Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.
Showing posts with label Sarah Zacharias Davis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah Zacharias Davis. Show all posts

Friday, August 14, 2009

The Friends We Keep (Book Review)


Title: The Friends We Keep
Author: Sarah Zacharias Davis
Publisher: Waterbrook Press

First sentence: My eyes flooded with tears that began rolling down my face.

My synopsis: This book was about - you guessed it - friends. But not just any friends - women and their friends. Why we need them, how we make them, how we keep them, and even why we lose them.

Each chapter shared some one's story that was relevant to the point that the author was trying to make. A lot of the stories I could relate to, or at the very least, knew someone who would fit in it. She explores a lot of the different sides to friendships, like the different ways we can love a friend, why we might need a particular friend - or why that friend might need us. What we get from a relationship - do we give or take from it? The book ends with how and why we need to be friends with our self.

The chapter I really like was titled "The Lesson of Lucy Van Pelt". I am sure that many of you remember Lucy from the Peanuts comic strip and what we are talking about here is gossip. This is something that I know I am guilty of and it is so easy to fall into gossiping about someone else. We can cover it up by making it look like we are really just "inquiring" because we are worried about someone or we try to cover up our gossip by "sugarcoating" it.

If you're not from the south, it goes something like this: "Since Anne Marie put on all that weight, she just looks poured into those pants. Someone needs to tell her those look terrible, bless her heart." Or, "Poor Donna Jo's husband has been cheating on her with his secretary, though I can't say I'm surprised. Men like women who cook for them, and she was always a dreadful cook, bless her heart." Add the word "little" and you can get away with saying even worse. "Shelby's wedding was sweet. Such a shame it will never last, bless her little heart." You get the idea. (The Friends We Keep, p44)

She ends this chapter with a story about a woman who had a casual friend that she had known for years. They weren't particularly close, and had really only kept in contact through mutual friends. When the woman was having a tough time in her life she was confiding her problems in only her close friends. This casual friend and her husband were at a dinner party when someone asked about how she was doing. This casual friend immediately jumped in and said that it was not appropriate for dinner conversation, and stopped any story telling that might have occurred. The woman relates "I felt a connection to her, instantly closer than I ever had in all the years I'd known her." (p48) This really touched me and made me take a closer look at things I may or may not have said over the years.

What if connection becomes greater by keeping secrets and sharing something personal to you rather than sharing what is personal to an absent other? What if power comes from empowering others rather than dominating them? What if friendship is cemented by rescuing a friend's reputation when it may be on the line? What if the glue that holds us together is discretion, no disclosure? (p48-49)



My thoughts: This book made me take a closer look at why I feel I don't have a lot of close friends. Even as a teen, I had just a handful of girls that I would call actually friends. I grew up in a small town, where we knew everybody - but I didn't feel like I fit in well with most of them. This feeling continued in college where I still only can recall 3-4 real girlfriends. It did make me see how I could benefit from having more friends, and that I should work on these relationships. Any thing worthwhile does take time. I was surprised by how many responses I have gotten on my give away for this book from women who said that they also did not have many friends, or had trouble making friends. (Giveaway for The Friends We Keep ends August 31)


The Friends We Keep
Publisher/Publication Date: Waterbrook Press, July 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4000-7439-6
224 pages


Monday, August 10, 2009

A New Week - A New Giveaway! The Friends We Keep!

I have one copy of The Friends We Keep and 2 of the 40-Minute Bible Study books to giveaway to one winner!

The Friends We Keep: A Woman's Quest for the Soul of Friendship by Sarah Zacharias Davis





40-Minute Bible Studies by Kay Arthur

Easy to enter! Just leave a comment with your email address! For an extra entry, visit my earlier post today on the book tour for these books and leave a comment there! This giveaway open to U.S. only and ends on Aug 31st!

That's it!

Blog Tour - The Friends We Keep (8/10-8/14)

The Friends We Keep: A Woman's Quest for the Soul of Friendship by Sarah Zacharias Davis

Publisher: Waterbrook Press

AND





40-Minute Bible Studies by Kay Arthur

Publisher: Waterbrook Press

About The Friends We Keep: During a particularly painful time in her life, Sarah Zacharias Davis learned how delightful–and wounding–women can be in friendship. She saw how some friendships end badly, others die slow deaths, and how a chance acquaintance can become that enduring friend you need.

