Then Sings My Soul

I loved receiving and reading this book. I received a paperback copy, yet the pages inside were designed to look like a real, old-fashioned hymnal. I enjoyed reading the stories behind the various hymns that I grew up listening to. This would be a perfect gift for a choir director or music leader at a church.

This would also be a great book to share with friends and family members who grew up singing these old hymns.

On this Day in Christian History

This would be a great gift for the history buff on your Christmas list! This book was very interesting -- providing historical accounts of things that happened within the Christian faith throughout history. I liked using this daily guide as part of my daily devotional -- it was simple to use my daily devotional and then look in this book to see what historical event happened on that particular date.

I plan to share this book with other friends and family members who love reading about history. This is the perfect history book about the Christian faith.

Living Life in the Zone

So far, I have really enjoyed this devotional. It is definitely a great way to get athletic males and sports-lovers to read. It takes sports analogies and examples and applies them to biblical principles. I believe this book would be a great "stocking stuffer" for the sports fan in your life.

One thing that I did not like was the various Biblical references that were in the book. Rather than using the King James Version of the Bible, multiple versions of the bible were referred to.

Outlive Your Life

I thoroughly enjoy reading books written by Max Lucado, so I was excited to pre-read a copy of his new book, Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference. I read the book at the same time as reading Max Lucado and Jenna Lucado Bishop's book Made to Make a Difference, written for a teenage audience. I enjoyed reading both books because they were uplifting, encouraging, and appealing.

I was able to use the information from both books to create Sunday School lessons that could be adapted for either teenagers or adults. The information in the book is helpful for people of all ages. I am glad I had the opportunity to read another of Lucado's books.

Made to Make a Difference

I enjoyed reading You Were Made to Make a Difference, by Max Lucado and Jenna Lucado-Bishop. Though the book was written for a teenage audience, it can easily be applied to the lives of adults. While Max Lucado’s commentary and input is written in a more mature way that is more applicable to older readers, Jenna Lucado-Bishop’s commentary and input is appealing to a younger audience. Together, the two author’s created a work that can be inspirational to a varied group of readers.

As an adult who actively works in our church’s teen group, I read the book and thought about ways I could adapt the content and teach it in lessons. The book could be used to create lessons that address the entire heterogeneous group, or it could be taught in a small-group setting to a homogeneous group. Either way, both the teacher and the students will benefit from the information in the book. I loved how the book included stories of teenagers who truly had made a large, lasting difference in the lives of others. The examples prove that anyone is capable of making a change, and everyone was made to make a difference in the world.

With my marketing background, I was instantly interested in Elizabeth Pace's book, "The X and Y of Buy." The book was very informative, showing different ways of appealing to both the male and female genders.

I enjoyed reading the book because it made me think about the different tactics that we can use to appeal to the two different genders through advertising and marketing. Many of the tactics I read about could also be transferred to personal experiences, such as dealing with co-workers, friends, family, etc.

I truly enjoyed reading Max Lucado's book, "Fearless." After receiving the book from BookSneeze, I read through it quickly. While reading through the book, I found that it was applicable to some of the things that our teenagers at church were facing. As one of the youth directors at my church, I felt that it would be appropriate to share the book's points with our teenagers.

I adapted the chapters and made a short Sunday School series where we could talk about the different fears that teenagers face at this time in their lives: dealing with parents, school, boyfriend/girlfriend, new jobs, college, etc. The teens loved hearing the lessons, and I loved teaching them.

Sarah's Garden

Sarah's Garden is a novel that describes a young Amish girl's modern-day experiences. Living as an Amish young lady in the Amish Country of Pennsylvania, she is introduced to an English gentlemen who she develops a friendship with.

I really enojoyed reading this novel, and felt that it was a "quick read." The author did a great job of capturing my attention throughout the novel. I enjoyed being able to picture how an Amish family relates to the modern technology that surrounds them in the outside world.