My family attends a Messianic congregation. By Messianic I mean that we believe that Jesus was a Jew and we study the Bible through a Jewish mindset. We look at the traditions and customs of the Jewish people and through that we are given a better understand of the way the Bible was laid out and the way Jesus taught while HE was here on earth. It's been a big eye opening experience to study with this mindset because I use to read certain parts of the Bible (mainly Paul's letters) and be very confused by how certain things were laid out. But by looking at the culture and time frame these events and letters of The Bible were written in it has opened up new meaning and a greater understanding to GOD's truths for me.
So naturally I would be drawn to a book about a Gentile going through the Biblical Exodus and how GOD adopted her into HIS family. The Bible says in Exodus 12:38 that "A mixed multitude went up with them (the children of Israel) also, ..." (parenthesis are mine). What would it have been like to be the average non-Jew leaving Egypt? What would they have felt like? What might be going through their minds? These questions intrigued me to dive into Kiya's story. After the first few chapters introduce you to the main character, an Egyptian slave named Kiya, the story starts off with the first of the ten plagues of Egypt; the Nile turning to blood. The author wastes no time in throwing Kiya, and you the reader, into the chaos that invaded Egypt but, at the same time, allows you to experience what all exactly was going on during the time of the plagues. While I wish a little more time was given to the plagues as a whole Mrs. Cossette stays true to the timeline of The Bible where it mentions how long each plague lasted (ex, one week for the water into blood, three days of darkness, and so on...). Most of the time I feel (or at least I know I myself do this) we tend to overlook the "time" parts of The Bible when it mentions how long certain events took place and view it as only a day or so in our minds. This can greatly distort our idea of The Scriptures so I was very pleased with how Mrs. Cossette handled the timing element of the story. About halfway through the book the actual exiting from Egypt begins. The hardships of living in the desert and the challenges the Israelites experienced almost gives the reader a sense of pity and understanding towards the complaints of the Israelites (almost, but not quite). You can really see how their patience with GOD would run out and despair would set in. But, like in the original account, GOD always took care of HIS people and the amazement of those miracles was magnified and made personal to Kiya and the reader. I would encourage you to read the original Exodus account (found in Exodus chapters 1-19) as you read along with Counted With the Stars. While the author does a very good job of keeping true to the original account, this is NOT The Holy Scriptures. She does use creative liberties in some parts (like in the parting of the red sea and the giving of the covenant at Mt. Sinai) that add to the development of the story, but they are not Biblical truths. Overall Counted With the Stars by: Connilyn Cossette is a great story putting names and faces to the original Exodus. I give it a 4 out of 5 rating (see side bar for review scale). I didn't give it a 5 because I felt like the story needed to be a little bit longer. While the author did a tremendous job overall, I felt some areas of the book needed a little more time than was given to them. Also, while she did create some great points and drama to add to the story, and it is evident she did her research, like I said before this book is NOT The Bible and I was afraid that by giving it a 5 that people would read it with the mindset that it was 100% accurate to Scripture. As with everything in life we should do our research so that we can present OURSELVES as "... approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2 : 15 NJKV P.S. I was given Counted With the Stars by: Connilyn Cossette by Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion
0 Comments
The post below was originally written in April of 2016 but just never got posted to the blog. The thoughts are still relevant today though, so enjoy. In my sewing room (which also doubles as my bedroom :) I have a rolling chair that I sit in whenever I am sewing. Being that it rolls it makes it very convenient to move from my sewing machine to my serger without having to get up every time. One day I noticed that my chair was not doing what it was designed to do. Usually all I have to do is push off from wherever I'm at and since my room is so small, that's all it takes to get me to the other side of my room. But now I basically had to drag myself and the chair over to where I wanted to go. My chair just refused to roll! When you sew, there are going to be threads everywhere, it's just something you have to deal with. I have a trash can next to my work space that I throw away my thread tails and scrap fabric in. But sometimes I get so busy I forget to make sure my trash ends up where it's suppose to end up. Then I roll over it with my chair and the wheels pick it up and wrap it around the inside of the wheels. Sometimes I did this on accident but other times I was just too lazy to bend over and pick it up so I let the chair wheels do it for me. The threads where gone so the problem was solved right? Wrong. What I didn't know was that over time these threads knotted themselves up more and caused strain against the wheels of my chair to where it could no longer function properly. Eventually my chair got to the point where it just could not roll or if it did it rolled only a very little. I knew I had to fix this problem so I turned over my chair and looked inside the bottom of my wheels. What I found surprised me. Do you see that!? Do you see all that thread!? I knew that my chair had to be pretty bad to cause it to slow down as slow as it was but I had no clue it was this bad! And there was only one way to get rid of it all: I was going to have to cut into it until I cleared it away. As I began the long task of cutting and pulling and cutting some more, GOD began to show me something. I began to realize that this was sometimes how sin entered our lives. We get so busy and caught up in living that we don't see the bad habits we are forming or the sin we are allowing to enter our lives. Sometimes, like in the case of my chair, we don't realize the things that have entered our lives. But also like me, either out of laziness or selfishness, or whatever reason, we choose to let it come in and over time it builds up until we can not longer function the way we were designed to. We live in a sinful world. That's something we can not stop. But we can stop sin from entering in our lives if we are careful and alert. I will always have threads in my room, that's just a part of sewing that I can't stop. But I can make sure I throw them away in the trash and make sure they end up in the trash and not on the floor or back into my life! “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36 Just like cutting away at the thread was the only way I could get my chair to function again, so there is only one way to get the sin out of our lives: GOD has to cut it away. As Christians were are designed to reflect and live in a way that shows the world GOD, but we can not do that if we have a bunch of sin in our lives! "You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved? For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities." Isaiah 64:5-7 I began to discover too that, while there was a lot of thread caught in my wheels, there was also a lot of small pieces of fabric and hair tangled up in there as well! When we begin to look at our lives, and I mean really look at our lives, we begin to find things in there that we never noticed before. Habits that we didn't know where bad suddenly we are shown just how dangerous they had become. We are shown ways that our sin has not only affected us, but has caused damaged to other people in our lives, more often than not, to the ones we love most. "Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar." Psalms 51 |
CategoriesAll Alterations Book Reviews Books Conversations With God Costumes Doctor Who? Family For The Sake Of All Things Random Friends Fun Gifts Giveaway Guest Post Holidays It's A GOD Thing Lesson Learned Literal Movie Making Non Sewing Related Projects Q&A Sewing Special Requests Theater Tutorial Wedding Yep That's Me AuthorHey Y'all! Archives
October 2019
Book Review
|