Music CD Giveaway! God’s Words from A to Z - GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

I was recently contacted by Liza Philips of philipmusic.com and asked to review their new CD for children,  God’s Words from A to Z.  We love this CD!  There are 26 songs – which are 26 scripture verses set to music.  Sounds simple, right?  But, oh, the music!  These are very catchy tunes,  with an enormous variety of styles.  Everything from rock to bluegrass, jazz to indian to celtic… it’s amazing! 
I like that each song is simply the words of the verse sung over and over – it’s very much like a meditation on the words of the Bible, and set to beautiful music this way, you and your children will find yourselves memorizing scripture verses without even trying.  This CD started out as a way for the Philips to help their children learn Bible verses, and fortunately for us, it turned into something much bigger.  The Philips are a married couple with 3 children; they have been writing songs and hymns (with “depth and passion”) for the past 10 years.  Check out their other CDs here.
I am so thankful to Liza for sending us this beautiful and wholesome children’s CD, and they are graciously offering to give a CD to one of my readers. :)
Leave a comment to enter the giveaway, and I’ll pick a winner on Monday, September 13th.  Good luck!!

Book Review – The Edge of the Divine, by Sandi Patty

In my high school years I was a fan of Sandi Patty’s music (I won’t tell you when that was, but let’s just say shoulder pads and big hair were in style), and have always appreciated the power of her voice to uplift my spirits.  So I was excited to have the opportunity to review her latest book – The Edge of the Divine: Where Possibility Meets God’s Faithfulness. 

I wasn’t sure what this book was about before I received it; I simply thought it was a sort of autobiography – what I had read on the publisher’s website was that it was written to be inspiration for women to trust God and live life on the “Edge of the Divine”.  So it was a bit of a surprise to learn that this is mainly the story of her journey to a healthier lifestyle after having lap band surgery to help her lose weight.  Regardless, I really enjoyed her insights and her conversational style of writing. 

Sandi Patty relates her story of how and why she learned to turn to food for comfort, and how she came to a point in her life where she decided to work towards a more healthy lifestyle.  Along the way she gained some wonderful insights about her relationship with God, and described with honesty the “edges” she reached in her personal life – points where she could choose to step over the edge and trust God or remain safely where she was despite being unhappy and unfulfilled.

I don’t agree with all the choices Sandi has made in her life, as told in this book, and many of the Scripture quotes using a modern and pretty casual interpretation (The Message by Eugene H. Peterson) annoyed me.  However, all in all, I really enjoyed the book, parts of which were really humorous.  I’m glad I read it and it did serve to make me more thoughtful about the relationships in my life.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson Publishers for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review.