Book Review: Spritual Warfare for Women

As a Bethany House Publishers Book Reviewer, I am given the opportunity to read new books and write online reviews of them in exchange I get to keep the books!  Its a great set up and I love having something to motivate me to read more.  Especially books that aren't always the first you want to pick up at the end of a long day.  This was one of them.

I'll admit, if I'm going to read, I like to enjoy something more along the lines of fiction, adventure, historical intrigue, or delve into lives of different cultures and places and times.  Christian development and discipleship are just 'hard' books to read.  They make you think more.  They challenge you.  And sometimes its just hard to want to read them after chasing around a preschooler and toddler all day.  But I felt challenged and led to give this one a try.  Little did I know the events that were about to unfold in our extended family nor did I anticipate the attack that Satan would hold just for reading such material.  My first word of this book:  be warned.  The author- the brutally honest, sincere, and funny lady Leighann McCoy (I don't know her but I love her!) does the same warning at the beginning.  One of the things Satan hates most is a growing intimacy with Christ in order to fight him off.  He will go gang busters to try and keep you from reading how the victory has already been won and here are tools to defeat his conniving schemes.

One of my favorite parts in McCoy's book is the chapters on Satan.  Who he is.  Where he came from.  I love learning how because Satan was once an angel, he and the other fallen have the same powers and knowledge that Godly angels do.  He just 'exists in the opposite direction of his original purpose' (p. 90).  Understanding Satan's schemes and his subtleties was also very helpful and empowering.  Knowing the enemy prepares you for battle.

While many chapters and stories that highlight her recent journeys through cancer, child waywardness, and a devastating flood I was most convicted by her example of the 5 smooth stones.  For me, the visual reminder (taken from the 5 stones David took to fight Goliath) of 5 ways to daily combat our fallen enemy will be the most helpful.  They apply to all areas of our walk that Satan loves to destroy:  marriage, children, relationships, and health. 

Thank you Leighann McCoy for finishing your book despite life's challenges.  Thank you for your example.  I highly recommend this book to any woman at any stage in her walk with Christ.