Book Review for “Dearest Samantha: I Love You!!!!”

Book Review for “Dearest Samantha: I Love You!!!! Stories of Hope and Encouragement for Hurting Women” by Heather L. Smith

As a former inner city missionary supporting and helping women and children in crisis, I’m easily drawn to Christian books written by women who have lived through the pain and disappointments life can throw our way. Because of this Dearest Samantha: I Love You! Stories of Hope and Encouragement for Hurting Women, quickly grabbed my attention.

The preface starts off very choppy and somewhat confusing, but I forged on with an open mind and great expectations of stories of hope and encouragement for hurting women as promised. Sorry to say, “It didn’t happen.”

The author went through a divorce after 30 years of marriage and lost her home, and not once before chapter 11 does she give her readers a glimpse of the pain she experienced, or the effect it had on her faith.

Over the years, I have helped women whose husband’s have left and asked for a divorce. And they ALL went through a period of grief, disappointment and anger at God for letting it happen. The author gives us a tiny glimpse of this in chapter 14—the book only has 22 chapters in all.

If I were a woman who was experiencing a devastating life event and read this book, it might make me feel worse rather than encourage me through the struggle.

Chapter 9 is full of one life event after another, which paints a picture of God answering all her prayers in a great and astonishing way, minus any periods of grief she might have experienced or unbelief and wavering faith. (It seems the author crammed different events and time frames into one chapter without any distinction between them.)

My reason for saying this book might make one feel worse versus encourage and lift them up is, if you were praying to God for answers and He is quiet (or you don’t have the people in your life she talks about in chapter 8 helping her at every turn and doing so much to care for her), it might cause you to wonder if God really loved you because your scenario is playing out differently.

The order of the stories and time frames are hard to follow and lack continuity. Also some of the scriptures used, seemed to be taken out of context. The author’s particular writing style of trying to make the chapters stories and love letters at the same time—did not work.  

However, there were a few chapters on point. But truthfully if I didn’t have an agreement to read the books I review completely through, I would have never read this book long enough to encounter those chapters—closer to the end.

I do empathize with the author’s desire to share God’s great love to the hurting, especially since it seems she has made it to the other side of hope. She was just not able to articulate it in a way to help one make sense of the pain and hopelessness they might be experiencing.

Dearest Samantha: I Love You! Stories of Hope and Encouragement for Hurting Women, is not a book I recommend for hurting women to read.

(Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”)

Until the next blog. Blessings and Hugs...Ponnie

Don't Give Up!

“Even though you’ve been anointed on the way to your destiny, there will be times of testing, where you don’t see anything happening. Times where it doesn’t look like it’s ever going to change. That’s when you’ve got to stay in faith and keep believing” ~Joel Osteen~

I posted this quote on my 22 year old daughter’s Facebook page on Monday. I thought it would encourage her in the many challenges she has faced her first year of teaching. But I wasn’t able to stop thinking about it in the context of what it is saying if you are older and it has been many years. What does that look like for some of us? What has it looked like to me?

And sisters, this is how today’s blog came to be!

The past couple of weeks whenever I’ve had a conversation with my mentor and bible teacher, she has encouraged me to join her in praying for the saints. I didn’t shrug her request off, but I didn’t pick up her banner either, because the Holy Spirit has given me the task to spend more time praying for the lost. And yet, when I read Joel Osteen’s quote it helped me to better understand her request and the weight Jesus’ words to Peter, hold. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. ³² But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32 NIV)

Jesus saw the need to pray that Peter’s faith not fail from the guilt he was going to experience for denying him. He had to step in and intercede for him, or he wasn’t going to make it. But Christ also knew that when Peter’s faith didn’t fail and he got his act together—he would leave behind a great testimony that to this day is still helping us, “Fight the good fight of the faith!” (I Timothy 6:12a CJB)

Joel Osteen speaks about the times we don’t see things changing. You’ve been praying for relief from pain in your body, your finances, a bad marriage, the shenanigans of a teenager or a poor work environment—and relief has yet to come. Your diligent prayers (for the past 5 years), for your husband’s salvation have gone unanswered. In fact, he seems to be worse than ever. You have children who have denounced Jesus and openly choose to practice sin—the 9 years of fasting and praying for them seems to be of no avail. It looks as if satan has an even stronger hold on them.

Waiting on God, can chip away at ones faith. And if we are not careful, it can also propel us into taking matters into our own hands. So, what can we do about this?

For one—we must pray for one another. And especially in the times we are being ushered into today. We are living in, “What is right is deemed as wrong. And what is wrong, is hailed as right!”

