God moments (by the writers on encouraging.com)

(Amazon UK link)

Any time I go away, I spend an hour or so browsing Amazon’s current selection of free books for the Kindle. I tend to look in a few genres, including Christian lifestyle and spirituality, and that’s how I came across this book nearly two years ago. It sat on my Kindle unopened until I was due to fly to the UK in August 2014. I looked for something that offered short Bible readings and ‘devotional’ thoughts, as I didn’t want to carry the rather heavy book I was using at home.

‘God moments: A year in the word’ seemed to fulfil my requirements. Written by various women who are apparently on a website called ‘encouraging.com’ it offers a short reading from the Bible for each day, and then some personal commentary or thoughts from different people, related to the reading and also related to the overall theme for the month concerned. In January, for instance, the theme was ‘Be still and know that I am God’.

I didn’t take any notice of the dates, since I was starting in the middle of August rather than at the beginning of the year, and on some days I read a couple of the entries rather than just one. Inevitably the quality and relevance were variable. Sometimes I found myself nodding and agreeing, other times shaking my head in bewilderment at some cultural or other reference that meant nothing to me. The book is American, after all, and I am not.

After three weeks away, I returned home and resumed reading the rather more in-depth devotional commentary that occupied me for most of that year. I read no more of ‘God Moments’ until my next UK trip in February of last year. Then in January this year, I decided that I would continue with ‘God moments’, usually reading the book over breakfast as it’s so convenient to do so on my Kindle. Sometimes I read just one of the mini sections, sometimes two or even three, depending on the content. Each devotion ends with a prayer, some of which I found both helpful and relevant.

I don’t think I learned anything new from this book, or had any tremendous insights, but I was reminded more than once of something important: perhaps a person or event I was thankful for, perhaps something to pray for. I appreciated the time given by the women - I don’t know how many - to put this book together, and I liked having little insights into their very different homes and lives.

I finally finished it recently, taking three or four of the December devotions together most mornings as they tended to refer to Christmas, and of course it’s only just past Easter. I liked the flexibility to read as much or as little as I wanted to, without being tied to dates; but it would probably work more effectively as a once-a-day reading starting in January.

The link above is to the Kindle edition of this book, which is still available inexpensively. It's also  available in paperback form. 

Review copyright 2016 Sue's Book Reviews