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You are here: Home / Archives for Self Help Daily / Books I Love

Books I Love

Christian Book Review: Before Amen by Max Lucado

June 30, 2022 by Joi Leave a Comment

Before Amen by Max Lucado

Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer (Amazon link)

One of my GREAT passions is books… in fact, it’d be safe to say I’m obsessed with them. I collect my favorite authors and genres and consider my book collections to be great treasures. Not on par with my family or cats, mind you… but I do cherish them a great deal.

Max Lucado is one of my favorite authors and one of the ones I collect. He’s a brilliant writer and his books are so inspiring, encouraging, informative, and uplifting that I read and reread them. One of the most recent books I added to my collection is pictured here, Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer and it is one of my all-time favorites.

While recently reading another Christian book review about yet another Max Lucado book, I read something I have often thought myself the past few years – Max Lucado, while always an extraordinary author, seems to be getting even better. He has always had a wonderful sense of humor but, somewhere along the way, he has gone from making me smile ear to ear to making me laugh out loud (something that always makes my cats stare – they’re used to most of my shenanigans but laughing at a book is where they draw the line).

Max Lucado’s humor, love for God, and unique way of reaching out to his readers come through every single word he writes. I love how informal his books always feel. They’re like sitting and talking to a fellow Christian about the wonders of God, the beauty of all He does for us, and the unmeasurable love He has for us.

In spite of us.

While there are many wonderful Christian authors, Max Lucado in unique (in my opinion) in the way he draws the reader IN and makes you feel like you’re part of the conversation. He doesn’t simply tell you how to enrich your Spiritual life, for example, he prods your brain and awakens your heart and, in essence, guides you to the answer yourself.

I also love how “fast” his books read. They’re written in deliciously short chapters, meaning you will always finish one before closing the book. No searching for where you left off with the bookmark that looks as bewildered as you! His books are always so concise – there’s never any extra chapters or wasted words.

To be honest, he has an absolute genius for this and, as an avid book reader, I wish more shared his gift!

Before Amen Review Continued Below…

Before Amen by Max Lucado

Before Amen by Max Lucado

While I am far from perfect (in spite of what my cats and daughters may tell you), I managed to get this right: I spend a great, great deal of time in prayer. In fact, I keep a running conversation with Him like one I keep with my girls. My three daughters and I are always talking through DMs on Twitter. One of us will pop up and either pick up where we left off or we’ll start a whole new avenue of conversation or nonsense (we’re all outrageous when it comes to gifs and memes, so one never knows what we’ll get into!).

We love one another’s company and “visit” continually.

When I whispered a prayer to God a few months ago about a young man I saw in Starbucks, it occurred to me…. I keep a continual, “running” conversation going with God. Somewhere along the way, in my walk as a Christian, I allowed the words, “Pray continually” to become part of who I am and it’s one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.

As a Prayer Warrior, I often seek out books to encourage, inspire, and inform me about the WONDERFUL privilege of prayer. As soon as I saw that Max Lucado had a new book titled “Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer,” I ordered it immediately.

Book Description from Amazon:

We all pray. . . some. But wouldn’t we like to pray better? Stronger? With more fire, faith and fervency?

We aren’t the first to struggle with prayer. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance too. In fact, prayer is the only tutorial they ever requested. In Before Amen, New York Times bestselling author Max Lucado helps readers discover the very heart of biblical prayer, offering hope for doubters and confidence for both prayer beginners and experts.

In this book, Max will help you:

  • Distill prayers in the Bible down to one pocket-sized prayer.
  • Remember that the Good Shepherd has authority over your life.
  • Learn that prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and his child.

Don’t be bogged down by crafting elegant words or apologizing for incoherent sentences. Climb into God’s lap and tell him everything on your heart. Today is the day to let the conversation begin.

“If you’ve never read one of Max’s books, read this one. I promise, you will be inspired.” ~ George Strait

I hope you’ll grab a copy of Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer (Amazon link) right away, if not sooner.  Like all of Max Lucado’s books, it is exceptional – in fact, it stands out as being one of my absolute favorites. The world needs more Christians on their knees in prayer than ever – people with great, great needs are all around us and they need God more than ever. I hope you’ll take the first step in making your prayer life the best it can be. ~ Joi (“Joy”)


Filed Under: Book Reviews, Books I Love, Christian Book Reviews Tagged With: Christian Book Reviews, inspirational book reviews, Max Lucado book review, Spiritual book reviews

One Can Make a Difference: How You Can BE the Change You Want to See in the World

October 30, 2021 by Joi 7 Comments

The review below is for one of the most inspiring and wonderful books I’ve read and reviewed over the years. I am editing it a bit and republishing it today. Why? Because, frankly, I believe we need bold, brazened, on-fire for the right reasons people more than ever before and if reading these stories lights a fire under even just one person, it will be more than worth it.

