Gravel Road Musings

  Almost a year ago, I posted my review of the Bible Recap, the book itself. You can read that  here  if you want to. Now Tara-Leigh Cobble has come out with the study guide and a journal to go with the Bible Recap. There is just something about Bible Study guides and journals that pull me in and so I have both of them beside me right now. I haven't done them, I haven't read the Bible Recap book yet either, but it's on my list of things to do for 2022.  The Study Guide is a fairly thick book and is divided out in a Bible reading plan that matches the Bible Recap reading plan. It is meant to accompany either the book or the podcast though I suppose you could use it as a stand alone perhaps, though I don't think it could feel a bit fragmented. Each section seems to have at least four questions that go along with that day's reading. They seem to be questions that are based off of the reading and not so much thought-provoking questions that make me dig into my own heart...

  Finding God's Good Gifts in Motherhood First off, is that not a beautiful cover? I think the cover drew me into the book and now I would tell every mom I know to go read the book. It was so good. I do know that part of the reason it really resonated with me is that we are doing a Fruits of Spirit Bible Study right now and the good gifts that Laura is talking about are the Fruits of the Spirit, so there was definitely a connection for me.  The first thing that hit me and has really helped me since I read the book was to reframe my to-do list. What if instead of looking at all the things I have to do in a day for my family, I looked at these same things as get-tos. I get to make breakfast for my family. I get to wash their dishes. I get to do the school run. Talk about a game changer. Things you get to do are things that are fun and exciting and you look forward to them. Things you have to do can be faced with drudgery and a bad attitude.  Another thing Laura brought out ...

  real talk on pregnancy loss I'm not quite sure how to start this book review.  Two chapters into the book, this is what I said, "This is the book I wish I would have had nine years ago after my first miscarriage. I'm only two chapters in and, while time has lessened the feelings, I can relate so much." Rachel shares her experiences with miscarriages and also snippets from many others and it all blends together to create this book. There are four sections to the book: loss, lament, love, and legacy. Rachel would hold that there is no wrong way to grieve and I do agree with that as a concept. I think individually, we can get off track at times. I know I did and I went down the route of self-pity, which, I suppose, could be argued that that was not grieving. However, overall, everyone grieves differently and we need to give each other room for those differences and show compassion and seek to understand as best as we can. Where this book started to lose me is in the in...