Book Review: Set Free to Live Free

Do you desire a life of freedom? One without mental ties to hold you back? In Set Free to Live Free: Breaking Through the 7 Lies Women Tell Themselves, Saundra Dalton-Smith shares seven lies women believe and offers Bible-based truths to replace them. They are:

1. Lie:   Perfection is the goal.
Truth: I am perfectly imperfect.

2. Lie:   I would be happy too if I had her life.
Truth: I am too unique for comparisons.

3. Lie:   If I do this, I can look like that.
Truth: My body, my temple, God’s choice.

4. Lie:   Life is an all-or-none-activity.
Truth: My balanced life requires addition and subtraction.

5. Lie:   Being in control is better than spontaneity.
Truth: Spontaneity is God’s opportunity to surprise me.

6. Lie:   Emotional imbalance is only for crazy women.
Truth: My transparency opens the door for soul connections.

7. Lie:   Everything comes with conditions.
Truth: My only limitations are the ties I allow to bind me.

Using real-life examples and God’s Word, this guidebook covers each topic in depth. It’s not a book to skim through as a quick read. Rather, it’s one to digest slowly, pray over, and apply with God’s help. The author writes, “Stretch your arms wide as you take your hands off the steering wheel of your life. Allow God to have full control of your journey. Trust him to guide you to the best destinations.”

Saundra Dalton-Smith is a doctor of internal medicine who works mostly with women patients. This resource can be used individually or in groups and includes an eight-week study guide. Those who want to break free from limitations or help others do so will benefit from this book.

Set Free to Live Free: Breaking through the 7 Lies Women Tell Themselves

Set Free to Live Free: Breaking Through the 7 Lies Women Tell Themselves
Saundra Dalton-Smith, MD
Revell, 2011, 219 pages

Giveaway Winners!

  Congratulations to Chastin Schmeichel! Chastin will be receiving a copy of Crystal Paine’s The Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands a Year.

If you missed Carla Anne’s review of The Money Saving Mom’s Budget, check it out here. Also, be sure and check out Crystal’s blog for plenty of money saving tips and strategies.

 

Congratulations to Lisa Anderson who received Basket #1 from the Mom’s Love Rub

Giveaway and Lisa Sutton who received Basket #2.  Jan Nellis, owner of Mom’s Love Rub, offers a beautiful assortment of specialty bath products and candles at her online store. Hop on over and check out her out!

Thank you to both Crystal Paine and Jan Nellis for offering these giveaways. You both are blessings!

 

San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival Winners Announced

The independent Christian film industry has been receiving a big boost since the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF) began in 2004.  Combined with the Christian Filmmakers Academy that is conducted for three days before the film festival, SAICFF has grown to be the largest independent Christian film festival in the world, and awards the largest prize for any independent film festival – the $101,000 Best of Festival Jubilee Award.

Students at the Christian Filmmakers Academy were treated this year to talks by film industry veterans like Kirk Cameron, Stephen Kendrick, Geoff Botkin, Tryg Jacobsen and others.  This year’s CFA placed more emphasis than in past years on the business side of filmmaking – film promotion and distribution.  This is one of the five parts of the SAICFF mission statement, which is “To facilitate the development of alternative and independent vehicles for producing and distributing films outside the Hollywood machine, which will build, bless, and benefit the American family.”

The Film Festival featured a full-packed lineup – six semi-finalists for Feature Film, 25 semi-finalists for documentary, seven semi-finalists each for Creation and Great Commission categories, 16 semi-finalists for short film, nine semi-finalists for Young Filmmaker, and five semi-finalists each for Promotional Media and Commercial Advertisement.  SAICFF Jubilee Award Winners included:

• Commercial Advertisement – Liberty Day by Matt Blick of Cellar Media
• Promotional Media – The Promise of Sheboygan County by the Leclerc Brothers
• Young Filmmakers – The Forgotten Martyr: Lady Jane Grey by J and J Productions
• Film Short – The Jester by SkyGate Studios
• Great Commission – Two Hats by Second Mile Films
• Creation – Crying Wolf by Jeff King
• Documentary – IndoctriNation by Colin Gunn and Joaquin Fernandez
• Audience Choice – Seasons of Gray by Watermark Films
• Feature Film and Best of Festival – Courageous by Sherwood Pictures

Three of these Jubilee award winners are currently scheduled to be screened nationwide in the coming months through National Movie Night, a project of Freedom Film Distributors designed to enable grassroots promotion of independently produced films.

