2026 Book Review #11:Sweeter than Honey Bible Study

 

Since the middle of January, the womens  small group I lead has been working in this workbook about how to fully immerse ourselves in studying Scripture.   This was an in-depth look at all the ways to study a Scripture or a passage of Scripture.   I highly recommend this for new Believers as well as for long time Believers.  

SUMMARY OF STUDY 

This study is centered around how God's word is sweeter than honey and the authors used bees and the honey making process as metaphors for how to study Scripture and why. 

There are six sessions (weeks) and each week has 5 days of homework/Scripture reading/anecdotal readings.  

The  sessions are:

1. Study the Word
2. The Unchanging Word
3. The Good News of the Word
4. Transformed by the Word
5. The Word in Every Season
6. The Word in Everyday Life

Each week, we had to use one of the study methods introduced in the Intro section of the book.

• Gathering Knowledge which includes cultural context, historical context, literary genre, people speaking, people listening, etc. 
• Digest the Big Ideas: this includes digging a little deeper into the finding the main idea or main points; summarizing passages of Scripture, and finding anything new we may have learned about God, Jesus, or some concept being talked about. 
• Grow in Godliness: this included more self reflective questions and a place to write out a Scripture that jumped out at you from the day/week and to write out a prayer (optional).  

The book centered around 4 main passages of Scripture:

Genesis (creation) 

Ephesians 1:1-11 where Paul addresses the people at Ephesus while in prison in Rome, just before his death. 

Ruth

John 15

There were Scriptures for cross reference and we learned how and which commentaries to use for comprehension and interpretation of the more difficult passages. 

We learned that there are different ways to study the Bible:

reading it from start to finish

reading it  chronologically

reading it by theme (I personally lean towards this method using my Soul Care Bible and reading passages in the NIV, NKJV, NLT)

reading it by topic (I also use this method via my Women of Faith Topical Study Bible) 

reading it verse by verse (meditating on one verse at a time). 

We also worked on using different spiritual disciplines to study the Bible daily:  meditation, prayer, worship.

We talked about loving the Word of God and why that's important as well as being in a community of Believers to grow in godliness.

There were Scriptures in other parts of the Bible as well for us to digest:  Psalms, Isaiah, I Timothy, etc. 

MY  THOUGHTS

This is a study with a LOT of writing work so I  chose only a few questions from each day's homework for my group to actually sit and discuss. 

 

I think it's a fantastic study but it's just a lot of work. You really learn to read each verse in the passage and "pick it apart" so to speak. 

I learned alot about using commentaries to help explain what Jesus/God was actually saying or what He meant. 

It's an excellent study for beginners in Christ but those of us who are more mature in Christ can get alot out of this study as well. 

In my opinion, this study is appropriate for ages 21 and older. 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.

WRAPPING up the WEEKEND

 

Friday morning sunrise
First Day of Spring

I'm stealing my blogging friend Deb's(she's a prayer partner too!!)  idea and doing a weekend wrap-up type of post. 

I sure hope she doesn't mind!  😉

Friday was the first day of Spring although it was still rather cold.  I won't share the hiking photos as I'll save those for the Friday Fave Five meme, but it was a great success and everyone, including me, had never hiked in the preserve before. It's actually now a part of the state park Dave and I have loved for years and not too far from our home. It's only about a 35 min drive north which is  considered the "foothill of the Eastern Adirondack mountains".   It ended up being a little warmer on Friday and we had an afternoon of rain. After the hike, I had time before dinner, to practice the Good Friday music I need to perform, along with some general tidying up in the kitchen, family room and guest room. I also did a thorough cleaning of the half bath.   Friday evening  was dinner at home which was pulled "pork" (Jackfruit), steamed green beans, and blue corn tortilla chips.  Dave loves BBQ pulled pork sandwiches but I haven't eaten pork since 2015.  I use the packaged Jackfruit instead.  Here's what it looks like before you add the BBQ sauce. Jackfruit looks and tastes just like pork without the animal fat/grease and calories/cholesterol! Jackfruit is native to Southeast Asia.  Dessert is for Friday and Saturday evenings only so we each had a custard sized dish of coconut milk chocolate peanut butter ice cream. It tasted so good!

