The Lucado Inspirational Reader Hope and Encouragement for Your Everyday Life By Max Lucado

 

The Lucado Inspirational Reader - Hope and Encouragement for Your Everyday Life is a beautiful 450 page hardcover gift book, filled with the best of the best from Max Lucado.  It is a compilation of his 25 years of writing, filled with words of encouragement and wisdom.  His stories, quotes and teaching reaches to the very heart of what it is to be a Christian and gives hope to each paragraph.

 

I was immediately drawn to this book because I (if you couldn't tell already) am a big Max Lucado fan.  Actually, I am a big Holy Spirit fan, and Max's teachings pour out from the heart of God to his children.  They speak, "keep going, I am with you."  

 

The format of this book is also quite handy.  You can choose to read it cover to cover, look at the topics in the table of contents or even just open it up and see what's there.  Many of the topics are traditional Christian topics such as the cross, evangelism, faith and salvation.  Max puts perspective on these things, especially for people who are struggling under the weight of guilt, rules and tradition. 

 

"Just when he was about to give up hope, someone told him about a healer in Galilee."  Max Lucado referring the hope of Jesus healing in the account of the foreign official. (Gospel of John.)

 

This book is like a breathe of fresh air, and I definitely recommended it.  

 

This book was provided to me for free from Book Sneeze, contingent on an unbiased review.

Heaven is For Real By Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

Heaven is For Real is a true story of a four-year-old's account of heaven in which he encountered a near death experience during surgery. 


The beginning: as a parent myself of young children this part was honestly excruciating to read.  The moment of Colton's sickness to his emergency surgery after his appendix burst was truly harrowing.  I truly honor Todd Burpo (Colton's dad) for his honesty and forthrightness in this account and throughout the book.


Obviously, the details of heaven and Colton's visit there are truly remarkable.  I like the story of how this experience brought healing to the family (and I am sure to many others now) after Colton described how Jesus' dad adopted his sister when she died in the womb.  There are so many fascinating accounts like this and I don't want to ruin them for you!

The writing itself was very well done.  The book had great flow and all the little side stories drew a greater picture of the family and let the readers see them as real people, not fictional characters.  I appreciate how the Burpo's tried very hard to keep the integrity of Colton's story by not asking him any leading questions or offering any information. It took years to collect his story in its entirety.


My favorite part of the book was when after years, Colton identified Jesus looking like the painting that
Akiane Kramarik did when she was 8 years old.  I have always thought personally that that painting looked most like the Jesus I would imagine.  I know someday I will see that precious face, whether it is here on earth or in heaven.

It is a truly remarkable reminder to us all that Heaven is For Real.
An amazing story and a perfect gift book.


This book was provided to me for free by Book Sneeze for an unbiased review.