But! We must also study the Bible. Because if you have anything in your life you need faith to stand against, it will be impossible to achieve based on someone else’s faith or what you’ve only been told by others. That’s a foundation built on sand. Only a foundation built on rock (Jesus is the Rock) can withstand the storms of life. Even in the natural this is true. Build a house on sand versus rock and see what you will have left after a violent storm. Rubble.

Knowing the God of the Bible (not the one we have made up in our minds, or been told), is imperative if we are to stand to the end. Our faith doesn’t stand a chance if we don’t keep feeding it.

Another stumbling block is the belief in “prayer warriors”. I have yet to see this in the Bible—anywhere. It’s something man has come up with, because we have such a hard time believing in the simplicity of God’s Word. If you are one who is always calling on others to pray with you and for you—please question why? Is it because you don’t believe God hears you? Is it because you think He hears others better than He hears you?  Or if you get enough people to stand with you, He’s going to hear even better and be moved?

Jesus prayed to the Father for Peter, all by himself. The prophetess Anna spent years in the temple praying and fasting day in and day out for the coming of our Lord, by herself.  

Here’s a little story I want to share, which happened close to 20 years ago. One summer out of the blue, prostitutes started sitting on the steps of my neighborhood high school, using it as a pickup spot.  When school reopened in the fall, I noticed cars cruising by in the morning trying to pick up the young girls going to school. And without fail the prostitutes would return every night.

I started walking around the school after the last bell rang (an entire city block), praying out loud and taking authority over that situation. (There is a much longer version to this story, and especially how I finally got up the nerve and faith to get out there.) I felt really foolish in the beginning, but by the end of it all—the prostitutes were no longer out there and the cars stopped cruising and bothering the young girls. There wasn’t a clean sweep by the police—it was the prayers of one.

This experience taught me how to better walk in the authority that is given us, and removed any doubt I might have had about God hearing my prayers. It made me bold.

There was only one person who knew what I was doing (because the Lord used her to be the final push), you see I was acting a lot like Moses. It was only years later I found out she was praying for me every time I went out.

Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying not to ask others to stand with you in prayer, or pray for you. It’s just that we do it so frequently; I am admonishing you to check your motivation in seeking the prayers of others. And remember there is not a special group (prayer warriors) to do the job for us.

When a saint requests prayers of me, I often do not pray the way they have requested. If someone has been looking for a job, I pray that God’s will be done and if this is not the job, that their faith will not waver. People are rejected for employment every day.

Until I started writing this blog, I didn’t realize how much I do pray for the saints that their faith not waver or fail. And as our Savior has shown us, there is a great need in the lives of Believers to pray for one another’s faith stand.

Here’s a good example…if you know someone who desires to be married and has been praying for a husband, don’t pray that prayer with her—pray that her faith doesn’t fail and she take matters into her own hands. Pray she stays strong in her faith in God, no matter what His answer may be. God does not say, “Yes!” to every prayer. And it is when, “No,” or “Not yet,” comes into play, we have a hard time. Same goes for one who wants to have a baby. Don't beg God with her, pray her faith not fail. 

If you're feeling fainthearted because you’ve been praying and it seems God has not moved—don’t give up! Call that friend who will encourage you. If you feel like giving up, reach out to someone to pray for you. But you don’t need 20 people, just one who knows you, loves you and knows God.

With the New Year approaching many of us will reflect on the past year and think about how we can make things better for the upcoming year. I say, “Let us purpose to read and study our Bibles more. Let us purpose to establish the best relationship we can with God.” Because my dear sisters, there lies all your hope and strength to endure!

Continue to pray and believe. Amen!

I will see you next year! Merry Christmas and God bless!

Blessings and Hugs,

Ponnie

Reaping What We Sow

It is common place (even for non-believers) to talk about reaping and sowing, and especially in a negative connotation. Let someone do something wrong or mistreat us in anyway. “They will get theirs! You reap what you sow!” Or as the world so loving refers to it as karma.

But you know what sisters, as Believers we should be focused on the good seed we sow and the great harvest we will receive from that. Not the, “I can’t wait until you get yours!”

Some of the best seeds we can sow are love! But it’s not as easy as it sounds. And I say this because in our humanness we have a very skewed conception of what love is, and especially in the English language. Love is used to express lust for someone—you have my love today—wrong me and it’s gone tomorrow. Love is something people fall into and out of at a whim.

But when God tells us to love, it becomes a decision and action.

We think that by buying or giving things we show love, but that is not necessarily love in action. It can be a tactic of manipulation or a ploy to control.

