Fresh Start is a new book by Doug Fields that takes a look at some of the big things that are keeping us from realizing our potential in God’s plan for our life as well as hindering us from a great relationship with Him.

Doug starts out by explaining all about “fresh starts” – what they are and why we need them. He explains why we are “stuck” in our current situations and what we need to do to be come “unstuck” and have our fresh starts. Doug covers topics such as pride, the past, friendships, anger and rejection and how they hinder us and gives practical advice and insight into overcoming them. He also explains how we may overcome being “stuck” in one area of our life, only to discover at another time, the need to have a fresh start in another.

I really enjoyed the book. There is a lot of good “meat” in it and I will probably read it again and dig deeper with all that it contains. Many times, I would re-read a section because it really resonated with me.  I especially found the chapters about friendship and discouragement intriguing. I was both uplifted and challenged in reading this book. I would highly recommend it.

Max Lucado’s newest book, Fearless, is another great book from a great author. The book is a 180 page look at fear in it’s many forms. The basic idea of the book is to look to faith, not fear as our response to life’s complications, terrors, and threats.

After the first chapter takes a look at why we fear, each subsequent chapter takes a look at a specific kind of fear. Some examples are:  fear of dissapointing God, of not protecting our children, of death, of the worst case scenario, and financial/security fears.  In each chapter, Max gives a great opening of a story from his own life or from another’s life, that relates to the fear topic he’s writing about. He then goes into scripture and elaborates on stories from the Bible where we should turn when we fear instead.

I have to say, I found myself among the pages. Within each chapter, I found areas of fear in my own life. I liked how he elaborated many of the stories from the Bible and described how people felt or what they might have been thinking. It made me feel as if I was part of the story.  I also liked the challenge th book presents to live our lives full of faith and to turn to God when we are anxious or afraid and not to let fear take hold and rob us of time wasted. While we are not promised an easy life, we are promised that we are not alone.

Overall, a great book and addition to any reading libaray. There is also a discussion guide at the end of the book and a workbook that can be purchased to use as a group study. Highly recommended!

The Read and Share Toddler Bible is a 192 page, hardcover Bible.  It consists of short versions of many of the stories of the Bible with lots of pictures.  It also comes with a 60 minute DVD that animates some of the stories.

Overall, I really liked the Bible.  The stories are nice and short, so you can read as little or as long as you want to. The pictures are cute, bright and there are lots of them.  My daughter loved looking at them. With every story, there is a suggestion for an interactive activity to do with your child based on the story.  The ideas I read sounded very good.  While the outside of the Bible is very durable and hardcovered, the pages are just heavy paper. This is a book you have to read with your toddler – my daughter would be sure to destroy it on her own. The DVD was pretty basicand the narration a little monotone, but I think once my daughter really starts to watch a tv program, she might like it.

I would recommend the Read and Share Toddler Bible to others as a good starting Bible to share and read together.  It’s simple, has bright pictures and nice interactive ideas in it.