbands and wives.

I easily rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to any woman who is currently married or considering marriage. It's also great for women's Bible Studies and for Couples Counseling as well. For more information on this book, the author and where to pick up a copy of The Beautiful Wife by Sandy Ralya, please click on the link below:

The Beautiful Wife by Sandy Ralya

By the way there is also a Mentor Guide and Prayer Journal available by clicking here.

The Ultimate Prescription

We all know the signs of a heart attack and how we should seek medical care immediately when the symptoms present themselves, but is it possible that everything we have been doing in our lives have been leading us down the wrong path, heading for heart issues, cancer and disease?

In the latest book by Dr. James L. Marcum, M.D., The Ultimate Prescription: What the Medical Profession Isn't Telling You is perhaps the best eye-opening book on biblical health care that I've had the opportunity to read. Dr. Marcum is a leading cardiologist at the prestigious Chattanooga Heart Institute who believes there are two paths in life we can all walk, one that will lead us to a healthy life and one that will lead us to disease and health issues.

He takes us into the first book of the Bible, Genesis for the biblical foundations to great health, beginning with what he calls the Eden Plan. This is God's formula for what our lives should be about. Instead of popping pills for everything from stress, sleeplessness, weight loss, and medications for most preventable health issues, he guides the readers through the Bible to show you how you can achieve a more healthy, relaxed and peaceful life for the believer in Christ.

He exposes the lies the media and medical professions have been telling us about the dangers of food additives, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils and the most simple guide to a healthier inside, just adding water to our day. We all take showers to clean the outside of our bodies, yet so many of us are ignoring our internal care with stopping for convenience of fast food meals and things we can eat while we are on the go. Technology made have made things easier but at this rapid pace, we are literally killing ourselves while the pharmaceutical companies, medical professionals and the media are making profits of our preventable deaths. This book is one that every single person should read for a simple formula to get back to health, through God's Word.

I received The Ultimate Prescription compliments of Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review and have made some personal changes in my own health and that of my family. I never considered the Bible to have the formula for a healthy physical life before and believe that everyone will truly benefit from reading these profound words. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and it's just the perfect book to begin your New Year's resolutions with.

For more information on this book, the author and even where to purchase a copy of this book, please click on the links below:

The Ultimate Prescription by Dr. James L. Marcum, M.D.

You can also learn more from Dr. Marcum's website by clicking here.

Enemies of the Heart

Divorce. Job loss. Estrangement from family members. Broken friendships.

The difficult circumstances you are dealing with today are likely being fed by one of four emotional forces that compels you to act in undesirable ways, sometimes even against your will.

Andy Stanley explores each of these destructive forces - guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy - and how they infiltrate your life and damage your relationships. He says that, left unchallenged, they have the power to destroy your home, your career, and your friendships.

In Enemies of the Heart, Andy offers practical, biblical direction to help you fight back, to take charge of those feelings that mysteriously control you, and to restore your broken relationships. Also included with this book is a six-week discussion guide to help in a small group study.

My Review:

In light of the circumstances surrounding us today from job loss, divorce, and maintaining our relationships with family and friends, it's hard sometimes not to let greed, anger, guilt or jealousy ruled our thoughts and our hearts. While at times we often think we are the ones that deserve a break and it seems like the ones that deserve a little consequence for some poor actions are the ones that are constantly moving ahead. We on the other hand seem to be fighting that upward battle and never seem to gain any ground.

We work hard at the jobs we do, show up early, stay late, take on extra projects, while a co-worker will never be reliable, is gone more days than they are at work, leave early, take more breaks than most and then when a promotion is up for grabs, its offered to them and not us. Sound like a jealous head begins to rear up? So how do we as Christians respond to that situation? Andy Stanley gives some great advice on working on what we feel on the inside, so that we don't respond in a negative way on the outside.

We as Christians, need to start spending some time evaluating our heart, our spiritual heart on a regular basis. We neglect it far too much and then wonder where our negative thoughts manifest from.

We get jealous when we try on several pairs of jeans, meanwhile our friend puts on the same pairs and they look amazing on her. Do we compliment her or do we simmer on the inside wondering why we can find a pair of jeans to look great on us?

Do you ever find yourself asking the following questions after we have done or said something we shouldn't have:

"I can't believe I just said that."
"I don't know where that came from."
"I can't believe I just did that."
"That's not like me."

Then perhaps you should pick up a copy of Andy Stanley's book, Enemies of the Heart. I highly recommend it for anyone who is struggling with simply how to be a better person and how not to let these emotions overrun our lives, thoughts and actions. I received this book, compliments of WaterBrook Multnomah for my honest review and will be referencing this one from time to time. I give it a 5 out of 5 stars! The writing style is easy to follow and lets the reader feel like a close personal friend, and that is what really works in my opinion.

For more information on this book, the author and where to pick up a copy of this much needed book, please click on the links below:

Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley

Power Thoughts - Giveaway and Review

Two words...Joyce Meyer! Enough said.

If you know me you know how much I feel that Joyce Meyer's adds to my spiritual walk. In having the chance to meet her just weeks after my surgery was amazing. In her latest book, Power Thoughts, 12 strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind, came at a perfect time for me.

I am what you would call your classic worrier. I worry more when it deals with a situation I am personally involved with but can handle others problems so much better than I can my own. In her latest book, Joyce shows how these little, nagging destructive thoughts can do us more harm than good in both the physical, emotional and spiritual areas of our life.

Joyce teaches you how you can "daily" take up the battle and begin to replace all those thoughts that plague our lives and keep us from the true potential God knows is possible in us. There are chapters designed to help you with worry, fear, walking victoriously through any situation, pursuing peace, meeting our needs abundantly and even how to be content and emotionally stable. Oh where to start for me?

The first part of the book is for learning how to implement the change of thinking that has been going on since we were able to put thoughts together and allow us to shape our lives based on what we have thought. Joyce teaches us how to change all that bad thinking and put it into cans. After all miracles really do come in "Cans!!!" It's believing we can, and then repeating it and praying over the thoughts until we can become victorious over them.

I received this book, compliments of Faith Words a division of Hachette Book Groups for my honest review and think everyone should get a copy of this for their home. Who doesn't ever have those thoughts that plague us when life hands us lemons? I would easily rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars. For more information on this book, the amazing author and where to purchase a copy for yoursef, click on the title below:

Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer

Thanks to Hachette Book Groups, they are providing 3 copies for a giveaway. So if your interested, here's what you need to do:

1. Be a follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart.

2. Be a resident of the US or Canada and No P.O. Boxes please.

3. I need a way to contact you if you're a winner, so please include your email address in your comment box. You can use the words (at) or (dot) instead of the symbols.

4. Leave me a comment and tell me where you are struggling in your thought life. The giveaway will end on Oct 21st.