Kristen and Bethany are passionate about helping women find their identity in Christ, and purpose in His kingdom! Their ministry has definitely impacted my life.
Sex, Purity, and the Longings of a Girl's Heart is releasing April 30th! And if you want to receive some super special bonuses - such as an audiobook, adult coloring book, and private Q&A with the authors + their husbands - then pre-order by the 29th!
I recently received my early copy of this book, and I'm loving it! Our sexuality is such a huge part of who we are as women - as human beings - and to dig deeper in the Biblical design is so helpful and amazing.
Listen, dear fellow women, God had beautiful purpose in mind when He created male and female. Masculinity and femininity. Sexuality. Love. Marriage. I hope you know that! I hope you will pick up a copy of Sex, Purity, and the Longings of a Girl's Heart and be encouraged! <3
Title: Love Defined: Embracing God's Vision for Lasting Love and Satisfying Relationships
Author: Kristen Clark & Bethany Baird
Series: Standalone
Genre: Christian Living/Non-ficion
Audience: Young Adult/Adult
Published: May 1st, 2018 (Baker Books)
ABOUT THE BOOK
Our culture is obsessed with love and romance - so why are so few women experiencing satisfying, long-term love?
In this insightful and encouraging book, sisters Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird help single women of all ages discover a radically better approach to navigating their love lives. Covering topics such as true love, romance, purposeful relationships, purity, boundaries, singleness, and glorifying God in every stage of our relationships, Love Defined unpacks God's original design for romance, showing modern women how to experience God's best for them in their relationships.
Full of biblical truths and step-by-step application of concepts discussed, the book also includes a chapter-by-chapter study guide to be used individually or in small groups, as well as four letters from godly women who have been married for 30, 40, and 50+ years, offering priceless, hard-won advice to single women.
~ My Review ~
**5 stars**
Love Defined is another incredible book from sisters Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird. After reading and loving their first book, Girl Defined, I was beyond excited to read a book from them about love and relationships. And, oh, I was not disappointed. With honesty, humor, wisdom, and real-life examples, Kristen and Bethany present a Biblically-sound and beautiful Christian Living book on navigating the world of romance.
I so enjoyed reading this book - finished it in under a week. It had a lot of insight and great advice to impart. I loved that there were chapters on ways to respond and steps to take when a man expresses an interest in you, and also red flags to watch for in relationships! The things shared in these chapters were so incredibly helpful. I know so many Christian girls/women are going to benefit from reading Love Defined!
The theme of this book is about radiantly glorifying God in how we respond to love and romance. Glorifying Him in our relationships. In our singleness. In our marriages. I've been gaining an understanding of how romantic love and marriage are so deeply entwined in pointing to God - His covenant love for us and Jesus Christ's relationship with the Church, His Bride. My future marriage (if that's in God's plan for my life) is going to be an exciting and amazing chance for me to illuminate my God and His love. Wow, this is powerful! And Love Defined just grew me in understanding this intriguing concept even better. Whether single or married, reading this book greatly encouraged me to get excited about making much of God's name wherever I am and in whatever I do.
A lovely thing about Love Defined is that it's written by a married woman and a single woman (they finished the book before Bethany entered her current relationship). It's great to get both perspectives - a peek into Kristen's marriage and awesome insight from Bethany's season of singleness. While writing this book, she was in her late twenties (twenty-nine?) with no idea if she'd ever marry. I'd say she knows a thing or two about singleness! It was so encouraging to hear from her on this topic. Finding satisfaction and joy in Christ alone is an amazing thing and I loved reading Bethany's story of finding that.
Truly, this is a book worth your time. I only wished I could have read it even before this! I really believe that God is going to use it to change women's perspectives on romance and marriage, and help girls who have the right heart - but are uncertain how to put this into practice - to figure out how to navigate these areas of life in a way that honors God, as they desire to!
Covering topics such as infatuation, romance, boundaries, warning signs in relationships, practical tips for approaching dating, friendship, singleness, being intentional, advice for marriage, sexual purity, and so on, it is packed with great content. I'm wanting to do a girl's Bible study with Love Defined now! Such a needed message! Definitely going to share with my seventeen-year-old sister.
