Linda @ Linda’s Lunacy

It Is Finished Book Review

February 9, 2024 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I love to make Easter a special time of the year. So when I saw the book It Is Finished: A 40-Day Pilgrimage Back to the Cross, I knew I wanted to read it. It Is Finished is the new book written by Charles Martin, the best selling author of 25 books. Some faith based, some fiction.

It Is Finished

Through forty days of captivating storytelling, the author takes you on a journey back to the cross, encouraging you to look at it from a different perspective each day and ask God to reveal to you:
What did Jesus mean when he said, It is finished as he was dying on the cross?
When did what Jesus finished at the cross begin?
How does Jesus’ death 2,000 years ago relate to me today?
What is God offering at the cross that I often forget or take for granted?
What does God know about me that I don’t realize?

The book aims to open your eyes and heart to the answer to the question that can change your life: ‘Lord, why me? Why did you endure the cross and despise the shame for me?’

It Is Finished is perfect for reading during Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. It can definitely be read anytime, though!

Mr. Martin states in the forward that he wanted each days devotion to be about a cup of coffee long. Maybe two. I don’t drink coffee, lol, but I found the length to fit that scenario. It takes me an average of 15 minutes for each days reading. Of course, that will vary for everyone.

It Is Finished Book Review

I found each devotional to be both interesting and informative. I have learned a few things that I didn’t know. Which leads to something else I loved about It Is Finished. The Notes section in the back of the book. Here the author references every Bible verse used, and version of the Bible he used. (He uses the ESV Bible, unless otherwise noted.) As well as any books, or online articles he got information from.

For example, on Day 1, he talked about heel bone crucifixion, which I don’t recall hearing about before. So there are a couple of articles in the notes section that I was able to look up. Which is something I love from an educational viewpoint.

It Is Finished Book

Each day’s reading features the main body of the devotional, a Walk With Me Back To The Cross section, Pray With Me and a And God Responds section. Each section varies in length each day.

The Walk With Me Back To The Cross section does just that. Takes the reader back to the cross. To Jesus. The reasons He went to the cross, the love He has for us, and more, citing Bible Verses to take us there.

Pray With Me is a written prayer for the reader to pray that relates to what was discussed in that days devotional.

And God Responds contains Bible verses that relate to the prayer.

A devotionals purpose is to help you grow closer to God. To find one that educates as well, is a wonderful mix. In my opinion, It Is Finished accomplishes both of those. I love Charles Martin’s writing style in this devotional. It held my attention throughout. This isn’t a quick, get it done devotional. It will take you deeper.

Here’s a quote from the Forward:

His desire is to expose the ugly in us in order to reveal the pure and beautiful and Holy in Himself. Why? The next forty days are my attempt to answer this question.

Lent this year is Wednesday, February 14, to Thursday, March 28. Get It Is Finished now to use as your devotional!

Buy it HERE.

Check out my other reviews!

Disclosure: Thanks for FrontGate Media and W Publishing Group for a copy of It Is Finished for review purposes. Opinions are 100% my own.

February Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up

February 6, 2024 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

*This homemaking link up post contains affiliate links.

Welcome to November’s Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up!

The featured post from December’s Link Up is……Printable February Planner Sticker Set Freebie from Serenity You.

Printable February Planner Stickers Set Freebie

Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up

Now it’s your turn! Share your posts about homemaking ideas, recipes, crafts, decorating, cleaning tips, basically anything that has to do with caring for a home and family. The Link Up is open all month!

Don’t forget to visit a few other links while your here!

Your click is a vote for next months featured post! Having your post featured means I will share the picture you add in the link up, as well as the link to your post, in next weeks post!

All featured posts will be pinned!

Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up Pinterest board!! So link up your posts, tell everyone to visit the link up, and maybe your post will be the featured post next week!

Click to tweet! Help spread the word! The more people that know about the Making a Home Homemaking Link Up are more people that will see your link!

[Tweet “I just shared my post at the Making a Home #Homemaking #LinkUp @LindasLunacy #recipe #menu #craft #DIY #homeschool posts & more!”]

No giveaways, please. Giveaway links will be deleted.

You can link your giveaways on my Thursday’s Giveaways link up. Thanks! Please provide a link back to me. A text link is fine. Of course, family friendly posts only.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you click the links, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you

January Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up

January 2, 2024 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

*This homemaking link up post contains affiliate links.

Yes! The Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up at Linda’s Lunacy is back!

With one significant change. I’m changing to a monthly link up instead of weekly. There will still be a featured post, though, for the entire month. Sometimes, maybe two!

Welcome to November’s Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up!

