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I’ve just purchased the ingredients for Sharon’s Cherry Macaroon Cookies and I can almost taste them. Though the stories in Starting From Scratch When You’re Single Again are not so sweet, they are definitely loaded with food for thought and filled with hope.
Starting From Scratch covers almost every scenario of singleness for women. Each chapter demonstrates an overcoming spirit. As I read story after story I saw myself in many of the situations. This book should be on the desk or shelf of every pastor’s study. It brings real life into vivid reality. The “Guiding Principles” provide solid, well-balanced pointers and relate directly to the story they follow.
And a cherry tops off every chapter with a favorite recipe from the women whose story precedes it.
I anticipate Starting From Scratch When You’re Single Again will become a classic for ministering to women and for women in those hurting places of having to start over after heartbreaking loss or disappointment.
As I read this book, I often found myself crying with both joy and sadness. It shows the many ways that God changes lives even through the most difficult of times. In many ways, the stories of love and loss made me realize how precious life is and how important relationships are.
Each woman interviewed in the book has included one of her favorites at the end of her story. I’ve tried most of the recipes and they are fantastic! They are easy to make and the instructions are well written.
I recommend this book highly. Buy one for yourself and give one to someone who needs change and healing in her life!
This well-written book contains profound wisdom in victorious yet often humorous tone. Encouraging and practical, it will bless many. I’ve personally given many gift copies to friends in the U.S. and beyond.
This book took me by surprise. To be honest, I think that God is more deserving of my love than what I am giving to him. This year has been such a year of despair, grief, and turmoil. I feel like I keep turning to him, begging for his hand in my life. What I’ve forgotten, I think, is to give it back. I have to remember to glorify him, thank him, talk to him, and praise him. I haven’t done enough of that.
Don’t get me wrong, the book was lovely. It is just such a personal book. I’m sure that what I read and get out of it will be totally different than what another reader may take from it. The book was well organized, beautifully illustrated, clean and concise. I knew just what to expect, format-wise, as I read on. I appreciate that sort of thing being the right-brained person that I am!
What this book is about, in my opinion, is more than just a compilation of 23 womens’ stories about rebuilding their lives after the devastation of death or divorce. This book is about finding your way to the life that God intended you to live. For me, it was about believing, despite the odds, that God will provide for me the exact life that he has in mind for me. It’s about remembering to place your faith in him to protect you and your children.
There are many images in this book that are powerful for me. The image of God’s angels standing guard at the front and rear of a woman’s home jumps into my mind and will be an image I’ll never forget. There’s also the images of a woman, brutally beaten and five months pregnant. God restored her life and her baby’s. There are images of these wonderful ladies being faced with the death of their husbands in finding them deceased or under attack. The images are strong, for me. I will never forget this book.
When I think about my life in 2008, all I can think about is the immense pain that I suffered. I keep thinking that I’ve forgiven those people who enacted such betrayal upon me. But, when I am still haunted by nightmares at night I am reminded that I still haven’t let it go. And, I know that there is so much more that I want to say to clear things up and set the record straight. But, honestly, what good would that do at this point? I know who I am from the inside out, and God knows me even better than that.
Things are not as they should be in my life, financially and emotionally. But, I have asked God to provide me with exactly what I need to live out his plan for me. And, I’m living in faith that my “Starting Over From Scratch” will be the best story of my life. Nobody can take away from me my accomplishments and relationships. I believe they speak for themselves. And, as far as the relationships lost… well, maybe that love really was never there to begin with. The twins and I will find our way because we have GOD on our side! And, we will honor the truth in our lives.
On the bright side of my “Starting From Scratch,” I found a voice in myself that has been dead for a long time. I love, love, love to write and am so blessed to have started A Novel Menagerie. Now my blog and new, family company are the things in my world that I enjoy above all else. I’m determined to finish that novel, as long as it takes. I AM A WRITER. And, when people ask what I do for a living… no matter what job I’m performing to bring in a household income, I will reply, “I am a writer.” Because I am.
So, I will remember 2008 as my year of “Starting From Scratch.” I will remember that God brought me a greater understanding of what being a mother is all about. I will remember that God gave me my voice back. I will remember that God revealed my true friends and family. I will remember that, with God at the wheel, I cannot be steered in the wrong direction again.
I told you, this book was me meeting with the unexpected! The sure-tell sign that I like a book is when I use a ton of “quotes.” Obviously, there were many here (see below). But, most of the quotes listed are from my most important book, The Bible. I’m not reviewing The Bible here (hint: It’s a 10), but rather a book that, on some level, I needed to read. I’ve had Starting From Scratch When You’re Single Again since late October and just hadn’t gotten around to it. I think I needed to be in a certain frame of mind when I read it. I’m glad that I waited. Ladies… for the genre of spiritual/inspiration, I’m giving this book a 9 out of 10!
My Favorite Quotes from the Book:
*“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But, if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15, NLT)
*“Make a list of your talents and resources. Try to match your income-earning ability with something you love to do.”
*“The Lord never promised us a life without pain. He only promised that he would be there for us. But, remember, he can’t help us if we don’t let him in.”
*“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:17-18)
*“Ask God to help you to forgive and to set your spirit free.”
*“Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.” (1 Peter 5:7 TLB)
*“I was angry with God and couldn’t feel his presence, but I decided to talk to him anyway and tell him how I felt.”
*“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
*“Try not to be impatient with God.”
*“ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jerermiah 29:11)
*“Writing on a regular basis helps us to see from an external perspective that God is with us all the time and works everything for our good.”
