Real World Read: Sis, Don't Settle / March 16, 2022 by Jasmine Tate

Because I’ve been single more than 10 years, I don’t often gravitate to advice on how to navigate “Single Life,” but Faith Jenkins is someone I’ve always admired. I was very curious about her approach to finding love with a man who checked all but one box on her 50-item list. That alone gave her credibility in my book, but in addition she has a history of counseling couples in her professional career as an attorney and former judge on Divorce Court.

Aside from the reasons mentioned above and our shared Louisiana roots, I pre-ordered a copy to support her first book. Although it took me much longer to read it than I expected, it exceeded my expectations and took me on my own journey while following hers.

The book gives a look into her private celebrity love life and lessons before marriage, shares advice from the countless couples she’s counseled and provides a guide to dating with affirmations, questions to ask yourself and your potential mate and more!

Real World Read: Mere Christianity Book Review & 15 Key Takeaways / July 28, 2021 by Jasmine Tate

In 2020 I attended a life group training where the facilitators shared our lead pastor, Eric Geiger’s top recommended books for all Christians to read. “Mere Christianity” was one of them; over a year later, my life group and I dove in.

Unlike the studies we've done recently, the book did not provide study guides, discussion questions or assignments to read passages from the Bible, but what it did provide was thought-provoking, vocabulary-building, dialogue-enhancing literature, that took us on an adventure and positioned us to live better Christian lives.

As I read, I felt like I was having a serious yet informal conversation with a very intellectual mentor. Through that conversation we shared laughs, disagreements, truths and more. There were times that I had to re-read a passage, times every word made perfect sense and still times I had to research or save a question to discuss with my group.

Although Lewis shares that “It is a very silly idea that in reading a book you must never skip. All sensible people ‘skip’ freely when they come to a chapter which they find is going to be no use to them,” skipping chapters of a book still feels like cheating to me. Textbooks are the only exception. I’ve read the book cover to cover including the preface, bios and reviews.

It's hard to share quotes out of context, but here are 15 excerpts that remind us of the nature and position of Christianity and how we can and should live it out.

Bible Study Review: Five things you can expect from Priscilla Shirer's Gideon Study / November 11, 2020 by Jasmine Tate

Gideon, Your weakness. God’s Strength. packs a lot into 192 pages cover-to-cover guiding readers through faith, history, self-reflection, group discussion and much more. The study will take you through a transformative experience with God, Gideon, Priscilla and those who do it with you. Structured to similar to a devotional, the study outlines the weekly sessions within five days, giving you two days to reflect further and begin to put what you learned into action.

You can expect to

dive deep into history (maps, charts, multiple-choice questions and more included)
engage through activities and questions with yourself and your group
reflect on the Word of God (in thought and scripture) and how it’s applied in your daily walk with Christ,
connect with Priscilla through vivid stories of her life and experiences
and be moved by her many words of wisdom.

Real World Read: The Five Love Languages / August 7, 2019 by Jasmine Tate

Last year I read a book about relationships and love cover to cover that made me so excited I wanted to share what I had learned with everyone. I was calling my family members, sharing with coworkers and thinking about previous relationships or situations that could have had a better outcome had I read it sooner.

Although it was hard for me to avoid skipping to the end or researching an outline online, I was glad I resisted the urge. With each chapter, I was assigning people in my life to different categories based on what I had read.