4 hours ago
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading The Fourth Fisherman by Joe Kissack. I ordered because I think survival stories are interesting, but then when I read the description more closely it almost sounded like it was going to be an autobiography.
But when I started the book it sucked me right in. It turns out it was both - a survival story about three fisherman who were lost at sea and and autobiography of the author. It sounds odd when I say it like that, because it doesn't seem like the two stories would fit together, but they do. I liked how the author was able to tell both stories at once - it kept it interesting to me.
I think after reading this book, the best way to describe it would be to say that this book is a testimony. A story of how three men were lost at sea for nine months and God's faithfulness saw them through. And a story of how one man who found himself lost in life until God found Him.
I love reading testimonies of how people come to know Jesus and how God has worked in their lives, and this book was right up that alley on multiple fronts. I enjoyed it, and I would recommend it!
Note: I received this book for free through the Blogging For Books program in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Unrivaled by Siri Mitchell is a story set in St. Louis in the early 1900's. Lucy Kendall returns from a European tour with tons of ideas for a new candy that will help save her father's struggling confectionary, but no matter what she tries, it's not enough. At the same time Charlie Clark comes to town and is reunited with his father, who owns a rival candy company. Charlie and Lucy have a connection right away, but it's quickly stifled when Lucy realized Charlie is the son of her father's archenemy.
I enjoyed this book. The Christian message is pretty light in it, but it's there - the message that it doesn't matter what we have done, it matters what God has done to save us. I liked the character development in the book s Lucy realizes that she has done some things wrong and that her preconceived notions about the Clarks may not be correct.
The romance in the book was cute, and the story kept me interested. You could also tell the author did her research, which I always appreciate - I enjoyed this book! I would recommend it.
Note: I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Remember a few weeks ago when I reviewed The Christian Mama's Guide To Parenting A Toddler by Erin MacPherson? I enjoyed it so much that I ordered The Christian Mama's Guide To Baby's First Year next.
I enjoyed this book just as much as the other one I read in this series! MacPherson covers everything from breastfeeding to baby gear to losing the baby weight, and she does it in a fun and relatable way. I agreed with so much of what she says in this book, and Derek kept asking me what I was laughing at while I was reading - and I was usually laughing at myself, because I've thought so many of the things that Macpherson says in the book!
I've been enjoying these books because I've found them to be so encouraging. They're a good reminder that motherhood is hard sometimes, and it's not going to look perfect, and that's okay - you are still a good mom. And you are in good company. That's something I need to hear (or read) sometimes when there are toys and piles of clothes scattered everywhere, the dog is barking, the baby's crying, and the toddler is getting Nutella all over the furniture. It's normal, and it's precious. And let's face it, it's funny. Being reminded to laugh and enjoy it is priceless.
P.S. I also have to note that the author, Erin MacPherson, actually came over and commented on my review of the toddler book that I posted a few weeks ago! I was very impressed and thought it was pretty classy of her to comment on the reviews of her books. You all should also check out her blog, The Christian Mama's Guide.
Note: I received this book for free from Booksneeze in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
I'm about to get all deep and theological on you, so be prepared.
I've been wanting to write about this subject for some time, because it plays into my testimony, but for some reason I haven't. Maybe because it seems like such a huge topic. But I feel like the time has come for me to tackle it on here.
As most of you know, I grew up in a Christian home, and we went to church every Sunday. I heard so many sermons about what it took to be saved that I could preach one myself probably (which is a good thing, because every Christian should know how to explain how to be saved!). God paid the penalty for our sins when He gave His son to die on the cross for us. Salvation is a free gift for us, and we just have accept it. All we have to do is believe in Jesus and we will be saved. All true.
But when I was about 16{isn}, something came up which I had never heard before. We made some friends who were hardcore Calvanists, and they got pretty fired up about predestination.
Just in case you aren't familiar with this topic, there are two camps on this issue - one is the "free will" camp, which believes that every person has free will and chooses whether they will believe or not - and if they choose not to, they will go to hell because God isn't going to force them to believe in Him. He wants us to follow and love Him willingly, because love isn't really love if you force someone to love you, so that wouldn't make sense. This is what I heard mostly when I grew up.
The other camp is the predestination side, which believes that God predestines some people to believe in Him. Because God is sovereign over everything, that means God is also sovereign over who will choose to believe in Him and who won't. If He is not in control of everything, including who chooses to believe in Him, then the parts of the Bible that say God is sovereign would be wrong. And that wouldn't make sense.
This "predestination" is the new concept that was presented to me when I was 16{isn}. Just one little theological issue, but it rocked my whole world. I have never doubted my faith as much as I did then. All this time I had been believing that all a person had to do was believe in Jesus, and they would be saved (still believe that, just to be clear). If they wouldn't, they would spend eternity without Jesus. Cut and dry. Easy peasy.
But all of a sudden I was presented with all these verses about the sovereignty of God, how God has chosen, predestined, called certain individuals to believe in Him. And it was complicated, and I was confused - because if God chose, then was He choosing to send some people to hell? That wasn't the God I knew. The God I knew was "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".
