You are Redeemed and You are Secure

New Growth Press have released two more devotional books for women in the Gospel Truth for Women series. I found the initial book, You Are Welcomed, both encouraging and challenging, and gave it as a gift to a few friends. I was keen to turn to these.

You Are Redeemed: Devotions for Living a Whole New Life by Nana Dolce, is a journey through Exodus. Dolce starts with a relatable story, and moves to the details of the Exodus narrative and how God redeemed Israel for himself. She then draws the link to Christ, our ultimate redeemer and encourages personal reflection and response, both from Exodus and the New Testament. Each devotion is two pages with three reflection questions. Each of the eight weeks focuses on a different aspect of our Redeemer God who remembers, redeems, provides, covenants, reveals, judges and restores, prepares, and dwells with his people. It is clear biblical exegesis for part of the bible many might not read on their own, and helps the reader consider the application to their life today through the work of Christ.

You Are Secure: Devotions for When Life is Uncertain, by Aimee Joseph, walks through Colossians in small steps. Similarly to the others, there are two pages of reflection, starting with a story, an analysis of the passage and how you might apply it today. Covering eight weeks (40 readings), there is much to sink your teeth into and ponder. The devotional comments were shorter than the other two books, and I wanted a little more content. 

You are Welcomed may have been more focused on those who are wives and mothers, these two seemed to be more widely applicable for all women.

These books are beautifully presented, with pleasant formatting and graphics. However, they are also large and heavy (1.2kgs/ 2.6lbs each). I received ecopies to review, and was quite surprised when I later bought a hard copy. Up to 20% of pages are images or small amounts of words, adding to the bulk. Worth knowing if considering a hard copy.

I received ecopies of these books in exchange for an honest review. 

Learning to Listen

Learning to Listen: Essential Skills for Every Counselor, Joseph Hussung (New Growth Press, 2025)

Hussung has provided a short, easy-to-read resource that is applicable for counselling and pastoral care, as well as everyday life. Focusing on the importance of listening, he explores the purpose, posture and practice of listening well.

The practical tools at the end are useful, but I found the first two sections the most valuable. We all know we are to listen well; it is loving and essential for relationships. However, we rarely explore a Christian reason for why.

We listen, because God listens. “God stoops down to us and hears our cries, and that is remarkable!” He listens to us because he knows us and he loves us. 

“If we move toward the practice or posture of listening but forget that we were created by a God who listens and loves, then we will never fully grasp the complete scope of God’s vision for the care of his people. We listen to others because God listens to us. We love others because God loves. We need to constantly remind ourselves of God’s love for us and his expression of that love to us in listening as we hear the stories of others.”

But we don’t only listen to the people we counsel, we listen to God and encourage them to listen to him. Hussung observes that empathy is uniquely human because its starting place is from ignorance. 

“God knows, but we do not. We engage to know someone more deeply while God engages so that we know him more deeply. Empathy says, “Only you can tell me about yourself, and I will wait patiently and try to be a safe place to hear your story so I can help you.” In this way, empathy serves as the posture of a people who listen.”

Yet, sin mars our ability to listen and to love. “Sin cuts us off from the source of love, puts us at the center of our universe, and puts us in opposition to others.” So we speak too soon, we minimise suffering, give simplistic answers and think we know better.

Turning to section 2, the posture of listening, Hussung starts with Jesus, who was humble, gentle and patient. Our posture should be the same, “as counselors, we must exhibit Christ’s heart for our counselees, rather than our naturally hard hearts that makes it so difficult to listen.” So we move away from judgmentalism or defensiveness, we recognise our limitations, we are slow to speak, and we are compassionate to those who struggle with sin and suffering.

These first two sections were the real strength of the book - because we have a reason to listen well, a motivation for our actions. We don’t just do it because it is good practice, we do it to honour the Lord we are serving, and to love those around us. It’s yet another outworking of “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

He finishes with some practical tips for listening well:

• Prepare to listen. This means being aware of our body language, how we are feeling, and awareness of the gaps in our knowledge (perhaps context, such as culture, values and perspective). 
• Actively listen - aware of our tone, using questions well, and reflecting back what we have heard. 

“It is an active process that first allows the physical hearing to take place, then ponders and interprets what we hear, and finally communicates that we have heard and what we understand.”

• Respond, always with affirmation (of their inherent value, and their story) and sometimes with empathic confrontation (What can they not see that perhaps we can help them to see?)

Many of these practical skills should already be known to someone who is counselling or caring in any format. It’s the framework that underpins them that is the most helpful.

He finishes with a logical conclusion: keep reading about Jesus (let his character shape yours), keep practising (we can improve these skills with time) and keep listening.

I received an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.