If I give him this, he will love me more. If I buy my kids the expensive things they want, they will do what I ask them to do. If I share with her, she will be a good friend. And then none of it happens the way we had planned. Why? Because our motivation was wrong.

Here’s what the Bible says love is…“⁴ Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. ⁵ It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. ⁶ It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. ⁷ Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].⁸ Love never fails [it never fades nor ends].” I Corinthians 13:4-8a (Amp)

Doesn’t sound like gifts or things has anything to do with love to me. It's a much more deeper and heartfelt situation of obedience. 

But it goes even further…“Above all, have fervent and unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins [it overlooks unkindness and unselfishly seeks the best for others].” I Peter 4:8 (Amp)

Loving the unlovable is hard! But it is not impossible, because Jesus commands us to do it. But, we find it far easier to do for those who love us or when it makes us feel good.

This is the season when you hear a lot of talk about love, but is it really? One could say, “No.” I don’t think running people down when the doors open to a store on Good Friday, is love. Buying hot (stolen) items is not operating in love. Dropping toys off for the less fortunate and posting pictures on Facebook isn’t love. Giving and looking for something in return is also not love. Complaining when people don’t repay us in the way we think they should (not being grateful) is not love.

Truth is…love is practiced.

Love is a discipline.

Love is a commitment.

Love is action.

Love is obedience.

Love is forgiveness.

Love is not a feeling.

Love is not a debt owed.

Love is not something you can buy.

Love is not manipulation.

Love is being able to give your last to help someone in need and looking for nothing in return.

Love is helping to care for a father who raped you for years. Love is helping someone who is mean spirited and thankless. Love is seeing a person who has a need and helping them without telling the world and thinking they owe you. Love is kind, even when we don’t deserve it.

If you are someone who is lonely or doesn’t feel love in your life, I must first ask if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If not, that is your first step to the greatest love you will ever experience—God’s great agape love. It’s a love that surpasses all human understanding. It’s a love for the forgiveness of our sins and a showering of mercy and grace. None of which we deserve, yet He bestows it generously upon us.

And if you are a Believer, it’s a good time to do a heart check. Are you loving others as God commands us too, or are you still loving like the world, with strings attached and selfish motivations.

Over the years God has blessed me with many people who helped support my ministry. Sending and giving aid to help the women and children in crisis I ministered to—looking for nothing in return. And even now when a call to help a family went out, love stepped up strong. Their lives will be changed and their young faith made stronger. That is what love does. It changes lives.

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.” Proverbs 17:17 Look for His repayment, not from those you have helped.

How’s your love walk going? Does your love harvest look like the picture above? Could it use some sprucing up? I know mine can. I don't think we will ever completely get it until the day of Christ, but we must work to make it a daily lifestyle, if we desire to please Him and God.

The world needs to see a little more of the Love of Christ, so they too may believe.

Until next week...

Blessings and Hugs,

Ponnie

Book Review for "Catch Me If You Can"

Book Review for “Catch Me If You Can” by Carrie Marston

This book grabbed my interest because I have a granddaughter who is in the 11^th grade and thought it might be something she would enjoy reading.

Initially, I struggled with how to approach my review of this book. Only because I know the author was a teen at the time it was published and had to take this into consideration—so, here goes.

To write fiction one must have a good imagination, and the author showed that she can think up a plot and end the story with a bang! I give her kudos for being brave and fearless to self-publish her first book at such a young age. It shows a confidence in herself, where most girls this age are very insecure in who they are, and what they want to be and do in life. And for that I applaud her.

I don’t know the dynamics of the book being published, but I’m sorry to say, “It was published a bit prematurely.” There are typos and mistakes in just about every chapter of the book. The characters could use a little more development and the details need a lot of work and rewriting. It is a first draft full of potential, but not a finished work. The homeschool mom in me wanted to have a long conversation about all the typos, incorrect auto corrects and mistakes.

Since the book was published in 2012 and we are 3 years down the road, I would like to see the young author revisit the e-book and put some polish on it. I can see she has talent and a passion to write and hope she is taking writing courses to improve and hone her writing skills.

(Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers (booklookbloggers.com) book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”)

Until next review....Ponnie

Book Reviews

Hello sisters!

I have some exciting news to share with you girls. I've been accepted as a "book reviewer" for HarperCollins Christian book publishers, through the BookLook Bloggers!

It's a dream come true for any bookworm such as myself. 

Every so often I will post a review here on a book of my choice and various interest. I just completed my first book and will post the review Tuesday.

