Reflecting Him - book review and grand prize package

DO YOU SEE JESUS IN YOUR DAILY ACTIVITIES

OR SAVE HIM FOR EMERGENCIES?

God longs for you to spend your day with Him. Reflecting Him helps you pulls back the veil so you can see how a true relationship with the Lord changes your life. As Jesus becomes a part of everything you do, you will soon be reflecting Him to those around you.

In ten weeks, through Reflecting Him, you will:

• Realize life is not about me, but all about Him.
• See daily applications for lessons learned from scripture.
• Understand how God is directing your life—often without you knowing it.
• Learn the importance of prayer in your everyday activities.
• Discover the joyful intimacy of a life filled with Jesus.
• Realize how your personal relationship with Jesus changes when you make Him part of everything you do.

The study comes in small enough bites to digest, but deep enough content to stimulate change and growth. Carla McDougal’s refreshing authenticity and humorous style lifts you up and encourages you to dig deeper into the Word.

CARLA MCDOUGAL is founder of Reflective Life Ministries headquartered in the Houston, Texas area. Her true passion for her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, shines brightly, whether she is speaking or writing. She shares experiences from her own life to encourage women to live every day for Him. God is sending Carla around the world to speak to women from all walks of life—those living in the best of circumstances to those who have hit rock bottom.

Carla’s book, Reflecting Him: Living for Jesus and Loving It, is a 10-week study that encourages you to open your eyes to God’s daily life lessons. The more you ask God to be in your life, the more you will recognize His hand on everything you do. For more information on a growing number of products from Reflective Life Ministries, and to see about booking Carla for an event or interview, go to www.reflectivelifeministries.org.

Author Interview

• What practical steps can believers take to be less self-focused and more God-focused?
• Life is not about me, but all about Him. This phrase changed my life. Prayer is the key to keeping your eyes on Jesus. The more we pray, the more God moves us to do His will and not our will!
• You say it’s important for believers to discover how to pray everyday prayers. What does this mean? I heard a speaker say she would never bother God to help her find her lost keys or a good parking spot—how do you feel about that statement?
• I pray about everything! Jesus tells us in Luke 16:10, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.” We categorize prayers, God recognizes prayers. God wants us to bring everything to Him. Nothing is too small or too big for God! Prayer builds our faith and trust in Jesus!
• What are some of the blessings of having an intimate life with Jesus, and how does one develop that intimacy?
• Humbleness abounds as I realize there is nothing I can do to earn an intimate relationship with Jesus. I can only obtain it through His grace and mercy, which He gives so freely. Jesus is my all in all.

For those who leave a comment, you'll be entered into a grand prize drawing package of the following items, worth $125!:

Reflective Life Ministries

Instant Leader Kit:

Video Teaching Series

Bible Study Book
Leader Guide
Music CD

My Review of Reflecting Him:

Reflecting Him: Living for Jesus and Loving It

By Carla McDougal

WinePress

c. 2010
ISBN: 9781606150337
$18.99
Genre: Bible studies, general

Reflecting Him is a great individual or group Bible study guide for those who want to delve into a lifestyle of faith.

Set up as a ten-week course, McDougal’s attractive workbook allows plenty of space for participants to record reactions to the lessons, and offers a Leader’s Guide and Teaching Materials available to download from the Reflective Life Ministries web site. A story, a scripture “excavation” and reflection is planned out for five days of each week.

Reflecting Him is written with women in mind and full of encouraging and challenging observations such as The Firing Process: “Do you see Jesus walking with you in the heat of your situation?”

While I’m not always pleased with Bible Studies that jump all over the place scripturally, McDougal carefully combines Old and New Testament scriptures with the weekly focus. For example, in Week 5, Prayer is the focus of the week, with a tour of the inside of our spiritual home the examples.  Day One deals with our hidden selves in The Closet and the scripture focus is the story of David and Bathsheba; Day Two talks about our need for peaceful rest, and so on, taking a different Bible passage to work through the week.

McDougal’s writing is personable and personal, encouraging with well-planned lessons and real-life application challenges. She’ll lead you on a path to a deeper walk with Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Diagrams, pictures, charts, and a bibliography make this large-size workbook attractive and useable. It won’t get lost in the sofa cushions!

Reflecting Him

Do you remember the last time you opened the door to your junk closet? You know, the place where you put things you don’t want left out in the open. Maybe an item is old and worn out, so you throw it in this closet. Or, possibly it’s broken, and you don’t know what to do with it.

In my Bible Study, Reflecting Him, I invite readers to take a guided tour through various rooms in our homes, and compare these areas to our spiritual lives. The first day of the tour focuses on the closet—that hidden, dark place no one enters but you. “Out of sight, out of mind” might describe those items tucked away in that small space; but couldn’t the phrase also depict the things we hide in the backs of our minds and hearts? Broken, worn out, or sinful thoughts weigh heavily on our souls, and we need to let go, so they can be replaced by God’s light of love, grace and mercy. June 23^rd is National “Let It Go” Day. I encourage you to find something in your spiritual “junk closet” and let it go.

Do you harbor bitterness for past hurts against you? Does sin linger in the crevices of your heart and mind? Are you in need of God’s forgiveness? We are all sinners, but we can be free from the closet of sin if we confess and ask for His forgiveness. Let go, and let God shine His light on you.

Just like cleaning out the junk closet, once you let go of those spiritual messes in your life, you’ll be left with room for the new. God’s all about making things new. A new heart. A new life. A new you. It all starts with letting go of those things that fall short of His plan.

When you organize a junk closet, you might choose to use special organizers or aids to make it all work together better. Or perhaps you even hire a professional organizer. In your spiritual closet, don’t forget that you can find all the assistance you’ll ever need through the help of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word.

Are you ready to let God take the tour through the various rooms of your spiritual “house”? When you open the closet, what mess falls out? Give it to Him and see what happens!

___

CARLA MCDOUGAL is founder of Reflective Life Ministries headquartered in the Houston, Texas area. Her true passion for her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, shines brightly, whether she is speaking or writing. She shares experiences from her own life to encourage women to live every day for Him. God is sending Carla around the world to speak to women from all walks of life—those living in the best of circumstances to those who have hit rock bottom. Carla’s book, Reflecting Him: Living for Jesus and Loving It, pulls back the veil so you can see yourself and your Lord more clearly and reflect Him with transparency when interacting with others. This 10-week study exposes the dark corners of your life, opening your eyes and heart to what Jesus wants you to see. Carla’s refreshing authenticity and humorous style will lift you up from a heaviness you didn’t even know weighed you down. For more information on a growing number of products from Reflective Life Ministries, and to see about booking Carla for an event or interview, go to: http://www.reflectivelifeministries.org