Not Unredeemed

… living the beautiful tension between what is, and what will be …

Tag Archives: Books


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Pain Redeemed (review and give-a-way) 31 Days of Truth {Day 6}

“Life is pain your Highness, and anyone telling you differently is selling you something”, while you might have differing views on whether or not you actually like Princess Bride, Wesley does have a point. Life has a lot of pain in it. It will look differently for all of us. Proverbs 14:10 says

Each heart knows its own bitterness,
and no one else can share its joy.

We each have our own pain, and we don’t always understand each other’s pain  – but what binds us together is that we both experience pain. In her book “Pain Redeemed” Natasha writes about her struggle with infertility. But much, much more, then infertility Natasha writes to other hearts experiencing pain of any kind and points them back to the One who redeems. This book isn’t about what we would think of as “happy endings”, but about redemption in the journey, in the here and now. Not just in the “some day”.

“If I can’t figure out how to stand up to the enemy’s attacks now, today – then changing my circumstances won’t change my sorrow.

God allows fog.

He allows it because He wants to build our faith. He is working and changing – whether we can see in the moment or not. He bled and died and rose so we could be free. It’s not enough to just say, “Okay, God, I believe in you. Save me” Doing that might break the chains of the enemy, but we still have to walk out of the dungeon. We have to live like we’re saved.”

Pain Redeemed is about learning to live like we are saved – learning to be victorious in the midst of all levels of pain and heart ache.

No matter your age or status this book will speak to you! My pain is not infertility – but truth is still truth, and this book was a big blessing to me! If you hurt, or if someone close to you hurts, read this book. It’s a great description of the ups and downs of the journey – but most of all His faithfulness! You can buy Pain Redeemed from Natasha (or Amazon) as an eBook for $4.99. (It’s the best $4.99 you can spend. Trust me! It’s way worth skipping that extra cup of coffee for.)

I enjoyed the eBook so much that I’d love to give a way a copy to one of you! The give a way will end on Tuesday evening (10/9/12), so enter today! (click through the links below, or visit the give-a-way page via Not Unredeemed on Face book to enter).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  Tidbit of Truth today ? We are never alone in pain. And that pain? It’s meant to be redeemed. <— Tweet this. 

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Beyond Courageous

One night. One question. One life forever changed. In the fall of 2010 while interning at Focus on the Family, I saw the
very first pre showing of the newly released movie, Courageous. The movie is phenomenal – go see it if you haven’t already, but this isn’t about the movie, really. It’s more about what happened at the night of the preview.

Between showings we hosted a dinner for some of the Focus staff and the Courageous team that had come up from GA to present us the movie. Polite laughter and superficial, chit chatty dinner conversation abounded. Till Ken Bevel (police officer Nathan Hayes in Courageous, and Michael Simmons, firefighter in Fire Proof), asked myself and the other two 20 something’s, at the table a question that would render me speechless for months.  He asked:

 What are you going to do to change the World for God?  Continue reading →


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The Bookcase Fell on Me


Life is like a bookcase at times. It holds rows upon rows and shelves full of questions from every area of life. All neatly bound and categorized. Letters forming words engraved on the spine of each book tantalize my spirit and intrigue my brain. The very quest for knowledge delights my soul. Learning, no matter how painful, brings a sparkle to my eye and adds a spring to my step.
That is until the bookcase falls over on me.
A quest for knowledge and understanding in particular issue, lead to more questions, which lead to more questions. (As it usually does!) Taking one book off the shelf drives you to realize you need the previous one to get context, and maybe the companion guide to balance out the first opinion. And so it goes.
Continue reading →


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Out of a Far Country

Next on my list to review from Blogging for Books is Out of a Far Country by Christopher Yuan and Angela Yaun. (I get free books to review from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group – feeds my reading habit!) It’s a true story of a mother and son and their journey through homosexuality. An unusual non-fiction story that reads like fiction – Out of a Far Country is a smooth but gripping read.

I personally loved this book as it balances the homosexual issue and Christian faith very well. It has a strong presentation of biblical truth while bringing it to a personal level as the mother struggles to accept a homosexual son and that son wrestles between an orientation and a faith he doesn’t understand.

This book was very helpful in opening my eyes to better understand the homosexual/faith debate. The biggest thing the book shows is that the balance for heterosexual and homosexual orientation is not one or the other but a call to holiness for both. As in the opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality but holiness.