I buy mine at Whole Foods or Hannaford

Jackfruit aka pulled "pork" 
it only takes about 6 minutes to cook before adding the BBQ sauce

Saturday morning was partly cloudy after a night of rain. For some odd reason, Dave and I were both up fairly early, around 6 AM!  Usually we sleep until 6:30/7 on Saturdays this time of year. He went off to buy fresh warm bagels and I sat with my Scripture study and the first mug of steaming Guatemalan coffee. I then did a stretching workout.  We had a bagel and fruit for breakfast and then I had some errands to run, one of which included doing a good power walk on the bike path in the town park. It was brisk but the rain held off for which I was thankful. When I got home from the errands, I had some cleaning to do in the master bathroom. I did some vaccuming as well upstairs and did some dusting.  The rest of Saturday was spent watching a couple of episodes of Virgin River season 7 on Netflix while Dave worked on a follow up missions letter. Dinner was chili made with Beyond meat "beef" and fresh grated cheddar cheese. The meal was plantbased/vegan minus the handful of shredded cheese we both put on our chili. I had also popped in some pillsbury crescent rolls and added some fresh purple grapes to the table. Dave  wanted to go to bed early, so I read almost to the end of a good book I had taken out from the town library. 

plant based chili

book review is here. 

Sunday was downright cold. As in I don't think it got above 38 degrees F. It was sunny when I was getting ready for the 11 AM service at church.  Dave left early as he was on the Production Team and had to be there at 7:30 AM for the 9 AM service. I had oatmeal, berries and walnuts plus 2 mugs of coffee for breakfast and a very small glass of Orange Juice. After breakfast I showered and got ready for church and was thanking God for the sunshine when it began to get cloudy again!  I did my Scripture study, listened to some MP3s for our vocal ensemble rehearsal.  During church, my friend Maggie (she's in my small group as well as the hiking group) got baptized!!  She was raised Catholic, came to Christ a number of years ago, and decided to partake in water baptism. Our site pastor had a really good sermon about life in the flesh vs life in the Spirit and the consequences of both. It was very good as was the worship music. After the service, 6 of us ladies (including my oldest daughter) went to our worship director's office to practice for the Good Friday service in which we will be singing.  It was a good, productive practice and by mid-afternoon, I was home, changed my clothes and bascially read most of the day. Dave had to run an errand to the mall so wanted to get food from a place he likes there. I chose to eat leftover chili.  Neither of us wanted a full dinner Sunday evening so we ate thing like cheese and crackers/hummus and fruit.  We were both so tired Sunday evening that we went to bed with our books and sat and talked and read and lights were out by 10:30!! 

It was a cold, mostly rainy, but very relaxing weekend over all! 

The rest of this week is much busier!

How was your weekend?

 

2026 Book Review #10: Our Last Resort

 

I read this author's debut novel, The Quiet Tenant in 2024, and now this latest one set in Utah and the Hudson Valley of NYS (where I live!). I'm pretty sure the author is basing the part of the story set in the Hudson Valley, on a real cult that was exposed a few years back. It's all very similar anyways, although the names are fictionalized. 

STORY SUMMARY

Gabriel and Frida are together again for the first time in nine years. Gabriel now lives in Seattle, and Frida continues to live in NYC. But they are at a luxury resort in southern Utah (Ara) in a desert area near the town of Escalante. They have a shared history going back to their childhood.  They were raised in a cult in the Hudson Valley area of New York State. They don't even know who their biological parents are, although they do know they are not biological brother and sister. They just have always called themselves brother and sister. They are the best of friends. 

After a horrible tragedy that ended in the death of Gabriel's wife Annie, Frida and Gabriel have grown apart. 

But now, at this resort, they are  ready to start over. There are desert hikes, dips in the beautiful hotel pool, and good food.  Everything feels like paradise....until a hotel female guest ends up dead. She was a beautiful young woman married to a very powerful, older and very wealthy, media magnate named William Brenner. 

The local police arrive but suspicion falls immediately on Gabriel.  This makes Frida relive the memories from their upbringing in that cloistered cult in New York State. Gabriel and Frida actually escaped from that cult, after setting  a fire.   There was a major scandal that followed them.  They were only 18 yrs old at the time.   Frida has always believed Gabriel is innocent of the scandal:  that he killed his wife Annie.  ( he had gotten married after just knowing her for a few months and at the young age of 22). Gabriel was never  formally arrested and charged  with Annie's death (her body was found in a river in NJ off a  trail where she liked to trail run) but he was a person of interest. 

But now?  It's beginning to look like Gabriel might have murdered this young woman named Sabrina. There's alot of  circumstantial evidence pointing to him, in any case. 

Who really killed Sabrina?

How did they survive and escape the clutches of Emile the leader of the cult? What happened to Emile? 

And will the ghosts from their past ever be put to rest?? 

MY THOUGHTS

This is another fast-paced novel (although I preferred her debut novel) with some psychological twists based on childhood traumas. 

The character development is strong and interesting.  I liked how the author describes the feelings and thoughts going through Frida's mind as she's growing up in the   cult community. 

It's a story of survival and secrets.  It asks the question: do we ever really know the people we love?? 

The setting is stunning in the way the author describes Escalante....a resort desert area about a half hour from the town. 

