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You are here: Home / Books / Because He Lives (& More February Reads)

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Because He Lives (& More February Reads)

To Kill a Mockingbird and other February Reads

I finished six books in February: my own Because He Lives (which I go through again every year about this time) plus five others. Read on for my impressions of each:

Read to Lead by Jeff Brown and Jessie Wisnewski

Read to LeadThe authors give practical advice for getting the most out of your reading:

✅ How to choose the books you read
✅ How to find more time for reading
✅ How to increase your reading speed
✅ How to retain more of what you read
✅ How to start a book club, etc.

I listened to the audiobook, but was wishing I had a hard copy. There were so many passages I would like to have marked and revisited! The authors also include some great-sounding book recommendations and some free printable resources at their book’s website.

Cherish by Gary Thomas

CherishI’ve read lots of marriage books in my lifetime. I enjoy thinking about ways to nurture my marriage and build up my spouse. I want to be an encouragement and a helpmeet to my husband. I want to love and respect him. I want our marriage to mirror Christ’s relationship to the church. And I want to be obedient to Scripture in the way I respond to him.

But I don’t know that I’ve ever given much consideration to the concept of cherishing him. Until now. God calls husbands to love their wives as they love their own bodies:

“He who loves his wife loves himself. Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.”

Gary Thomas spends 13 chapters delving into what exactly that term “cherish” means, and how it looks in a modern day marriage. Furthermore, he examines it from the perspective of both husband and wife. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and gleaned some great tips for making sure my husband feels cherished by me.

Parenting by God’s Promises by Joel Beeke

Parenting by God’s PromisesThe scope for < a href="https://amzn.to/3hWk5Wd" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Parenting by God’s Promises is extensive.

It covers a wide range of topics, including:

✅ philosophy of parenting
✅ parental responsibilities
✅ teaching and training children in godly living
✅ setting rules
✅ exercising discipline
✅ fostering good relationships between siblings
✅ equipping our kids to resist negative peer pressure

What’s more, all these subjects are discussed from a reformed Christian perspective.

As someone who was raised in a church where we “dedicated” babies but never “christened” them, I did not agree 100% with the authors’ opinion on infant baptism, but his explanation did help me understand and appreciate the practice better, even if I’m not ready to adopt it myself.

The Prodigy Project by Doug Flanders

The Prodigy ProjectMy husband re-read The Prodigy Project aloud to our family in the evenings last month. The storyline follows an American spy with a large family who drags his unsuspecting wife and children along with him on his latest assignment.

It reads like a cross between Mission Impossible and Cheaper by the Dozen and kept us on the edge of our seats throughout the entire book. The kids and I kept begging Doug for “just one more chapter — please?”

My husband wrote this novel himself way back in 2010. At the time, he marketed the story — which centers on a bio-weapon being developed in China — as something “torn from tomorrow’s headlines.” Twelve years later, we’re amazed at how prophetic it proved to be, both on a global and personal scale.

Amazon has currently dropped the price by 21%, but I’m not sure how long that will last. So if you’re interested in a fascinating, family-friendly read, now would be a great time to check it out.

My Vertical Neighborhood by Lynda MacGibbon

My Vertical NeighborhoodMy Vertical Neighborhood reads more like a memoir of the author’s life in her large Toronto apartment building than a how-to book for sharing the love of God with those around us. Yet the story of how she proactively reached out to the neighbors who shared that apartment complex and formed lasting friendships with many of them is nothing short of inspiring.

Big cities can feel so impersonal, and I admire the way MacGibbon fostered community in the midst of all the hustle bustle: opening her home, partnering with a like-minded friend who lived a few doors down, sponsoring weekly, no-strings-attached dinners, movie nights, starting a writers’ group.

All these activities helped her get to know her neighbors in more than a superficial, passing-in-the-halls, exchanging-niceties-on-the-elevator way. Rather, she invested time and energy into the growing friendships in a way that forged deep bonds and honored Christ’s command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I deeply enjoyed reading about her experience, which fostered all sorts of wonderful ideas for reaching out to my own neighbors.