Mainly my list is comprised of mysteries, Christian fiction, some spiritual help books and books for kids and teens. I can't always promise the book I pick is going to be a good one, but either way I have committed to write a review.

This next time around I think I will pick a couple of books and then pray over which book to read, especially if I'm the first one to review it. Tiny clue about tomorrow's review. ~Smile~

Have no fear: Friday's blog will post as usual.

Hope you had a wonderful day and a blessed and peaceful night. 

Blessings and Hugs...Ponnie 

Limitations

“We tend to limit ourselves.  Others can limit us. But in Christ we become limitless because of his provisions. God wants us to grow. He is our parent. And like any parent He is pleased when we take even wobbly steps.” ~Patsy Clairmont~

After reading this paragraph I was provoked to think about some of the limitations people had put on me and I put on myself? And the conclusion I came to is, often the limitations we put on ourselves has a root in those set by others.

A friend (who was very dark complexed), shared that as a young girl she would run errands and clean for her neighbors for change, so she could buy bleaching cream in the hope it would lighten her skin. Her sibs teased her and called her black bear and black bunny. She grew up thinking she was flawed and ugly. (She is one of the most beautiful  woman God has created.) But she felt limited by the view of others when it came to the color of her skin. That was until she found out who God said she was, and things began to change for her.

This was one of many limitations put on Blacks by slave owners. The lighter skinned slaves (offspring of white masters) became the house slaves and the darker ones worked the fields. This mindset that lighter is better has carried throughout American history and other counties. And even in our own families. 

I on the other hand, worked hard to prove I would be something (growing up I was told I wouldn’t be), and every time I failed or something didn’t work out, I felt deep down they were right. And when I became older I began to put my own limitations into place based on those lies. We all do.

Believing the lies of others damages us emotionally. Once a child is made to feel, unloved, stupid, dumb, unwanted, and flawed and of no value—things are set in motion that can shape us for the rest of our lives.

But, God, has a destiny and path for us as individuals and in that—there are no limitations beyond our own minds.

God tells us to do something, and fear holds us back.  Moses is a prime example.  He deemed himself slow of speech (his self imposed limitation), and even with God telling him, “I will put the words in your mouth.” it was still not enough. He wanted Aaron to go with him and do the talking. (Exodus 4:10-16) click to read

Low self-esteem is another culprit that’s in the business of imposing limitations. Our low self-esteem can be emotional, physical, intellectually or all three! Anyone of these can do great harm in keeping us from God’s best—but it’s not because He hasn’t made a way for us to move forward. It’s because of the limitations others have instilled in us and those we set for ourselves.

One of the biggest limitations we can put on ourselves is going through life not knowing what the Bible has to say. Our ignorance puts us behind those who do know and will always limit us in what we can achieve.

I had been told so many times as a child that I was stupid and dumb, until deep down I believed every word of it. One day while doing a work project (in my 50’s) I had forgotten something and said, “Ponnie you are so stupid!”  And the Holy Spirit said, “How can you be stupid and still have the mind of Christ?”  It was not in an audible voice, but it shook me in a way that it might as well have been. (At the time I was doing a bible study with Gloria Copeland on “our words” and as you can see it was staring to sink in.) “I can’t. It’s impossible!” I answered.

Maybe you grew up in a home where you were not wanted, unloved, mocked by your sibs, bullied, mistreated, pronounced ugly, dumb, stupid and of no value. You might have been used and abused. But in Christ, we are new creatures! That means in body, spirit, mind and soul. Yet, there is one small catch to all of this—we have to do the work to find out exactly how this new creature thing works and what it's all about.

I no longer speak badly about or to myself. I never use my words to confirm anything that goes against what the Bible says I am. It took practice, but I mastered it.

It doesn’t matter what life has tried to limit you to being—God says, something totally different. I don’t care what you have been through, or what you have done—the Cross covers it all!

Does this mean you buy into the foolishness of the world and think you can be anything you desire to be? No! It means you can be and excel in that which God has called you to be.

If your husband thinks you are not a good housekeeper or cook—you can begin to change that today!  You never finished high school and it’s holding you back—you can start changing that today! Your household is in an uproar because you haven’t been an attentive mother—you can also begin to change that today!

The truth is—we cannot study the Word of God too much! If we have time to watch TV, then we have time to get into the Word and learn how to unlock the balls and chains of “limitation”!

What is it you feel limited in? What limitations have others instilled in you that are not truth? What are you afraid of?

Come on sisters; let’s start taking some wobbly steps toward change. Just in case you didn’t know it—the sky is the limit in God. Amen!

Until next week...

Blessings and Hugs,

Ponnie