Picturing Heaven: 40 Hope-filled Devotions with Coloring Pages

*Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are 100% my own.

About the book-

Foster a deeper connection with God through coloring! Picturing Heaven is a unique coloring book featuring 40 illustrations to help you imagine the beauty of heaven, each accompanied by a devotion by Randy Alcorn, who writes frequently on the topic of heaven. Featuring metallic gold accents, lay-flat binding, and bright white paper.

My thoughts-

I think with the climate of today's society, many of us long for Heaven. There are definitely moments of high stress and anxiety for me within my own family life, and in life over all and sometimes I just need something to calm my nerves and remind me what awaits. Picturing Heaven is a great devotional focusing completely on Heaven. It is uplifting with wonderful Bible verses and has great reminders that our big picture is paradise with God. The gold and black color scheme of the pages are absolutely gorgeous and I love that Randy Alcorn has combined a devotional book with the calming art of coloring, which makes for a very peaceful experience. Picturing Heaven is the perfect gift to pair with gel pens or some nice colored pencils!

Miracles From Heaven by Christy Wilson Beam (Book Reviews)

Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

About the book-

In a remarkable true story of faith and blessings, a mother tells of her sickly young daughter, how she survived a dangerous accident, her visit to Heaven and the inexplicable disappearance of the symptoms of her chronic disease.

Annabel Beam spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals with a rare and incurable digestive disorder that prevented her from ever living a normal, healthy life. One sunny day when she was able to go outside and play with her sisters, she fell three stories headfirst inside an old, hollowed-out tree, a fall that may well have caused death or paralysis. Implausibly, she survived without a scratch. While unconscious inside the tree, with rescue workers struggling to get to her, she visited heaven. After being released from the hospital, she defied science and was inexplicably cured of her chronic ailment. 
Miracles From Heaven will change how we look at the world around us and reinforce our belief in God and the afterlife.

My thoughts-

The last few years have seen an influx of stories about people having near death experiences and their stories of visiting Heaven and coming back. I have read several of them and they are always captivating. Miracles From Heaven was enthralling as well, but for other reasons. Beam's young daughter Annabel also had a near death experience, but her story is  little different. There are mentions of her seeing Heaven, but it is a very small part of her story. This story is more about miracles here on Earth. Beam takes us through their story by interweaving the day of a freak accident with the many years of dealing with a chronic illness. It is crazy to read exactly the Beams went through prior to the accident and what happens afterwards. Miracles From Heaven is a captivating and heartwarming story on a family's journey to healing. I recommend this story to anyone who enjoys reading uplifting memoirs. 

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www.christybeam.com

Between Heaven and Earth by Steve Berger (Book Review)

Disclosure of material connection- I was provided a copy of the book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest thought. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% own.


About the book-

It's not easy separating fact from fiction when it comes to heaven, nor is it always easy to see how the afterlife can affect our lives today. After a car accident caused his nineteen-year-old son to unexpectedly enter heaven. Pastor Steve Berger chose to reject despair and commit himself to carefully studying his son's new, eternal home. He had no idea how much there was to learn, and his life hasn't been the same since. The biblical and deeply personal study of heaven will give you hope for the future.

But more than that, it will show you what it means to live today in light of the reality of heaven. If your view of heaven isn't life-changing, it needs to be adjusted. Let Pastor Berger's exploration of eternity fill you with overflowing hope, courage, and purpose.

My thoughts-

I am not sure exactly what it was I expected from this book. Of course, any book about a place as lovely and as equally mysterious as Heaven, I fully expected to be encouraged. To have that hope that all Christians have magnified and renewed. But there was something I wanted that I just didn't find in these words. Steve Berger definitely has a passion for sharing the hope of heaven and living for heaven and not for Earth. There are great examples from the Bible throughout these pages of people who longed for heaven, people we should try to be more like in that regard. Heaven is a mystery, so whatever it was I was hoping to find would have probably been impossible to reach. There were parts in the book that I found especially encouraging. Chapter four has 2 charts, one lists the things that we are promised in the Bible that are not going to be in heaven, along with their corresponding Bible verses and even more enthralling, there is a chart that reminds of us all that WILL be in Heaven that we can look forward to. I also enjoyed the very next chapter that highlights the verses in Revelation in which John describes what heaven will look like. There is no way we can imagine what heaven will be like because it will be better than anything we can fathom, but it is interesting to have even the smallest inkling of what it would like.

Although I didn't find exactly what it was I thought I would in this book, I found it to be encouraging. We as Christians probably do not think of heaven as often as we should. I think if we thought of where we were headed more often, we would probably be more joyful, more apt to share our joy and hope with others who aren't on the same journey with us and more likely to just be better people over all. Between Heaven and Earth is filled with wonderful verses and great reminders of what an awesome God we serve and that this Earth is just a temporary home and there is something much better right around the corner. Who wouldn't want to read a book that reminds them of such important and wonderful things? I would recommend this book to any Christian or someone who is curious about the Christian faith and/or heaven.

