The Ecstasy of Surrender

Now...from the looks of the cover, you may be thinking that it is about sexual ecstasy. However, it is not.

If you have read "The Secret" or the "The Power" from Rhonda Byrne, this book is in a similar genre. A lot of the concepts I read in "The Power" are in this book. But Dr. Orloff goes a little deeper in depth.

Dr. Judith Orloff, MD, writes twelve ways of how letting go can empower your life. When we hear the word "surrender", we think about submission or giving up. However, that is not the case here. Surrender means of letting go...letting go of things that are holding you back from your full potnetional in life. Situations that have caused you great pain, and they have crippled your belief, esteem, spirit, and more.

The book is divided in to five sections: Power and Money, Reading People and Communication, Relationships/Love/Sensuality, Mortalitiy & Immortality: Cycles of Light, and Embracing Ecstasy. From there, the 12 surrenders are broken down into their correlating   parts.

What I also like about this book is that Dr. Orloff gives examples from her life as well as some from her patients. It shows that no matter where you are in life, no matter what you are struggling with, surrender really can be attainable.

NOTE: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books with the intent of giving my honest review. All reviews are mine, and my opinion of the book. 

Finding God in the Dark

Who hasn't been hurt by someone? Who hasn't felt the sting of doubt, fear, condemnation, guilt? I'm sure all of us can relate to something that has happened in our life where we have felt lost, alone, and in despair. I'm sure there have been plenty of times where you have felt like God wasn't around- especially when you needed Him to be.

Finding God in the Dark is a great book about learning to seek God when things don't seem to be going the way that you had your life planned to be going. I appreciate the men sharing their personal life struggles and feelings in the book. I enjoy reading books like this; it helps "bring it home" and make it more personal. The writing is easy and is a fairly quick read. It is written in a way that anyone would be able to understand. You don't need to be a philosophical genius to be able to read this and understand what God wants for you. 

I am Second

Hi. I'm Mindy. And I....am second.

" This book may not always soothe your soul, but I think it will always inspire your reflection and challenge your daily routine" How true. This is a statement made at the beginning of the book "I am Second".

God's plan for us isn't supposed to always soothe the soul, right? We are supposed to grow and change and learn from the experiences He so lovingly gives us. Those are not easy words to come out of my mouth. For I, as I am writing this, am going through a very difficult struggle.

So grateful to have gotten this book at the beginning of a new year. And so grateful to see where God will be leading me on this new 365 day journey and into many more 365 day journeys.

I love how each session begins with a video. If you have a digital edition like I have, you just click and it brings you to that video. If not, thanks to technology, you can use your barcode scanner to jump to the link (call me silly, but I get uber excited about silly little things like that. I was jumping in my seat and used the scanner to watch the video on my phone, rather than click on the link to go to the video on my Nook. Yes, yes, I know....) Back to the videos. I don't want to give too much away, but what amazing testimonies from these people! There are some surprises along the way too from certain people I've never heard of and from people I ahve heard of and was inspired by the story.

I also love how much interaction and participation is involved. This is not an easy read. This is a book that will challenge your heart and bring you closer to God. I enjoyed as well the use of social media like Twitter as suggestions to interact with others and share your own personal message and how Jesus is being put first and how you are letting yourself be second.

Thomas Nelson has been pumping out some amazing books the last year. But this? This one I can't get it out of my head. Thank you, thank you, thank you.