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Tag Archives: relationships
Why Women Love Gilbert Blythe and Why Guys Should Pay Attention
Green Gables fans everywhere were shocked and saddened by the death of Jonathan Crombie, aka, Gilbert Blythe of Sullivan’s beloved TV series. In memory of the sweet, sweet guy who played literature’s favorite boy-next-door, I wrote a post about why we girls love Gil and why guys might want to pay attention.
Click on the picture below and check it out! Hope you like it :)
and the bride wore white | book review
Hello Readers!
Picking up where I left off at the end of last month and continuing on this series of reviews about singleness and purity. I finished this one during my finals week and it was worth every extra minute away from my textbooks! (Not recommended behavior by any stretch, I’m just bein’ honest!).
And the Bride Wore White by Dannah Gresh
Rating: 4.0 – 4.0
My Thoughts: This book is a gem! It’s no wonder why it has sold so many copies over the years. Gresh is completely honest and real and I super appreciated that about her writing! As the subtitle says, she goes through seven secrets of sexual purity and encourages women to embrace them for all the wonderful benefits they offer.
Gresh goes through the big sex-lies that Satan has fed our culture and how those lies effect our lives when we embrace them. She talks about the beauty of purity’s dreams and importance of nurturing a strong relationship with Jesus. She speaks practically about dating and candidly about the purpose of sex. She gives in-depth advice about forgiveness and freedom from past mistakes and shares the sweet joys of waiting emotionally and physically. She’s honest about the struggles and challenges as well as the victories and rewards.
This book is, I suppose, geared largely to high school-aged girls. As a twenty-something, I still recommend it to my demographic. I also highly recommend it to moms of girls as well. Whatever age bracket you you fall into, it’s a beautiful place to start or pick up the conversation on purity. It’s a message that needs to permeate through the church.
I highly, highly, highly recommend you pick up a copy as soon as you can! In fact, I’ll do you one better: why don’t you CLICK HERE to purchase it on Amazon right now! You’ll love it, I guarantee it!
Happy reading :)
Elyssa
when God writes your love story | book review
Good Morning Everyone!
So I continue in my reviews of books on relationships, singleness and purity. This is turning into a bit of a series! It has been more than a few months since I’ve finished this one so I have to go back aways in my brain but this is a super fantastic read and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you!
When God Writes Your Love Story by Eric and Leslie Ludy
Rating: 4.0 – 4.0
My Thoughts: For anyone who’s read my review of When God Writes Your Life Story and Teaching True Love to a Sex-at-13 Generation you know that Eric and Leslie Ludy are two of my favorite authors. I’ve read almost every one of their books (several of which I’ve yet to review :P) and I think they’re pretty awesome writers and Christians!
When God Writes Your Love Story is a beautiful, practical look at romance God’s way. True to their style, Eric and Leslie serve up honesty, humor, and biblical counsel on all things romance and purity. I love their personal stories, struggles and victories. They challenge readers to consider what/who controls their life, to evaluate their current relationships, and seek after a “sweeter song” than the one this sex-saturated world is singing. They challenge readers to pursue honor and God-driven passion.
When you think about, the message is simple: follow where God leads, but the application can seem ambiguous. Where exactly is God leading? Eric and Leslie offer practical ways on how to follow His unique plans for your life. They show that romance is a beautiful thing when we let the Author of romance script His special story for us. He knows our hearts, our desires, and our needs and His plans for your life are so much bigger and better than anything we could ever dream up for ourselves. But first, we’ve got to give Him the pen!
As you can imagine, I highly recommend this book, it’s fantastic. It’s filled with Bible verses and discussion questions to prompt further study and conversation. Read it, share it, read it again. You won’t be sorry, I can promise you that!
Happy reading!
Elyssa
praying for your future husband | book review
Hello Everyone!
As I said in my last post, I have several books on relationships, singleness and purity to review so I’m just going to pick it up with the next title I want to share with you.
Praying for Your Future Husband by Robin Jones Gunn and Tricia Goyer
Rating: 3.5 – 4.0
My Thoughts: When we were in junior high and high school, my best friend and I read Robin Jones Gunn’s Christy Miller Series. Not only were we captivated by the story, we were introduced to the intriguing notion of writing letters to your future husband. A decade later, and I’m happy to say I’ve got a growing collection of letters of my own. So when I saw this book, it didn’t surprise me at all that Gunn co-wrote a book on this subject. I knew I had to read it and I’m so glad I did!
He’s not someone you really think about. Your future husband, I’m mean. Yeah, you might dream of him, think about all the qualities you want him to have, all the characteristics that would make you tick if he possessed them. You dream about how great life is going to be when you’re finally part of a couple. And you know that looks shouldn’t matter but you pray that God would please give you someone you’re attracted to! These are all natural, of course, but when we’re single, we still don’t think about our future husbands as living breathing human beings who walk around working, playing, learning, struggling, laughing, and crying just like we are! But he most certainly is. Think about it, if marriage is in God’s plan for you, then your future mate is out there somewhere in the world. Some minds have just been blown. Or maybe you’re thinking, well, duh! Okay, so what are you going to do about this piece of information? Gunn and Goyer encourage us to pray for him. Right now. Even if you’ve still yet to meet him.