The nationwide premiere of the SAICFF Best Documentary winner IndoctriNation is scheduled for March 16-18^th.  IndoctriNation takes a hard look at the true state of public education in America, its humanistic origins, and whether Christians should be giving their children over to the state education system.

The nationwide premiere of the SAICFF Best Great Commission film winner Two Hats is scheduled for March 30^th – April 1^st.  This moving documentary about Brad and Deborah Wells and their 7 children leaving Idaho to go to the missions field in Papau New Guinea follows them through both setbacks and accomplishments as they share God’s Word, raise a family, and establish the country’s first Christian radio station.

The winner of the SAICFF Best Creation film Crying Wolf will be screened nationwide for “Earth Day” weekend April 20-22.  Crying Wolf is about exposing the lies and proclaiming the truth about what the movement to bring back wolves to Yellowstone – and the rest of America – was, and is, really about, examined through the lens of biblical stewardship and conservation.

You can be a part of these nationwide screenings in your community by signing up to host a movie night  in your home, church, or other venue.  National Movie Night provides Movie Night Hosts with planning and promotional tools to set up and promote their movie night, and with discounts for the DVD.  Please consider being a part of helping promote these award-winning independent films in your area.

Jason Matyas is the Co-Founder of Freedom Film Distributors, which promotes independently produced films and videos that uphold the values of Faith, Family, and Freedom, and he is the creator of the National Movie Night project, which provides a vehicle for grassroots promotions of these films in communities across the country.

Goodreads: Easter Study Begins Today!

Ann Stewart, author and staff writer for MMCW will lead the devotional study Preparing My Heart for Easter today on our Goodreads Group. If you would like to join us, it’s not too late.

Goodreads: Preparing My Heart for Easter Study is an excellent introduction Ann wrote a few weeks back. She explains her inspiration for the book, an indepth look at the women radically transformed by Jesus, and her excitement about leading the study.

Pass the word along and join us for a beautiful study to prepare our hearts for Easter.

Preparing My Heart for Easter: A Woman’s Journey to the Cross and Beyond

 

Review & Giveaway: Money $aving Mom’s Budget

Some of you have probably heard of the Money Saving Mom blog (www.moneysavingmom.com) and may have been following Crystal Paine there for some time. If you have, you will understand the hype that has been surrounding her book The Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands a Year.

Right off the bat, Crystal hit a home run with me! I received the book and started by flipping through it. At the back I saw a note that said all of the author’s proceeds from this book will go directly to Compassion International. I love that organization, and I was glad to see this author loves it too. Her generosity drew me into the book, even though it wasn’t next on my reading list.

Crystal helps the reader work their way through the entire budgeting process bit by bit. The table of contents even lays things out by Month 1, Month 2, etc.  Getting a handle on your finances is distributed over an entire year.

My favorite parts were the first few chapters. Paine makes it clear that financial stewardship can best be done when you have a handle on everything from clutter to time management. She gives solid advice on how to do these things and provides examples of forms that are extremely easy to use.

Crystal teaches how to manage all aspects of a budget. However, she focuses a great deal on how to save money. I found her main emphasis was coupon shopping. She has great ideas on how to do this, and if you follow her advice you may well save (and MAKE) as much money as she does!