The Friends We Keep is Sarah’s thoughtful account of her own story and the stories of other women about navigating friendship. Her revealing discoveries tackle the questions every woman asks:

• Why do we long so for women friends?
• Do we need friends like we need air or food or water?
• What causes cattiness, competition, and co-dependency in too many friendships?
• Why do some friendships last forever and others only a season?
• How do I foster friendship?
• When is it time to let a friend go, and how do I do so?

With heartfelt, intelligent writing, Sarah explores these questions and more with personal stories, cultural references and history, faith, and grace. In the process, she delivers wisdom for navigating the challenges, mysteries, and delights of friendship: why we need friendships with other women, what it means to be safe in relationship, and how to embrace what a friend has to offer, whether meager or generous.


About The 40-Minute Bible Studies:

The 40 Minute Bible Study series from beloved Bible teacher Kay Arthur and the teaching staff of Precept Ministries tackles important issues in brief, easy-to-grasp lessons you can use personally or for small-group discussion. Each book in the series includes six 40-minute studies designed to draw you into God’s Word through basic inductive Bible study. There are 16 titles in the series, with topics ranging from fasting and forgiveness to prayer and worship. With no homework required, everyone in the group can work through the lesson together at the same time. Let these respected Bible teachers lead you in a study that will transform your thinking—and your life.



Check out a 4 minute video of Kay Arthur as she talks about these 40-Minute Bible Studies.


Titles Include:

•The Essentials of Effective Prayer

•Being a Disciple: Counting the Cost

•Building a Marriage That Really Works

•Discovering What the Future Holds

•Forgiveness: Breaking the Power of the Past

•Having a Real Relationship with God

•How Do You Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk?

•Living a Life of Real Worship

•How to Make Choices You Won’t Regret

•Living Victoriously in Difficult Times

•Money & Possessions: The Quest for Contentment

•Rising to the Call of Leadership

•How Do You Know God’s Your Father?

•Key Principles of Biblical Fasting

•A Man’s Strategy for Conquering Temptation

•What Does the Bible Say About Sex?



About the authors:

Sarah Zacharias Davis is a senior advancement officer at Pepperdine University, having joined the university after working as vice president of marketing and development for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and in strategic marketing for CNN. The daughter of best-selling writer Ravi Zacharias, Davis is the author of the critically-acclaimed Confessions from an Honest Wife and Transparent: Getting Honest About Who We are and Who We Want to Be. She graduated from Covenant College with a degree in education and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Kay Arthur, executive vice president and cofounder of Precept Ministries International has worked with her teaching staff to create the powerful 40-Minute Bible Studies series. Kay is known around the world as a Bible teacher, author, conference speaker, and host of national radio and television programs.


The Friends We Keep
Publisher/Publication Date: Waterbrook Press, July 2009
ISBN: 978-1400074396
224 pages



40-Minute Bible Studies
Publisher: Waterbrook Press

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

ARC Arrival: The Friends We Keep by Sarah Zacharias Davis

The Friends We Keep by Sarah Zacharias Davis

Publisher: Waterbrook Press

I received this book for a First Wild Card Tour coming in August.

About the book: Why are women's friendships so tricky?

During a particularly painful time in her life, Sarah Zacharias Davis learned how delightful - and wounding - women can be in friendship. She saw how some friendships end badly, others die slow deaths, and how a chance acquaintance can become that enduring friend you need.

The Friends We Keep is Sarah's thoughtful account of her own experiences and those of other women in navigating friendship. Her revealing discoveries tackle the questions every woman asks:

  • Why do we long for women friends?
  • Do we need friends like we need air or food or water?
  • What causes cattiness, competition, and co-dependency in too many friendships?
  • Why do some friendships last forever and others only a season?
  • How do we foster friendship?
  • When is it time to let a friend go, and how do we do so?
With heartfelt, intelligent writing, Sarah explores these questions and more with personal stories, cultural references and history, faith and grace. In the process, she delivers wisdom for navigating the challenges, mysteries, and delights of friendship: why we need friendships with other women, what it means to be safe in a relationship, and how to embrace what a friend has to offer, whether meager or generous. (from the book cover)

About the author: Sarah Zacharias Davis is the vice president of marketing and development for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, having joined the ministry after working in strategic marketing for CNN. The daughter of best-selling writer Ravi Zacharias, Davis is the author of critically-acclaimed Confessions from an Honest Wife and Transparent. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. (from the book cover)

The Friends We Keep
Publisher/Publication Date: Waterbrook Press, July 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4000-7439-6
224 pages


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