Wisdom of the Sadhu: Teachings of Sundar Singh

Wisdom of the Sadhu was compiled and edited by Kim Comer and published by Plough.

Sundar was born on September 3, 1889 in Ludhiana, India.  The death of his mother pitched Sundar into a deep and very dark despair at the age of 14.  Taking out his anger on area missionaries, he burned a Bible page by page while they watched.

After crying out to God in desperation, he was converted to Christianity and baptized at the age of 16.  He lived the rest of his life in servitude wanting no home and no possessions.

His formal Christian training took place at the Anglican college in Lahore.  During his twenties, Sundar's ministry widened.  Many described him as always human approachable and humble with a sense of fun and love of nature.

Sundar made regular visits to Tibet, his last being in 1929.  He died in April of that year.  He is treasured by many as a formative figure in the development of the Christian church in India.

His writings (between 1922 and 1929) are:

• At The Master's Feet
• With and Without Christ
• The Real Life
• The Real Pearl
• Reality and Religion
• The Search After Reality
• Meditations on Various Aspects of the Spiritual Life
• Visions of the Spiritual World

Wisdom of the Sadhu is a compilation of Sundar Singh's writings and teachings.  The book is well organized and gives a concise overview of the thoughts of the Sadhu and brings together the best of his teachings.  While couched in a distinctly Indian idiom, the book probes the essence of the Gospel as  grasped and taught by Sundar.

*I received a complimentary copy of the book for the purpose of this review.

Happy Reading Ya'll,
Jennifer

Where Treetops Glisten

The crunch of newly fallen snow, the weight of wartime

Siblings forging new paths and finding love in three stories, filled with the wonder of Christmas

Turn back the clock to a different time, listen to Bing Crosby sing of sleigh bells in the snow, as the realities of America's involvement in the Second World War change the lives of the Turner family in Lafayette, Indiana.

In Cara Putman's White Christmas, Abigail Turner is holding down the Home Front as a college student and a part-time employee at a one-of-a-kind candy shop. Loss of a beau to the war has Abigail skittish about romantic entanglements---until a hard-working young man with a serious problem needs her help.

Abigail's brother Pete is a fighter pilot hero returned from the European Theater in Sarah Sundin's I'll Be Home for Christmas,trying to recapture the hope and peace his time at war has eroded. But when he encounters a precocious little girl in need of Pete's friendship, can he convince her widowed mother that he's no longer the bully she once knew?

In Tricia Goyer's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Meredith Turner, "Merry" to those who know her best, is using her skills as a combat nurse on the frontline in the Netherlands. Halfway around the world from home, Merry never expects to face her deepest betrayal head on, but that's precisely what God has in mind to redeem her broken heart.

The Turner family believes in God's providence during such a tumultuous time. Can they absorb the miracle of Christ's birth and His plan for a future?

Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/BwVP9

TRICIA GOYER is a prolific author of nearly forty books, including Chasing Mona Lisa, and a speaker and blogger. 

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CARA PUTMAN is the author of twenty books includingShadowed by Grace. She is the winner of the 2008 Carol Award for historical fiction. 

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SARAH SUNDIN is the critically-acclaimed author of the Wings of the Nightingale series, the Wings of Glory series, and the forthcoming Waves of Freedom novels.

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To see what others are saying about the book, you can visit HERE.

My Thoughts:

Goyer, Putman and Sundin have put me in the Christmas spirit with their collaborative effort in Where Treetops Glisten.  The three stories tell the journey of the Turner siblings.  While each author has their own distinct writing style, the Turners' stories are woven together seamlessly in this project. The emotions of wartime, family dynamics and the Christmas season are captured eloquently.

I could almost picture the characters' faces, smell the smells and had each scene playback like an old black and white movie in my mind.  I fell in love with this family and hated to get to the last page.  These three ladies leave readers wanting more!  I certainly hope this isn't the last project they come together on.