I’m not personally a fan of couponing (mostly because my location makes it difficult) so I found it helpful that she included many other ways to save money as well. I was so excited about all her tips I felt almost giddy! I went out the day after reading it and bought $170 worth of groceries but only paid $7.22. Okay, some of that was because of points we’ve been collecting for a while, but still! Trust me, she’ll make saving money sound like fun!

To enter the drawing for a chance to win a copy of The Money Saving Mom’s Budget by Crystal Paine, simply do the following for a total of 3 entries per person. Comment once per entry, meaning if you do all three you will make three comments. Giveaway period is from Monday, February 20, 2012 until Friday, February 25, 2012. One winner will be chosen using And the Winner Is by random selection. Winner will be notified on Saturday, February 26, 2012 and will have three business days to respond. Failure to respond within three business will result in another winner being selected by And the Winner Is. Book will be shipped directly to winner from author.

* Leave a comment on this post sharing a grocery, couponing, or budget tip.

* Share this giveaway with your family and friends! You can forwarding this email, share on Facebook, and / or share on Twitter. Use our social buttons below!

* Visit Crystal at www.moneysavingmom.com at check out her fun site. Let us know about something you liked over there!

That’s three easy ways to enter three times! Remember, one comment per entry: one comment for leaving a tip, one comment for sharing this post, one comment for visiting Crystal.

Carla Anne Coroy

* Carla received a copy of The Money $aving Mom’s Budget for review purposes. She was not paid or compensated in exchange for her review. Her opinion is her own.

* Out going book links will take you to Amazon.com. Mentoring Moments for Christian Women is an affiliate and receives a commission for sales resulting from using this link.

 

Rescued: The Heart of Adoption and Caring for Orphans

We recently showed the movie Rescued: The Heart of Adoption and Caring for Orphans (Wintons Motion Pictures and Hedrick Brothers Productions) in our home during a night of encouragement and prayer for friends who are adopting.  I knew the movie would be a great blessing to them as they embark on a new chapter in their lives, but I did not expect to be so powerfully impacted myself.

The movie combines interviews with several adoptive families and teaching about “caring for orphans and widows in their distress”, the definition of true religion in James 1:27.  I was challenged in three ways as I watched the movie.

First, I realized as I watched Rescued that adoption is a valid way to participate in the Great Commission.  Jesus said to “Go and make disciples, baptizing them….and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.”  When Jesus gave that command, he never said that we couldn’t bring the nations home to us!  As a former missionary, this was a profound revelation for me.

Next, I was challenged that adoption is not an act of charity, but an act of spiritual warfare.  Many orphans will never hear the Gospel, nor even meet a Christian.  This is particularly true in foreign lands, where Christians are few and far between.  Orphans want homes, love, families, medical care, and other earthly needs met, but their greatest need—like ours—is salvation.  Their temporal losses will be nothing compared to their eternal suffering  if they don’t put their trust in Christ.  And “how can they believe in Him of whom they have never heard?” (Romans 10: 14).  When purposeful Christian families adopt, they invade the enemy’s territory, and that is an act of war.

Finally, I grasped for the first time that adoption is something Christians do out of their love for others and their love for Christ—not in order to fulfill their own needs.  As a mother of five children, I have no sense of “felt need” to adopt a child for my own sake.  However, our family has many spiritual, emotional, and material resources to offer.  If true religion is caring for orphans and widows in their distress, what am I doing about that?  As a Christian, I know that children are a blessing from the Lord, be they adopted or flesh of my flesh.  When Christians adopt, the Lord blesses both the child and the family in unforeseen ways.

This film makes it clear that not all Christians are called to adopt, just as all Christians won’t be called to the mission field.  All Christians must be involved in the missionary cause, however, and likewise we should all be involved in caring for orphans through prayer, giving, and offering support to other Christians who are adopting.