The featured post from December’s Link Up is……Slow Cooker Apple Crisp with a Surprising Ingredient from Scratch Made Food & DIY Homemade Household.

Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up

Don’t forget to visit a few other links while your here!

Your click is a vote for next months featured post! Having your post featured means I will share the picture you add in the link up, as well as the link to your post, in next weeks post!

All featured posts will be pinned!

Making a Home – Homemaking Link Up Pinterest board!! So link up your posts, tell everyone to visit the link up, and maybe your post will be the featured post next week!

Click to tweet! Help spread the word! The more people that know about the Making a Home Homemaking Link Up are more people that will see your link!

[Tweet “I just shared my post at the Making a Home #Homemaking #LinkUp @LindasLunacy #recipe #menu #craft #DIY #homeschool posts & more!”]

No giveaways, please. Giveaway links will be deleted.

You can link your giveaways on my Thursday’s Giveaways link up. Thanks! Please provide a link back to me. A text link is fine. Of course, family friendly posts only.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you click the links, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you

Sepulchre Candles Review

December 19, 2023 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I feel like every single one of us could use more prayers these days. And offer more prayers for others. I recently found out about Sepulchre Candles. Sepulchre Candles’ mission is to pray for God’s blessing on mankind and to share the truth and love of Christ. I had the opportunity to have a candle lit for my own prayer requests.

The entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Check out this video.

Sepulchre Candles

Believers and nonbelievers all visit this holy site looking for truth. Let them see the truth of believers around the world putting their hope in Jesus as they look around at a room full of candles representing their faith. This monumental place is truly a witness to the world!

Every day candles are lit in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. These candles symbolize Christ’s resurrection from the grave. Each candle is lit with a prayer for a person in need of God’s blessing. Each candle symbolizes the light of Jesus in our world.

A church leader will perform a blessing on your candle, and light it on your behalf in the Holy Sepulchre. Here’s how it works. You submit your prayer requests. Your prayer requests will be printed and placed on the Stone of Anointing. Commemorative photos of your lighted candle and prayer requests placed on the Stone of Anointing will be emailed to you.

Review

I was able to submit 3 of my own, personal prayer requests. Then I received several pictures of my candle and prayer requests via email just a few days later.

For me, I always find it touching and humbling when others pray for me. To have my prayer request prayed for me in the Holy Land seems extra special, and comforting to me.

What a beautiful and meaningful gift to give! By choosing to give this as a gift, your loved ones can send in their own prayers to be said and a candle lit in the Holy Sepulcher.

Here are 3 options that are available from Sepulchre Candles.

~Light a Candle -This is the experience I got.

~7 Day Prayer candle – A single candle is lit for 7 continuous days, your candle and prayer requests are placed on the Stone of the Anointing.

~Light a candle and have it returned to you in an olive wood box – I think this gift would be especially meaningful for someone going through a really hard time.

Any of those would be loved and appreciated if received as a gift. Gifts come in the form of a gift certificate, so it’s not too late for gift giving this year!

Find out more about Sepulchre Candles and having a candle light for your prayer requests HERE.

Check out my other reviews!

Disclosure: Thanks to FrontGate Media for this campaign.

Holy Reads App Review

December 10, 2023 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I recently tried a free trial of the Holy Reads app. This app features a short summary of the highlights of many great Christian books.

To use the app, you scroll through the books available, and choose one. That’s the hard part! lol Once you make a decision, lol, simply click on the book picture.

Holy Reads App Review

The app then opens an overview of the book. Who will like this book, and a little about the author. Then you choose how you would like to access the summary. Read, listen, or watch.

If you choose to watch, you get a short 1-2 minute video telling you about the book. That’s the length of the videos I watched. It may vary.

When you listen, it features short “chapters” of the 20 minute summary 1-2 minutes in length. Well, that’s how long they were on the books I read. It may vary according to the book.

It’s very easy to stop, and restart where you were listening at. The app keeps track of it for you.

I have been very much enjoying using the Holy Reads App. I only have one thing that I wish they would improve on. The search feature.

To search right now, you scroll through the categories, and choose one. Then the whole category opens, and you have to scroll through all the books in that category.

I think that having a search feature where you can type in the title of the book, would be a great improvement. Hopefully that happens as they add more titles, as it would be so much easier.

However, that has not deterred me from using the app!

There are so many awesome Christian books available now. And so little time to read them! The Holy Reads App will help you to get the gist of each book. You can then decide if you want to read the whole book.

If you love to read, you will love the Holy Reads App!

Get a FREE 10 day trial of the Holy Reads App HERE

Check out my book reviews!

