"The Longing in Me - How Everything You Crave Leads to the Heart of God" By Sheila Walsh

"The Longing in Me - How Everything You Crave Leads to the Heart of God" By Sheila Walsh 

To me, one of the marks of a good book, an exceptionally good book which this is, seems to be how well does it resonate in your soul and changes something within you as you read, and as in this one, "leads you to the heart of God". It not only inspires you and strikes a chord deep within, but reading the book helps you "change the way you respond to life's stresses" {boy, do I need this} or life in general, and your perspective is awakened in a fresh way. That's what Sheila's "Longing ..." book is ...

Sheila Walsh not only states in her intro that this is part of her prayer for this book, but that it helps the reader (me, in this case; or you, if you're bold, brave and bright enough to read it) "find the one true Source who can meet your deepest longings so you can change..." and "give you tools to heal from the past and find joy today." And no one can do this as well as Sheila, with her honest and vulnerable style of writing, weaving her own personal life story and testimony, with a well known biblical figure of a man "after the heart of God" - as she walks us through David's life and worst choices, her life and the life of other women, like me and perhaps you, to study the "Longings" and "learn how to channel those to know God more" and help us "determine what to do when we lose our way", as often we do and have yet realizing that "Longings are part of life." ... not just good or evil.

... "We long to be seen. We long to be chosen. We long to be loved. We long to know that we matter." "When those longings are left unmet, what do we do? Where do we go?"

Sheila shows us in 10 chapters that she "believes it is a sacred ache, a longing for the very heart of God" and I couldn't agree more. In fact, Sheila's life story is one I can relate to ever so well and I find myself reading and rereading the parts that sound so familiar and have to pinch myself trying to remember she is writing about her life (or David's) not mine, still she tells it so remarkably well "I get it", which is why it resonates with me every step of the way and each longing or vignette touches my heart in a way that changes me, awakens me and illuminates a light in what use to be darkness or dark moments. So I nod as I read along, knowing that this book is making an impact and a difference in me in ways that only God knows. 

Those 10 chapters touch on our longings: the longing to be chosen, the longing to be protected, the longing for what use to be, the longing for control, the longing for your rights, the longing for that one thing you think you need :) - the longing to make everything right, the longing for what would glorify God, the longing to share the grace and mercy we've received from God and the longing for God alone. Each chapter starts out with a Scripture verse and of course, elaborates on a portion of King David's biblical story with the sharing of Sheila's own life experiences, some parts never written about before this book. "The fact is, your longings are built from the blueprint of your needs: for protection, for love, for God. And those needs aren’t going anywhere. You vowed you’d never repeat the same mistakes—yet you find yourself right where you started. What is it that keeps drawing you back into the same old traps?" Sound familiar? well, it sure does to me ... "If you keep reaching out to the wrong people at the wrong times in your own life, "The Longing in Me" will help you understand that your cravings are not the problem. It’s where they lead you that makes all the difference." (parts of the actual book description)

"It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them." - George Elliot

Both the DVDs and the Study Guide enhance this book greatly!
I so enjoyed watching Sheila in the beautifully chosen scenes of these DVDS and listening to her speak with us in the 6 sessions that Study Gateway made available to us during the online study at Faith Gateway.
However, just reading this book alone will help anyone but especially those hurting from their past and trying to fill the voids in your life with anything or  leading you to long for the wrong thing; to fill what only God can fill and He will as you read this book
Great for individual or small group studies with the Study Guide. {although I prefer the Study Guides included in the book}

Sheila Walsh "is known as a powerful communicator, Bible teacher, and bestselling author" however she goes far beyond this  in this newest release of heart-wrenching life experiences as she is gifted in the art of  retelling parts of the Bible, especially about King David  and making each one come alive and become real for us today as she applies the lessons to her and our own life LONGINGS in a fresh, honest and eye-opening way that touches your heart and brings  everything you crave to lead you to the heart of God
I can never say enough about Sheila Walsh and this book the lessons that Christ continues to teach her and me on our life journeys especially how her honest words help me become more aware of my "longings" in the past and even now with a kind healing and peace that only God can give and has as is/was Sheila's prayer to receive healing and find joy which helps me as it did her to "understand the past", "fully engage in the present"  and "find hope in the future" with this truth:
THAT "NO MATTER HOW GREAT YOUR LONGING IS FOR GOD
IT WILL NEVER COMPARE TO HIS LONGING FOR YOU!"