Because He Lives by Jennifer Flanders

Because He Lives: A Devotional Journal for EasterI re-read Because He Lives, my devotional journal for Easter, every year during Lent. And every year, I complete a dozen or more pages in the journal.

I do the word studies. Use the journaling prompts to jot down my thoughts. Look up Scripture verses. Paint page borders. Use my Prismacolor pencils on the beautiful vintage artwork.

I color in it while I listen to my husband read aloud before bedtime each night or in the early morning as part of my quiet time before the Lord. Although I designed this journal for Easter, it can be enjoyed all year long, as one reviewer rightly noted. It covers prophesies pertaining to Jesus’s birth, death and resurrection, miracles He performed during His earthly ministry, events of the passion week, His promises to His followers, and the work we should be doing as we await His return.

Because He Lives - Devotional Journal for Easter and the Lenten Season

More Fun Resources for Book Lovers

Do you enjoy reading as much as we do? I’ve gathered all my best resources for bibliophiles into this post, or you can read more of my book reviews by following this link

PLEASE NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through any of those links, we may receive a small referral fee, at no extra cost to you. Such fees help defray the cost of running this website. This, in turn, allows us to continue offering our readers a wealth of FREE printable resources. So thank you for your support!

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Doug & Jennifer Flanders - www.flandersfamily.info

