I recently received the book If Mama Ain’t Happy to review. See why I liked this book so much below.

If Mama Ain’t Happy: 
Why Minding Healthy Boundaries Is Good for Your Whole Family
(A Mother’s Guide to Joy, Anxiety Relief, & Freedom from Depression, Stress, & Weariness. A Book of Hope for Moms.)
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Are you weary? Stressed? Depressed, anxious, and annoyed?
And, to top it all off, do you feel guilty for feeling bad?

Rachel Norman gets you, mama. She knows how much you love your kids. And how, day after day, you put your family’s needs first, which means your own needs come last. Or don’t come at all.

Rachel used to be a mom who spent her days weary, anxious, and guilt laden. She had five kids in five years, lived on three different continents, and then was blindsided by a devastating health diagnosis. Neglecting her own physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional needs for so long―in an effort to be a selfless mother―had left her utterly depleted. And physically unwell. Then she began asking a question she’d never considered before:Could it be that taking good care of myself is not actually selfish, but maybe, just maybe, something a responsible adult does?

In this countercultural book, Rachel takes some weight off your shoulders by:

• offering hands-on, rubber-meets-the-road strategies to cultivate a life you aren’t trying to constantly escape
• teaching you to discover and claim your own limits and boundaries so you can be a calm, resilient, peaceful mother
• showing you how to shape your daily life and values around the few things that really matter, and how to let the rest go

If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. But when mama is at peace? Everyone benefits.

As you can see from the Table of Contents, the author covers subjects that are important to moms.

I like that after each chapter there are sections for you to fill out. They help you determine what is most important to you of the things discussed in that chapter.

Here’s an example of some of her suggestions. These pertain to mama getting enough sleep.

This section is about how mama can take care of her body. Self care is not selfish!

If Mama Ain’t Happy Review

I’m a mama of 6. They are all grown now, ages 22-36. I wish I had had this book when I was raising them!

The author not only covers self care for mamas. She covers setting boundaries, and setting standards and rules for your house. How we don’t have to have everything perfect, or do everything perfectly, and we don’t have to beat ourselves up about it! The author discovered this for herself when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I love that she writes about being a mama from a Biblical viewpoint. Where in the Bible does it say that our kids have to participate in every sport and activity? Or mamas have to cater to their every whim? It doesn’t!

It’s not just ok to have rules and boundaries for our kids, but it’s essential to set them up for success later in life.

I highly recommend If Mama Ain’t Happy!

Purchase your own copy of If Mama Ain’t Happy HERE.

If Mama Ain’t Happy Giveaway

Enter to win your own If Mama Ain’t Happy book!

Visit HERE to enter!

Disclosure: Many thanks to FrontGate Media for providing this product/product information for review.  Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

What is neighborliness? It’s more than being friendly with the people in our neighborhood. According to this book, neighborliness is the embodiment of Jesus to those around us. Taking on His characteristics of love, grace, and genuine interest in others. I like that definition. Scroll down for my Neighborliness Book Review.

Neighborliness

About the Book:

Do you want to love your neighbor as yourself but don’t know where to start? This practical, accessible guide to bridging the dividing lines of politics, race, and economics, both individually and as the church, will help you amplify Jesus in your community and build God’s kingdom.

When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus gave a two-part answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and also “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love God. Love others.

Jesus’ simple command to love your neighbor can feel overwhelming when your neighbor looks, lives, and votes differently than you do. Racial and economic tensions across the country have resulted in deep dividing lines that seem really intimidating to cross.

Docusen breaks down these lines in approachable chapters, including topics such as:

~how to actively seek out people you can benefit and encourage,
~what it means to find a diverse and supportive community that fulfills needs,
~examples of real-life experiences, including highlights and missteps of Docusen’s ongoing journey, and
~how churches can teach on difficult topics with grace and truth.

Neighborliness is a practical guide to bridging those dividing lines and learning to recognize and amplify the beauty of God in our communities. Backed by David’s speaking and training through the Neighborliness Center, this book will help individuals and churches reach out to their neighbors, love them through Christ, and build God’s kingdom.

Neighborliness Book Review

This book is not just a list of ideas to do for your neighbor. It delves into racism, poverty, things that pull us apart. Through real life examples, the author shows us how we can overcome the things that pull us apart so we can make a real difference in our neighborhoods.

At the end of each of the 14 chapters, there is a page of questions and resources, as seen in the picture above. A Bible verse, discussion prompts, and a next step. The discussion prompts can be used just for you while reading the book, or in a group discussion situation.

I don’t like writing/taking notes in my books. As you can see in the pictures, I use post it notes, and little post it stickies (don’t know the official name lol) to mark pages I want to read again, or notes that I have. That’s just me, I think. Lots of people take notes in books. This way, I get a visual of how much I liked a book, and don’t want to forget certain sections.

