Love Does for kids by Bob Goff and Lindsey Goff Viducich

WOW!  This devotional book is really different!  Better!  So interesting it grabbed my attention immediately and I'm an adult.  In fact the very first story brought tears to me eyes.  Listen to this line:  "So the next time you make a mistake, just think to yourself:  I am loved, and I am God's..."  That is a powerful message!  And all the stories are like that in this book. Filled to the brim with goodness - God's goodness and His love.  The stories are told in an appealing manner with catchy phrases such as "it's like God leaves you room rent and can't wait to see how we'll use what He's given us".  These stories just make you stop and think and stop and think some more.  This book will help children think about God in a positive light and help them understand that He is for them 100% and not against them at all.  I really enjoy and appreciate how the authors consistently point to a God who is looking out for our best all the time and who never stops loving us.

I received this book from the publishers but was not required to write a positive review.

The Year of Living Happy by Alli Worthington

From the beautiful cover with a handful of bright yellow blossoms to the back cover asking "How would your life be different if you were just a bit happier every day?" - this book seems to have revitalizing power.  Author Alli Worthington has touched on something that every woman probably wonders about while thinking everyone else has it all together.  The book is divided into 12 sections:  Made to be happy, Holiness is happiness, Happiness in the here and now, Good friends and happy hearts, Finding your happy thought, Happy in a world of crazy, When happiness is hard, Healthy-Happy-Whole, Choosing Happiness, The power of happy words, A happy heart is good medicine and Building a Happy Life.  Inside each section are seven to ten spiritual pep talks.  Each contains a short story with Biblical application and a short exercise for the reader to participate in.  Fun things like thinking about your idea of happiness, listing unique qualities about yourself, describing one thing in your life that is imperfectly wonderful, ask God what seeds He's given you to plant and think of a situation where you could chose compassion for yourself instead of self-criticism.  The short readings help it not feel overwhelming or daunting.  But don't be misled by this into thinking this book is just fluff.  It is not!  There are deep truths and thoughts you'll ponder long after shutting the pages of the book.  I really enjoyed that there was an action the reader was invited to do after reading the story, thoughts and scripture encouragement that was given.  This made the book more personal and more impactful for me.

I was given this book by the publisher but was not required to write a positive review.