This book was great to read to refresh my mind. It reminded me to be grateful and choose to have joy even when that seems like the farthest thing I want to do. I enjoyed the structure of the book and how everything was tied together. The gratitude challenges were my favorite. Overall if you need a boost on how and why to choose the joy that Jesus has available then this book is for you. I recommend it!



Thank you to Nicolet and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book!

#ChoosingCheer #NetGalley

This book is a good resource full of good encouragements and helpful reminders. It’s generally sensitive and thoughtful when discussing how to have joy in Jesus and why believers sometimes struggle to have joy. There are some useful specific suggestions - for example, breath prayers centering on specific Bible verses. I also appreciated Bell’s vulnerability sharing about her fertility journey and miscarriage. She raises some difficult and valid questions, such as why a baby is allowed to suffer, and generally addresses such topics with compassion for believers enduring suffering.

However, some parts of the book didn’t reach me as much. Bell’s advice to smile at strangers, or to remember that suffering is good for us in some way, isn’t untrue or wrong; it just doesn’t feel helpful to me in a place of deep suffering and feeling distant from God. It will probably still help someone else though - and overall, Bell is very understanding about the difficulty of choosing joy in painful circumstances.

This is overall a great resource for Christians. I give it 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Thank you to NetGalley and Morehouse Publishing for the free eARC! I post this review with my honest opinions. This review is cross-posted on Goodreads and will be posted on Amazon and Instagram upon the book’s publication.