Book Review: Total Christmas Makeover

6 Nov

Give your Christmas a makeover with this practical approach to help your family learn what it means to truly celebrate their Savior.

In the bustle of the Christmas season, it can be easy to get swept up in all of the things to do. But it’s important to pause and remember that our priority should be to spend time celebrating Christ’s birth and not forget to invite Jesus to his own party.

Christmas is far more than a celebration of an event from long ago or a modern holiday centered around shopping. Mindfully take time to listen to how God continues to speak through the Christmas story as the Gospel narratives centered around the birth of Jesus provide encouragement and revelation concerning the love of God and his wisdom for us today.

In Total Christmas Makeover, author and Bible teacher Melissa Spoelstra provides a practical approach for you and your family to turn your attention toward God’s grace day-by-day as you prepare for Christmas. This 31-day devotional presents key scriptures, ideas to implement with each reading, and questions for reflection to guide you in rediscovering rituals, relationship, and rest to connect you more deeply with Christ this holiday season.

Melissa Spoelstra is a popular women’s conference speaker, Bible teacher, and writer who is madly in love with Jesus and passionate about helping women of all ages to seek Christ and know Him more intimately through serious Bible study. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Bible Theology and enjoys teaching God’s Word to diverse groups and churches within the body of Christ. She is the author of the First Corinthians: Living Love When We Disagree, Joseph: The Journey to Forgiveness, and Jeremiah: Daring to Hope in an Unstable World Bible studies and Total Family Makeover: 8 Steps to Making Disciples at Home book. She lives in Dublin, Ohio, with her pastor husband and four kids.

Find out more about Melissa at http://melissaspoelstra.com.

My Impressions:

If you are anything like me, you may dread the coming of Christmas. Oh, not the day itself, but all the things that go with it — shopping, crowds, obligations, and increased stress. In Total Christmas Makeover, Melissa Spoelstra looks at Christmas in a new way. She takes God’s word about sacred celebrations and festivals and applies them to the Christmas activities and traditions within our own families. With emphasis on ritual, relationships, and rest, this 31-day devotional guide will give you a new outlook and a new commitment to putting the focus of the holiday season where it belongs — on God.

Total Christmas Makeover won’t have you throwing out all the things you hold dear about Christmas time, but it will show you a way to streamline, tweak, and refit your traditions and thoughts towards God. Each day begins with scripture, then progresses to the author’s thoughts. She also includes a short prayer to jump start your time with God, along with questions to get you thinking about what should be part of your Christmas activities.  Practical tips conclude the short devotional. I especially liked the emphasis the author puts on remembering to honor God in all we do at Christmas, the importance of keeping our relationships strong, and finding the needed rest that God provides to his people. Because there are 31 selections, you can get started on Thanksgiving Day and finish up with the book before Christmas!

So if you long for a way to get rid of distractions that mar the beauty of Christmas, pick up Total Christmas Makeover.

Recommended.

Audience: adults (especially women)

To purchase, click HERE.

(Thanks to LitFuse for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

 

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