Disclosure: Thanks to FrontGate Media for this campaign.

Wounded Tiger Book Review

December 7, 2023 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Biographies are my favorite genre of books. So when I saw this new Wounded Tiger book, I knew I had to read it.

Wounded Tiger is the true, character-driven story of the Japanese pilot who led the Pearl Harbor attack, an American prisoner of war, and a college girl who becomes the fulcrum of change in this epic book. Three incredibly different people’s paths cross in ways so remarkable that it would be hard to believe if it weren’t so well documented. This is a meticulously researched true story of hatred, love, revenge, and redemption.

Watch the Wounded Tiger Book Trailer

Wounded Tiger Book Review

Wounded Tiger is an incredible story. While the book does feature war, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, it’s not a war book. The characters do describe ships, planes, military strategy, etc.. But I found the story to concentrate more on the people than war. What they were doing, what they saw, and what they felt was the focus.

There is an astounding amount of pictures, newspaper articles, from both American and Japanese newspapers. Including the picture of one of the men’s military award above. Pictures of personal letters, telegrams, and letters from US Senators. There are so many, that you can look through the book like a scrapbook.

I found the way the relationships are conveyed to be the most moving. Parent – child, husband – wife, friends. The author did an amazing job of making me care about the people. Wounded Tiger is a wonderfully written book.

The length of time it must have taken to research this book, and gather documentation is mind boggling.

There are drawings and diagrams of planes, and ships. Along with maps. Geographical maps, and hand drawn maps.

The chapters vary in length. Some are one page, like below, some are several pages. When the location or people change, a new chapter begins. The headings let us know where the events are taking place. Those all contribute to Wounded Tiger being an easy read.

Don’t let the size of this book deter you. While it is long, the writing is divided in such a way by pictures and chapters that you forget you’re reading a 600 page book. Except for holding it. lol

The Wounded Tiger Book

I loved reading Wounded Tiger! This is such a fascinating story! If you did not know it was a true story, you would believe it to be fictional. But there are far too many government records, court records, newspaper reports, first hand accounts, and eye witnesses for it to be fictional.

I had such a hard time putting this book down. If you like biographies, history, or just an awesome true story, you will love this book, too!

Enter to win a copy of Wounded Tiger HERE.

Purchase your own copy of Wounded Tiger HERE.

Check out my other book reviews!

Disclosure: Many thanks to FrontGate Media for providing a sample of the product for this review. Opinions are 100% my own.

The ANM Holiday Catalog

December 5, 2023 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Giving to missions can a little confusing sometimes. It can be hard to know which organization will be the best at reaching and helping people. One organization that my husband and I like is Advancing Native Missions. Every November they send out their ANM Holiday Catalog. Let me tell you about it!

But first, a little about Advancing Native Missions. For the past 30 years, ANM has been helping individuals and churches get involved in global outreach. They currently serve in over 100 countries. “Native Missions” means that instead of sending American missionaries to other countries, they use Christians from those countries. They already live there, know the language, and the culture. They also already live on a local budget. That means it costs less to support those missionaries, so they are able to send more.

The ANM Holiday Catalog

The ANM Holiday Catalog features more than 20 gifts that you can send to men, women, and children around the world.

Every gift in the ANM Holiday Catalog delivers the love of Jesus in practical ways. You can give a new Christian their very first Bible, provide a child with the first pair of shoes that truly fit, supply livestock and years of reliable food for a family, or purchase a bicycle for a pastor who walks miles daily.

Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. – Acts 10:4

As you choose gifts, pray for hearts to be transformed, for new believers, for children, for people reading the Bible for the first time, and for missionaries delivering these gifts and the Gospel message.

The Holiday Catalog is a great way to get kids involved in donating to missions. Let them pick a gift, or two, to send!

This years ANM Holiday Catalog came with a coloring book inside. It’s a has a very sweet story about four young kids who learned about generosity through a workday at their grandparents’ house, where they earned money to buy gifts from the Gift Catalog for people in need. You can download the coloring book, An Unusual Day at Grandma and Granddaddy’s House, HERE.

Advancing Native Missions is an organization that my husband and I believe in. We have donated money to ANM a couple of times in the past. (Not tooting our own horn, just sharing to show that we really believe in this ministry.) If you are looking for a way to make a difference in the lives of others, and let them hear the gospel, I highly suggest Advancing Native Missions. I have talked about ANM before in this POST.

You can view the ANM Holiday Catalog HERE.

This Christmas, give the gift of the Gospel!

Disclosure: Thanks to FrontGate Media for this campaign.

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