Kim Erickson

One night Kim’s beautiful, blonde three-year-old son went to sleep. And never woke up. During a time of utter despair, Kim found Christ and began to study the gospel. In His Last Words, she draws upon her insight as a grieving mother and fledgling Christian (at the time), to lead women through a biblical study of the Gospel of John, focusing on the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples.

Intended as a group study for women, His Last Words is organized into a seven-week format, with small sections to read and reflect upon each day . There are many guiding questions for pre-study focus, as well as closing journal questions to gather and document insight gained through the day’s reading. As a former high school English teacher, I appreciate how well-organized the study is and how repetition of key goals and follow-up on past discussion points are used throughout.

I study literature so I greatly enjoyed sifting through John 13-17, line by selected line, studying the semantics and gaining meaning from Christ’s words. My only criticism of the book is that I sincerely wish the corresponding biblical passages focused upon and referenced for further study were included within the book. While I understand that this is meant to get readers into their bibles, it would still be helpful to read the biblical passages, directly from the text, in one nice, solid chunk prior to dissecting line by line.

This is a great, writing-intensive biblical study for groups of all ages, but intended for women as part of a series from Moody Publishers.

*- I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.… (més)

I have been going through this study for the past few weeks and it has been great. Kim is so incredibly personal throughout the study. She shares her heart in such an applicable, relatable, and encouraging way. Her voice is so down to earth. The language she uses is easy for anyone to understand, mature believer or new Christian. The daily work is not too strenuous where you would get discouraged after a few days. It's just the right amount of work that will keep you thinking about the material all day. I love that the 5th days of each week are set aside for review and summary. I often find when I'm doing a study that I forget what I learned on day 1 by the time I am on day 5. It was really helpful to go back and review all that's God had been showing me throughout the week before moving on to the next weeks material. As a bible study leader, the discussion guides at the end of each week are so valuable. Sometimes there is so much good stuff in a lesson that it is hard to narrow down and choose what to talk about in group discussion. These guides really bring discussion into focus and help me as the leader prepare and feel like the discussion will be valuable for everyone. This study would be great for a group of all ages and biblical knowledge. Kim does a great job of explaining concepts and asks questions that will challenge you and make you think. I found myself writing all over the pages because I couldn't stop thinking of stuff to say in response and it wouldn't fit in the space provided! I love the charts and writing about what we learn about God from that verse. I had never done a study like this. Now I find myself doing this whenever I'm just reading in my bible. It's such a good habit to be in. This is a great study. Kim has a beautiful heart for the Lord which is evident in the study. Also, the book is beautiful! The different colored fonts help you clearly see what is reading material and what is question. The colors used are calming and easy to look at. Give this study a try! You won't be disappointed.… (més)

This is a US publication, looking mostly at US products and companies, some of which are worldwide. (though some formulations may change from country to country)

Some of the language used is quite general (may, might and other words like that) there are no guarantees in this world when it comes to chemicals and if you have a better idea of what you're using on yourself you might have a better hope of understanding what's happening if things go wrong. If you're trying to be healthier and eat healthier maybe you should also look at what you're putting on the outside of your body and ask if you're absorbing something that won't help.

This is one of the books to use to guide you, it goes through various body parts (skin, hair, face etc.) and looks at the products people generally use and then suggests home-made alternatives. After that she suggests some commercial alternatives. The edition I was looking at dated to 2002, in the intervening years there are probably some more and less to that list, but it's a good start, particularly if you're in America.

The formulas make me want to get brewing, so it can't be all bad. Seeing as how I've been having skin issues recently it's also timely, as this allows me to determine what I'm putting on my skin.

Overall, possibly a little overparanoid but good food for thought.… (més)