Prayers for the Battlefield by Heidi St John ~ a Tyndale book review

Where do we go to find answers for the toughest questions about motherhood? Not those questions like how do I get my baby to sleep through the night, which, in hindsight, is a pretty tough one, but those truly tough questions? Questions like: How do I protect my child from the evil in this world? How do I face those unexpected challenges with my teenagers? Where can I find comfort and strength when I feel powerless? Those kinds of tough questions! We turn to God, desperately seeking His help.

In our heads we know the answers to these questions are found somewhere in our Bibles, but in our hearts, we need some comfort now, not three or four years from now when we get to reading 3 John or 2 Thessalonians in our limited, ten minutes a day if we are lucky, quiet time. Moms, especially those with young children lean on God all the time. We pray, but often it is limited to: Dear Jesus, help me! Now please! How do busy, overworked, sleep-deprived moms find time? We trust God to provide it… eventually. In the meantime, many moms turn to reading devotionals. Something with real truth in it, with a lesson from Scripture, but that only takes about 5-10 minutes. Devotionals are usually smaller than our Bibles and more portable. They can be tossed in a diaper bag or a briefcase. I am so happy to share with you some great news: God uses all of our interactions with Him to teach us, mold us, and make us more like Christ. Five minutes or two hours, He will use them all!

Two months ago, Tyndale Momentum released a new devotional for moms from Heidi St John: Prayers for the Battlefield, Staying MomStrong in the Fight for Your Family and Faith. It is all the things a devotional should be. It is filled with truth, with lessons drawn from Scripture. Heidi shares examples from real life, and a huge dose of encouragement for moms of all ages and stages. Prayers for the Battlefield contains 31 devotionals that remind us that we cannot win this war alone, but God can. 31 different reminders that while the daily battle rages around us and our families, God is right there beside us.

Prayers for the Battlefield contains real help for those super tough questions we encounter, because it contains God’s Word. After the Introduction, that reminds us the battlefield is a spiritual one, for the very souls of our children and the rest of humankind, you will find the 31 devotionals divided into six sections. Each of the six sections covers an area where we need guidance for our own lives, and knowledge about how to speak truth into the lives of our children. You can read them one a day from start to finish, or you can turn to the index in the back to find the particular help you need for that day: courage, rest, protection, provision, wisdom and more. There will never be a day when these Prayers for the Battlefield are not appropriate, either for yourself, or for a friend, until you wake up on the other side of eternity.

Each day’s reading begins with a verse or section of Scripture. Then there is the devotional thought, a practical look at how God works this truth from Scripture out in our lives, and often how He worked this truth in the life of someone else that is recorded in His Word. Then Heidi shares a prayer for you to pray. As I mentioned earlier, this prayer either applies to you personally, or to one of your friends, so pray it! Don’t just read it, pray it. Pray it with a longing to be more like Christ, to stand strong in His strength, and to help carry other Moms to His throne of grace. At the end of each day’s reading is a short listing for Praying the Scriptures. 

As I read through Prayers for the Battlefield, I was reminded of how God wants to meet each of us and show us His heart for our lives. I was reminded of how I had been almost every one of those moms that these prayers were written for during my 20 years of motherhood: the mom who feels powerless, the mom struggling with bitterness, the mom who needs courage. Reading through the book cover to cover reminded me to pray for the other moms in my life. The final devotional in Prayers for the Battlefield is for the mom who wants to influence future generations. While I’m not to that point in my life yet, since neither of our daughters is married, I know from watching my friends that I want to be one of those moms, and someday the Grandma, who still influences future generations for Christ. Right now that practically means speaking truth into our daughters’ lives, and speaking truth into their friends’ lives as well. Expanding my circle of influence through loving others well.

This small book needs to be in the hands of every mom you know, from the one who is pregnant for the first time, to the one whose children have left the nest to begin her own families. Prayers for the Battlefield retails for $12.99 in hardcover or ebook form, but I want to encourage you to buy in bulk. Buy copies for all of your mom friends: for Thanksgiving, for Christmas, for their birthdays, for a just-because you love them present. Then, for those who come back and tell you how much reading these Scriptures and praying these prayers has increased their faith, given then hope, and helped deepen their trust in God, go get them a copy of Heidi St John’s book from last year: Becoming MomStrong.