After all… well… One Can Make a Difference. ~ Joi (“Joy”)

I want to tell you about an inspiring book I know you’ll love as much as I do. It’s pictured on the right and linked to several times below.  It may sound flowery (fortunately I love flowers, so that won’t slow me down) – but I believe this book will, in some way, touch every single one of my tomorrows.  I’d love to see millions of tomorrows similarly touched, because I believe the result would be a better world for everyone and everything.

So, you find yourself on the fringe of a post telling you why you HAVE to read this book.

One Can Make a Difference: Original stories by the Dali Lama, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Dennis Kucinch, Russel Simmons, Bridgitte Bardot, Martina … Dozens of Other Extraordinary Individuals is a remarkable book, filled with information, inspiration, and motivation.  In its pages, you’ll read about real life heroes and heroines.  People who weren’t born remarkable, but through determination and compassion did their part in changing the world.

Everyday people just like you and me who put their mind to doing extraordinary things.

A Few of the Stories That Touched Me the Most:

  • Carol Buckley cofounded The Elephant Sanctuary in 1995.  The acres and acres of land in Tennessee are home to elephants who had been in circuses or zoos.  Elephants.com has pictures of these beautiful elephants, as well as a web cam, a gift shop, opportunities for support, and addictively interesting stories about each of the elephants – with pictures to help you fall even more in love with each.   In One Can Make a Difference, Carol Buckley tells about one of her elephants that loved to make Orange Juice.  She also details the very special elephant that led to this amazing sanctuary.
  • Kevin Bacon tells how, at first, he didn’t know what to think about the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.  When he realized that it was, in fact, flattering to have a game named after you, he realized something else:  With a heart full of genuine care for the world around him, he wanted very much to do his part to make a difference.  Thanks to this game, he now had an “angle” or as he calls it a “brand,” to launch a charitable organization and website called Six Degrees.org.  This very talented actor and family man details how this all came about.
  • Reverend Al Sharpton’s essay was also fascinating.  I especially loved his words of motivation:  The only person you ever have to conquer in life is not your enemy, it’s yourself.  And once you conquer yourself, your ego, your vanity, your misplaced overestimation – once you conquer yourself, then you can fight for a higher purpose and conquer what it is you’re supposed to conquer and realize that’s what your purpose is.

We define success by what we have, not by what we did.  But the only success in life is what you did.  Because whatever you have, you could lose, and whatever you have, somebody else could have more.  But nobody can take from you what you did. – Al Sharpton

  • Rebecca Hosking tells of the unbelievable impact plastic has on the environment.  I read her essay twice to make sure I was getting the full impact.  PlanetArk.com helps educate people about keeping our environment healthy, clean, beautiful and, frankly, about what we can to do keep from turning our earth into one big giant dump.
  • Oliver Stone’s essay was another one that was spellbinding.  He, like every single essayist in the book, had me putting pen to paper – I put the words onto paper as they put the words in my heart.  Oliver Stone tells how he has been led by ghosts, how they encourage him to make a difference.  Interestingly enough, he was also one of the first people to sign a petition asking NASA to stop sending monkeys into space.
  • Petra Nemcova tells of her horrible ordeal after the tsunami struck Thailand (she lost the love of her life and suffered a broken pelvis).  The experience made her better rather than bitter and a lot of LOVE, literally came from the devastation.  She now focuses her life on helping children who have suffered loss and pain from hardships all over the world.  She’s a classic example of being as beautiful inside as she is outside – and that’s saying something in her case!
  • Martina Navratilova talks about fair play, Russell Simmons talks about respect, and Willie Nelson addresses the subject of self-reliance.

There are far too many individuals and even more subjects to even think about covering in one post.  I guarantee that they’ll be mentioned in future posts, however.  Their stories have become a part of me.  I’ve always fancied myself one of the overly zealous “We can change the world” crowd… but now? Ready to take the ills of the world with a toothbrush!