This book is a superb tool for ministry. One of my ministry partners wants to start a study group to read one chapter per week and have a discussion about it. She even asked about you and Mary Fran developing discussion questions for a small group setting, or perhaps putting together a workbook based on it.
I don’t know how I could have gotten through my ordeal without this book. I read a little every night— I get so much hope from it.
I read your book again last night, and I cried the best kind of tears! See, that’s the kind of truth I hunger for. These women made themselves vulnerable so I could learn from and feel with them about incidents in their lives. When I was going through my terrible ordeal 10 years ago, my first experience of clinging to Scripture was, “And the God of all grace, after you’ve suffered for awhile, will again strengthen and restore you to His peace.” This book feeds my soul. I loved it and I look forward to more of the same.
I’ve been waiting for your home address so I can properly thank you for the Single Again book. I’ve read your contribution to that book a couple of times. It was written with such precise detail explaining how the two of you just fit together so perfectly that I got shivers as I read your story. I am again tonight reading your story, and how beautifully it is written.
I’m so glad to see that your Study Guide has REAL questions, with DETAIL. I can’t tell you how many book studies I try to do (because I genuinely love the book!) and they are so dull or repetitive or the questions are at a kindergarten level. But yours are truly the questions I think women are going to want to ask, and ANSWER!
I so enjoyed your talk at the WWCWG on Tuesday night! I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your book. It’s been really hard to put down! There are so many people I know who will benefit from its ministry. I could have wiped you clean of all the books you had on your book table!!! Honestly! You have been a blessing to me, Sharon! Oh! My daughter (who keeps forgetting to write something to you because she’s too busy texting!!!) wants to say thank you for the Door Prize. She loves it.
We have had the pleasure of knowing Sharon Knudson. We bought one of her books “Starting From Scratch.” She shows great insight on the subject of losing a spouse, and it might be helpful to someone you know.
I loved your book! It’s well written and will be a good addition to our small group list of materials for women. Great job!
REGARDING THE LIVE RADIO INTERVIEW:
I should have emailed you as soon as the program was over. I listened on my computer to your live radio interview. You gals did a fantastic job. I hope there were a lot of listeners because everything said was a homerun. I have read your book a few times already, and am more and more inspired each time. I get so much out of it. Have a blessed day!
Single again…whether it is due to a death or a divorce―and whether you initiated the divorce or it caught you by surprise―being single “again” after being married is like being thrown into the deep end of the pool when you can barely doggy paddle. Most of the time you feel like you are in over your head, drowning, floundering, and barely able to breath. You live minute by minute. You live in a state of grief and shock. You grieve for what could have been or should have been. You question God. You question yourself. You question your future. Everything is uncertain. And until you actually have to go through it, you really don’t know how you’ll feel or react or how you’ll handle it―and you certainly can’t tell someone else who is going through it that you “know how they feel,” because you don’t. I have lived it. I do know what it feels like. And my story is similar to the stories of the women in this book. I truly wish I’d have had this book to read when I was first “single again” because it would have made me feel less lonely, less alone in what I was going through.
Starting From Scratch…When You’re Single Again is a collection of firsthand stories of 23 other women who have been through it, too. Each story lays bare the fears, insecurities, anger, and grief each woman experienced. If you’re “single again,” reading these stories will assure you that you are not alone and that all of your feelings are perfectly normal. But even better, each story will give you hope, because each of these women learned how to cope. They came through the stages of grief and went on to have good lives afterward. Some of them remarried. Some of them didn’t. Some of them even lost a second or third spouse. In that way, many of the stories vary. But the common thread woven throughout all of the stories is hope and faith. God got them through this difficult, sometimes absolutely horrendous and almost unbearable, time in their lives. Really, like any other grief, that is the only way. Through it. You can’t go around it, much as we’d like to. You have to go through it. And knowing God is right there with you is often the only thing that enables you to do that. These stories clearly demonstrate that. If you’re “single again,” you’ll relate to many of the feelings and emotions these women experienced.
In addition to the stories, this book is filled with scripture references, verses, and encouragement from the women who have lived the stories–and that’s incredibly helpful! The scripture references alone provide a foundation for hope and for getting through each day. The tips from the women are genuine and often very practical. The stories are uplifting.
Personally, not being a particularly avid cook or baker, the “from scratch,” cooking analogies, and recipes were rather lost on me. I think I would have enjoyed the book without them, although I really did like the “A Pinch of Salt” bits of advice (Guiding Principles) and the follow-up (”With a Cherry on Top”) on where each woman was now in her life. The recipes I pretty much just skimmed past. From my perspective, the book could simply have been called Starting Over…When You’re Single Again. The reality of the stories, the scripture references, and the heartfelt purpose behind the book―to help other “single again” women was the substance of the book.
I found the stories honest, forthright, and helpful. As someone who has been divorced and also dealt with the death of a former spouse, I could relate to many of these stories. But more than anything, I could relate to the need to cling to God for comfort, peace, understanding, wisdom, provision for me and my family’s physical and financial needs, and the assurance that I was not really alone after all. And I, like many of these women, found that it was in the sharing of my feelings, the experiencing of and expressing of my grief, and the getting down onto my knees when I had nowhere else to go that I also found healing. Prayer, reading the Bible―or other Christian books focusing on God’s love for me, understanding of me, and compassion for me despite my sinfulness and sometimes ungrateful attitude…helped get me through it. Starting from Scratch…When You’re Single Again is one of those books that will help you get through it, too. Order Starting From Scratch When You’re Single Again today!