Find hope, rest, and perseverance, read Prayers for the Battlefield, and stay MomStrong.

Connect with Heidi on her website, blog, Facebook, or Pinterest 

I received a complimentary copy of Prayers for the Battlefield from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine. I am disclosing this according to FTC regulations. No other compensation was provided.

Two sales ending 12/31 and upcoming changes on the blog

Hello everyone! We hope you had a wonderful joy-filled Christmas. May your New Year be merry, bright, and full of the hope found in Jesus.

I wanted to take just a couple of minutes and remind you of two sales that will be ending at midnight on Sunday 12/31. 

First, the discount code: Homesweetlife to get 25% off all online orders at Foodie Fuel ends Sunday night. These are terrific on-the-go snacks. I encourage you to order several of them now, so you will always have a healthy option when hunger strikes in the new year. If you'd like to read our review, just click over here. These are one of my two favorite new food finds from the Moms Meet WOW Summit I attended back in October. In case you hadn't noticed yet ... juicy gems are my other new favorite.  :)

Also, the big holiday sale over at Oral Essentials ends Sunday night. Get 15% off any online order with discount code: holidaysmile21
We have all been enjoying using these great oral care products. You know they are good when your husband claims them for his cabinet! If you are wanting to whiten your smile without the harshness found in popular OTC whitening strips - the discount makes the 14 day set of whitening strips only $34. You can read our review of the products here.

A couple of changes are coming to the blog in 2018. 

Possibly one of the first you will notice is that Arlene is discontinuing her Hand lettered songs feature on Thursdays. She is continuing her Monday Books With Bean reviews and wants to focus on them without letting her schoolwork suffer. Good choice girl! So please, make sure you stop by every Monday and read her book reviews. (She loves reading your comments!) 

Another change that you may have already noticed is that we are shifting our focus slightly when it comes to reviewing. Since Arlene is planning to graduate in December of 2018, we are accepting less curriculum reviews, although we are still going to be a part of the Homeschool Review Crew one more year. We will still bring you reviews of lots of interesting products, but the curriculum ones will probably be more of the supplemental items and less of the full curriculums. 

We will also have occasional reviews for: Bethany House, Tyndale House Publishers and Moody Publishers.

To fill that curriculum space, we have started reviewing more food, nutritional supplements and quality skincare products. We hope these honest reviews give you a chance to learn about new companies, as well making it a little easier to wade through the wide ocean of possibilities the next time you visit your local health food store.

We want to keep focusing on the four themes God showed us for 2017: forgiveness, fellowship, community, and honesty. I want to share my heart with you, and sometimes, it might be a little painful - for both of us. Hopefully you will stick around, even if one or two of those posts hits a little close to home. We can only grow as Christians when God refines and prunes us. May we accept that careful pruning to make us more fruitful!

On a cheery note: I've recently started an Instagram account to keep you up to date on all the fun things we are doing and seeing, even when there isn't time to write a post. Arlene has been helping once in a while, but mostly it will be my pictures. We hope you'll hop over and see what we've been doing! Find us on Instagram at: carolhomesweetlife

Here is a shot from yesterday, when my nephew introduced us to the fun of: Cat Tower

Have a Happy New Year!
Carol (& Arlene)

Becoming MomStrong by Heidi St. John ~ A Tyndale book review

Finally, someone has put into words what I've been thinking about for so long: we need a clarion call to come back to God and His Word for all aspects of this beautifully deep and challenging journey called motherhood. We needed someone to speak the truth in love about guarding our families and our faith against the onslaught of the world, and Heidi St. John has unashamedly listened to God's calling to write a book of encouragement and challenge for moms. Real encouragement for every mom, not just new moms or old moms, birth moms or adoptive moms ~ all moms.

Last Tuesday, September 19th, 2017, Tyndale House Publishers released Heidi St John's newest book: Becoming MomStrong: How to fight with all that is in you for your family & your faith. As a part of the Tyndale Blog Network I was graciously sent one of the first copies off the press before the release date so I could read it and share with you just a little about the heart that Heidi has for other moms.

MomStrong moms know that authentic living doesn't need a platform; it is the platform. Our children see the real mom.  - pg. 132

If you have ever heard Heidi speak at a conference, or listened to one of her podcasts you will know that she is authentic: real. She is not afraid to share the good and the bad of motherhood. Even those days you thought would be perfect, but forgot to plug in the crock-pot! Heidi knows that God's grace is big enough to cover our failures and lead us to His paths of righteousness. 

