The Organized Heart

Well, I told you that I was going to start some book reviews :D

My first book review is of The Organized Heart: a woman's guide to conquering chaos, by Staci Eastin.

This book was given to me by a dear friend in DC who clearly knows me very well. Here are some reasons it's a fantastic gift:
1. It's short. The whole book is only 102 pages. For realsies. It also has huge margins and regular sized print. It has short sections and fairly short chapters, too. If you struggle to get through dense material, but still want to learn how to tame your sinful heart when it comes to chaos in your life, this is the book for you.
2. It's great for people who do not naturally have the ability of introspection. At the end of each chapter, there are specific questions you're supposed to ask yourself to help assess where your heart is. It also has tons of examples of how various sins could actually play out in daily life. Staci Eastin gives examples from her own life and more abstract examples to help the reader understand what a particular sin looks like.
3. There's lots of scripture. And she doesn't assume that you know exactly what the verses say. I mean, it's great to reference tons of scripture, but I'm lazy. If you just make the scripture reference, I may just take your word for it and not look up the specific passage (I know, I know, I'm ridiculous). She might not quote the verse verbatim, but she does summarize it quite well before moving on.
4. She is clear about how our actions do not make God love us any more or less, but that our salvation gained solely by what Christ has done on the cross. AND she does that without minimizing our own responsibility to seek to mortify our sin WITH the help of the Holy Spirit.

So, what's this book about?

Essentially, the author looks at why, even though we know how to live an orderly life and we desire to live an orderly life, we still choose to live in chaos. She notes that chaos comes from several areas:
- perfectionism
- busyness
- possessions
- leisure
- difficult circumstances

She deals with the idols of perfectionism, busyness, possessions, and leisure deftly, reminding us that these sins have long-term affects and that they are against a holy God. She also gives a few quick ways on how to battle them. She also encourages those who genuinely have difficult circumstances to have hope in Christ, as he is sovereign over everything and knows every circumstance in your life.

Altogether a super helpful book. I highly recommend it!

Here's where you can buy it at Cruciform Press. Also, in looking up this book, I saw that they have an awesome deal where you can sign up for a book/month subscription (print or ebook!) and they'll send you one book per month for a pretty low price. How awesome is that? Enjoy!

Grace and peace in Christ Jesus,

Mrs. A