A Review of Joy: A Godly Woman's Adornment by Lydia Brownback (Mom's Bookshelf)

As a busy mom of four, I have to be creative to find time to spend with God. I'm always on the lookout for resources to facilitate my walk with Jesus and growth in my relationship with Him, so I was very grateful when  Crossway Publishing offered me the opportunity to review Joy: A Godly Woman's Adornment, part of the On-the-Go Devotionals series by Lydia Brownback.


Don't let the book's compact size and fairly short length fool you. This little book is packed with biblically sound, Christ-centered truth. Ms. Brownback doesn't shy away from theological discussions in favor of lighter fare and rather shallow Scripture application, as some women's devotionals seem to be prone to do.


Coming in at just over 100 pages, Joy: A Godly Woman's Adornment contains an introduction and forty-one devotions, all focused, as you've probably guessed from the title, on biblical joy. Each devotion begins with a Scripture passage followed by a short (approximately two page) meditation on the passage. Not surprisingly, the book of Philippians and the Psalms figure prominently, although there are selections from multiple Old and New Testament books.


I loved her statement that "joy and Christ-centeredness go hand-in-hand..." and her observation that "joy is the out-working of worship".


A few of my favorite devotions were:

• Joy, No Matter What (Philippians 1:12) on joy in difficulty and trials
• Joy in Wisdom (Proverbs 15:21)
• Joy in Waiting (Habakkuk 3: 17-18)
• Joy in the Path of Life (Psalm 16:11) on fellowship with God
• Joy in Being Home (Psalm 84:2) on making our home with God

During my busy days, it's difficult to find time to do more than read in bits and pieces a few minutes at a time. My household is just too busy for in depth reading on a regular basis through the day. I save those books for early in the morning, late at night, or when I know I'll have longer than  5 or 10 minutes to devote to them. Otherwise I find myself constantly having to backtrack a few pages to pick up the train of thought where I left off. So, I really appreciate the short length of these devotions. I'm able to grab the book, read one in just a few minutes, and then chew on it and talk to God about it as I go about my daily tasks. The compact size makes the book easy to toss in my purse or bag and take along (or even better yet, get the Kindle edition!). 

I found Joy: A Godly Woman's Adornment to be convenient and easy to use, without sacrificing depth. The devotions were gospel-saturated and refreshing. I'm thankful to Crossway for providing a copy to me and look forward to reading the other titles in the series (Trust, Contentment, and Purity). You can find out more about the series and discussion groups at Crossway's blog.


(Crossway graciously provided a review copy of this title to me in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.)


Linked with Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family