Reading MomStrong I've laughed, and I've cried, but mostly I have been encouraged. Encouraged to continue to fight, with God's strength, for my faith, and my family.

I first heard Heidi speak at a homeschool conference in early 2014, and I've read two of her other books, both geared towards homeschooling moms, but this book is different. 

Becoming MomStrong is about the entire journey of motherhood, whether your children are educated at home, or at school down the street. Heidi is writing from her big heart full of God's grace and sharing with you things God has taught her along her own motherhood journey. 

When I first started reading Becoming MomStrong,  my husband Kurt leaned over to see what the book was and commented "Don't you think you should know all that by now, our youngest is 17 ?" 

Yes, and no. 

While there was no startling revelation in the book that I had not heard somewhere along this motherhood journey of my own, there was something here just for me. This book takes the best of the advice I have heard over the years from so many seasoned moms, adds Heidi's own quirky sense of humor, and wraps it all up in God's love and points us continually back to the source of our comfort, strength, and wisdom: God Himself. Whether you are a mother to a newborn, or even if your children have all left the nest for college or careers, you will find encouragement in these pages as Heidi shares from her own experiences, and reminds us that we are in this sisterhood of moms together, and together, God makes us strong. 

The rest of this review is going to be different from my usual style. This book is so much more than just a book on parenting, it is book on living an authentic, humble, God-focused life so our children can learn from us to trust God in all aspects of living that I want to give you a short summary, and then share a few of the quotes from Becoming MomStrong that I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to write down to remind myself of the truth of a mom focused on God.

The details: Becoming MomStrong is a 260 page paperback book from Tyndale House Publishers. It is also available as an E-book or as a hardcover book, depending on your preference. I always prefer a printed book to an E-book. Reading on a tablet is not relaxing or enjoyable for me long term, plus, it is easier to flip pages in a paperback to where you might have underlined something profound...says Carol as she whistles to herself ... LOL!

Becoming MomStrong is divided into 15 chapters that cover everything from Good News - Your Kids Came with a Manual to Big Girls Do Cry. Each chapter builds upon the themes that MomStrong moms go to God for forgiveness, peace, and strength - each and every day, that motherhood is a journey with seasons, and that nothing, NOTHING is too hard for God! If you are a Christian mom and cannot afford the $13 to buy yourself a copy, then ask your library to buy one, ask your church to buy a copy, or ask your own mom to get it for you for your birthday or Christmas. Moms need to hear these encouraging words, they need reminded that they are masterpieces made by God, that He has a plan, and that their dreams and their days DO matter to Him!

Now, just a few of the tidbits I gleaned from Becoming MomStrong. I cannot put them all, because it is Heidi's book, not mine. I can however say a big THANK YOU to Heidi St. John for making the sacrifices necessary to get this important message into print. It blessed me. It will bless you!

When you get down to it, new mothers and veteran mothers are basically the same. We all have the same struggles and insecurities. The only difference is that veteran moms have the gift of perspective. -pg. 56

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can refuse to let your past rob you and your family of the future God has for you. -pg. 116

Transformation happens when we allow God's truth to shine onto our suffering. It's what we do with suffering that ends up having an impact in this world. -pg. 126

God knows the hearts of tired mothers intimately because He works the night shift with us. -pg. 179

I wrestle to acknowledge my need for rest. - pg. 180

The bottom line, precious mom, is that your kids don't need you to be perfect. They need you to be present. -pg. 227

Don't let the enemy use your failure as a roadblock to the future God has planned for you... press on towards the prize of eternity. -pg. 253

God knew I needed to read Becoming MomStrong. He sent it at just the right time. He answered a prayer to pull me out of the pit I was in. It has been a hard year for me, one of my dearest friends lost her battle with cancer this summer, this thing called motherhood has entered a new season in my life, as our oldest began college, and our youngest started her senior year of high school, not to mention the everyday struggles that accompany life, but when I  look up - I see Him all around me, in every situation, leading me, and reminding me that I too can become MomStrong! So in answer to Kurt's question: Yes! I needed this book. You just might need it too. :)



I received a complimentary copy of Becoming MomStrong from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine. I am disclosing this according to FTC regulations. No other compensation was provided.