One Final Thought:

It’s wrong that, very often, people who are trying to make the world a better place are looked upon as eccentrics.  Believing (rightfully so) that helpless animals shouldn’t be abused doesn’t make an individual crazy, it makes them compassionate.  The author of the book, Ingrid E. Newkirk, is also the founder and president of PETA.  So, she knows a thing or two about controversy.

I admit that when people are on the front lines doing battle for what they believe in, they sometimes seem to go “too far.”  But I’d rather they go too far than to not go at all!   The next time a PETA ad generates a snicker or two, challenge yourself to think about all of the animals that have been saved because of this organization…. of all the needless suffering and pain PETA has brought to an end.  If your own pet were being abused, wouldn’t you want PETA to ride in to its rescue?

I certainly would!

This book is one of the best books you’ll ever read.  So what are you waiting for?!  Order it today and, within a week, you will have opened a whole new world! When you click through to the book on Amazon, you’ll find several options for buying the book. There are many available “used,” which is one of my favorite ways to buy books!

One Can Make a Difference: (Amazon link) Original stories by the Dali Lama, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Dennis Kucinch, Russel Simmons, Bridgitte Bardot, Martina … Dozens of Other Extraordinary Individual

Kleiser Quote

Filed Under: Animal Protection, Book Reviews, Books I Love Tagged With: animal rights, Charities, Making a difference, PETA

Quote of the Day – Quote About Making a Difference

September 27, 2021 by Joi 1 Comment

Quote about Making a Difference

Quote About Making a Difference

“If you bang your head against a brick wall long enough, the wall will fall.  And once you start banging your head against that wall, others will join you.” – Ingrid E. Newkirk, One Can Make a Difference

You know how you normally say, “I just read this book…” or “I just read that book.” In regards to the book this quote was pulled from, One Can Make a Difference, by Ingrid E. Newkirk, the appropriate quote is, “This book recently changed me.”

Amazing book. Amazing Amazing book.


Filed Under: Animal Protection, Books I Love, Daily Quote Tagged With: Making a difference, motivational quote, quote, quote about making a difference

Quote About Fitness and the Life You Could Be Living by Shawn Phillips

September 23, 2021 by Joi Leave a Comment

Staying Fit Graphic

“Eventually, there comes a point in every life where you can no longer ignore the enormous and expanding gap between the life you could be living and the life you’ve settled for…. Every day of your life that you’re not actively engaged in staying fit, eating well, and strengthening your body the gap grows.” – Shawn Phillips, Strength for Life (page 10)

You can read my review of Strength for Life here.

 

Filed Under: Books I Love, Daily Quote, Fitness, Health, Self Help Tagged With: Fitness, getting fit, health, losing weight, nutrition, Shawn Phillips, Strength for Life

The Benefits of Reading and a Great Quote About Reading from Dr. Seuss!

September 5, 2021 by Joi Leave a Comment

Quote About Reading

Quote About Reading by Dr. Seuss

In a recent issue of Better Homes & Gardens, I read that the average 15-44 year old spend less than 10 minutes reading each day. Depressing! Reading offers far too many benefits for people to spend so little time doing it.

We all know how important reading is for our minds, to say nothing of informing us about the world around us, but research shows that reading also reduces levels of stress by nearly 70 percent!

The benefits of reading:

  • Strengthens your mind.
  • Teaches you about people around the world, how others think, and other cultures (all beautifully vital things to know)
  • Improves your mood.
  • Boosts your memory.
  • Improves your thinking skills.
  • Teaches you new words, strengthening your vocabulary.
  • Gives you more things to talk about with others.
  • Sharpens your thinking skills.
  • Relaxes you!

One of the secrets to reading MORE is finding the type of books or articles you like to read the MOST. For me, personally, my favorite things to read are the Bible, Agatha Christie mysteries (I read and re-read her Hercule Poirot books and am always in the middle of one), old Hollywood biographies and memoirs, American History, cookbooks, poetry, and anything pertaining to other favorite subjects…birds, animals, health, angels, spirituality, prayer, cooking, photography, Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, etc.

One of the ways to become a more prolific reader is to have more things that interest you. If you can’t think of many… read more and you’ll find almost too many to read about in a year!


Filed Under: Books I Love, Mental Fitness Tagged With: benefits of reading, quote about reading, reading

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My name is Joi (“Joy”)! I am the animal lover behind Self Help Daily.

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