Christy Nockels "Let It Be Jesus" Album review + giveaway

This album has already been on my regular rotation in the last 24 hours, I can't even explain how much I love it. I actually was not at all familiar with her music when I agreed to review it (sorry!) but I'm always on the look out for new Christian music to listen to that grabs me but doesn't sound like it could just be any pop song on the radio. Her voice is fantastic and the music sounds eclectic, I don't think I could place it in any one music genre, folk, country, pop, acoustic. It's just beautiful worship music that's so full of love for God.

You can get the album on iTunes, and various Christian bookstores. I plan on finding everything else she has recorded because I am now obsessed!

Tell me your favorite worship album for a chance to win a copy of this cd.

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Learning freedom from Perfection

This has been a hard lesson for me, but I think it is for any woman. We are driven to be perfect for all kinds of reasons. To please our family, our friends, teachers, significant others, church, job. 

If you've ever studied Psychology, there is a theory by a Psychologist named Alfred Adler called the Adlerian theory of Family Therapy. In it, he has a distinct idea of how birth order effects a person and is driven based on if they are an only child, oldest, middle, and youngest. I am a classic oldest child. My parents divorced when I was young, and I have a biological younger brother, two stepsisters (via my dad) and three half-sisters (via my mom). I don't see the latter much, but I definitely feel like I have to protect them and guide them a bit!

Trademarks of an oldest child are as follows (from the Adlerian.us site): Dethroned by next child. Has to learn to share. Parent expectations are usually very high. Often given responsibility and expected to set an example. May become authoritarian or strict. Feels power is his right. Can become helpful if encouraged. May turn to father after birth of next child.

Yep, I hit all of those growing up! I had great grades, college letters took over an entire storage bin, was a total daddy's girl, my sibling's activities always took precedence over mine, anything they did wrong, I was blamed for because I was the oldest "I should be a role model," I was involved in church usually going three days a week. So I was an over-achiever in every way, rule follower, all of that stuff.

As an adult, I've had to fight against this ideal for myself. My partner is a classic youngest child, so he and I have butted heads a bit on some things and it's an interesting dynamic (my son thinks it's hilarious). I've had to really think about some things, like "Am I doing this because I want to or am I doing this because I believe it's expected of me?"

A lot of what has helped me overcome this has been reading the Word. I find passages that tend to remind me that I should be doing what God wants me to do not what other people expect of me. 

Holley's book have helped a lot on this one for me as well. I've read most of them and am currently reading her latest You're Loved No Matter What: Freeing Your Heart from the Need to Be Perfect. The chapter on guilt hit me. I apologize for everything. I swear, every 20 words out of my mouth is "I'm sorry." It's horrible! And it's generally  not even something that is my fault. My boyfriend is great at trying to help me out of this bubble I've put myself in. Having been around my family for a while, he sees why it's happening and tries hard to make me see that the weight of the world is not on my shoulders. And actually, moving 4 hours away from my family has helped a great deal as they stress me out tremendously. 

I'm learning that I don't have to be perfect. I'm allowed to screw up. I bought a fitmob membership to force myself out of the house and to try new things and I'm terrified but I KNOW it will help. I can't be perfect at things I've never tried and don't really expect to (now watch me freak out when I go anyway). It can't be fixed in a day, or a week, or a month, but I can start putting the puzzle pieces together with prayer and guidance from God.

2 Corinthians 12:9
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."

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Review: God's Story in 66 verses

Stan Guthrie took on the task of finding one pivotal verse than encompasses each book of the Bible.  No easy feat and even he says that it was a daunting task. However, as someone who has not finished every book of the Bible, I thought it might be nice to at least have a general idea, summary of sorts, of each book so I had some context and this book definitely accomplished that.

In God's Story in 66 Verses, each book of the Bible is first presented by one verse that the author believes highlights the overall theme of the book. Then he goes on to give a bit of background information, how it connects to other books, who the author might be, as well a brief outline of the book. I had never come across a book like this before and when I saw it available on booklookbloggers, I wanted to give it a shot. 

While I don't believe it takes the place of actually reading the Bible in it's entirety, I do believe it would be great for new believers, or maybe believers who just want an overarching summary of books of the Bible that they may not be familiar with...yet. It's almost like a puzzle, putting the pieces together and showing how the books connect in a concise format. 

Overall, I have really enjoyed it and I plan on passing it on to other's who might benefit from it's use. 

I was given the opportunity to review this book on my own. All opinions are mine!