Book Review- The Passionate Mom

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Title: The Passionate Mom

Subtitle: Dare to Parent in Today's World

Author: Susan Merrill

Genre: Christian Living/ Parenting

I chose to review this book for two reasons:

1. I am a mom and I am always looking for encouragement as a mom.  It is a tough and rewarding job.

2. I read in the book summary that the author based her parenting advice on the book of Nehemiah.  That intrigued me.  I have read Nehemiah and I did not see the connection to parenting. I was curious,  I wanted to see how the author was going to make that work.

The author, Susan Merrill, is a mother of five children and is the director of iMOM.com.    She writes this book from both her personal experience as a mother and through her journey reading the book of Nehemiah.  She gives advice and encouragement to be a mother that parents her children passionately and confidently.

So how does she connect parenting to the book of Nehemiah? 

 For those of you that haven't read it, the book of Nehemiah is a book of the Old Testament.  It is likely that the book was written by Ezra.  It is a historical book of the Bible that tells about Israel after its captivity by Babylon and the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.    What does any of that have to do with parenting?  How does the author connect the two?

Nehemiah took up the impossible task of rebuilding the wall around the city of Jerusalem.  She compares that to the seemingly impossible task of being a mother.    She applies the pattern that Nehemiah followed in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem to our job as mothers.   She compares Nehemiah's literal wall to the figurative wall we build around our children.  She describes this with 10 P's that we need to be the best mom that we can be:

1. Perception

2. Pondering

3. Passion

4. Prayer

5. patience

6. Preperation

7. Purpose

8. Planning

9. Problem Solving

10. Perseverance

   The author then writes a chapter for each of these 10 P's.  Each chapter begins with a scripture from Nehemiah.  She then shares the "mortar" needed for each of the 10 "bricks."  She uses her personal experience to get her point across.  She is very raw and honest.  Most moms will be able to relate to her stories.    She has a section that she calls "Confession" where she relates her own struggles with the areas that she is addressing.  By including this section she makes the reader feel comfortable; they know that the author is not judging them as a mother.

I would recommend this book to mothers of children of all ages.  The principles in this book can be applied to all stages of parenting.  There isn't a mom out there that "has it all figured out."

  The book is fantastic but is a little long for its content.  It might have been better with a few less examples and stories.  The point could have been driven home a little quicker.  Overall though, the book is a must read for any mom! 

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the Thomas Nelson Publishing Company through their Book Sneeze Program in exchange for an honest review.