Generous Love by Becky Kopitzke

Discover the Joy of Living "Others First"

Wow, this is one of those books that hits you between the eyes. I was challenged and I hope to be changed by reading this book. Another name for this book might be simply put, blessing others.  Becky starts with creating a blessing toolbox that includes first of all remaining in the vine, but then it includes things like "start with your Jerusalem" or start at home with blessing people, be a cheerleader, no blessing is too small, forgive quickly and so on. 

She also goes on to talk about the four P's of blessing: Presence, Possessions, Perspective and Prayer.  Each of these has two chapters dedicated to the topic, one is more instructional and one is more story form.  Also for each of these P's there are 50 ideas each for ways we can bless people.  Blessing ideas include: draw a smiley face on your child's sandwich baggie, be a safe place for friend to cry, mow a neighbor's lawn, tape coins to vending machine or parking meters, hide a dollar in a library book, send dessert to another family's restaurant table, shake people's hands, don't allow church groups to become cliques, host a foreign exchange student, pray for the women in your exercise class, pray for visitors just before they leave your home, keep a prayer journal for someone for thirty days and then give it to them as a tangible reminder they were prayed for.  As you can see there are some big ideas and there are some very simple easy to do ideas.

Another thing I really liked about this book, but didn't take the time to use is the discussion guide at the end of each chapter.  It's not a discussion guide where you feel like you are simply taking a quiz of the lesson, but they are full of Scripture verses to look up, and thought provoking questions like "How do you feel about time? Are you a planner by nature, or do you go with the flow? How does your attitude toward time affect your ability to bless others?" And then at the end of the "Let's Dig Deeper" sections, as she calls them, there's a "Love in Motion" where there's a challenge for you to do. Like step into someone else's world and do something they would enjoy doing even if it's not so much your thing.

I was just really challenged in this book to see to bless others. No blessing is too small and I just need to overcome my own self-consciousness and reach out.

I received this book from Bethany House and was not required to write a positive review.