Counsel from the Cross (and) Hearing Jesus Speak Into Your Sorrow
Every once in awhile, I am given a great gift by an author or publishing firm and asked to review either a manuscript for endorsement or a final book for promotion.
As a bibliophile who is REALLY trying to stay on budget and NOT buy as many books (!!), receiving manuscripts and books in the mail is like a teeny bit of Christmas in a Media Mail envelope. I love it.
I particularly love it when I can not only whole-heartedly recommend the books for others—but I, myself, am edified, encouraged, and helped along this journey of growing in grace. What gifts these brilliant, articulate, biblical, winsome authors have!
I am happy to recommend the two books that came to me this week:
Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow (by Nancy Guthrie)
Some of you may recall that I blogged about “Counsel from the Cross” earlier in the year. It is fantastic. Buy it. Share it with your friends and church leaders who interact with broken people (that’s all of us, right?). You won’t regret it. It is RICH with the gospel, biblical, and PRACTICAL for real life.
This is what they published of my endorsement:
“Counsel from the Cross is a treasure of gospel-proclaiming, biblical, and practical help for every person striving to grow in grace and help others to do the same. Professional counselors, church leaders, and laypeople will all benefit from the accessible case studies drawn from the authors’ decades of experience ministering to real people in real situations. This is no mere how-to manual. If seemingly hopeless cycles of sin and immaturity are tempting you to wonder if real change is even possible, Counsel from the Cross is just the book to encourage you and help you to remember both what the gospel declares about us and what it demands of us.”
This was my first reading of Nancy Guthrie’s wonderful book, Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow, but I found it to be honest, personal, profound, and Christ-exaltingly helpful. I am quite sure that the next time I am crushed by sorrow (or striving to minister to someone who is suffering), I will turn to it again. The discussion questions at the end of the book (one set for each chapter) lend themselves particularly well for friend/lay counseling or study in a group setting.
I would write more but it’s late and I’m beat. Plus, I’m feeling a TINY bit out of sorts because my entire pack (save Ella) is currently sleeping OUTSIDE in my BACKYARD in a daddy-daughter camping adventure:
I miss them, but I am THRILLED to be parking my 9-month-pregnant bod in our exceedingly comfortable bed that is ten steps away from our (I’ll be visiting it at least eight times tonight) bathroom. No sleeping on the ground for me, no sir. 🙂
G’nite and God bless!
Yours,
Tara B.