Book Review: Nelson's Biblical Cyclopedic Index

I chose to review the Nelson's Biblical Cyclopedic Index from booksneeze.com because I wanted an index to further my knowledge of the bible. I have always wanted one, did some research on them before, and when I saw this one it looked like a great one to try out.

The back cover says "It offers more word listings than any other Bible resource available, has more than 8,000 subjects, names, places, things, concepts, events, and doctrines of the bible." 

This index has every word you could ever imagine and it is so helpful when you want to read about a certain thing in the bible.  Just look up the word, and turn to the passage in your bible!  When I first tried to read through it I got a little confused but to make this book even better, it has a "How to navigate" page in the very front! I just read through that and it helped a lot. Another perk to this index are the word studies- they take a word such as 'annoint' and give the word how it was pronounced in the bible and how it was used at the time the bible was being written-such a neat addition! I will be using this index in my bible study in the future and am excited to see how it enriches my learning.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.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 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

Then Sings My Soul Book Review

I just finished reading the book Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan.  Have y'all ever sang a hymn in church and wondered about the story behind the hymn? If so, this book is definately for you. I grew up singing hymns and so when I saw this book, I knew I had to get it. 

The contents of the book is awesome. It is divided into Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Patriotic, and other favorites. I definately turned right to the Christmas section first.  Something even better about this book is that it also has the written music to accompany it! I played a little piano long, long ago, but I'm pretty sure I can play all these songs if I got my hands on a piano. This book would be great to sing hymns as a family, or even use as a small devotional to learn about the background of songs that are so important to a Christian (or more traditional Christian).  The pages look rustic and worn which is really neat since it contains so much history and I absolutely would reccomend this book to anyone! It also has the year that each song was written and I am thinking about typing up some Christmas hymns along with their history as little Christmas gifts.   Great book for those history lovers out there!



There are so many well known songs such as "Joy to the world" "Jesus paid it all" "Great is thy faithfulnes" "The Star Spangled Banner" and "Amazing Grace".  So not only does it have hymns, but also lots of other song such as "My Country 'Tis of thee" and "America, the beautiful".


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.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 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The American Patriot's Alamanac by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb

I just read the book "The American Patriot's Alamanac" by Willaim J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb and I would give it 5 stars for sure.  Coming from someone who isn't much of a history buff, I really enjoyed everything about it. There are a couple pages assigned to every day of the year about America so it's not too overwhelming for someone who doesn't know a lot about history. It's not like a high school history book in which you have to read 50 pages a day.   It has a daily reading for every day of the year, so this book would be awesome for families to share with their children. Especially middle school aged kids who are learning this material in school.  This is a great way to reinforce the material while still staying interesting and fun.  It has presidential trivia such as "Who was the youngest and oldest person to become president?" and also interesting stories such as "How ships of the Navy are named."  It really does have a piece of history for everyone to learn, even if they know a whole lot or next to nothing.

This book has EVERYTHING in it from "The History of the Stars and Stripes", "Fifty All-American Movies" (I plan on watching them all!), "Flag Etiquette", "How the Declaration of Independance was written and signed" to "State Flags, Facts, and Symbols".  I can't wait to read about them all.

The book is also well made, with rugged edged pages for a distressed/antique look and a nice hardcover for durability.  I plan on keeping this book until my children are old enough to learn from it! It truly is a gem.  I hope you all will purchase this book if you want to dive into our country's history in a very interesting way.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.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 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Outlife Your Life by Max Lucado.

I promise to have a blog up soon about our going on's, but for now I will post a book review! My friend, Jamie, told me about this way cool website called booksneeze.com and all you have to do is write a review on your blog about a book that you read (there is a list of books on the website that you can choose from, and they'll send it to you) and then once you review the book, you get to keep it! How cool, right?  This makes me happy for many reasons.

1. I love reading.
2. I love getting books. (Seth and I have a lot, a whole lot, of books..but one day in our dream home we want to have a big ol library.  So why not add to the library now?!?!)
3. Free good books are even better!
4. That's why I love that website!


ANYWAY, So I am reviewing the book Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado.

I've read a handful of his books, and some I've enjoyed and some I have not.  This book though, I really enjoyed reading.  It was one of those that really made me think about my life and where I am in my walk with the Lord.  Here is one sentence that I really loved: "May you live in such a way that your death is just the beginning of your life." Whoa, that makes you think.  I enjoyed the stories that he included and how they were relevant to what his whole book was about.  The legacy you leave on this earth is up to you, and Lucado gives excellent biblical wisdom on how the bible tells us to do that. We all know that it's easy to get comfortable in your everyday life, but this book really challenges you to think about the small things that can make a difference. Perhaps my favorite sentence in the whole book was this:

"God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called."

We are not too plain or under qualified or too dumb...God uses us just how we are.

Powerful words right there.