Monday, December 10, 2018

Devotions from the Lake {a BookLook Blogger review}

Devotions from the Lake by Betsy Painter is a gorgeous book with one hundred devotions. Very peaceful devotions.

One of the hardest things for me with where we live is that I have to be so intentional if I want to hang out by water.  I don't just happen to run across lakes, ponds, or rivers in my normal life.  Not like when I was growing up.

Hanging out on a rock by a stream, reading a book -- that sums up my "perfect place" whenever I'm asked to describe such a thing.  Or walking along a shore, particularly somewhere that looks like the cover of the book.

I like bodies of water.  So I really thought this was a great devotional for me.


Each devotion is a two-page spread, with one of those pages being a beautiful photo. In between some of these devotions are two-page photos that are pretty incredible. Many photos are scenery, but there are also photos of things like relaxing in a couple of camp chairs or kids running through sprinklers.

The photos are awesome.

The actual devotional part starts with a title and a Bible verse. The verse is included along with the reference. There are two to three paragraphs of text that relates to the photo and verse. Each devotion ends with a short one to two sentence prayer.

As an example, the devotion titled “Where the Sky Meets the Ground” quotes Matthew 3:2. The photo is gorgeous, a green meadow stretching off, with a pretty blue sky containing fluffy, white clouds. The devotion talks about drawings, where there is a clear line separating earth and sky and how we often think this way about Bible stories too. Heaven and earth have a clear line between them.

The devotional goes on to talk about a more three-dimensional way to look at this, with air (heaven) in between every blade of grass. The final paragraph states, “We can ask Jesus to give us a back-porch view of heaven. Where we draw lines separating heaven and earth, He erases them so that heaven pours out over the earth and into our lives.”



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers 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: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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