The Blessing Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance By John Trent & Gary Smalley

Book Description

Every human needs the gift of "the blessing"—the unconditional love and approval that comes from a healthy relationship with one's parents. In this update to the best-selling classic The Blessing, coauthors John Trent and Gary Smalley offer a fresh perspective on this life-changing gift with solid, practical advice on how to lay a secure base of in each child's life.
The Blessing powerfully communicates biblical truths on how to instill self-worth and emotional well-being into others based on these five essential elements: meaningful touch, a spoken message, attaching high value, picturing a special future, and an active commitment.
No matter the age, the approval of our parents affects how we view ourselves and how we relate to others. So what if we've missed it? The final chapters include help and hope for those who grew up without their own parent's blessing, the blessing and grandparents, ways to live out the blessing, and ideas for blessing events.

The Blessing is the book that every new parent needs to read.  It is essentially the only guide on parenting that adults should really need.  I would love to see it handed out in the maternity ward and be required reading for all new parents.  Our cherished children would benefit immeasurably.  It however is not too late to at any stage of life to benefit from this book.  Adult children, grandparents, caregivers...really anyone that has loved ones can utilize the wisdom found in the pages of The Blessing to lift up those they love the most.
The "Blessing"  involves five simple elements: meaningful and appropriate touch, a spoken message, attaching high value to the one being blessed, picturing a special future for them and an active commitment to fulfill the blessing.
This updated and revised edition contains practical ideas and exercises, questions for consideration, and utilizes the internet with links to web video. The book also contains a challenge to individuals and churches to be an involved part of a worldwide movement to spread the blessing to children and others.
I highly recommend that everyone read this book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Cure for the Common Life By Max Lucado

Book Description

"Sweet spot." Golfers understand the term. So do tennis players. Ever swung a baseball bat or paddled a Ping-Pong ball? If so, you know the oh-so-nice feel of the sweet spot. Life in the sweet spot rolls like the downhill side of a downwind bike ride. But you don't have to swing a bat or a club to know this. What engineers give sports equipment, God gave you.A zone, a region, a life precinct in which you were made to dwell. He tailored the curves of your life to fit an empty space in his jigsaw puzzle. And life makes sweet sense when you find your spot.
But if you're like 87 percent of workers, you haven't found it. You don't find meaning in your work--or you're one of the 80 percent who don't believe their talents are used. What can you do? You're suffering from the common life, and you desperately need a cure.
Best-selling author Max Lucado has found it. In Cure for the Common Life he offers practical tools for exploring and identifying your own uniqueness, motivation to put your strengths to work, and the perfect prescription for finding and living in your sweet spot for the rest of your life.

I really enjoyed reading "Cure for the Common Life".  It is packed full of advice, resources and anecdotes to assist the reader in his or her personal journey through life.  If you  need a cure for your common life and feel that you are not leading the life that God had planned for them then I highly suggest that this book be the next on  your reading list.  It's a quick read that will have you on your way to finding you personal "sweet spot" in no time.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Desert Gift by Sally John

What does a nationally known marriage expert do when her own marriage falls apart? Just as Jillian Galloway sets out for a publicity tour to promote her new book, her husband drops a bombshell: He wants a divorce. Jill flees to her parents’ home in the California desert, wondering whether everything she’s built her career on—indeed, everything she’s built her life around—is a sham. Navigating this “side road” of life is an uphill climb that leads to new understandings about herself, her marriage, and her relationship with the One who created marriage.

I just couldn't finish this book. The characters were flat and uninteresting.  The plot dull...it was for me a very boring read.  Sorry, but the book has been moldering on my bookshelf for too long and this review is several months overdue.  I wanted to at least have a positive word for this but the best I can do is to say that the grammar is correct and the story wasn't offensive.  Other than that I just wasn't interested.  Enough said.

The Seraph Seal By Leonard Sweet, Lori Wagner

An epic tale of good and evil based on the four horsemen of the Apocalypse found in Revelation.
Using the four horsemen of the Apocalypse to symbolize the four Gospels, four transcendentals, and four forces of the universe (air, water, earth, and fire), Sweet and Wagner weave a fast-paced, end-times tale of good vs. evil and the promise of a new dawn for humanity.
Set in 2048, when planet Earth is suffering from the damaging effects of years of misuse and abuse, cultural history professor Paul Binder receives a mysterious letter that leads him to examine a lost 2nd-century Diatessaron manuscript. Ancient prophecies, cryptic letters, and strange events set him on a course to uncover the missing clues that could lead humanity into a new age. Layered with forgotten symbolism from the ancient, Jewish, and Christian traditions, the novel is a type of engaged fiction in which the main character's lost journal serves as a guide to the reader in interpreting clues and understanding the novel's conclusion.

 I love end-times fiction and this new novel is a good read.  There is a lot of author commentary that really should be read so the reader has a firm grasp on the two authors viewpoints and thesis...I admit to mostly skipping the forwards in books but this time I'm glad I didn't.  There is a rather lengthy "dictionary" of terms in the back of the book that aids the reader in understanding the terms used in the book and a fictional journal of the main character-Paul Binder.  This book proved to be a nice long read for me, a book-trait that I personally adore.  The longer the book the happier I am.  Unless, of course, it's dead boring.  The Seraph Seal is not boring, however it is not a seat of your pants ride either.  It's mostly thought provoking.  A bit slow, perhaps, and I did get a bit confused as there are quite a few players involved.  Though I suppose the onset of beautiful weather played a significant role in allowing myself to be distracted while I read under sunny skies with soft breezes rustling the leaves and such.  Any how, I received the Seraph Seal as a digital download from Booksneeze's Blogger program and the digital copy is flawless on my kindle...fully formatted and speech to text enabled for those days when you'd prefer the Kindle turn those pesky pages for you;) 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”