My calling to the mission field was not an overly-emotional experience of “sensing God’s Will.”  I simply heard someone preach about fields white unto harvest and the great need for workers to go out into the harvest field.  I offered myself to God with Isaiah’s words:  “Here am I.  Send me.”  If the Lord had a use for me, I was willing to go.  Rescued opened my heart to see adoption in a similar light.  That must always be our attitude as Christians:  to ask what the Lord would have us do and to be willing to do it for the sake of the Gospel.

Rescuedreceived 5 stars from the Dove Foundation and is a semi-finalist in the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, competing for a $101,000 “Best of Festival” award alongside other high profile films including “Courageous” and Ray Comfort’s  “180 Movie.”  You can be a part of the nationwide premiere of this important film in your community by signing up to host a movie night for Rescued in your home, church, or other venue.  A project of Freedom Film Distributors, National Movie Night provides Movie Night Hosts with planning and promotional tools to set up and promote their movie night and with discounts for the DVD.

 

Rescued: The Heart of Adoption and Caring for Orphans – Trailer from Rescued The Movie on Vimeo.

If you are reading this in an email and do not see a video, click here to watch the Rescued trailer.

Free Superbowl Half-time Video with Tony & Lauren Dungy

Are you hosting a Super Bowl XLV party this year?

If so, consider taking advantage of the free half-time video kit featuring Tony and Lauren Dungy discussing the importance of adoption. The 3-minute video along with event resources and instructions on how to download and play the video on your TV are available. Go to http://www.adoptionjourney.com/share/dungyhalftime/ for all the resources and details.

Please pass this information along to everyone you think will be interested!

 

Captivated: New Film on Media Discernment premieres nationwide through National Movie Night

When was the last time you stopped and looked around on a busy city street?  Have you noticed that the majority of people are looking down at a device in their hand?  This rapid acceleration and dissemination of mobile media technology is fundamentally altering how people think and relate to one another.  And that’s just one example.

Important issues related to media use and discernment are discussed in the new film Captivated: Finding Freedom in a Media Captive Culture, which will premiere nationwide through National Movie Night the weekend of February 3-5.  The documentary is produced by Media Talk 101, a ministry that has been teaching Christians about how to exercise discernment with media since 2005.  Produced by Media Talk 101 President Phillip Telfer and directed by Colin Gunn who also recently released the groundbreaking IndoctriNation documentary, Captivated was recently selected as a semi-finalist in the documentary category at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF) to be held February 23-25.

 Captivated is a wide-ranging look at the comprehensive set of issues involved with our modern media culture.  It asks some of the following important questions:

• Everywhere we go we are surrounded by screens. Have we entered a techno utopia or a virtual prison?
• Should we be celebrating unreservedly or should we be cautious and skeptical?
• Is it the greatest leap in productivity or the biggest setback from the things most meaningful in life?
• Has today’s connectivity drawn us closer to one another or strangely more disjointed?
• Is our social experience richer and deeper or more shallow and artificial?

Discover insightful answers to these questions from media experts, church leaders, and inspiring individuals and families from across the country, including:

• Bob Waliszewski – Director of Focus on the Family’s Plugged In department
• Dr. Jeff Myers – President of Summit Ministries
• Dr. Ted Baehr – Founder and Director of MOVIEGUIDE
• Kevin Swanson – Director of Generations with Vision
• Maggie Jackson – Author of “Distracted – The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age“
• Ray Comfort – Founder and President of Living Waters
• Tim Winter – President of Parent’s Television Council
• Trace Embry – Founder and Director of Shepherd’s Hill Academy
• And many others

You can be a part of the nationwide premiere of this groundbreaking film in your community by signing up to host a movie night for Captivated in your home, church, or other venue.  A project of Freedom Film Distributors, National Movie Night provides Movie Night Hosts with planning and promotional tools to set up and promote their movie night, and with discounts for the DVD.  Please consider being a part of helping Christians learn about and exercise discernment with media through the screening of Captivated in your area.

 

“Captivated” Official Trailer from Media Talk 101 on Vimeo.

If you are reading this post in email and don’t see a video, click here to watch the Captivated trailer.