About the author-

Steve Berger is the senior pastor to more than four thousand people at Grace Chapel, Leipers Fork, Tennessee. Steve is also a part of the teaching faculty for the National Worship Leader Conference and regularly contributes to several publications. Steve and his wife, Sarah, live in Franklin, Tennessee, with three of their children, Heather, Cody, and Destiny.

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http://steveberger.gracechapel.net/

Between Heaven and Earth is available for purchase at Amazon.com and Christian retailers nationwide.

Waking Up In Heaven by Crystal McVea Book Review

*Disclosure- I received a free copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are 100% my own.

About the book:

The remarkable story of a woman, plagued with guilt and skepticism, dramatically changed by the nine minutes she spent in heaven.

"God let me see me through His eyes. And in that instant I knew that God had always loved me, through all of those dark and difficult years when I doubted His existence, through every crisis and every heartbreak that made me turn away from Him more. I knew, in that instant, that His love was endless and boundless, and that if He loved me so much, how could I not love myself?" 

For most of her life, Crystal McVea was a skeptic whose history of abuse and bad choices made her feel beyond the reach of God--who questioned if God was even real. She had all but given up hope. Then came December 10, 2009--and the moment that changed everything.

For nine minutes that night, Crystal went into full respiratory arrest. She was unconscious and unable to breathe on her own, unaware of the crisis happening around her as the hospital staff rushed to save her life. Crystal doesn't remember the trauma or losing consciousness; she just remembers waking up in heaven, next to God.

Waking Up in Heaven invites readers to witness the relentless pursuit of God in a life that was broken and seemingly beyond hope, an awe-inspiring account of love, forgiveness, and redemption, and the healing power of God's presence.

My thoughts:

I think any Christian probably wonders what exactly Heaven might be like. Of course, it is beyond anything we can imagine, but there have been several books like this one out in the last few years and I am always interested to read about other people's experiences, what they remember of what they saw and what they have to say about it. I thought this was a very interesting account. McVea definitely had a troublesome past, starting with abuse at an age that she could not possibly have understood at the time. That seem to lead to a life of low self esteem and hoping from men to men as a result and also caused her to be a skeptic when it came to God. Still, she prayed. He was there all  along and for her, it took dying and meeting Him to understand and truly believe that. I read this book in just a couple of days and I definitely sympathized with McVea and the things she went through in her life, no one, especially a child, should have to go through the things she went through. However, I found the book to be 90% about her life and 10% about her account in Heaven. I know she was not there long and that her story needed to be told so we could understand where she was coming from and why it was a miracle for her to be able to experience Heaven. I do love that she is sharing her message and helping other victims of abuse get through the feelings they have to feel and embrace God. This was a fast and uplifting read, but I would not recommend it to the faint of heart, as there are some pretty heavy subject matters brought up that may make some people very uncomfortable. For those that like to read a story of someone who was down and out and has now figured out a way to use their past to help others, this is a book you will enjoy.

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Buy the book on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Heaven-Story-Brokenness/dp/1476711879

Nearing Home By Billy Graham- Book Review

*Disclosure- I recieved a complimentary copy of the book via the Book Sneeze program. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

About the book:

"Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life,” says Billy Graham, known by many as God’s Ambassador. “I would have never guessed what God had in store for me, and I know that as I am nearing home, He will not forsake me the last mile of the way.”
In Nearing Home this man of faith—now in his nineties—explores the challenges of aging while gleaning foundational truths from Scripture. Billy Graham invites us to journey with him as he considers the golden years while anticipating the hope of being reunited with his wife, Ruth, in his heavenly home that eclipses this world. “When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice,” says the author. “Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Join Billy Graham as he shares the challenges of fading strength but still standing strong in his commitment to finishing life well.

My thoughts: This book is aimed at elderly people, but I think younger people (like me) can get a lot out of it too. Mr. Graham has inspired and even brought many people to faith throughout the years. I have been blessed enough to see him speak before he retired and there is just something about him that captivates and demands your attention. For that reason, even though I knew this book was meant for older people, I wanted to read it anyway, to file his thoughts away for a time in my life when I need it. I found while reading this book that many of the the thoughts and ideas can be applied today. Things like looking back on certain choices made, we might find that we regret some past decisions, but that was then and this is now...that advice could certainly help even the youngest of readers. There are thoughts on how to handle retirement (and a reminder that we are all different and different things work for different people), to arrange for things that in the event of your death, your family will have no question of what should go to whom and how things should be taken care of...things that I think everyone, not just the elderly, should consider having in place since we just never know when our time will be up. I love that this was Mr. Graham being an open book, speaking candidly about the loss of his dearly loved wife Ruth, about how he hasn't really loved growing old. This is an honest and thoughtful book written by one of God's greatest speakers. I was truly inspired having read it. I would recommend this book to anyone who is inspired by Billy Graham's work or who just enjoy or need words of wisdom regarding growing older and eternal life.