Proverbs 31 contains the beautiful Virtuous Woman passage and one of the things you find out about this wonderful lady is that she does her husband good and not evil all the days of her life (verse 12). All the days of her life would include the days before she meets him, yeah? Now that verse alone contains so much I could unpack but that’s a post for another time – staying on topic! If being a virtuous woman means doing your husband good all the days of your life then why not pray for him? I’ve come to the conclusion that it is, indeed, a beautiful thing!
The authors walk readers through different areas of life in which to pray for both your future husband and yourself. They share personal accounts of their struggles and victories in their own love stories and offer advice and counsel on how to handle different life situations. There are even discussion questions and places to journal throughout the chapters.
I personally found it a bit of a light read which is why I didn’t give it a 4.0 rating. I felt like they could have gone a tad deeper in places. But that doesn’t deter me from highly recommending this book to any single gal who wants to enhance her present single life in faith while holding on to sweet dreams of the future!
Happy reading!
Elyssa
passion and purity | book review
Hello Dear Readers!
I am one paper away from the completion of this term at college and the start of a month-long break from all things scholastic. I can’t begin to tell you how much I’m looking forward to this vacation! My fried brain will get some relief and I’ll have some much deserved time for other things in my life, like blogging! How about some regularity on this site, yeah? It’s coming, I promise :).
I just finished my final paper for my Interpersonal Communication class earlier today, in which I discussed relationships and communications from the perspective of a single woman. As a single twenty-something, this is a subject that is always sort of apart of my thought processes in one form or another. And as a single, twenty-something bookworm, I’ve often got my nose buried in some read about relationships, purity, and singleness. Over the past several months, I have read a a number of really, really great books in this genre and it’s about time I took time to write my reviews!
Passion & Purity by Elizabeth Elliot
Rating: 4.0 – 4.0
My thoughts: First word to describe this book – DEEP. The subtitle says it all: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ’s Control. Romance is one of the most personal areas of our lives and it’s so easy to forget that just like every area of life, it should be brought under the control of our heavenly Father. Agh! What a scary concept! But, if Christians are truly who we want to be, and Christian means to be a Christ follower, how can we do any less?
In Passion & Purity, Elliot tells her sweet love story with Jim Elliot through journal entries, correspondence, and memories. She shares the challenges, victories, mistakes and sacrifices they made as a young couple. It was AMAZING to see how much love flowed between them and yet how committed they were to making Christ their priority in their lives both together and individually even it that meant they weren’t meant to ever be married. I know, scary, yeah? I was on the edge of my seat, so to speak, on more than one occasion.
I loved how candid and real Elliot was. She didn’t mince words and used scripture to back what she said. Again and again she showed how the Word carried her through dark days and times of heartache. As a woman who is not a stranger to the cravings of romance, I found this extremely touching and encouraging.
Elliot proves that passion and purity can exist side by side, one doesn’t have to be sacrificed for the other, and God can reign over it all. She also proves that we do indeed serve a God of impeccable timing and He works all things together for the good of those who love and follow Him (Romans 8:28). We can trust Him with every area of our life, including, maybe especially, romance.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK A THOUSAND TIMES OVER. But I will warn you – it’s not for the faint of heart! You will be challenged and you will counseled. But trust me, it’s soooooooo worth it!
Happy Reading!
Elyssa
lies women believe | book review
Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Rating: 4.0 – 4.0
My Thoughts:
I love this book! I borrowed it from the library and read it and now I want to get a copy for my own personal library. I was amused by the negative reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. So many women found DeMoss too legalistic or conservative or uptight and unreasonable. It’s true her position on many things is counter-cultural and even counter-Christian cultural but I believe her positions are biblical and, therefore, wise.
I didn’t really learn anything new but rather had some things confirmed or backed up. I appreciate her honesty and warmth and assurance that God is in control and that He is deeply interested in the things that are important to women – our emotions, our struggles, our personalities, and our passions. He created us with specific desires and gifts and dreams and has specific roles and responsibilities for us to carry out. And we live in a world that is telling us different. We live in a culture that totally disagrees and sells us a pack of lies about us, about God, and about His plan for our lives. This is what DeMoss addresses in her book and I think she did it beautifully.
I totally recommend it and I encourage you to approach it with an open mind and prayerful heart and then share it with your girlfriends!
Happy reading, y’all :)
leota’s garden | book review
Leota’s Garden by Francine Rivers
Rating: 3.0 – 4.0
My Thoughts:
I listened to this audiobook a month or so ago. It was my first Francine Rivers novel and I must say I enjoyed it!
The story is about Leota, an lonely woman with a garden that once spoke of devotion and hope but now only reminds her of disappointment and neglect. Her own daughter has neglected her and is doing her best to make sure her daughter, Annie, pursues the best life has to offer, regardless of what Annie herself desires. Annie, tired of her mother’s smothering decides to reconnect with her grandmother, Leota, much to her mother’s frustration. What unfolds is a beautiful relationship that results in confessions, discoveries, and changed lives.
