When You Suffer (Servant Books)

When You Suffer is the second book from Jeff Cavins in his recent "Biblical Keys" series. The first book was entitled Praise God and Thank Him and focused on a joyful life. This latest book focuses on hope and understanding for moments of suffering. With that theme and the purple book cover, this book screams LENT! So I figured, that would be a good time to read through it and share it with you. The book begins with a chapter on the notion of an "ideal life." That concept is hard to grasp, so he narrows it down to an ideal day. After thinking about your ideal day, which involves doing things you enjoy doing, he broadens us back to an ideal life, which involves a predictable life, comfort, and one that reflects your gifts. Unfortunately, real life is never like the ideal life. Real life is uncomfortable and full of suffering.

This leads to the next chapter, which discusses the meaning of suffering. He doesn't dive into the weighty Scripture on making your suffering mean something, but instead gives us two concrete examples of people (one being Pope John Paul II) who took their suffering and made it matter. Chapter Three takes us all the way back to Adam and Eve to show how and why they suffered. He then provides us with a few brief pages with examples of suffering all throughout salvation history. Chapter Four provides different purposes for suffering, i.e., punitive, probative, and disciplinary. Chapters Five and Six detail the concepts of supernatural suffering and Jesus' suffering and our participation in it. The final chapters are the most practical/beneficial as they focus on practical things you can do when you suffer, such as prayer, confession, and, trusting that God will never put you through more than you can handle.

We are all fallen human beings in a state of sin. This sin leads to suffering, and this suffering is something that will never leave us until we reach Heaven. Fortunately for us, suffering isn't the end result, but merely a spiritual tool we can use to grow closer to God. So let Jeff Cavins easy to understand writing style and his vast Scriptural wisdom be your guide to this difficult concept. You might also want to get a second copy, because with a topic like this, it's sure to be a well-borrowed book.

This book was provided to me for free by Servant Books in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Praise God and Thank Him (Servant Books)

Praise God and Thank Him is the latest book by Catholic Biblical scholar Jeff Cavins. I must admit the subtitle "Biblical Keys for a Joyful Life" gave me pause, but I trusted the author enough I gave his book a shot. Before I continue with my review, let me dispel any fears, and assure you that this book is not "prosperity gospel" at all. Instead, this book looks to teach the reader the keys to joy, not happiness, which is a shallow emotion, but true joy, which comes from God. Mr. Cavins reminds us in the introduction that there will always be problems. We can choose to respond to these problems negatively, or we can "Praise God and Thank Him!"

The book is logically divided into two parts - Praise and Thanksgiving. Each part is five chapters long and closes with a section of "Ten Tips." Mr. Cavins could have taken many approaches with this book. He could have done a strictly Biblical approach to this book, and it would have worked for me. However, he chose to add in some personal stories, Catechism references, and Patristics (always a plus) to give a more complete picture. Overall, I think the most interesting chapter to me dealt with the many Hebrew words for praise. We all know that there are several words for love in the Bible, but very few of us (myself included) know that there are many words for praise in the Bible. They are yadah, halal, shabach, barak, zamar, todah, and kavanah, There are also many postures for praise including standing, kneeling, and falling down to name a few.

Hands down, the most useful sections of the book are the "Ten Tips" at the end of each part. You'll be given tips like, "Start seeing qualities and deeds in others that are praiseworthy," and "Voluntarily fast from something you take for granted." With reflection questions at the end of every chapter, the book is structured in a way that you can use this for individual study or small group study. There are also appendices with Bible verses on praise and thankfulness. You'll have to look them up to read them, as just their citation is in the book, not the actual verse, but I recommend reading through them and finding a couple to memorize. They will prove most useful when life's problems want to weigh you down. I recommend this book and hope that I can take some/all of the tips to heart, so that I can live a more joyful life filled with praise and thanksgiving to God.

This book was provided to me for free by Franciscan Media in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Ascension Press: Walking Toward Eternity Series Two

Welcome back! Normally, I take this first paragraph of my post to elaborate on a part of my life. I feel it adds a little touch to my blog, and let's my readers get to know me. I don't want people thinking I am just a review robot that inputs products and outputs reviews. However, today I would like to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day, remember those who passed away defending the freedoms of our country, and thank those currently in service, like my brother-in-law.

Today, I am reviewing the second part of the Walking Toward Eternity Series, available at Ascension Press. I reviewed the first part back in January in case anyone needs a refresher on what that one was about. Walking Toward Eternity: Engaging the Struggles of Your Heart is another masterful study put together by Jeff and Emily Cavins. Where Series One focused on positive aspects in the Christian life, such as love and forgiveness, Series Two focuses on negative aspects in our lives, such as envy and anger. The format is the same for Series Two, so if you have taken a Cavins course before, you'll feel right at home. If you have not, it is very approachable and the learning curve is not steep. The format of the study consists of four days of journaling, reading Scripture, and praying.

• Day 1 - You focus on the meaning of the particular struggle/obstacle in your spiritual life, i.e., envy.
• Day 2 - You look at how God views this obstacle and why it is important to get it in check in your life.
• Day 3 - You examine steps and Scripture on how you can overcome this struggle.
• Day 4 - You select the Scripture that spoke to you the most this week and pray using Lectio Divina.
• Meeting Day - You watch the DVD lecture, about an hour long, and as a group you go through the questions outlined for you with each week.

I really enjoy the format of this study. Some studies expect you to read seven days AND do a DVD. That can get overwhelming, especially for someone like me with a new baby. I always felt bad when I missed a day in those series, and that I was slacking with God and my group. However, four days and a meeting day seems like the perfect amount of time and material. It even provides a built-in two day cushion if you do miss a day.

Now that I have discussed the format. I want to briefly touch on the content. Discussed in this series are appetites, shame, envy, anger, fear, loneliness, and hopelessness. As Jeff Cavins points out in the DVDs, people join a program like this, learn a lot about those topics, but then fail to make the necessary changes in their life. That's why he wants you to ask God three questions each week as it relates to each struggle. Let's stick with the example of envy. 1. What are you putting your hand on in my life that needs changing in relation envy? 2. What do I specifically need to do to change? 3. When am I going to take the first step of changing?

This was an excellent program and a great followup to Walking Toward Eternity: Daring to Walk the Walk. You don't HAVE to take Series One before this one, but I would highly recommend it. I have nothing but positive things to say about this program, but I would say that Jeff Cavins presentations are the jewel of the series. His talks are brilliant but practical, and he makes sure the audience knows that he is not perfect, which makes them relatable. They also contain the right amount of seriousness and humor, which is appreciated.

Pick up this 5 star series from Ascension Press. You can use it to lead a small group, or if you're feeling ambitious, you can lead something at the parish level. There is a Leader's Guide in the Starter Pack that will help you not only get your program started, but will help you see it through to completion. Then, after you complete this study program, participate in or lead another. Ascension Press has many great titles including ones on Prayer, different books of the Bible, Church History, and one that looks really interesting to me on the Catechism.

If you found this review helpful, please click the link and hit Yes.