A 'Colorful' Advent with Nancy Guthrie

All Is Bright, A Devotional Journey to Color Your Way to Christmas

By Nancy Gutherie

“The perfect gift for the Creatives and coloring – book lovers in your life!...”

This year Tyndale House Publishers has added a unique ‘colorful’ devotion to help all of us celebrate Advent and the Birth of Jesus. If you’re a fan of the Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest you’ll appreciate Nancy Guthrie’s beautiful designs. So grab some colored pencils and schedule time to really get into the holiday spirit. Here’s an opportunity to start a brand new family tradition!

--Patricia A. Punt

Note: Tyndale House Publishers send me a complimentary copy of this book. The words contained in this review are my own.

Finding Friendship In Today's Hectic World

Befriend

Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation, and Fear

By Scott Sauls

“It is best to befriend those now who we hope to be his friend for all eternity,” says Ann Voskamp, who wrote the foreword to Befriend. “I don’t know if there is anyone better qualified to write this book than Scott Sauls because I don’t know a man who better incarnates the crucified Christ to everyone he meets.”  (Forward by Ann Voskamp)

Scott Sauls makes “A Case For Befriending” in the opening chapter because while real friendship can be hard to find, especially today when folks are often overworked, over-worried, and even overwhelmed, we really do need to be clear what it means to befriend.

Building real friendships – “the multilayered kind that exposes us to the grit of our own and each other’s lives; the kind that positions us to love across the lines of our differences; the kind that leads us to lay down our lives for each other’s sake” – takes time, effort and energy, love and forgiveness, knowledge and determination and maybe even a little bit of luck and a whole lot of grace.

In Summary: “Energy to serve God, and love our neighbor comes not through human effort, but by resting in the finished work of Jesus, contemplating his goodness, and receiving his grace and truth.”

Despite our best efforts some friendships will fail (we’re not talking about the online friends who can dismiss us with a quick ‘unfriend.’) Here the author reminds us that there is one intimate relationship that “believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It never fails.”

Befriend, a collection of twenty essays based on actual relationships including the one with Jesus is the second book by Sauls, Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Pastor Sauls is husband to Patti and dad to Abby and Ellie. You can find Scott on Twitter at @scottsauls.

Note: This book would be a valuable tool to use in a Christian book discussion group. At the end of each chapter the author includes a summary, scripture references, and thoughts to be considered.

Notice: Tyndale House Publishers has provided a complimentary copy of this book. The words contained in this review are my own.

--Patricia Punt