Book Review: Essentials for Life

I read the book Essentials for Life by Marcia Ford. This is a great book that offers spiritual and Biblical truths that can be applied to all aspects of life. The book is comprised of 50 short chapters touching on the "essentials" for life. Of course, and the author says this too, this isn't an all encompassing list, but it definitely hits a lot of very essentials for living. I really enjoyed how much scripture is packed into this book. Each chapter identifies several scriptural references for further investigation. The book hits the big questions first, such as chapter 1, "Answer the Big Question" and then chapter 3 "Seek the Truth About Jesus." It also touches on topics of how to forgive, how to simplify your living and honoring your family. Each chapter also includes a section at the end of the chapter that summarizing the chapter into "Do's" and "Don'ts" I think that will be very helpful as a reference in the future. The book is also chalked full of interesting notes and quotes that encourage and challenge my thinking.
For me, a lot of the chapters were good reminders and encouragement to daily living. I was stretched in my thinking and challenged to make some changes in my life! I really enjoyed the chapter on reading the Bible and the chapter of meditation of scripture. During this season of Lent, our church studied spiritual disciplines and one of those talked about was the discipline of study, having that context in my mind really drove home the point of daily scripture study. "No one ever graduates from Bible study until he meets its Author face to face" - Everett Harris, that was a quote included in the book which I thought was great and encouraging. All in all, I thought this is a great book and will be helpful as a reference in the future. I would recommend it.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.