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Posts Tagged ‘Inspirational’

When confronted with truly life-changing circumstances, such as serious illness, injury or disability, most people find the situation extremely overwhelming and horrifying. Most of us think that something of the kind will never happen to us or our nearest and dearest, and when it does we do not know where to turn to and how to react.

Mr. Eldredge’s “You’ve Gotta Fight Back!” is an inspiring and very much no-nonsense book about fighting back when confronted with such adversity in life. Through more than a dozen touching and encouraging true life stories of people afflicted by different diseases, conditions or accidents we learn about their way of dealing with their conditions. We learn about different approaches to life-changing events and how different people learned to accept the changes and/or learned how to fight back. One of the simple, yet very profound insights in fighting back and being happy again is the so-called triumvirate of happiness: someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to. Even if we are not in a perilous situation at the moment, we would do well to remember those three simple rules.

Some of the most valuable advice I found in this book dealt with coping with the situation and how to make the best out of it. While the book is never mindlessly cheerful and it never promises any miracles, it clearly illustrates how it is possible to find happiness and fulfillment even under such extremely adverse conditions. It underlines the importance of working together with the doctors and other medical professionals; of having a positive outlook and attitude, of finding ways and means to still live life to the fullest, of finding humor even in the worst situations and more. Another segment of the book that I found very valuable was all the parts dealing with the role of caregivers, who are oftentimes forgotten or at least overlooked in the struggle.

My favorite part of the book is the author’s affirmations which I’ve copied on a card to carry with me. I do not know anybody who could not benefit from this: “I’m going to be a happy person. I will think happy, positive, enthusiastic thoughts and push out anxiety, fear, hatred, depression, and feelings of inadequacy. I’m going to enjoy life. I will try to make somebody else happy each day. I’m going to love my family and friends and know that they love me. I’m going to be a very confident person. I have a lot of successful experience, so I have every reason to be confident of myself and my ideas. I’m going to remember always that happiness is a state of mind, not a set of circumstances. I make my own happiness in my own mind and my own unhappiness in my own mind. I choose to be a happy person.”

“You’ve Gotta Fight Back!” is an extremely valuable book for anybody needing encouragement and guidance while in a difficult situation. Written in a fluid, easy-to-read style, it should find a permanent home on your bookshelf – to help you, your family or your friends if help should be needed.

Loving Healing Press (2007)

ISBN 9781932690347

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (11/07)

The Next Thing on My List is an uplifting, entertaining story about a girl in her thirties who lives in Los Angeles. The heroine of the story, June Parker, has no certain goals in life as an underachiever, even though she is intelligent.

In the back story, June’s only aim in life is to lose ten pounds. One day, after a Weight Watchers meeting, June agrees to give Marissa, who is an acquaintance from the Weight Watchers, a ride. On the way, Marissa unhooks her seatbelt to give June a soup recipe that is in her bag on the backseat. As soon as Marissa turns around, a dresser falls off a truck in front of June’s car. June yanks at the steering wheel to avoid the dresser. She loses control and skims the curb at an angle. The car rolls over several times. The twenty-four year-old Marissa dies, and June lives.

June keeps a list found in Marissa’s bag, titled, “20 Things to Do by My 25th Birthday.” Out of her feelings of guilt and possibly for having handed some goals that she herself was unable to come up with for her life, June decides to complete Marissa’s list. Marissa has already achieved the first two items; so June has about eighteen items left to fulfill in less than a year. Some of the tasks are simple like eating ice-cream in public, watching a sunrise, and riding in a helicopter; others are more challenging and life changing

As the story progresses, June finds herself becoming a different person as she begins completing the more difficult tasks such as making a major pitch at work and changing someone’s life, for which June becomes a Big Sister to Deedee, a teenager who is in a predicament.

As a subplot, June also forms a relationship with Troy, Marissa’s brother. In the beginning, neither of them knows who the other is. June is the first one to find out. Eventually, Marissa’s demise becomes a major obstacle between June and Troy.

Communicating the theme of personal development in the most spectacular way is the major achievement of this story. That the main character changed so drastically and so believably is a true writing feat.

The author Jill Smolinski could have taken the classic road of focusing on the throes of guilt for the main character. Theoretically, that could have deepened the story in the styles of Dostoyevski and Balzac; however, it would not have made it more readable or inspiring for the readers. After this book was published, many people were encouraged to come up with their own life-goals lists, which is a big achievement for the writer. After all, true art is for the benefit of the people.

The Next Thing on My List is in 354 pages, hardcover, with ISBN-10: 0307351246 and ISBN-13: 978-0307351241.