It was a sweet story. I will say there was one thing about the ending that I did not like. If you have read the book you might recollect what I’m referring to. If you do read it, come back and tell me what you think.
All in all, I recommend it! If you get a hold of the audio, it’s worth a listen, the narrator was a good fit for the story.
I’m slowly making my way through Rivers’ novel, Redeeming Love.
What have you read by Francine Rivers? What do you recommend?
a return to modesty review//tbr 2013
I can’t tell you how glad I was to finally finish this book! I had intended to get through it in January but nope, didn’t happen! However, it was great read and I’m glad I stuck through it.
I’m going to be real and say that I have been trying to review this book for the past few weeks and I can’t seem to get it together! My copy of this book is filled with dozens of different colored sticky tabs marking all the places I wanted to refer back to when working on my review. Just looking at them makes me dizzy.
So I’ve decided not to make any comments except the following:
- This book is totally worth reading.
- Shalit’s exploration of the problem of immodesty in our society and the effects and repercussions of certain feminist ideology is thorough and well expressed.
- It was rather academic and took me longer than I thought it would.
- Deserves a second go through. This time, I’ll have a pen and notebook handy to jot down all the bits I marked with my stickies.
Not very informative, I know. Sorry for being so lame, but I figured any comments were better than no comments at all!
I do plan to revisit this book as I continue my studies on feminism and femininity. I’m glad I bought it and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject!
Ya’ll stay blessed :)
teaching true love to a sex-at-13 generation//book review
I read this book in less than 48 hours. I didn’t mean to. It has been sitting on my shelf for several months and I always meant to read it someday. But it wasn’t on my TBR list or anything so it just sat there. Until last night. I meant to just skim through it and familiarize myself with the contents and then put it back. An hour and a half later, I was more than halfway finished.
I’m not a parent. I’m not married. But I have a heart for kids and teens. There are several kids in whose lives I have, at least, a small influence, and I want to be a good role model in every way possible. So when I saw the book among the Ludy’s library, I figured, “Why not check it out?” I’m so glad I did. This is a must read for every parent and leader. I’ll go further and say this is a book for anyone who plays an influential role in any child’s life. So grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, this book is for you too!
First, let me just say that I’ve read almost all of Leslie Ludy’s books and I love them! I really admire the work that Eric and Leslie have poured themselves into for Christ and I know God is blessing their ministry. The fact that it was their book in the first place was the main reason I bought it!
Eric and Leslie hit the key point that our culture we as Christians have neglected. Romance, love, and marriage are all highly valued by God. He’s the creator of romance after all! Who better to know how it works and how fulfilling it’s meant to be? So why is it that we’re left to our own immature devices when it comes to love? Or worse yet, told that it’s not worth our time or it doesn’t exist because you end up just getting hurt in the end? Eric and Leslie not only expose the reality of the perversity of the world that so many young people (and I mean young like 11 and 12) are subjected to on a daily basis, they offer hope and direction to parents and leaders who desire to encourage and teach their children that there is more to love, sex, and marriage than the ugly picture our depraved culture has painted. Parents and leaders should be team mates with their kids, together seeking God’s best for their love lives. And to re-frame it for my life, singles should be cheering each other on in purity! Reading this as a single person who’s still holding out for my happily ever after, it was an incredibly encouraging reminder that waiting, as tough and lonely as it can be sometimes, is totally worth it in the end! Whether I get married or stay single for the rest of my life, God’s plan for my life is perfect if I’ll only let Him script it for me. And in the meantime, embracing God’s view of romance is so much sweeter than accepting the world’s twisted view as the norm. I feel so happy and more content to wait for God to write my love story in His own perfect time!
“Waiting on God and allowing Him to guide us is not a passive process. When Eric and I encourage young people to wait on God, we don’t mean they should sit in their room twenty-four hours a day, afraid to go anywhere or do anything until they hear a booming voice from heaven.
Waiting on God is an active process, just as waiting on tables in a restaurant is an active job. A waiter in a restaurant must be continually aware of his patrons’ needs, continually seeking to serve and please the customer. Waiting on God is similar. It’s a daily pursuit of Him It means seeking Him continually, communicating with Him hourly, and listening to His gentle whisper on a moment-to-moment basis. It means allowing His Spirit to hold us back or nudge us forward as He desires.”
There were so many good quotes in this book but this is the only one I took time to mark because this is what spoke to my life. In a world of hooking up, shacking up, breaking up, and short term, meaningless flings, the idea of waiting on the Lord can seem so….prudish. But if God’s best is what we truly want in life, we’ll be willing to wait no matter how long it takes.
So if you are a parent, leader, have any influence at all in the lives of children or teens, or you’re like me who simply wants to be in-the-know and get some encouragement for your life, I highly recommend this book!! It was a quick read for me and but was super good!
Next book I’m buying is When God Writes Your Love Story, also by the Ludys. It’s been on my wish list for awhile but now I reeeeally want to read it!!
Ya’ll stay blessed :)
unscripted 