Author: Carol Round
Genre: Devotional

“Journaling with Jesus is a creative call to an authentic, intimate relationship with Christ through the art of prayer-journaling. Author Carol Round openly shares her own intimate journaling journey, initially borne of pain, and now bathed in promise—the hope of healing in Jesus. Let her sensitively guide you along your own prayer path through balanced scriptural support, stories from the lives of women transformed through the ​power of journaling, encouraging explanations about the benefits of journaling, and timely tips about how to start. Allow Journaling with Jesus to take you deep into the heart of God, by showing you practically and inspirationally how to bare the depths of your own heart on the blank page. As you fill your journal with words of honesty, God will fill your heart with the wonder of His love.” —LYNN D. MORRISSEY, author of Love Letters to God: Deeper IntimacyThrough Written Prayer ​

Reviewer: Laura J. Davis

When I first started reading Through the Wilderness by Carol A. Brown I was immediately overwhelmed. Why? It felt like she had written the book just for me! As Carol described her symptoms of MS and her emotions that followed her diagnosis, I was taken back to the day I was diagnosed with an incurable disease and her words were like a balm to my soul.  In fact, the first chapter was packed with so much that I could identify with (even though we had totally different diseases) I had to put the book down just to absorb and meditate on what I had just read. 

The author lists the book as a devotional, but I would list it more as Christian Living/Self-Help because there is a lot of advice and wisdom in this book to help one get through those wilderness experiences we all go through in our journey with the Lord. Each chapter will take you through something the author has learned from the Lord in relation to her illness. The most impressive was her experience of how God spoke to her through clay and pottery. This spoke to me the most. At the end of each chapter are some of the most insightful questions I've ever seen in a book, that will no doubt bring you closer to examining your spiritual life and relationship with the Lord. Every chapter is followed by a beautiful prayer. It is the questions and the prayer, along with each individual chapter that make this book a "one-chapter a day" kind of thing. You need to sit and contemplate your journey in relation to the questions put before you. 

I discovered through Carol's questions how remarkable her attitude was as opposed to my own when she received her diagnosis. While I felt like I had been punched in the gut when my diagnosis came, my reaction was one of, "Okay, that's one more thing to deal with...moving on."  Carol on the other hand, decided that she wanted to learn everything the Lord could teach her through her disease. Thus began a time of prayer, meditation and contemplation.

She began to look at MS with a spiritual mindset. Something I failed to do. I never once thought there was something I could actually learn from my disease. Whereas Carol asked God for clarity on just about everything, to help her grow into the beautiful vessel (despite MS) He was creating. If you are struggling with where God has you (especially if it is in a place of illness) you need to pick up this book! Carol uses the analogy of the potter and the clay (Jeremiah 18) quite well. There are so many steps to take before we become the people God created us to be and sometimes we need to "sit on the shelf" like a clay pot.  As Carol says, "Once a pot is formed it sits on the shelf. Then when it becomes leather hard, it is taken back to the wheel and trimmed to its final shape. This is a time when any carving or decorating is done. " She goes on to explain that the drying shelf is an essential preparation for the fire. And we need our times on the shelf! Because, as Carol says, "It helps us to be adequately prepared for the fire of our next assignment. And we need the fire so that we can become what we were designed to be!"

If you are going through a difficult time right now and you need the assurance that God is aware and working in your life, or you just need to hear from "someone who has been there", then I urge you to pick up a copy of Through the Wilderness, so that you can begin to see your trials through spiritual eyes and become the vessel God intends you to be!

Reviewer: A. A. Adourian

I love Paris and I love God—not necessarily in that order. While it isn’t necessary to love Paris before reading this book (it is quite likely the author’s love for Paris will infect the reader anyway), it is obvious the author loves God, too.
 
I was drawn to this collection because I wanted to walk with the author in Paris and see how God revealed Himself there. And I was not disappointed. It was as though I was walking with a funny, creative, thoughtful friend who not only has right words at the right moment but is also a knowledgeable tour guide. So much so that readers may want more detail around facts mentioned in the book than what is provided in the notes section at the back.
 
If you have a friend thinking about going to Paris, be sure to give them this collection. It may even help with their trip planning. As for me, I scarce believe this is the author’s first book. I look forward to other collections by Kim Louise Clarke. Vive The French Collection!

Reviewer: Cheryl Colwell

What an enjoyable read. Kim’s adventures reminded me of my time in Italy. While traveling alone, we can make any choice we want, but sometimes there are just too many choices.
 
I love that Kim took the time to reflect and collect those special moments when God grew close and whispered to her. With no one else to lean on, it becomes a special time of drawing close to the God who is really there.
 
The descriptions of the sites she visited ramped up my desire to visit France all the more. This book is well-written and personal, a combination I thoroughly enjoyed.

Reviewer: Jane Daly

I thoroughly enjoyed travelling the streets of Paris with Ms. Clarke. She wove in timeless truths from God’s word using real-life examples from her observations of Parisian life. For instance, she tells of trying to cross a busy intersection after misreading the signal. “My mistake had been in looking at a signal too far ahead. Looking too far into the distance can be a problem. Focusing on the wrong thing way up ahead means that the things in between are often missed.”

This book is wonderful as a devotional, or for anyone who would like to experience Paris without the cost of a plane ticket.