Nicole O'Meara | Blog — Nicole O'Meara

Book Reviews: The Connected Parent & Hands Full

The Connected Parent provides real-life applications for concepts taught in The Connect Child. If What I loved most about this book is the hope that is found between the pages. These are tools that work! The wins that Lisa shared (and some losses) encouraged me to keep going, to not give up on these tools, and to keep hope alive.

No matter what your hands are full with, Momma, you need encouragement. Encouragement is exactly what my friend Brooke Frick provides in this book, Hands Full: Thirty Days of Encouragement for Busy Moms.

If you think you don’t have time for self-care, or you haven’t read a book in a year, this is the book for you. If you only have time to read three pages before you fall asleep, choose this book for those three pages. You are not alone in your full life, friend. Be encouraged because God is the one who filled your hands and he will enable you to carry all that you must in your motherhood journey.

Book Review, BlogNicole O'MearaSeptember 12, 2020book review, adoption, motherhood, TBRI, devotional Comment

Book Review: The Promise is His Presence {BONUS: Video Conversation}

Author Glenna Marshall, a Christian living with chronic illness, struggled to feel satisfied when so much of her life wasn’t the way she thought it should be. Sitting on her couch with the Truth in her lap, she believed God was good, she just wasn’t sure He was good to her. What other reason could there be for her missing pieces?

She went on a quest for an answer and it led her to Jesus. Only Jesus.

The Promise is His Presence: Why God is Always Enough is her journey to finding satisfaction in God alone.

I read The Promise is His Presence earlier this year and it resonated so deeply with me that I reached out to Glenna and asked if I could interview her. She said, yes! So, this book review is even better with a BONUS video conversation.

Book Review, Blog, VideoNicole O'MearaMay 27, 2020book review, Soul Care, chronic diseaseComment

Book Review: Out of Zion

Lisa grew up in a loving family in Utah, a sixth generation Mormon. She was so immersed in the Mormon culture, she didn’t even know what a protestant church service looked like.

Then, she met a guy… and the guy was a Christian… and he asked her questions like, “How do you know your scripture is the one true scripture?” She answered what she was taught and what she believed, “Because I’ve had a burning in the bosom.” That’s the truth test in Mormonism — a warm fuzzy feeling, proof of the Holy Spirit’s touch. Without that, you can’t know if something is true. With it, something must be true despite facts and logic. The answer didn’t satisfy her boyfriend and suddenly, it didn’t satisfy her either.

Out of Zion is Lisa’s personal story of finding the Jesus of the Bible. I couldn’t put this book down.

Blog, Book ReviewNicole O'MearaMarch 12, 2020blog, grace, Spiritual FormationComment

Book Review: Adorning the Dark

Andrew Peterson is an author, singer-songwriter, and artist. He wrote Adorning the Dark as a biographical text on how to be a Christian Creative. But it’s a lot less, “How” and a whole lot more, “Here’s what you’ll learn along the way.”

I loved it. Like 5 STARS kind of love.

Peterson makes a very strong point that God created man in his image and since God is The Creator, his image-bearers must also be creative. We are all Creatives. And we are all meant to use our creativity, little or big, to glorify God in our little corner of the universe. What we create and the joy we get out of creating comes directly from understanding that we are beloved by God. Think about that, let it soak in, then do something to out of the overwhelm of being loved. That’s creating for the glory of God. Oh, it’s such a good point.

Blog, Book ReviewNicole O'MearaMarch 9, 2020book reviewComment

Book Review: Shift

Author Abby McDonald wrote Shift: Changing Our Focus to See the Presence of God for those of us who could use some help to see where and how God is working in our lives. Abby tells stories of how God has worked behind the scenes, sometimes years in advance, to bless friends in unexpected ways. She also tells stories of how God’s word shifted her perspective of her own life, showing her how deeply he loves her even when, or especially when, it appears no one else notices her presence or her work.

Abby weaves stories from the Bible into little lessons that inch us closer to the perspective God has when he looks at our lives. Each chapter ends with a few questions to ponder alone or in a small group. Those questions would make this book an excellent choice for a book club or small group Bible study.

Book Review, BlogNicole O'MearaJanuary 30, 2020perspectiveComment

Book Reviews: Becoming Mrs. Lewis and A Grief Observed

Becoming Mrs. Lewis, written by Patti Callahan, is a well-researched historical fiction story of the life of Joy Davidman, the woman who married C.S. Lewis. Much of the correspondence between Lewis and Davidman has been lost but thanks to a newly discovered treasure trove of sonnets written by Joy during her friendship with Jack, as his friends called him, Miss Callahan has given us a very good picture of the woman who captured Jack’s heart.

The day I finished Becoming Mrs. Lewis, I booked it over to the library (see what I did there?) to grab a copy of A Grief Observed, written by C.S. Lewis. This book is C.S. Lewis’ journal, verbatim, of his journey through grief. It is filled with emotional turmoil and spiritual doubt. It is honest and gut-wrenching and, for me, extremely relatable.

Book Review, BlogNicole O'MearaJanuary 2, 2020book review, griefComment

On the blog…