MRS. OSWALD CHAMBERS – Michelle Ule

Mrs. Oswald Chambers
The Woman behind the World’s Bestselling Devotional
by Michelle Ule

Baker Books, Pub Date: 17 Oct 2017
ISBN: 9780801075148
Price: $15.99

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“Mrs. Oswald Chambers” is the woman behind the world’s bestselling devotional book, “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers. This very well-written and impeccably researched biography of his wife was published to commemorate the 100th death anniversary of Oswald Chambers in October 1917. It is one of the highest ranking Christian devotional books ever, with over thirteen million copies sold.

Oswald Chamber’s most famous work was compiled, edited and published ten years after his death by his wife, Biddy. Her true life story of living her utmost for God’s highest is unparalleled in the history of the Christian world. Michelle Ule skillfully brings Biddy’s story to life , from Victorian England to a World War I YMCA camp in Egypt.

Biddy returned to post-war Britain as a destitute widow with a toddler in tow. A woman of the highest principles, Biddy refused personal payment from publishers for the thirty books she published in her husband’s name. She lived on for forty-nine years after her husband’s death.

This is the deeply engaging life-and-love story of an awesome, remarkably courageous and devoted woman, well ahead of her time, dearly loved and deeply admired by all who brave incredible odds to carve a beautiful life out of almost nothing, in the service of God’s kingdom.

“My Utmost for His Highest” owes everything to the editorial skills and passionate dedication of Biddy Chambers. Her selfless willingness to use her talents for God’s glory and her steadfast faithfulness amidst heart-breaking sorrow and unending grief makes her contribution to the world even more unique.

Oswald Chambers was a British Chaplain in World War I, stationed in Egypt. After his early death at the age of forty-three, Biddy felt God’s call to transcribe her entire collection of shorthand notes of his sermons into books, articles and pamphlets, in Oswald Chamber’s name. What Oswald could not do in his lifetime, Biddy did for him, devoting her entire life to the cause for which he lived, labored and died for.

An amazing couple, Oswald and Biddy Chambers exemplified a deeply committed and dedicated life lived for Christ, which had such a profoundly powerful impact upon people. Over a hundred years after Oswald Chambers died, the best way to get to know one of the greatest names in the spread of the gospel during the late nineteenth century and at the turn of the twentieth century is through this awesome biography of “Mrs. Oswald Chambers” by Michelle Ule.

Miriam Jacob

TRUE YOU – Michelle Derusha

“True You” by Michelle Derusha helps you to “let go of your false self to uncover the Person God created.” God is after truth from the inside out. “Enter me, Lord, to conceive a new, true life” – (Psalm 51:6). We need to discard our false identities like a tree discards its dead leaves and like how the gardener prunes away unwanted branches to capture the enchanting beauty and gracefulness of the tree.

Pruning in gardening and in real life is a skill that requires discipline and insight. Pruning, the art of cutting back to open up, is absolutely essential for our souls to uncover who we really are at the core of our God-created selves and personalities. Pruning uncovers us to our bare essentials to reveal our truest, most authentic selves.

God wants us to live as the beautiful, unique people He created us to be. He does not want us to hide behind false identities. God wants us to know Him and be aware of His deep, abiding love for us. He wishes us to root our whole selves in Him. God longs for us to live in the freedom of Christ and to know our true, unique selves in intimacy with Him. Let us allow God to prune us from the inside out. He is the Master Gardener of our souls. May we relinquish and surrender our hearts and minds to God to allow Him to do His healing in us.

I highly recommend this book to start God’s divine pruning in you, to uncover and reveal the “True You” as God created you to be. As this book was born out of Michelle’s own experience, it is time-tested and true to life. I have experienced the pruning process in my own life and I bear faithful testimony to this. May God help you to discover the “True You” in yourself. 

Miriam Jacob

Katharina and Martin Luther – Michelle Derusha

Katharina and Martin Luther

The Radical Marriage of a Runaway Nun and a Renegade Monk

by Michelle DeRusha

Baker Books, Baker Publishing Group.

ISBN: 9780801019104

PRICE: $19.99

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“Katharina and Martin Luther” by Michelle Derusha is the riveting life story of the revolutionary marriage of one of the most extraordinary and intriguing couples in Christian history. Beating all odds and silencing all critics, this most unlikely and unusual wedding blossomed into the most tender of love stories, offering illuminating insights into Christian history, highlighting their profound impact upon Christian marriage, reverberating down the corridors of time until today, over five centuries later. It portrays Luther as a family patriarch and honors Katharina, a woman with a pivotal role in shaping the institution of Christian marriage as it is today. This legendary couple experienced supreme joy and bitter grief, moments of triumph and weary travail in the wings of time. This book shines the searching spotlight on their private lives and offers powerful insights into the twenty-first-century concept of Christian marriage. The impact of this marriage was said to be as great in the social sphere as the Ninety-five Theses in the religious sphere. Theirs is the story of the joys and sorrows of marriage, and faith in God’s providence. Michelle DeRusha portrays the passionate struggles in the Luthers’ private lives as well as their theological wrestlings in the religious sphere. In a penetrating, revealing, behind-the-scenes look at a legendary Christian couple, this book illustrates how God’s transforming grace leaves an eternal legacy in the lives of Christian believers in all ages. This is what God designed Christian marriage to be: an allegiance and obedience to Him that glorifies Him, and faithfulness to each other, a true picture of Christ’s relationship to His bride, the Church. This book introduces us to the customs and cultural context of the times, as well as the historical significance of Katharina and Martin Luther’s lives, the scalding opposition they faced when they got married and the bitter harassment the former nun, Katharina faced as Martin Luther’s widow. Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses charted a new course for the Church. This is a powerful glimpse of Luther’s life and ministry in Reformation Germany, sparking a Christian revolution lit by the flames of conviction. “Katharina and Martin Luther” is a living testament to the awesome power of surrender in a future in which courage and truth play a most important role. This book is well researched and entirely user friendly. In many ways, the Luthers’ story is our story, too. I highly recommend this inspiring book.

Miriam Jacob