Mama Needs a Do-Over

This is such a refreshing book! The author is so down to earth and her story and life is so easy for any mother to relate to because of her stories, guidance, and humor. I found this book very grounding and a wonderful faith refresher. It's so easy to lose sight of every day faith as you are living life, but I found this helped me reconnect with God on a daily basis and helped me find that daily inner peace I was searching for. I highly recommend this to any mother in need of spiritual renewal.

The title alone is what intrigued me to want to read and review this book from Netgalley. How many times during my day do I think, say, or even yell… Mama needs a do over! This is such a cute and lighthearted book that a weary mama (me) can read to change her perspective on even the most frustrating circumstances. This is a quick and easy read with short chapters… perfect for the mama who is time crunched.

Well after reading the description,reading the book was not quite what I expected. But, it was so much more! There are so many books on mothering or parenting that will tell us moms to do X, Y, Z, but they don't always match up with what we're experiencing or the style that fits in with who we are. This book helped me look at how I could change my perspective and do a do-over in a way that worked with my strengths, my weaknesses, and my situations. This will definitely be another book that remains one of my resources that I keep coming back to and learning more from!

As the mama to children "from hard places" I am well acquainted with the do-over concept so I jumped at the chance to review this book. We give our kids the benefit of do-overs. Why not take advantage of them ourselves? Lisa Pennington is an experienced mother of nine children. She knows her stuff! You'll find well thought out ideas to make those hard days better.

Pennington's writing is so genuine and down to earth. I found myself saying, "Oh yes! Been there!" to so many of her examples. But beyond the writing is the challenge in each chapter to do some thinking and write out a plan of our own on how we are going to respond to those challenging days.

This book of just eleven chapters was perfect as a devotional read in the morning. Let's be honest. We all have "those days" where we want to just blow up or give up. I believe if we'll follow through with the concepts presented here, our hard days will be not only more tolerable, but perhaps even memorable (in a good way.)

I loved this book and recommend it to my fellow adoptive moms who are in the trenches beside me.

** Posted a review on Amazon also.

Mama Needs a Do Over is a fabulously, wonderfully written, delightfully, fantastic book!! I love Lisa Pennington’s writing and in the spirit of Jen Hatmaker, she’s written a pick me up that will have you laughing, crying and amen-ing!

Ever have those moments when you wish you could get a redo on life? Those moments when hindsight being 20/20 is just annoying because it shows your failures…Mama Needs a Do Over is a great wake up call for those moments. Lisa Pennington uses her personal examples coupled with great quotes from authors like Lysa Terkeurst, Shauna Niequist and Angie Smith. Speaking into a woman’s heart she talks about being a mother, wife and child of God. Using our God given talents to glorify God in whatever we do, she provides a practical way of working through assignments at the end of each chapter.

Here’s some of my favorite quotes from the book:

We all have messy spots in our lives, and while we might need to clean them up, they don’t define us. I’m not embarrassed about my dusty bookshelves and you shouldn’t be either. This book is a perfect-free zone. (Loc 51)

It’s such a treat to be around others when they are using the gifts God gave them. It’s like seeing his brilliance in action. (Loc 105)

We seem to struggle with announcing our talents as if it is being prideful. (Loc 112)

The first step to not getting depressed over our lack of accomplishing our dreams is to realize that most of those childhood dreams were simply a world of possibility that we didn’t understand. We had no way to now where our talents would take us, so we grabbed on to activities that looked like they would satisfy our cravings.

God knows your innermost secrets, and if you give Him those dreams, he will direct your path in a way that will satisfy you even more than accomplishing those childhood fantasies. (Loc 350)

I highly recommend Mama Needs a Do Over and give it five out five stars. I received this book from Netgalley and David C. Cook Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion which I’ve provided here.

As a side note, I was able to also do the five day devotional that accompanies this book on the YouVersion app and would recommend that as well.

https://wordynerdyblog.wordpress.com/2015-book-reviews/mama-needs-a-do-over-by-lisa-pennington/

Highly recommended and I am not even a mom!
Lisa is both funny and quirky and deep and thoughtful. And it shows! The book is both very practical and a food for thought, aiming at mothers to know themselves and use their strong points, dreams and even their not-so-strong points to reach joyful motherhood. Lisa shows that we (women) are already armed by God with our unique gifts and dreams to help us overcome our problems, using our very personal and unique solutions. And even have a little fun doing this, as we are more able than we think to maintain positive and peaceful spirit even when going through some kind of crisis. Lisa is a very good writer, or better storyteller - reading this book just feels like you and her having a cup of coffee together, laughing and sharing your stories together. She is not afraid to let you see the dusty shelves and messy spots of her life, what is very encouraging! I felf "safe" during reading (no criticsm, just gentle advices and observations) and very uplifted during and after every reading session! I think I can understands the moms around me better now, but I also understands myself better now! Thank you, Lisa.
This book is a true gem, I can only recommend them to any woman or her husband to understand her better :)