Out of a Far Country is a great, balanced book – a real testimony dealing with faith, homosexuality, and AIDS in modern day America. Check it out.


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What Are You Waiting For?

When it comes to sex, why are we waiting?  We are told not to have premarital sex, we’re told to be pure and save ourselves. But why? We’re told sex outside of marriage is wrong and maybe sometimes we’re told about diseases or adverse emotional effects – but why are we told to wait? Why does the Bible say it is wrong? What and why are we waiting for?
In Dannah Gresh’s newest book, “What Are You Waiting For – The One Thing No One Ever Tells You About Sex?” she answers those questions and more. She explains the “why not” and the “just don’t”. I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah’s Blogging for Books program to read and review it for them. It is by far the best book I have ever read on sex for young women; and although written for women, some guys would really get a lot out of it too. It combines scripture, science and real life examples.

Gresh is also not afraid to tackle the hard issues of porn, homosexuality and masturbation.  She does a great job of being real, without getting graphic. Her word studies into the Hebrew and Greek make scriptures come alive as you hear God’s heart on human sexuality. This is a MUST read for all unmarried girls* and young adults.

I highly recommend this book for youth leaders – it is a big tool we can use to address why we wait to have sex. There are discussion questions in the back if you choose to use it as a small group curriculum. It is designed more for the individual but can be used for small groups. God doesn’t say no to spoil our fun, He says no because of …. Well – you’ll just have to read it!

Parents, if you have older teenage girls or young adult daughters this book will be a huge resource to you both. It’s the most balanced, biblical and scientific blend on purity that I have ever read. And it’s not just for girls who haven’t had sex yet. It speaks to young ladies wherever they are at. Get it. You will be glad you did!

*Due to the content of the book I wouldn’t recommend it for girls any younger than 16 unless the parents have read it first or the girls are mature.


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Soul Print

I love to read – I mean I really LOVE to read. I’m not happy unless I have at least 3 books going at once.  It was getting to the point where I was wondering if I could “afford my habit”! I recently discovered “Blogging for Books” from Waterbrook  Multnomah Publishing Group. What a Godsend. They send me a book for free and I write a review for it. Simple and sweet!
So because of that, I’ll be adding some book reviews to this blog. I hope you will be encouraged to check out some of these books. They have encouraged and challenged me. What we read, watch and listen to now, we will be in 10 years. What are you putting into your heart and mind?
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Mark Batterson’s newest book Soulprint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny hits a home run. I’m a Mark Batterson fan to begin with, but this is my new favorite. Soulprint is all about discovering your identity in Christ. It is not a self-help or self-discovery book in any way; rather it addresses the importance of recognizing the way God made you and the situations He used to form your character. From divine pauses to defining moments each season of our life has a purpose in God’s plan and like a fingerprint, we all have a unique ‘soulprint’.  Yet so many of us, if we will be still long enough to admit it, are desperately insecure about who we are.

Why do we as human beings waste so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others?  Mark says “When you play the comparison game, no one wins!  It results in either pride or jealousy, and both of them will cause you to compromise your integrity.” (p. 88) We are each created unique, for a unique purpose and destiny.  Batterson recognizes the only way to discover yours is through the Lord and His word: “If you want to discover your soulprint, you’ve got to begin and end with Scripture.” (p.135) Mark uses many scriptures and examples such as David to lay out the plan for discovering your own divine soulprint.  I highly recommend this book. It’s an easy read and yet it challenges you to live out who the Lord is calling you to be.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.  For more information or to purchase Soul Print – check out Amazon.


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A Holy Discontent

“That’s all I can stands. I can’t stands no more!” – Popeye.  Have you ever thought of frustration as a good thing? Or even a God-given thing? Popeye might have. He always gets to a point where he acts because his frustration builds to a breaking point where he no longer can sit by and do nothing. He MUST act.

I used to think that frustration was a bad thing. That I needed to be content in everything all the time – which just added to more frustration! As many of you know, I can be er, rather intense at times? Or passionate? I used to try to hide that side of me, or at least not let it grow; instead of realizing the Lord made me that way for a reason (I still need to honor Him in with the passion and grow in maturity with it, but He gave it to me so I could use it for Him). Continue reading →