I will treasure this book and quite likely return to it often!
especially when I long for God and need to be reminded of how  He longs for me. {another mark of a good book "returning to read it again",  besides the turned down, well worn pages,   which in a Kindle ebook converts to bookmarks and highlights}

" Disclosure: I received this book free from Book Look Bloggers and Thomas P. Nelson Publishers in return for an honest review. 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

And if you are not totally convinced that this is the book for you to read yet, see this and you can even check out some others linked below that are longer...
"The Longing in Me..."
"The Longing in Me Small Group Bible Study by Sheila Walsh - Session One"
"The Longing In Me Online Bible Study Kickoff "with Sheila Walsh


The images all belong to Sheila Walsh {and she has more images with really wonderful quotes on her book's page  down at the bottom}

"LifeGrowth Guide - You're Already Amazing" by Holley Gerth

THESE TWO are TOO AMAZING and so is HOLLEY GERTH! +
=
Amazing!!!
combination of 
"embracing who we are, becoming all God created us to be"
written aMazingly from the heart of
Holley Gerth
which truly is such a personal encouragement from this
best selling writer, certified life coach, speaker
and co-founder of (in)courage
<><><>

I had the added advantage of not only reading simultaneously both books {due to the precious heart of Lori Schumaker who had a giveaway, but also decided to give actual hands-on copies to me, not even the winner} but actually working through the LifeGrowth Guide along with Holley Gerth and other readers through Holley's aMazing Online Book Club and exceptional resources made available on her website. Although the LifeGrowth Guide actually can stand and be read on its own with excerpts from the original "You're Already Amazing" included in it, if you are like me and missed out on reading the first one, it's so much better to read them both together as instructed at the beginning of each "session" of the "LifeGrowth Guide". 
There are only 6 sessions in the "LifeGrowth Guide" and the book "You're Already Amazing" actually has 11 chapters plus a "Go Deeper Guide" which makes both of these great for small groups at church or individual or with an actual counselor, although Holley's gifted in "counseling" and the exercises in both show her very qualified expertise plus the heart of a sister in Christ speaking frankly and openly with you throughout her books. She's as real as they come and a genuine kindred spirit that really cares! which shows in her writing in her books and on her blog (and in case you did not know on some very special cards that she's created at Dayspring). These 6 sessions – each with a section in the workbook also have a video session that’s about 10 minutes long are: 1)Who God Created Us to Be, 2) What’s True No Matter How We Feel, 3) Our Amazing Journey with Jesus, 4) God’s Plan for Our Relationships, 5) God’s Purpose for Our Lives, 6) How We Can Thrive for a Lifetime. The LifeGrowth Guide has sections in the workbook to answer specific questions, journal your thoughts and prayers, and do other creative exercises to help you GROW. Each section ends with a part called "Your Life Coach" and that is who Holley has become to so many of us struggling with our self esteem or believing we are aMazing. Her charts, tips, notes and wisdom from her own life and God's Word add so much to this edition. Holley has gone a step beyond with this new "LifeGrowth Guide" of "You're Already Amazing". 
If you were privileged to have read "You're Already Amazing" best-selling book (published in 2012) and participate in the (in)courage online book club of this original one, then you have a definite sense of how Holley dares and empowers you, the reader, to discover our God ordained potential within ourselves then this "LifeGrowth Guide" will move you onward as a wonderful interactive means to engage fully in this process. Either way, reading the "LifeGrowth Guide" with or without having read the original, you'll find new information and more applicable exercises and questions to help you know who God created you to be and become. I believe this book would be ideal for a new believer or a weathered believer, who has yet to grow in ALL the ways of knowing who we are in Christ Jesus and to further develop our abilities, and reaffirm us by reminding us all who we are and encouraging us to become more for ourselves and then for others better. 
Reading the "LifeGrowth Guide ~ You're already aMazing" challenged me and stretched me in new ways! Holley writes as if she really is sitting down with us and talking to us individually with her own and other's life examples in a clear, understandable fashion. I cannot say enough good about all Holley has put together to further us in believing that we already are amazing and have all it takes within us to grasp how God sees us and made us. 
I requested this book originally from NetGalley from Revell Publishing because I was afraid that I would not be able to afford getting both and I wanted to participate in Holley's Book Club {but as you have read, Lori Schumaker made it possible for me to receive both books in their soft bound edition, which I simply love to page through and hold in my hands with adequate space to journal and make notes or answer.} I will go back to this book as an excellent resource over and over again as well as continue reading at both Holley's and Lori's blogs. 