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Every spring, I pull out my little Easter journal, Every spring, I pull out my little Easter journal, read through it again, and complete a few more pages.  Packed with scripture, word studies, writing prompts, and gorgeous vintage artwork to color, it’s a great way to focus my heart and mind on the unfathomable love and unmerited grace that compelled Jesus to conquer sin, death, and the grave on behalf of all who put their trust in Him (including ME🙋‍♀️)!  If you enjoy coloring, journaling, and/or reflecting on Christ’s love, you can find BECAUSE HE LIVES — along with all of my other devotional journals — on Amazon. (Link in profile)  #flandersfamilyreads #bookstagram #devotionaljournal #becausehelives
I love leaving all our windows open to let the lig I love leaving all our windows open to let the light shine through, but the glare off this white wall blinds me whenever I’m washing dishes at our kitchen sink. So I decided to paint a mural to help absorb some of the reflected light!  Also, I figured it would be easier to keep painted shrubs and flowers alive than the real thing since we don’t have a sprinkler system and I sometimes forget to water the real stuff until it is limp and wilted — or worse!  #flandersfamilyhome #wallart #outdoorproject
I finished listening to David Epstein’s RANGE ye I finished listening to David Epstein’s RANGE yesterday. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  What an inspiring book! I told my husband, who’d read it years before, that this book really made me grateful we had chosen to homeschool.  “That’s exactly what I thought when I finished reading it!” he responded.  It’s not that one CAN’T learn to think broadly in a traditional classroom — Doug and I both attended public schools as children, earned specialized degrees in college and graduate/medical school, yet still managed to retain a healthy curiosity about a wide range of topics.  It is just that our modern educational system favors benchmarked learning and early specialization, often at the expense of making interdisciplinary connections or pursuing tangential topics.  Each teacher piles on homework in a given subject, seldom pausing to point out how the material being presented in one course relates to anything the student is learning in other classes.  Modern classrooms stress outcomes, grades, results. They have little time or patience for the kind of “mental meandering” and experimentation that is vital to innovation.  Happily for us, that hasn’t been the case with homeschooling. We teach our kids the basics, expose them to a broad range of books, people, places, and ideas, let them delve deeply into investigating topics or developing skills that interest them, and discuss with genuine enthusiasm and appreciation all the things each of us are learning — collectively and individually — and how it all fits into the framework of our Christian worldview.  As parents, I don’t think Doug and I deliberately set out to create that kind of environment for our kids when we first started teaching them at home, but by God’s grace, that is what our homeschooling experiment evolved into. And books like Range make me extra thankful that is the case. ❤️  #flandersfamilyreads #bookstagram #homeschooling #lifestyleoflearning #recommendedreading
Today was “Disney Day” at our homeschool co-op Today was “Disney Day” at our homeschool co-op.  Abby dressed as my all-time favorite Disney character, Belle. She was smart, loyal, compassionate, and loved to read. 📕  Gabriel dressed as Pongo. This tenacious Dalmatian was courageous, resourceful, and made an excellent father. 🐶  And I dressed as a Public Service Announcement: Parents, make sure you watch your children around Disney as vigilantly as you’d guard your puppies around Cruella de Vil!🚧  #homeschoolcoopthemedays
I was privileged to get a sneak peak at Hard Is No I was privileged to get a sneak peak at Hard Is Not the Same Thing as Bad, chapter by chapter, as it was being written And I absolutely loved it!  Now (at last!) it’s officially available for preorder. I ordered mine yesterday and can hardly wait to read the print copy, complete with gorgeous artwork from @paintandprose and the unique perspective Dad shares the end of each chapter!  I’m overjoyed to think how incredibly blessed families across the globe are going to be when they read the timely, encouraging, biblically-grounded message presented in this beautifully written book. ❤️  #flandersfamilyreads #bookstagram #hardisnotthesamethingasbad
On this date in 1987, my husband officially asked On this date in 1987, my husband officially asked me to marry him before slipping onto my finger an antique diamond ring his grandmother had taken off her own hand two days earlier and hand sized to fit mine.  He proposed on bended knee in the living room of his grandparents’ house in Corpus Christi, with Nanny and Poppie looking on, offering constructive criticism, and making him back up and re-do all the parts that THEY found unsatisfactory the first time. 😂😂🤣  The truth is, Doug and I had already been planning our wedding — and, even more importantly, discussing our hopes, dreams, and expectations for the life we’d share together after the ceremony — for months before his grandparents insisted he formalize things with an official proposal of marriage and a gorgeous ring I’ve worn proudly ever since. 💍  Either way — with or without a ring or a formal proposal — my answer to the question was a resounding “YES!” Agreeing to marry Doug remains one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. ❤️❤️❤️  #officiallyengaged #happilyeverafter
I recently finished Jinger Duggar Vuolo’s Becomi I recently finished Jinger Duggar Vuolo’s Becoming Free Indeed.  As relieved as I was to hear Jinger reaffirm her strong faith in God — as well as her love and respect for her parents— I still had a LOT of thoughts regarding the “disentangling” journey she shares.  You can swipe left to read a few of those thoughts. Or visit my Loving Life at Home blog (link in bio) for the unabridged version! 😂  #flandersfamilyreads #becomingfreeindeed #bookstagram #biblebeliever
Pics from our all-green-cuisine leprechaun lunch — a long standing tradition in the Flanders family!  #flandersfamilyfun #familytraditions #greenfood #leprechaunlunch
Another family tradition: Racing to see who can fi Another family tradition: Racing to see who can finish this year’s game the quickest.  You can download either of the ones pictured or one from past years for FREE on our family website (link in profile).  #saintpatricksday #freeprintable #triviagames #wordscramble
One thing the kids and I enjoy doing on vacation i One thing the kids and I enjoy doing on vacation is working puzzles. We start a 1000-piece jigsaw as soon as we arrive at our destination and race the clock to finish before time to leave.  Abby especially enjoys puzzles and is usually the one pushing for us to continue this tradition, although she abandoned me most of our evenings this trip to play pool with her brother.  Gabriel is an early riser though and made up for it by working on the puzzle with me in the mornings.  Dad and Nana aren’t huge fans of jigsaws, but we saved the last two pieces for them to put in, so they could say they helped, too. 😂

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