Sunday, July 20, 2014

Bible Study Review - The Fragrance of Crushed Violets

ABOUT THE BOOK:

What do we do when a loved one, boss, co-worker, friend, or enemy seem determined to bring us down through an attack? How do we handle it when their assault is personal, public, deep, unjust, unfair, and unfounded? Take it one step further. How do we deal with meaningless acts of destruction and death, say in something similar to the Twin Towers incident or a school shooting, especially when the offender shows no remorse? Do we file it in our brains and rack it up to “one more senseless act” and chance to think that God somehow messed up?
In short, how do we move past the hurt and anger to a place of forgiveness?
Join us as we examine relevant scriptures about forgiveness and come away with a scriptural understanding of:
  • what forgiveness is and what it isn’t
  • God’s role in the process of forgiveness
  • what Jesus did at the cross for each of us
  • our mandate to forgive as we’ve been forgiven
  • what gets in the way of forgiving others
  • how to truly forgive

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cathy Bryant writes both Christian fiction and devotional materials. She’s written devotions for The Upper Room devotional magazine, two devotional books, and for various online devotional sites including her own website, www.CatBryant.com. The Fragrance of Crushed Violets is her first Bible study booklet.

Cathy's standalone novels are set in the fictional town of Miller's Creek, Texas, where folks are friendly, the iced tea is sweet, and Mama Beth's front porch beckons. Her debut novel, Texas Roads, was a 2009 ACFW Genesis contest finalist and has been on the Amazon Kindle Best-Seller list. Since then she's added four other books to the Miller's Creek novels, the latest one released in Spring 2014. Readers have compared her novels to those of Karen Kingsbury and Nicholas Sparks and have called Miller's Creek the Texas version of Mayberry.

A native Texan, Cathy currently resides in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico with her minister husband of over thirty years. When she’s writing, you can find her rummaging through thrift stores, hiking through the wilderness, or up to her elbows in yet another home improvement project in the mountain cabin she calls home.

MY REVIEW:

This is a Bible study on the subject of forgiveness. It's not a long study, but very concise and I gained so much from it! 

The thing I loved the most was all the Scriptures that Cathy showed that talks about forgiveness and how important it is to God that we forgive. Sometimes, those Scriptures hurt (we must forgive to be forgiven) and brought light to areas of my life where I have been harboring unforgiveness. That's exactly what the study was all about, so I really felt that I learned so much and really understood what true forgiveness is and what it isn't.

My copy is so highlighted because there was so much great information about forgiveness! The first chapter goes into what forgiveness is and what it isn't. This was especially helpful to me because, like others, I have allowed the world's definition of Christian forgiveness to creep into my belief system. It was so helpful to know exactly what God expects from us regarding forgiveness and how we should handle things.  

The other thing I really felt was really helpful was at the end of each chapter, there is a conclusion where she asks you to personalize what you've learned in the chapter. You are also asked to pick out a favorite Scripture from the chapter that really spoke to you in the area of forgiveness. Finally, and this is my favorite part, she has you write out a prayer to the Lord regarding what you've learned in the chapter. I found all this really helpful in helping me to apply what I learned to my life.

I highly recommend this Bible study! It would be perfect for a small group, a Women's Ministry or just to do it on your own, as I did. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

*This book was provided to me by the author for my honest review.




Blessings - Julie

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