March 1, 2013

Unglued Devotional by Lysa TerKeurst

The world will offer us comfort in the form of escapes. We escape to romance novels, movies, magazines, malls, chocolate, vacations, affirmations from friends. Not that any of these things are bad. They aren't. But they are very temporary. They make us feel good in the moment, but that good never stays. We need more and more. Trying to fill out aching hearts with these things is like trying to fill an ocean with a tablespoon. It's never enough. So we clench our fists and keep trying to find something to comfort us
-page 137, Unglued Devotional by Lysa TerKeurst
 I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Book Sneeze in exchange for an honest review.
Lysa TerKeurst's Unglued Devotional is an empowering companion to her book, Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions. I did not read the main book, but I find the devotional excellent as a stand alone, perhaps even more so as I hear it is repetitive when both are read together. 
Unglued Devotional is a compilation of 60 days worth of devotionals that are supposed to help the reader function alongside their emotions, even when those emotions have them coming, well, unglued. I found that TerKeurst successfully executed the 3 major components to a great devotional for busy women: 
  1. Devotional structure: start with a Bible verse, end with a prayer. As a Bible-based believer, I don't consider something a devotional if it's missing Scripture and I find closure when the author gives a great prayer to help me through the rest of my day. TerKeurst delivers both. While some of the Bible verses she uses are common, she almost always helped shed new light on them. 
  2. Quality over Quantity: Most of the devotionals in this book are succinct and won't take more than 5 minutes to read. Sometimes a reader wants a lengthy, in-depth devotional, but I think TerKeurst is appealing to an audience of busy women with short daily passages. I enjoyed that while each devotional was short, every one delivered a powerful message and caused me to think. 
  3. Honesty: TerKeurst is honest and open with her own struggles which make her extremely relatable and I made a stronger connection with her through her stories than I have in the past with devotionals. Through the course of reading this devotional I really got to know the author because the book is personal. Exploring TerKeurst's personal struggles really helped me shed light on my own. 
While her subject matter, warmth and honesty about emotions make it clear she is catering to women, the content of this devotional offers Biblical truths that can be appreciated by men as well. The only complaint I might have is that it might have been nice and interactive to have a writing prompt at the end of each day. Each devotional made me want to dialogue about my experiences and an opportunity to do so would have been great. I found that there is an Unglued Participant's Guide so maybe that is more of a workbook. This would make a great book for a small group!

I was drawn to Lysa TerKeurst's devotional because I have heard so many great things about her on Christian radio and was especially inspired by listening to her talk about her Made To Crave books. I never got around to reading Made to Crave, but I'm sure I'll make the time after reading Unglued Devotional.
Bottom Line: I highly recommend for all women, especially if you're as emotional as I am! If you don't think you have enough time for this then you need to find it because it will only take 5 minutes of your day! Great messages! 5/5 Stars

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing Danielle! I will have to check this one out. :)

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