But if it's all up to us to believe to be saved, then that would mean that God isn't in control of everything. He isn't sovereign. And that wasn't the God I knew either. The God I knew was all powerful, sovereign, in control of everything.
I struggled to reconcile the two, and I couldn't. I cried. I felt shaken, and I didn't know what to believe anymore.
I have a very wise mother. She told me at the time that it was okay to doubt. That every Christian doubts at some point, but we can chose to turn to God with out doubts, or let our doubts turn us away from Him. She encouraged me to just pray and tell the Lord how I was doubting, and ask Him to make things clear to me.
And I read verses. So many verses. Verses regarding our faith to believe in Jesus. Verses regarding God's sovereignty. Free will. Predestination. And I was confused, because I saw the two concepts both presented in the Bible, yet I didn't see how they could work together.
I remember especially one verse in the Bible where it says that God chose to love Jacob and hate Esau. And I remember praying over that verse, asking God why, because it didn't seem very fair to me. But there it was in ink, in my Bible. And I was struggling.
And somehow, in the midst of these struggles, I feel like God opened my eyes, and spoke to my heart. Because what it boiled down to was whether I really believed that God was good.
I realized that I did - no matter what, I did believe that God was good, and that what He did was always right. I cried and told God that I believed that He was good, and that His Word was true, even if nothing made sense.
And in the moment when I accepted that, I think my faith deepened, and truly became my own in a deeper way. Because in that moment when I didn't understand, I chose to hold fast to the fact that the God I served was a good God, and even if I didn't understand Him sometimes, I could trust in that.
After this realization, I felt like the issue cleared up for me. Both concepts were in the Bible. I didn't understand how they could work together, but they were both in there, and I trusted that God's Word was true - so somehow they must work together.
My mom told me something that someone had told her, and it was like a light dawned. Why can't God know something that we can't? And I realized that of course He can! If I knew everything God knew, then God would be too small. And I don't serve a small God.
Of course He can know something I don't know, and I came to realize that this was one of those things. The mind of God is so much greater and higher than our minds - so even if I don't see a way that both sides of the predestination issue can work together, God can. And I can't, because I'm not God. I don't have to know everything He knows, and my tiny, three dimensional brain probably couldn't handle it anyway.
I learned to be okay with the not knowing. Because even though I might not know all the answers on the predestination debate, I know what kind of God I serve. I know Him.
In the midst of that struggle, I feel like I also received a gift. Because while I do believe both must work together, I've also come to see the beauty in a truth I hadn't really thought about before - that God chose me. And it's a blessing to my heart - to be chosen by a God like that.
When I get to heaven I might ask God to explain this whole thing to me. Because I still don't get it, and I don't think I ever will unless God Himself explains it to me.
But until then, I know that however it works, He is good and His Word is true. And that's enough for me.
Today we're celebrating a surprise virtual baby shower for one of my blog friends, Tiffany from The Austin Family Diary!
Tiffany found my blog about a year ago and sent me an e-mail because we're both dental hygienists - and I was so happy she decided to start her own blog a few weeks later! It's been fun following along with her blog the last year, and I've especially enjoyed reading about her pregnancy after she announced it several months ago!
Her baby boy is due in May, and Kaitlyn organized a virtual baby shower for her - I had never hear of the concept before, but decided to join in. So in honor of Tiffany's virtual baby shower, I want to share a recipe for Pineapple Punch.
I found this recipe for my sister's baby shower a few months ago, and I tweaked it a bit until it was how I liked. You can see the original recipe here, but here is my recipe for Pineapple Punch after my tweaking.
Ingredients You'll Need:
2 quarts pineapple sherbet
1-2 liters Sprite
Seltzer water
Pineapple juice
First of all, you should know that when I make things, I "eye" it - meaning I guestimate ingredients and such. I just have more fun cooking and making goodies that way. So I'm just going to explain how to make the punch, and you can all get in on the "guestimating" fun too!
The original recipe suggests using the seltzer water and pineapple juice to pour over the sherbet and create a "foam" before adding the Sprite - but I like some actual sherbet in my punch, so for my version of pineapple punch, just put half the sherbet in a dish and pour some seltzer water over it until it gets good and foamy. You can refrigerate the foam until you're actually ready to serve the punch.
Right before serving, pull the foamy mixture out of the fridge and add in one or so liters of Sprite and the pineapple juice. I felt like the amount of pineapple juice suggested in the original recipe wasn't quite enough (at least for me), so just add the pineapple juice to taste.
And finally, here is where I suggest adding the rest of the sherbet with an ice cream scoop - the sherbet will flow on top of the punch and gradually melt, and it makes it extra yummy.
And that's it! Nice and easy. And of course you can add some striped paper straws to make it more cute - I got mine from Amazon, and I thought they were pretty reasonably priced at $6.29 for a box of 144 straws!
Congratulations on your little boy, Tiffany, and I can't wait to "meet" him through your blog! He's going to be cute, I can already tell!
Check out the rest of the virtual baby shower below!
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