The author Jill Smolinski is a graduate of Central Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. She has also written Flip Flopped, a novel; non-fiction books on Origami and Travel Games; and several short stories. Her work has been included in major magazines.

The Next Thing on My List is a cleverly written, easy-to-read book. I found it to be original, charming, and inspirational.

The Thanksgiving Coat: Inspire Acts of Kindness, Happiness and Healing, written by Elizabeth Hoadley and illustrated byher talented 5-year daughter, Kailee, is a fine example of what level that teaching and learning can rise to.

This inspiring and motivational children’s book is based on a true story that began with Kailee’s visit with her mother to a food bank to provide much needed food to underprivileged families. After a call from Kailee’s school asking her to spearhead donations to a local food bank, Elizabeth Hoadley took her daughter to the grocery store to select the food that they would give.

Kailee was full of questions for her mother – “Who would get the food?, Were there children involved? Did the children have toys to play with, a bed to sleep in and a coat to keep them warm?” The Thanksgiving Coat is a direct result of Kailee’s probing questions and her concern about the children who might be hungry and cold.

The Thanksgiving Coat speaks to the values and beliefs that we should all develop and pass on to our children. But, Hoadley is very specific about how to sensitize our children to the issues of homelessness and hunger without scaring them.

Because of the urgent call for help from the food bank, Hoadley was able to join with Kailee in creating a way to reach out to others who didn’t have as much as they did and needed help. Children will learn the lesson of giving and gratitude when they read The Thanksgiving Coat, and it may inspire them to create their own methods of giving.

Kailee is no stranger to illustrating and publishing books. Beginning at the age of 2 years, the creative and giving little girl has illustrated several books, including Balloon Wishes, which inspires hope and healing following the passing of a loved one.

At 4-years old, Kailee illustrated Roses and Rainbows which inspires health and healing in a child. Hoadley helps Kailee by writing the words in the books after collaborating with Kailee about the messages she wants to promote.

Hoadley’s books have been described as a combination of Seuss and Shel Silverstein. Through hers and her daughter’s creations, she strives to bring out the full potential in children and to promote mother/daughter bonding.

Hoadley has written several books on her own – all inspirational teaching books for parents. Books such as Aspire to Inspire, promotes true goodness in children and others teach self-esteem and self-reliance through stories about social issues.

The Thanksgiving Coat, Inspire Acts of Kindness, Happiness and Healing, by Elizabeth Hoadley and illustrated by her daughter, Kailee, should be a “must have” in both school and home libraries.

A Time Travel Novel – A Journey to Jerusalem with Christ during Passion Week

“Quest for the Nail Prints” is a time travel novel with a supernatural intervention in the lives of the three protagonists, Elizabeth Stewart, a resident physician, and Pastor Paul Ryann, both from Memphis, and Professor Leonardo Van Eaton from George Town University.

Unrelated Circumstances bring the three together on an International air flight going to Jerusalem. The professor found himself stranded in Jerusalem when his connecting flight for India was canceled. The physician’s assignment was not scheduled to begin for three days. Paul Ryann, the minister, was fulfilling a lifetime dream of visiting the Holy land.

The three joined signed up for a local bus tour for a day of sight-seeing in the city of Jerusalem. At the first scenic stop the bus made, Ryann witnessed a criminal act. Soon the trio found themselves in life threatening danger. Suddenly they discovered they were in the midst of a mysterious experience taking them back in time to a Jerusalem at the beginning of Passion Week. They became players with the twelve apostles in the upper room, participating in the last supper with Jesus.

The story that follows takes Dr. Stewart and Pastor Ryann on a spiritual journey with Jesus for the entire Passion Week right up to Calvary. Professor Van Eaton ventures out on an adventure that leads him in another direction.

Reading “Quest for the Nail Prints” became a memorable experience for me. The teachings of Jesus took on a new meaning as the Holy Spirit used Don Furr to bring his Words to the page in a new way as I was transported back in time to follow Jesus and the disciples on the final days leading to Golgotha and the Crucifixion. I found that although I was transfixed by the story line, and Furr’s writing I had to take time outs for assimilation and reflection on the purpose behind the message of cross. This is a book that will long linger in my thoughts in a way that will have an impact on my reading of the scriptures in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.

“Quest for the Nail Prints” is an unusual time travel novel with a focus on melding plot, character development, theme, and suspense. Don Furr has a remarkable gift for story telling and riveting writing that leads to a supernatural encounter with Jesus.

Sheaf House Publishers, LLC, 978-1936438020, I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes with no obligation to post a positive review. As reviewed for Midwest Book Review.

