Upside-Down Prayers for Parents by Lisa Bergren

I have read several books by Bergren and again I am not disappointed with this one. Upside-Down Prayers for Parents consists of 31 devotions that are meant to be used over a period of 31 days. This devotionals purpose is to encourage parents to pray for their children in a way they may

have never considered before. "I pray you'll have to wait - and learn the value of patience. I pray you'll get so weary you give up - and learn that with submission comes strength. I pray you'll love a job - and know that your Provider has not forgotten you." These are just some of the titles in this upside down prayer devotional. Each devotion consists of  a prayer, applicable verse, content devotion, area to write a personal application and relevance for younger or older children.

This one was hard for me at first. To pray in such a way for the people I daily protect, love and guide was difficult; I felt like I was welcoming harm, sorrow, and pain to come to my children. As I made my way through the devotional I realized my children needed this type of prayer in their lives in order for them to grow as a Christian. I personally experienced several of these upside down prayers in my own life growing up and they made me the person I am today. I want my children to GROW in Christ, experience things and learn from them; learn what went wrong, learn about their heart attitude, learn about trusting in God's care; but that needs to begin in me (the Parent/ the example/ the teacher).

 

Take the time to pick up this one as a personal devotion or gift for a special parent in your life.

 

*This book was sent to me by Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review.

       

Show Me How to Share Christ in the Workplace by Larry Moyer

There are two types of Christians in the workplace. One who sees the workplace as their calling and one who sees their faith and work as coincidental. This is how Dr. R. Larry Moyer introduces his book “Show Me how to Share Christ in the Workplace” in his Show Me How-series.

Moyer does a great job in taking the reader through a natural progression of being a testimony in the workplace, to talking to others about spiritual things, to talking about Christ and the cross. Moyer does make it a point to repeatedly state that as an employee, you are being paid to work and must honor God by honoring your employer by not slacking on the job. With this being said, Moyer does give some very practical examples of opportunities of witnessing and sharing Christ.

Moyer ends each chapter with Key Points, which offers a brief summary and a few words that could be used for personal devotion or small group discussion. Moyer stresses how your testimony needs to be short and to the point. Moyer includes resources at the end of the book and even a sample testimony.

 

I was very surprised on how easy reading this book was compared to all the information that was being given. Based upon the writings in this book, I would also be interested in some of the other books in Moyer’s Show Me How-series.