 

Jason Matyas is the Co-Founder of Freedom Film Distributors, which promotes independently produced films and videos that uphold the values of Faith, Family, and Freedom, and he is the creator of the National Movie Night project, which provides a vehicle for grassroots promotions of these films in communities across the country.

 

Goodreads: Preparing My Heart for Easter Study

Fellow Readers —

Would you join me this February through April on a journey with Jesus? Perhaps you’re looking for a Bible study but your days are filled with work, and your evenings are filled with responsibilities and family time. We can do this daily study together independently on our own time, and ask questions and share with one another online when we can.

The book:  Years ago, after I wrote Preparing My Heart for Advent to help readers prepare for the Advent Season, I considered writing an Easter study but didn’t want to be redundant. However, I discovered there wasn’t a study about the women of the Easter story. And so I began reading the Gospels specifically looking for how Jesus radically transformed the lives of the women he met. Preparing My Heart for Easter: A Woman’s Journey to the Cross and Beyond is the result.

The women:  I learned “the women” is repeated over and over in the Gospels: The women traveled with Him, supported Him, followed Him to the cross, remained at the cross, saw the tomb, prepared spices, returned to the tomb, first heard and told the Good News, first saw the resurrected Jesus, and helped form the early church.

Jesus so loved the women and transformed their lives. Have you met any of them? Jairus’ daughter and wife, Mary Magdalene, Peter’s mother-in-law, the woman at the well, the widow at Nain, and Salome, to name a few we will meet. We may find our own story parallels some of these and take comfort in these encounters. And yet, we are loved and uniquely created to have a personal relationship with Him, too!

And so, as the women of 2012, let’s meet Jesus anew and take a journey to the cross and then—with our newfound exploration of the Easter story—beyond.

Our study will begin Monday, February 20. In the meantime, you can purchase the book on Amazon.com or order it from your Christian bookstore. You may see two different covers, either book will work! And if you want to get a headstart, go for it!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a mother, musician, playwright, teacher, and live on a sheep farm and infuse the study with stories of lambing, parenting, music, drama, and countless Easter Passion Plays.

I look forward to hearing more about you and how Jesus works in your lives this Lenten season!

Preparing My Heart for Easter: A Woman’s Journey to the Cross and Beyond

Ann Stewart

[Editor's Note: MMCW is currently reading Erasing Hell by Francis Chan on Goodreads if anyone would like to join our group. On February 1st, we will begin the Christian fiction book, A Secret Hope by Vicki Huffman. We also discuss movies. Our family movie for January is What If and for February, Courageous.

The above book link will take you to Christian Book Distributors website where MMCW is an affiliate.]

 

Book Review: Water’s Edge by Robert Whitlow

Water’s Edge

Do you enjoy a good mystery with lots of twists?  If you answered yes, then Robert Whitlow’s new book Water’s Edge is one you will enjoy.  Whitlow spins his story in a southern town with lots of hometown charm.  His main character, a young lawyer experiencing a lot of change in his life, finds himself over his head.  He is trying to put not just the pieces of a mystery together, but also the pieces of his life.  Through the influence of godly supporting characters, the young lawyer learns to trust God.

An extra bonus with Water’s Edge is that it includes a reading group guide.  It is a perfect read for an individual or a small group who enjoy intrigue and fellowship.

Robert Whitlow is a best-selling author who specializes in legal dramas.  You may be familiar with some of his other works that include:
Deeper Water, Tides of Truth Series #1 (rpkgd)
Higher Hope, Tides of Truth Series #2
Greater Love, Tides of Truth Series #3

 

 

 

Page received an advance copy of Water’s Edge for review purposes only. Her opinion is her own, she was not paid or asked to provide a favorable review. The above links go to CBD.com where this book can be purchased. MMCW is an affiliate of CBD.com and receives 10% commission on sales made through our link to help cover the cost of the blog.

« Previous Page — Next Page »