Words! Words! Words!
Words all over the place. Accusing, blaming, and degrading words are the worst of all. After hearing those words over and over again, we begin to feel the weight of them threatening to crush the very life out of us.
Buried Beneath the Words cleverly shares a true life story about the different ways someone can end up buried beneath the weight of negative words. Then it shares a Christian course for how God's word can revive us. By putting the advice given within these pages into practice, you will experience an awakening of the real you—the you that has been buried way too long.
Buried Beneath the Words is a very easy read, but it powerfully shows the way words can affect us. Arnold uses examples from her own life to show how people can get beaten down by the words spoken about them (both by others and by themselves), and she also shows the freedom that can be found in Christ.
I think this book could be a great resource for someone who has been abused or bullied or simply has low self esteem. A notes section follows most chapters, complete with questions to help the reader think through the way words are impacting them, and I think this could be used very effectively as a small group study.
I do have a few qualms about one section of the book, where Arnold talks about confession (in this case, speaking truth over herself). She lists several confessions and the scripture to back them up, but I fear that a few are taken a bit out of context. (This is always a debate when applying scripture to your life, and probably most people who read this book will disagree with me here.) Also, the editor in me cringed every time I saw the word Bible uncapitalized, and I noted a few other spelling/word choice errors.
Ultimately, I'm glad I read this book. I couldn't see myself in its pages, mainly because the Lord has blessed me with very positive family and friend relationships, but I certainly will be more aware now of how the words I speak about others can be used positively or negatively. 3-1/2 stars.
Content note: Since we're on the subject of words, I think it's definitely worth mentioning that the author, while recounting conversations with her siblings, uses "Oh my G**" and a few other crude words. I was very surprised to find these in a book about the power of words, and, even if they were the words used in the real conversations, they could have been edited for print.
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Betel Arnold is a Certified Christian Life Coach, her passion is to reach out to women with compassion, empathy and encouragement. She is the creator, co-producer, and co-host of Simply Talking, a local public television show addressing issues drawn from our daily lives to deeper questions that come from our personal tragedies. Betel has learned to integrate her roles as wife, mother, inspirational speaker and family advocate. It is Betel's personal life experiences of overcoming adversity where she was able to find the inspiration and inner strength to do the impossible. She inspires others to overcome the challenges that keep us from moving forward in our lives and achieving our goals. Betel Arnold has embraced her life's conviction to help women become all that God has called them to be.
Find Betel online: website, Facebook, Twitter
Welcome to the blog tour and giveaway for Betel Arnold's debut book, Buried Beneath the Words.
One grand prize winner will receive:
- A Kindle Fire
- Buried Beneath the Words by Betel Arnold
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