" Disclosure: I received this book free from NetGalley and Revell Publishing. 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

*You can go back on this blog on "aMazing Mondays"  from March - May or search for "Already Amazing" to see links to Holley's and some of what I shared during the Book Club in 2016. "aMazing Mondays" started here because of Holley's books! She and her books are really "aMazing"! I am so sorry that the review of this book and another just as wonderful book is so late (the other will somehow have to be inserted somehow during my summer book club either on Weds. or the weekend so it is not even later). My apologies to these authors and their publishers that gave me review copies but this was out of my control.

"40 DAYS of DECREASE ... " by Alicia Britt Chole

{I really meant to publish this review right after the 40 days of Lent}

or like the title
"...DECREASE..."
but you can't even read the cover and the rest of this title

"40 Days of Decrease

A Different Kind of Hunger. A Different Kind of Fast."

By Alicia Britt Chole

Book Description: "...40 Days of Decrease guides readers through a study of Jesus’ uncommon and uncomfortable call to abandon the world’s illusions, embrace His kingdom’s reality, and journey cross-ward and beyond."

"40 Days of Decrease... A Different Kind of Hunger. A different Kind of Fast" by Alicia Britt Chole 'is a beautiful invitation to prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection in a more meaningful way than ever before' so this is why after reading a 6 day sampling with You Version reading plans, I chose this book for this past season of Lent ... to really reflect more deeply in the entire experience of the "40 days" leading up to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I hoped this season of preparation of my heart might be different, with the discipline of reading and participating in these "40 Days of Decrease" which is meant to "guide readers through a study of Jesus’ uncommon and uncomfortable call to abandon the world’s illusions, embrace His kingdom’s realities, and journey cross-ward and beyond" so that I might be "awed" as I read [40fast(dot)com]. {I even subscribed to the author's blog} ... I really hoped I might experience that 'full embrace' as I read in the author's gift of eloquence and thoughtfulness with words ... I wanted what she experienced to be what I might experience minus perhaps the suffering. Perhaps I did not put forth as much effort and intensity as she clearly has in this well documented, researched and thorough book on fasting, lent and "decrease". Her words are poetic and profound. Her insights and deep thoughts are amazing. But for me, it was a bit overwhelming. I guess my "awe" was more in the many facets of her writing and information than the "awe" that I desired during my 40 days. 

Honestly I have mixed feelings about "40 Days of Decrease" with more of a sense of overload after each day's devotional part of the reading for that day. Perhaps it's just me, but Alicia Britt Chole definitely writes on a higher level than I am at, and I found there is so much 'content', that it was hard for me to simply read, focus and understand. Often I would have to read and then re-read until I could understand what was written. Alicia Britt Chole is definitely a gifted wordsmith and clearly this "40 Days of Decrease" took much research and time as well as a genuine heart of seeking all God has ... she even started off with a very personal prologue of a "Grand Reduction" in her life.

"... Lent had come half a year early. God asked me to fast mental and physical strength. He invited me into holy weakness.  I found Jesus there.  We often think of Jesus’ fast beginning when He stepped into the Judean wilderness. But the fast actually began three decades earlier when the Glory of heaven was wrapped in plain paper and given as a gift to mankind.          The Grand Reduction had begun.  Jesus fasted omnipresence and clothed Himself with flesh. He fasted being worshiped by angels and accepted the disregard of man. He fasted the Voice that birthed planets and submitted to the silence of thirty hidden years " ...