Is your “heartprint,” aligned with heaven’s values? Has the way you’ve led your life on Earth, your “rehearsal for heaven,” gotten you ready for the Big Show? Heaven’s Executive Producer, God, would like you to be one of the actors or actresses he chooses for heaven, but whether you get there or not depends on both God’s grace and how well you do in rehearsals, that is, how well you led your life on Earth. Written in three acts, Rehearsing For Heaven by Mark B. Reed and published by CreateSpace is a thoughtful and scholarly extended metaphor (simile might be more accurate) about our lives on Earth being a rehearsal for heaven, the greatest “show” of them all. Using numerous sources, anecdotes, and an always interesting and thought-provoking writing style, author Mark B. Reed explores what it is to live a good life, how we can change and live richer lives that are pleasing to God, what the nature of heaven is like, and how to ultimately get there ourselves and join the “cast,” before it’s too late.

What are the three sections, or “acts,” and what are the topics they cover that today’s Christians should find interesting? Act 1 is “Setting the Scene,” Act 2 is “The Script,” and Act 3 is “Showtime.” Each act is broken down into three “scenes,” which cover sub-topics important to the acts and to Christians who would like to lead better lives. To give you an idea of what I’m referring to, Act 1′s three scenes are: “Heaven’s Producer,” “Heaven’s Set,” and “Heaven’s Stage.” Act 2′s are: “Heaven’s Storyline,” “Heaven’s POV,” and “Heaven’s Cast and Crew,” while Act 3′s scenes are “Heaven’s Hope,” “Heaven’s Justice,” and “Heaven’s Life.” The book is then wrapped up with its Epilogue, “The Beginning of the End,” which concisely sums up Rehearsing For Heaven’s main themes.

Just telling you the titles of the three Acts and their scenes probably doesn’t give you a very clear picture of what Rehearsing For Heaven is about. “Heaven’s Producer,” is self-explanatory, as God is the “Producer” of the title. It is about the nature of God, but, like each of the Acts and scenes, it covers a lot of related sub-topics, and uses pop and cultural references to illustrate the author’s points, like Alfred Hitchcock and his quote: “I enjoy playing the audience like a piano.” There are also “Cue Cards,” strewn in each scene, with talking points on them to ponder and perhaps discuss in worship groups. For example, one in Act 1, Scene 1 has written on it: “Empty handed and bare,/transparent to the core,/let’s hope there’s something left/when heaven begins to explore.”

Act 2, “The Script,” goes into many topics, also, like the End Times, what the “new heaven and earth,” the Bible mentions will be like, the transformation our earth will undergo, etc. As Mark B. Reed states, the “Bottom line,” is that “the world is headed somewhere by the Producer’s design. It’s not in the hands of randomness. It’s in the Creator’s hands.” In the intriguingly titled sub-topic, “Stairway to Heaven,” Reed discusses the different religious beliefs of the Hindus, who conceive of life and death as a “cycle,” instead of linearly, as we do in the West. He goes into ideas they have about reincarnation and its goal “to die finished, cycling until reaching the ultimate level of perfection.” Most religions, he states, “take an earn-your-own-way approach just like reincarnation, holding each person responsible for paying for his mistakes, cleaning them up, changing his ways, and making himself a better person.” The difference between those and Biblical Christianity in that respect is that the latter “allows an imperfect being to be made perfect by a power outside himself. It’s called grace.”

Act 3, “Showtime,” is probably my favorite Act of the book. That’s because right from the start of the Act, we learn more about the author, that his first job at the age of fourteen was “detasseling corn.” Also, we learn about the crucial importance of hope, like that “Hope is not a wish. It’s a confident expectation.” It’s different from “optimism” and “wishful thinking” in that hope is built upon a “solid foundation” of faith and trust. As one of the Cue Cards from this Act says (quoting George lles): “Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.” The third Act, in addition, gets into “Where Do I Go When I Die?” what Jesus’s resurrection means to Christians, the various places one can wind up in te Afterlife, and more.

Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of reading what some people term “inspirational” books, guidebooks that tell us what we’re doing right or wrong as Christians and how to change our lives for the better and live more Godly lives. After all, everyone has his/her opinions, and merely having them in between the covers of a book in black-and-white is not enough to make them the “Gospel Truth.” However, occasionally a thoughtfully written exception to this comes out that catches my eye, and provides food for both my intellect and soul, and Rehearsing For Heaven, like C.S. Lewis’ brilliant Mere Christianity, is an example of this. It’s a Must Read for Christians, and an interesting discourse on the nature of life and the Afterlife that everyone should find very worthwhile reading indeed.