The Ministry of Ordinary Places- Book Review

I am going great guns this year. Already two books down. Yay me! I wanted to start another one right away but I had to write this first or the books will start to combine in my noggin'.

My dear friend Patti read this book and talked about it on her blog. I knew I had to get it and I'm so glad that I did. 

Being a stay at home mom and wife for over 23 years now, I struggled with my identity for a long time. I kinda forgot who I was and what I am capable of. I didn't think God was going to be able to use me because A. I'm an introvert B. I am a homebody. (refer to point A) C. I'm all about minding my own business. BUT with that said...... When we moved off the beach 9 years ago and onto a, for the most part, quiet dead end street, He's been stirring my heart to get to know my neighbors. Now ya'll know I'm not about to go up to people's houses, knock and say, "Hi, I'm you're neighbor and God wants me to get to know you." *insert door closing quickly* So I was like, "Good luck with that God."
Rewind to last Summer. I was working out on a regular basis, inside the comfort of my own home of course. Then all of a sudden I wanted to start walking to add a little extra something to my regimen. Ya'll know that was God because it was in the middle of summer and in the 90's even at night. So I started walking in the evenings when it wasn't SO hot. Do you know when most people get off work? In the evenings. Something else you need to know about me. I'm in introvert but yet overly friendly. I'll wave to who ever is driving by. I'm kind of a freak. Anyways, everyone waved back. It became a thing. When they didn't see me for a day they would stop and ask where I was because I became quite a fixture on the street now. This opened doors for yelling hi to people when I saw them outside and so on. Fast forward to about 7 months. I have weekly conversations with some of my neighbors outside their homes now. I had one neighbor tell me that she would like to hang out with me because I make her laugh. So what started out as me just wanted to get in better shape was used by God to connect with my neighbors. I'll keep you posted with what happens in the future if you're interested.

Now all that said, this book just confirmed what this introverted goofball was feeling and knowing all along. It was the biggest confirmation of things that I've ever gotten. It may not affect you like it did me but I'm sure you'd still gain something from it if you are trying to figure out how God can use you.
I purchased my book on Christianbook. I love that website. Books are always on sale it seems and if you shop the sales or the crash and dent sales you can get brand new books for just .99.  It's worth checking out. OR you could check out your public library. Click HERE to take a look inside this book and decide for yourself if it's something you think you'd enjoy.

As always I'm not getting paid for this. I bought my own book and these are my own thoughts. *smile*
Let me know if you've read this or plan on it.
HUGS!
Kim

Atomic Habits!

Book one of the year is done and it was a great one. The link I'm going to share HERE will take you to Christianbook.com where it gives a great summary about the book. AND you'll be able to look inside to see the table of contents and a few pages from one of the chapters. Go ahead and check it out, I'll wait, but make sure you come back because I'm going to share more on how I'm implementing a couple things already.

I already shared one thing in this post that I'm doing to start a new habit and in one of the chapters he talks about habit stacking. It's where you take a habit that is already in place and then stack a new habit that you want to start on top of it. For instance. I wanted to make sure that I get a workout in some time in the morning. I looked at the things I do every morning and saw an opportunity to stack this new habit on top of me doing breakfast dishes. So now when I get done doing dishes I'll go right into my workout. It really does work. The only time I miss a morning workout now is if I have to go run errands in the morning. Blah, errands, they mess up everything. *smile*

Another habit I wanted to stack was wanting to read more. So I looked at my opportunities and realized that in the morning during my coffee and quiet time I have an opportunity to read after I get done drinking my coffee. So now when I'm done, I'll grab my book that is conveniently sitting right beside me (remember make it easy) and read at least a chapter.  And that is definitely working because I'm almost done with my second book. Which I am absolutely loving by the way.

So what do you think? Sound good? These are just my honest thoughts. I'm not getting paid to recommend this book, I just like to share the things that I'm enjoying and find helpful.

Let me know if you get it and how you like it. Okie dokie?
Have a lovely day my friends.
Hugs!
Kim

Making Habits Easy!

I'm almost finished with this book I'm reading and I have to say it's been one of the most beneficial books I've read in a long time in terms of applicability. 

I'm going to write a more detailed review about it when I'm completely finished. But one of the things that struck a cord is, in order to make a habit work, make it easy. So I'm going to show you one thing I did in order to make a habit easier to start. 

 

Below I have a picture of my study area. I leave my planner and my bible open to make it easier to just sit and read and then look at my planner. It skips a couple of steps of having to go get them and then open them to the proper page. It's a time saver and having them out keeps them in my view so I won't forget to check them. I love that!

After I read the book I'll have more thoughts on how I'm applying the methods and how they are working out for me. Let me know if you've read the book and what you thought about it.

Have a lovely day friends.

