Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

Messy Beautiful Love {Book Review}

Messy Beautiful Love
Hope and Redemption for Real-Life Marriages
By Darlene Schacht
About the book:

Love gets messy. 

Financial problems, sickness, aging parents, a chronically unhappy spouse . . . trials will inevitably come along to threaten your marriage. No matter how long you’ve been married or how strong your relationship is, sooner or later you are going to have a mess to clean up. 

Messy Beautiful Love is about cleaning up messes God’s way, exchanging our ideas for his, and being prepared for both the best and the worst that marriage has to offer. 

Perhaps you’ve picked up this book because your marriage is messy already-now is the time to make a change. If your marriage is tidy, thank God-there is no better time to prepare for the future. 

Married life is never straightforward or simple for long. But the reality is this: when you surrender your relationship to God; when you lay your marriage at his feet; when you finally cede control; then and only then will you experience the blessing of marriage as he intended-this is the blessing of obedience. 

Messy Beautiful Love is an invitation to that obedience. An invitation to surrender. The cynical world says marriages don’t last. God knows better. Tune out the world and tune in to him. When you do that, a beautiful marriage is not only possible-it’s inevitable. That’s something to be excited about.

I have followed Darlene’s blog, Time Warp Wife, for years and absolutely love her writing style! So signing on to review this book was a no-brainer!

Darlene opens the book with the amazing testimony about how God saved her marriage. A raw, gut-wrenching story that reminds you how none of us are immune from our hearts straying from husband and home. She paints this wonderful, beautiful picture of grace that compares marriage with our Christian walk. The same grace that loves and forgives in marriage is that same grace we have received from Christ – that loves and forgives us every single day. A truly Christian marriage will mirror the relationship between Christ and his church.

From there she touches on the hard stuff: patience, surrendering our rights, submission, leadership, conflict, communication… Basically everything this stubborn, thick-headed girl needs to hear!

This book is written in an easy to read manner in down to earth language, goodness how I love that! Darlene shares wonderful stories from her own life that invite you into her home and make you feel like your chatting with her over coffee. This is a book I would recommend to every wife. It is a book for all women, no matter how long they’ve been married.

This book was provided to me free of charge by Book Look in return for my honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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A Robertson Family Christmas {Book Review + Giveaway}

A Robertson Family Christmas
by Miss Kay Robertson
About the book:

Hunter Clarke wanted one thing for Christmas: to spend it with his dad and his brother. He misses being included in any guy trips since his parents divorced and he went to live with his mom. So he’s less than happy when his mother tells him that he won a contest to spend Christmas in West Monroe, Louisiana, with a family named the Robertsons. For some reason, they’re supposed to be a big deal. How did he win a contest he didn’t enter? Besides, he’s never heard of them and sure doesn’t want to spend Christmas in a swamp with a bunch of strangers. 

Korie Robertson is excited to open her heart and home to Hunter and show him what the Christmas season looks like for the Robertson family. And like it or not, Hunter experiences it firsthand. From duck-hunting disasters with the bearded guys, to learning to cook with Miss Kay, Hunter quickly discovers what it’s like to live with this boisterous, yet loving family. Putting on his headphones and ignoring them is not an option. Before long, Hunter begins to let his guard down. But with Christmas and the end of his trip fast approaching, will it be too little, too late? Or will Hunter be open to the greatest gift of all?

We are Duck Dynasty lovers here in the household.  There aren’t that many shows that promote faith and prayer and when we find one that does, we become faithful viewers.  I knew I would love to read this book and especially now, when we’re not quite yet in Christmas season but we can see it down the road.

I loved this book from start to finish.  I honestly couldn’t put it down, what a great read it was!  Who wouldn’t want to spend Christmas with the Robertsons?  Have you ever wondered what their holidays look like?    Not only will you get a peek into this great Christian family, this work of fiction gives us a glimpse into the Robertson family traditions that we all wouldn’t mind partaking of.

Miss Kay Robertson has gifted her readers with a beautiful story of a loud, loving, family that shares a few days with a “city boy” and teaches him it’s all right to make mistakes and show emotions.  This book is truly a blessing to read. The humor and the family dynamics are outstanding. Hunter goes back to Chicago a different person; one that is aware of the love of his mother and especially of the love of Jesus Christ.

I’m so super excited to announce that I am giving one copy of A Robertson Family Christmas to one lucky winner !! Woo! Enter below…

Thank you to Tyndale Publishers for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

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Singing Hymns Through Tears

As a young girl, I can remember standing beside my parents every Sunday in church and waiting impatiently to sing a hymn. Singing was always my favorite part of the service. The song leader would announce the hymn number and I would quickly grab my hymnal and stand, always being one of the first ones up. As soon as the hymn would start, my Dad’s voice could plainly be heard above the rest of the congregation. When he would start singing, I would stand a little taller. I was so proud of my Dad’s singing voice, his ability to harmonize easily and his knowledge of virtually every verse of every hymn.

As I got older, my love of this Sunday morning moment never changed. If there was a Sunday my Dad had to work, I would still stand tall and proud, doing my part. My Dad taught me how to harmonize, how to pull the melodies from the music and how to hear the piano over everyone’s voices.

I also took piano lessons for many years when I was young. I was lucky enough to have a piano teacher that was also a Christian, so many of my weekly lessons were learning to play hymns. I can assure you there were many a night spent around the piano (not always willingly on my part), playing hymns with my Dad singing melody and me singing harmony. I can remember the neighbors saying how they enjoyed sitting on their porches in the summer listening to us. And Sunday mornings when the song leader would call out a hymn that I KNEW we had practiced at home, I would do a little victory dance inside. I would stand up and sing beside my Dad as loud as I could.

Over the years my Dads hearing has decreased to the point now where he watches church services at home and doesn’t attend the Sunday services. This had never really affected me Easter a few years ago. The song leader announced the hymn, He Arose. I stood to sing and suddenly was overwhelmed with sadness.

I sang every hymn that Easter Sunday through tears. My husband saw me crying and asked what was wrong {which only makes me cry harder}. I couldn’t even really explain it to him without it coming out all jumbled. I was basically, in that single moment, slapped in the face with the reality that my life is changing. The “old days” are just that, the old days. They aren’t my reality anymore. I will never again stand beside my Dad in church and harmonize. It’s my time to make those memories with my littles.

It still makes me sad and most Sundays, at one point or another, I’m singing a hymn through my tears.

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