The Life Ready Woman

Are you a doing it all or doing what matters most kind of girl?

For me I often find myself overwhelmed by the burden of trying to get it all done. And to think that I don’t even have near the responsibilities of those of other woman, who are balancing motherhood, marriage and ministry. In The Life Ready Woman: Thriving in a Do-It-All World authors Shanti Feldhahn and Robert Lewis asks us women to examine our lives in light of God’s design.

The freedom to excel can also lead us to take on burdens we were never meant to carry, to find ourselves stressed and torn, and to experience an outlook that that is all too often marked by worry or guilt instead of the absolute peace of knowing we are in the exact center of God’s will every day.

The book is divided into two parts. Part 1: God’s Plan and Purposes for All of Us  and Part 2: Getting to God’s Best for You.  Authors point out that all humankind has been issued a call by God to leave and cleave, be fruitful and multiply and subdue and rule. In addition to our universal call, the book states that women share feminine callings to:

• help
• influence our setting
• nurture life
• bring special wisdom and perspective
• multitask.

As affirming as learning about and embracing these feminine calls may be, women are warned that these callings can leave us vulnerable to sinful tendencies such as manipulation, being controlling, and resisting set limits.

Part two focuses on living in view of our callings and how to be better stewards of our personal gifts by reliance on God.

It’s so easy to default to walking the path that we already know rather than the one God is leading us to.

What I like about the book:

It addresses the many faucets of womanhood from married women to the older single woman, who each faces a very different set of circumstances. The authors did not sugarcoat the fact that to really live according to God’s design requires self-sacrifice and obedience, which is not always popular or easy.

About the author: Shaunti Feldhahn is a former Wall Street analyst, best-selling author of the book For Women Only, national speaker, and regular commentator in the media. She has been featured on The Today Show, PBS, TNT and Fox News- to name a few. You can learn more about her many activities by visiting her website Shaunti.com or get some great mom advice from her at MomLifeToday.com. She and her husband live with their two young children in Atlanta, Georgia and enjoy every minute of living at warp speed.

Does this sound like a book, you would like to read? As a part of the LitFUSE blog tour I was graciously provided  a copy to give away to one of my readers. Simply enter your name and email address in the form below to enter.

DISCLOSURE: I was provided a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes as a part of the Litfuse blog tour.  I was not required to write a positive review.

The Waiting ~ Blog Tour

It’s my pleasure to take part in the blog tour for  Suzanne Woods Fisher’s latest release, The Waiting. Not only was this my first acquaintance with Ms Fisher’s writing but also my first time reading Amish fiction. But after reading this book, it’s unlikely to be my last.

Although the main storyline revolves around Jorie King, a young Amish maiden, waiting for her beloved Benjamin Zook to return home from the Vietnam War, the book is filled with characters that are in a wait of their own. Waiting to be free. Waiting to die. Waiting to love again. Waiting to be understood. Waiting to be accepted despite one’s skin color. As anyone who has experienced the wait between one’s dream and its manifestation knows things don’t always go as planned.  And, the Amish are no exception. Readers are taken along alongside Jorie, Caleb, Ben, Matthew, Ephraim, and Maggie as they try to make sense of their changing world through the eyes of their faith. The Waiting drew me in from the very first page and as I turned the last page, I long to stay a little longer at Beacon Hollow.

The Waiting include scenarios most individuals could easily relate to like:

• A single father struggling to make a living and raise two children on his own, while battling grief.
  
• An African American veterinarian facing prejudice and opposition in the 1960’s.
  
• People of faith attempting to balance being in the world but not becoming a part of the world.
  
• A young man seeking to find his own identify and place in the world outside of the confines of the expectations of others.
  
• A family facing the reality of Alzheimer’s disease

From the back cover: Jorie King’s life is on hold. She has been waiting for Ben Zook to return to Lancaster County. Waiting for him to settle down and join the church. Waiting to marry him.

But when news arrives that Ben have been killed, Jorie is devastated. She finds unlikely comfort in the friendship of his brother Caleb. Friendship ripens into love, and two broken hearts plan for a life filled with the promise of a fresh beginning – until their worlds are turned upside down.

About the author:

Suzanne Woods Fisher is the CBA bestselling author of The Choice, The Waiting, Amish Peace, and Amish Proverbs. Her interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, WE. D. Benedict, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Benedict eventually became publisher of Christianity Today magazine. Suzanne is the host of a radio show called Amish Wisdom and her work has appeared in many magazines. She lives in California. Find out more about Suzanne at www.suzannewoodsfisher.com 

Join the FUN
As a part of the blog tour Suzanne is hosting a KINDLE giveaway and a Lancaster Secrets book club party. The contest and blog tour run October 8-October 27.

What are you waiting for?
Go ahead and enter the contest and pick up your copy of The Waiting at Amazon.

To enter, simply click on the icons below to fill out the entry form, then tell 5 or more friends about the contest. Oh, and enter soon! Winner will be announced on October 28th at Suzanne's Lancaster Secrets Book Club Party.

DISCLOSURE: Thanks to Amy Lathrop with LitFUSE for providing a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes. The views and opinions expressed are my own.