Book Review: Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and NOT Be Overwhelmed by Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre, Kristin Chesemore, Janelle Bradshaw

This is a wonderful time management book focusing on Biblical principles.
Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and NOT Be Overwhelmed
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre, Kristin Chesemore, Janelle Bradshaw

• File Size: 277 KB
• Print Length: 99 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1581349130
• Publisher: Crossway Books (June 26, 2007)
• ASIN: B00283PQDS

Genre: Nonfiction
My Rating: 5.0 content but 4.5 due to editing errors.

Book Description
Publication Date: June 26, 2007
Overwhelmed. Miserable. Exhausted. These are often the words that women use to describe their high-demand lifestyles. How are women who are always on the go expected to cope with the demands of work, family, and ministry?
Carolyn Mahaney and her three daughters, Nicole Whitacre, Kristin Chesemore, and Janelle Bradshaw, recognize the needs of Christian women today. Shopping for Time offers the solution to women who truly desire to glorify God with every use of their time.
These authors offer five tips to help ladies do it all without becoming overwhelmed: rise early, sit down, sit longer (occasionally), choose friends wisely, and take fifteen minutes. By weaving biblical principles of God's Word into these keys, these authors give women practical advice on how to fulfill-and excel in-their daily responsibilities.

Review:
This is a lovely time management guide based on biblical principles. It is direct and on point while being very quick and easy to read. The authors relate to personal, everyday life experiences. Most people can relate to planning a shopping trip, as when you go to the market or outlet mall. Even those, like me, who do not shop a lot, usually make a list or have a purpose when heading to the store. This book compares our purposeful intent in shopping to ‘shopping’ for time with the intent of doing what God wants to do in our lives.

The focus of the book is to PLAN to make time for God and the most important priorities in our lives: family, relationships and service. The arguments are extrapolated from Ephesians 5:15-16 which states: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. The goal is to “assist you to bring glory to the Savior through every season” of your life. The authors list and discuss five tips to manage our time to be fruitful in our service to God.

Not all of the tips or tools suggested are new but, for me, they are given with new insight and with the best purpose of all. The underlying message confirmed to me is the biblical foundation of Matthew 6:33: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (NIV)  I don’t feel I can describe too much detail without giving spoilers. However, consider that I marked 45 notes out of 99 pages! Also I have instituted a new method to add to my Bible study with two questions the authors suggest.

The only reason I did not rate this book as 5.0 is due to the errors in the kindle version.  There were repeats in phrases and the letter “u” came out as “v” throughout. It is still easily read but the errors are distracting and off putting. I would encourage the authors and publisher to go back and clean up the text.

I really enjoyed the tips and the great nuggets in this little gem. It was a perfect book for me as the first book of 2015. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to spend more time serving God.

This is the book I chose for my First Book 2015.
It is from my 2009 TBR Kindle list and qualifies for: 2015 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge; Full House Reading Challenge 2015; The 2014-15 Winter COYER challenge; The Official 2015 TBR Pile Challenge, The TBR Double Dog Dare