The similarities between the real cult NXIVM and its leader is striking to me. Also, the first book the author wrote was also set in the Hudson Valley. The author does live downstate in NYC. 

The main themes in this story seem to be: survival, identity, perseverance, emotional and physical scars from cult activity/being raised in a cult (childhood trauma), sexual assault, murder, depression, fear, suspicion, loyalty and the strong bonds of friendship. 

Some descriptions, although very mild and not offensive, could be triggering for people suffering from bi-polar disorder, survivors of cult activity including sexual assault, survivors of fire or survivors of emotional, educational, and physical neglect/abuse. 

I found no editing errors in this book although the use of the F word more than once is a turn off. 

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to some mature content). 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9. 

SATURDAY NINE on a CLOUDY DAY

I'm participating in the weekly Saturday 9 meme.  Head to this blog to learn how to join in. I liked this week's questions!

I also love this song cause I love Paul McCartney.  This song came out when I was a senior in high school! 

Saturday 9: London Town (1978)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1. Have you ever visited London:

No.  It's on our bucket list, though!

2. In this song, Paul sings of encountering a London street musician playing the flute. Are there street musicians in your town?  

We live in suburbia so no.  However, the small city I shop in and where we often  head to eat out, has several street musicians.  More in the warmer months (May-November). 

3. It's raining as he wanders around London. How is the weather where you are today? 

It's mostly  cloudy, grey, there's a few swirling snowflakes as I'm typing this at 9 AM and the temp is typical for March here in the Great Northeast: 35 although yesterday it got up to 50 and was partly sunny! 

4. "London Town" is one of a handful of songs credited to Paul McCartney and Denny Laine, his bandmate in Wings from 1971 to 1981. They became fast friends in the mid-60s when Denny was with The Moody Blues, the band who opened for The Beatles on their final UK concert tour. Paul has acknowledged Denny's outstanding vocals and guitar playing, as well as his humor and generosity. Share the good qualities of one of your close friends.

I'll talk about my friend Joan.  She's an encourager, very honest, not hypocritical at all and exudes the love of God to everyone. She loves to pray for people. She's a hiking buddy, always up for an adventure and can be somewhat spontaneous which I love. She's  also super compassionate and generous. I've only known her for a little over a year but we connected immediately and  she's becoming one of my closest friends. 

5) Wings broke up in 1981 when Paul decided he was weary of touring. His kids were in school, his Beatle bandmate John Lennon had been murdered, and he simply felt more comfortable staying put and working in the studio, rather than performing live. Denny believed this would mean his role, and his financial compensation, would diminish so he quit Wings. Tell us about why you left one of your jobs.

I'll start with my first official teaching job (not counting the 1.5 years I was a substitute teacher right after college) teaching high school vocal music/chorus/musical theater.  I left to go to grad school!! Instead of getting a MS in Music Education, I felt the call of God to get my MS in Educational Psychology/Special Education and accepted a fellowship to do an internship for 20 weeks as a Special Education Teacher of preK students followed by an internship for another 20 weeks as a Special Education Teacher of Multiply Handicapped people ages 13-senior  citizen in a center based program.  After an intense year (June 1986-June 1987) I had earned a MS Summa Cum Laude and my NYS permanent certification Special Education Brith-Geriatric. Grad school was awesome, intense, and gave me so many teaching opportunities along with my career jump. 

6) Linda McCartney also wrote and performed with Wings. In addition to music, she is known for her photography and cookbooks. Of these three – music, photography and cooking – which do you enjoy most?

I absolutely adore most kinds of music and often practice some of my classical and baroque piano pieces during the week. I'm currently learning the alto harmony to many pieces of music for our Good Friday service. But I also love to cook and I dabble in photography. 

7) Paul's first car was a 1964 Aston Martin DB5. He selected it himself before The Beatles went off on their first world tour and it was waiting for him when he got home to London. He drove it when he shouldn't have, as he didn't get his license until spring of 1965. When did you get your driver's license?

I got my NYS license in the summer of 1977 just before my senior year of high school. 

8) Speaking of driver's licenses ... Last year someone bought one of Paul's expired driver's licenses at auction for $20,000. When you get a new license, passport, or state issued ID, what do you do with the old one?

For my old passport: I kept it.  Because it has the Aruba, France, and Italy stamps! No way was I getting rid of my old passport! 

For my old college ID: I shredded it. 

For expired licenses, I also shred them. 

9) Random question – Which do you have more of: dirty dishes in the sink or dirty clothes in the hamper?

Dirty clothes in the hamper. I have a dishwasher so almost  all  dishes go into it right away. I hate a messy kitchen. Actually (I just checked) my husband left his coffee mug in the sink. Typical. 😒

HAPPY SATURDAY!