I highly recommend to women! Love Defined is a must-read. I can hardly wait to read Kristen and Bethany's next book!
I received a copy of Love Defined from the authors and/or Baker Books in exchange for my honest review.
Hello, readers! For this Thursday's post, I want to share some Youtube channels that I follow.
First off, I am a big fan of "booktube" and love seeing month wrap-ups, book hauls, bookshelf tours, book tags, etc.!
Sadly, most of the Booktube channels out there tend to focus on mainstream, secular YA fiction which I don't read a lot of, so I don't find myself enjoying these videos much.
However, I have found quite a few Christian booktubers who read a lot - or at least some - of the same books as me. *happiness* So without further ado, let's take a look at their channels.
As the channel name suggests, Melanie features a lot of YA books! She is also an author. Melanie probably reads a lot more contemporary fiction than I do, but we still read by quite a few of the same authors and I enjoy hearing her thoughts on those. Here is one of her videos:
I always enjoy watching Angela's new videos. I usually recognize most of the books she reads, and I really appreciate how she talks about content and such. Here's one of her latest videos:
Her videos can get a little long for me, personally. But I've enjoyed some of them and she has so many books that I've read or that I recognize, which is always so cool. Here's one of her videos where she did a booktube tag that I made up *grins*:
Ivy Rose is a writer, reader, and booktuber! I just recently discovered her channel and was thrilled to see that she has and loves a whole bunch of the same books as I do! Here's one of her videos that I adore:
Lindsey's videos are always done so neat and tidily. She's a big reader of Christian fiction and I enjoy seeing what she's reading and whatnot, though we may not actually read a whole lot of the same thing. I think one of her favorite genres is contemporary fiction and least favorites is fantasy (and it's totally the opposite for me). Anyway, here's a video from her:
I just recently realized Laura has a Youtube channel, so I haven't seen a lot of her content yet. But I got to know her through her blog and blog tours a few years ago, and love that she's passionate about supporting indie authors! The few videos I watched were fun - she's such a fangirl! *grins* Here's one of her latest videos:
I really enjoy Oceana's videos - there's something very pleasant about them. She does read quite a bit of mainstream YA fiction, and some books that I personally probably wouldn't read. But she also reads Christian fiction and Christian Living, and seems very comfortable talking about her beliefs and faith. So I really like that! Here's a fun book tag from her:
Rissi and I don't read a ton of the same books, but she does feature Christian fiction and I enjoy hearing what books she's been liking! I usually see at least a few recognizable books on her channel. Here's one of her latest videos:
And that is all I have for Booktube channels! Please let me know in the comments below if you know of anymore Youtube channels featuring lots of Christian fiction (particularly fantasy and fairy tale *winks*).
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Also, I wanted to share some Youtube Channels about Christian living, conservative viewpoints, etc. that I really appreciate.
Sisters Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird talk about all things love, romance, womanhood, faith, and life! I've come across many a video that was meaningful to me, and I love their book, Girl Defined. (Their second book, Love Defined, is releasing soon!) Here's one of their latest videos:
Joe's videos have been very inspirational, challenging, and encouraging to me over the years. It seems like he's deviated a little from his previous theme of videos, but I've still enjoyed his content. Here's one of his videos that I love (his very first video, actually, I believe):
I've found quite a few of Sadie's videos to be inspiring, so I kinda recently started following her. She seems passionate and a dreamer and serious about her relationship with God. And I'm really wanting to read her latest book, Live Fearless: A Call to Power, Passion, and Purpose, because I think I could relate to her journey and benefit from it! *smiles* Here's one of her latest videos:
I absolutely love finding young, conservative women who use their public platforms with such boldness and passion. Liz is Catholic, and I believe she's also a born-again Christian, as in she trusts Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. I'm inspired by her wisdom, facts, and level-headedness when dealing with the hot topics of the day. Here are a few videos from her that I love:
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So there you have it! Let me know what you think below. What are some Youtube channels you like? Do you watch any of the same ones as me?
If you love Christian fiction (fantasy, fairy tale, historical, dystopian, contemporary, etc.) and Christian Living, do check out my Booktube channel too! ^_^