*I was presented with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Happy Reading Ya'll,

Jennifer

Quilted By Christmas

About Quilts of Love: Quilts tell stories of love and loss, hope and faith, tradition and new beginnings. TheQuilts of Love series focuses on the women who quilted all of these things into their family histories. A new book releases each month and features contemporary and historical romances as well as women's fiction and the occasional light mystery. You will be drawn into the endearing characters of this series and be touched by their stories.

About the book: 

A grandmother's last wish is to communicate God's love through an Irish chain quilt.

Taryn McKenna believes she's easy to forget. Abandoned by her parents and left behind when her high school sweetheart joined the army, she vows to never love again and throws herself into her love for the outdoors and the pursuit of a college degree---something no one else in her family has ever accomplished. Her goal, as a young teacher in the hills of North Carolina, is to leave a legacy in the lives of the middle-schoolers she teaches.

When Taryn's grandmother Jemma, the only other person who ever held her close, has a heart attack that reveals a fatal medical condition, Taryn is corralled into helping Grandma work on a final project---an Irish chain quilt that tells the story of her history and the love Jemma knows is out there for Taryn. As the pieces of the quilt come together, Taryn begins to see her value. Can she learn to believe that God will never leave her behind even though others have?

Learn more about this book and the series at the Quilts of Love website.

About the Author: 

Jodie Bailey is Tarheel born and bred. After 15 years as a military spouse, she settled with her family back in North Carolina. She is the author of the military suspense novel Freefall and is a contributor to a devotional for military families, Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home. While not working on her next novel, she teaches middle-schoolers to love writing as much as she does.

Connect with Jodie: website, Facebook, Twitter

My Thoughts:

I am really enjoying this series and the latest installment by Bailey certainly does not disappoint!  Quilted By Christmas is a tender story of relationships, mistakes, forgiveness and restoration.  Taryn and Justin's story will take readers on a true journey of introspection.  

The characters are genuine and are easy to identify with.  I absolutely loved Jemma!  Bailey writes in such a way that the emotion jumps off the page and right into readers' hearts.  Bailey captures the restoration and redemption themes clearly through Taryn and Justin's story and has me ready to celebrate our Savior's birth in December...the One Who came to restore sinners to Himself.

Blessings Ya'll,

Jennifer

Citizen

For Rob Peabody, the young pastor at a mega-church in southern USA, the realization that his faith had little real connection with the world around him meant that something had to change. He redirected his church towards the poor on their doorstep and then took the larger step of moving to the UK to establish the missional fellowship 'Awaken'.

In Citizen he outlines the Kingdom-centered identity that is given to followers of Jesus. It's a wake-up call to the church in the West. Jesus' death and resurrection initiates and invites people into a life of so much more than the status quo. God is re-building, re-newing, and re-creating that which is broken and marred by sin, and he is doing this --- setting things right in the world --- through Jesus. As citizens of the Kingdom, we have been saved and set apart for this work. We have a new allegiance, a changed identity, and a new mission as we seek to establish the rule of God on earth as it is in Heaven.

Purchase a copy at the Awaken website and get a FREE study guide. Bundle discounts also available: http://ow.ly/CfYHp.

About the author: 

Previously the lead campus pastor at an American mega-church, Rob Peabody is now director of the Awaken Movement who left his church in the Texan Bible-belt to start and lead a Fresh Expression of church seeking to engage unreached 20's and 30's in northeast London.

Find Rob online: website, Facebook,Twitter

My Thoughts:

Holy Discontent

Missed Our Jerusalem

Gospel of Individualism

Functional Gospel

Rob Peabody has written a book that addresses the above issues and holds his readers accountable to an accurate picture of what it really means to follow Jesus. I appreciate that Peabody writes without all the usual "Christianese" but with a heart transformed and restored an on mission with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He concisely shares that "when Jesus steps into our lives and begins to transform who we are through the power of the gospel, we in turn are released and sent out to engage with and transform the community around us."

"Citizen" is a commissioning of sorts.  Through Scriptural exhortation and the sharing of personal experience, Peabody show us clearly how to be fully content in the Lord and how not to miss the opportunities available to us every day that are right in front of us to share Jesus.

Read Citizen and get ready to be energized to go forth with the gospel!

Blessings Ya'll,

Jennifer