Fresh-Brewed Life

The subtitle is enough to captivate you: "a stirring invitation to wake up your soul." You can almost smell the coffee brewing. Author Nicole Johnson invites you to a "fresh-brewed life" by sitting down with you and talking about the issues that women face in a challenging, fallen world. She starts by leading you to a place of surrender and then quickly moves you to take action in "waking up your soul." One of the most powerful exercises that she discusses is journaling. This action alone can awaken your soul in ways you can't imagine. But she doesn't stop there. She urges you to listen to your inner longings, embrace your beauty (true beauty), take a look and analyze your anger, get a better understanding or your sexuality, invest in your friendships, and enjoy your freedom. The message of the book begs you to "wake up and smell the coffee."

I thought this was a "good" read. It is a republished book . . . revised and expanded from 1999. The synopsis and introduction are heavy in "coffee" metaphors . . . almost overly so. At times, the metaphors were completely dropped and it seemed to lose the creativity of the message. But, overall the chapters provided insight and encouragement. The "Directed Journaling" questions were helpful in examining where you are in your faith. The "Fresh Brewed" Adventures sections were a little "cheesy," in my opinion. Others might like them. For example: "Pay attention to your dog. Dogs really know how to celebrate. Pick up some helpful suggestions from their behavior: hang your head out the window, wag your tail when you see people you love, enjoy your food, nap anywhere. Some of the "adventures" were helpful, some should have been left out or rethought. (In my opinion) The author is a good writer. I felt her best writing was done in her Epilogue. It seemed finally you could feel her heart and get to know her. Overall this was a "good" book. It just wasn't my top shelf recommendations. (And I agree with one reviewer . . . editing errors are a little ridiculous on a revised and updated Thomas Nelson book)

*I was provided this book for free in exchange for my unbiased review through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze program.