Kim

 

Switch on Your Brain (Book Review)

First of all I bought this book, it wasn’t given to me for review.  I just like letting you all know about some of the books I read because I know I like hearing about books people have read, so here ya go!

First of all I loved the fact that she’s a Christian scientist. She was very good at taking the scientific research and lining it up with the bible. It helped put things in perspective.

This book brought out a lot of solid points on how our toxic thinking can become a habit and that we need to break that cycle and incorporate good thinking habits. She explains how our brains are always networking and changing and that we can make new pathways in order to change the way we think and process. There were definitely some good tips on how to over come this way of thinking.

With the other book I’m reading (Atomic Habits), I think it will be very useful in really helping me think about the way I process and think about things. I haven’t finished that book yet but I’m really enjoying it and will tell you about it when I’m done.

The only negative I have about this book has probably more to do about me than the actually book. She is VERY thorough on explaining how the brain works. A lot of technical, sciency stuff. It was a bit overwhelming for my noggin’ but interesting just the same.

You can take a peek inside below.

Let me know if you’ve read this book and what you thought and or got out of it. I’d love to hear.

Have a lovely day my friends.
Hugs!

Kim

4 Down, 8 to Go!

I finished two more books and have loved them all so far. I wrote about the first two HERE if you’d like to check out my thoughts on those.

The next two I read are these.

Both of them so good!

I loved the Magnolia Story. It was so inspiring and it totally gave you an insight of how Chip and Joanna got their start. Chip had me shaking my head numerous times and laughing numerous others. If you like Chip and Joanna and Fixer Upper and all that they have accomplished you’ll love getting to know how it all began. Such a good read!

This one really gives you an up close and personally account of Jep and Jessica’s lives growing up, to present time. We can have the tendency to think that they had it easy because we only knew what we saw on the show. But they had struggles just let we all do. It was very relatable in many ways. Jessica and my life had a lot of parallels. If you liked the Duck Dynasty show and learning more about their lives then you’ll love this.

Let me know what you’re enjoying right now. I always love good recommendations.

HUGS!

Kim

P.S. I’m not getting paid to do this, I just like sharing my thoughts in hopes that someone might enjoy them. Also I purchase my books at Christianbook.com. They seem to have the best prices and you can usually find a free shipping code.

2 Down, 10 to Go!

I’m right on track for my goal of reading one book a month this year. I know that may not seem like a lot for some people but for someone who put pleasure reading on the back burner, it’s a big deal. If I read more that’s great but my goal is 12 this year.

The first one I read is:

This was a great read. A lot of it was stuff I’ve already been trying to do but she gives great practical advice on how to accomplish it. One of the favorite things I took away from this book is basically, if you don’t love it, get rid of it. I’ll give you a for instance. I’ve had this picture hanging in my sun room for about 2 years now. I didn’t love the picture but figured it would be better than staring at a blank wall. Not true. I took the picture down, immediately felt better about the space and then it motivated me to find the perfect replacement, and I did. Now that space makes me feel happy and I love looking at it. It’s a very good read for those of you wanting to make the home you have a place of contentment and relaxation.

The second book I read was:

I absolutely loved this book, but I must also say that I’m a big fan of Candace and who she is as a person and  I was a HUGE fan of Kirk growing up too, because well, what teenage girl wasn’t. LOL!

I follow her on instagram and always look forward to the stories she shares. She’s very inspiring. This book is like sitting down and talking to her in person. She shares a lot about her life and how her acting all began and how her parents always kept her grounded. She really opens up on the imperfections of who she is and how she learned so much from her parents through their triumphs and fails. She talks a lot about her faith and for me, I loved it. All in all it was a very encouraging and fun read. I found myself constantly talking to my hubby about it.

Now if you’ve read this far, I have a non related question. I’m thinking about doing an instagram account for this blog. Instagram is my favorite app to use and I use it more than Facebook. So I was wondering if you all use it and if that’s something you’d like to see happen.

What good books have you read so far this year?
HUGS!

Kim

Book List #1

I don’t know about you but I like seeing what other people are reading. It gives me some good ideas of what I might want to read next. I recently purchased a few books from Christianbook.com and they just came today. Most of them I got in the imperfect section but there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with them. Always check that section first because you get a great discount! I like me a good discount, especially right after Christmas when I’ve been spending money like a drunken sailor. *hiccup* Anyhoo, here are the books.

I actually started reading Fervent last year but there has been such a gap of reading it because of the holidays, I’m just going to start it again, because it is such a good book.

The rest of them are just a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I like variety. I get bored pretty quick so I couldn’t read 4 books on organizing or 4 biographies all in a row. I have to mix it up. I’ll just blame that on my ADD.

Have you read any of these? If so, how did you like them? Which ones are you interested on hearing more about once I’m done reading them? If any. Feel free to share some of your favorites right now.

Have a lovely day.

Kim