There are quite a few things I learned in this book that I don’t want to forget. And sections that I want to reread. To me, that’s the sign of a good book!

There are sections in the back of the book with resources that you can use yourself, or with your church.

If you are looking to be more involved with your neighbors/community, I recommend this book.

For more information about Neighborliness, and to buy the book, go HERE.

Disclosure: Many thanks to FrontGate Media for providing this product/product information for review.  Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

*Free World Missions Book post is a sponsored post.

Missions is such an important part of Christianity. Whether we go on mission trips ourselves, or donate money to missions.

Today I want to share with you this FREE book about missions, Revolution in World Missions. I have had this book. And I highly recommend it.

FREE World Missions Book

About Revolution in World Missions:

“Lord, I’ll give myself to speak for You.”

Young Yohannan had no idea what those words of surrender would mean for his life and for millions of others in his generation. Once an insecure 16-year-old, he became a missionary statesman who has impacted the world of missions and whose unbending message has touched hungry hearts on every continent.

Step into his story and experience the world through his eyes. You’ll walk right into the book of Acts. And through his telling, you’ll hear the very heart of God beating for His creation. K.P. Yohannan’s passion is contagious and spurs you on to be all for Jesus.

He chose to take the road less traveled many years ago, and today Gospel for Asia, the mission he founded, is one of the most respected organizations in our time with thousands of national workers and vibrant congregations throughout the heart of the 10/40 Window.

Get ready, your life is about to change!

Do you long to let go of self-centeredness and be more eternally minded?

Do you desire to make a difference in the lost world but aren’t sure how to go about it?

Many people have said this book changed their life—and it just might change yours too!

Get your FREE Revolution in World Missions book HERE.

For more information, visit Gospel for Asia.

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. My opinions are my own. The book is totally free, and not an affiliate link.

I recently received the book Purify My Heart to read and review.

Purify My Heart A Dialogue with Jesus is a new devotional written by Isabelle Joye.

Isabelle began writing down her prayers to Jesus, and the chats she had with Him about everything going on with her and her life. At that time she did not realize that she was writing a book. Later, she used these writings as the base of Purify My Heart.

You can read more about Isabelle Joye HERE.

Purify My Heart Review

Purify My Heart is a devotional book and prayer journal with 52 chapters. Each one could be done in one day, or split up over two days if you wanted to take more time with the journaling. So it’s not a daily devotional, it’s basically a weekly devotional.

Watch this trailer for Purify My Heart:

Each devotion in Purify My Heart starts with a Bible verse, or two. Followed by a question or an observation about the verse or verses.

Then the devotion starts with a prayer that the author has. Her prayers alternate with a response that she believes would be Jesus’ response to her prayer. She bases these responses in the Word.

Some devotionals don’t have any response. Some have a back & forth, between her prayer and the response.

I have only had the book a week, so I have not read the whole book. I intend to use it as a devotional for myself, so didn’t want to read through it all at once. But I have read some of them, and skimmed many more.

I have found Purify My Heart to be personal, encouraging, and faith building. I believe that we can all relate to many of her prayers. And there is plenty to find to apply to our lives, as well.

Purify My Heart is available for purchase HERE.

Disclosure: Many thanks to FrontGate Media for providing this product/product information for review.  Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

I recently received the book Revived & Renovated by Victoria Duerstock and Paige Rien to review.

The sub-title of the book is Real Life Conversations on the Intersection of Home, Faith, and Everything in Between. And that’s just what this book is. Conversations between the two of them.

Revived & Renovated Review

At first, I found the format a little confusing. Paragraphs written by Victoria are aligned on the left, those written by Paige are aligned on the right. After a page or two of getting used to the format, it was easy to follow the conversation.

It actually makes a fun writing format to read. It’s like being in the room with them while they are talking.

Paige has had a show on HGTV, and she’s an author of a home improvement book. Revived & Renovated uses terms that relate to restoring houses to relate to faith.

There are 11 chapters in this book. Here are the chapter titles.

Revived, Renovated, Restored, Refurbished, Reclaimed, Renewed, Refocused, Remade, Repurposed, Renamed, Recovered.

See the theme?

Each chapter starts with the definition of the chapter title, how it applies to the home, and how it applies to faith. In showing how these terms apply to the home, and to faith, the authors share their own stories.

Revived & Renovated is a great book. If you don’t know anything about home repair & renovation, don’t let that deter you from reading this book. The authors explain everything.

Revived & Renovated is available for purchase HERE.

Revived & Renovated Giveaway

Want to win your own copy of Revived & Renovated?

Go HERE to enter the giveaway!

Disclosure: Many thanks to FrontGate Media for providing this product/product information for review.  Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.