{See what I mean!}
{This is fantastically written and quite profound just to tell us of Jesus' great sacrifice and humble beginnings. Or am I missing something much deeper?}
Don't get me wrong. Though I started out with some of my own quirks and complexities, I truly value every day of Alicia Britt Chole's "40 Days...". I just had a difficult time making them mine and reflecting because there was so much in each day. Although I'm sure I highlighted a great portion of the book, when I found myself enlightened by her ever so much. You really have to be in a thinking mode and beyond, this is not light stuff, you need a very studious mode as well. Each day of the "40 Days ..." was packed. I guess I allowed myself to get too bogged down with it all. 
I really should have started with the good and then weighed in on the problems I had with reading this after I describe how each day goes. Trust me, there was no "decrease" except the wonderful teaching on what should become less in our lives so that Christ may BE more in us. Alicia Britt Chole put much thought into each day's "fast"; devotion and reading plus an extensive portion of the history of Lent and fasting. 
Each day or chapter of "40 Days of Decrease features a devotional based upon Jesus’ life, guidance for reflection, suggested (and occasionally surprising) daily fasts, an inspiring quote for prayerful meditation, an optional and somewhat academic sidebar chronicling the historical development, practices, and images of Lent, and a suggested Scripture reading with journaling space" per the author's own words in her introduction. I probably would have been better off if I had waited on the optional part until a different time. The suggested Scripture at the end of each day basically took us through the Gospel of John sequentially on most days starting with chapter 12. At times this and the quote of inspiration, in my opinion, seem to have just been added. In her actual writing, Chole uses Scripture that goes along with what she is saying ... but the reading in John after all the rest did not really tie into the discussion of that day. On the other hand, the Daily Fasts, were well-connected with the theme of the day's devotion. I thought that in my review I would be able to choose which "fast" was personally the best for me or the most needed, but frankly, they all are. The Reflections really made you stop and examine your own thoughts and helped to prepare you for that day's FAST. 
It truly is a challenge that we can pursue in other parts of the year for a week or even a month as she suggests also in her introduction. Alicia informs us that the 40 different fasts are offered "in the hope that collectively they will prepare us to be duly awed by Christ’s resurrection by being duly available to daily crucifixion." Trust me, they were!
I believe that this book is truly profound for a real experience during the 40 days of the sacred season of Lent and preparing our hearts, softening our hearts ... as we enter in to experiencing 'the holiness of loss and less in Jesus’ journey cross-ward,' so that 'our hearts open vulnerably to a greater commitment to love and be loved by the Savior'. Even though I took all of the 40 days and then some to soak in and digest this book, it indeed is a great collection that I can go back to the many exceptional highlights and points, graphs, charts and a formidable dissertation on Lent ... but I really believe that Alicia Britt Chole wanted more for us than just the knowledge gained by her. I believe that she would like to know that we came away from this Lenten experience CHANGED. That our lives somehow were deeply impacted beyond the weaving of her poetic words. 

"We are duly thankful, challenged, and inspired by Jesus’ forty-day fast from food in the Judean wilderness. Perhaps we should likewise be grateful, awed, and humbled by His thirty-year fast from praise, power, and potential in Nazareth.  It takes a great deal of strength to choose weakness."

THIS IS NOT AN EASY READ or for the weak of will power or mind.

"When He calls us to fast strength—when He drafts us into decrease—God’s purposes are clear:  "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:2–3)  "To humble us, to test us, to know what is in our hearts . . . such is the sifting power of helplessness. In our daily lives, we may prefer self-reliance. But perhaps utter dependence is the truer friend of our souls "

I find "40 Days of Decrease..." to BE
Simply profound and breath-taking! I must admit that "fasting" Lent as a project and  entering this "40 Days of Decrease" as an experience most definitely was my blessed gain  as I learned and sojourned with Our Savior.
The days during Holy Week were actually my favorites! Alicia Britt Chole captured and retold the events in such a way that I will never see those readings  in the same way.
Alicia Britt Chole truly has written about "a different kind of hunger and a different kind of fast" in such a phenomenal way even if her chosen compilation was too intense for me I think all of society would do well  if we would "fast" some of her wonderful suggestions  ranging from apathy to hypocrisy;  addictions to self-confidence; intimidation to "guarding tombs". Each one very unique.
When I "fasted" my voice, the world stood still for that time. Although I have done this traditionally on Good Friday this time I truly listened and sensed silence  beholding Jesus in His death.
I will go back to this book again and again hoping that it will continue to reawaken the "Awe" of both Majesty and Mystery in Jesus' Resurrection.
This is not a book to enter in lightly. I encourage anyone to read this that wants a better understanding of Lent  but also for those who want to really experience a "different kind of hunger", grow profoundly and BE CHANGED.
I recommend reading the academic portions separately and focusing on the "fasting" so that when "Father God calls us to fast increase, decrease will purify our souls."
WOW!
I can see why Alicia Britt Chole walked those who wanted to join her through this book on her Facebook page. I'm sure with her personal guidance she made each day come alive like Jesus and with Jesus to be understood in a freshly anointed way.

" Disclosure of material connection: I received this book free from the publisher Thomas P. Nelson through the book review blogger's program BookLook Bloggers. 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

Some people have a gift of reviewing concisely, I try to give you a true sense of what I encounter as I read and am blessed by the greats like Alicia Britt Chole, even if my review was not as favorable, I was truthful and true to my simple but lengthy way.