Book Review: Twelve Extraordinary Women

How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You by John MacArthur

First he wrote Twelve Ordinary Men, a book that contained character studies of the twelve disciples. Based on the success of that book, John MacArthur has given us another book written in the same format, only this time, the twelve people whose lives we read about are all women—women chosen for the important place each has in the story of redemption. The twelve women included are

• Eve
• Sarah
• Rahab
• Ruth
• Hannah
• Mary  (the mother of Jesus)
• Anna
• The Samaritan Woman
• Martha and Mary
• Mary Magdalene
• Lydia

Twelve Extraordinary Women is a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading and I learned much more than I expected about the lives and characters of these women. They are all women “who were unremarkable in and of themselves.” Rahab was a harlot, Ruth was a very poor widow, Anna was a very old widow, and a list of the descriptions of all of them would go on in a similar vein. What made these women extraordinary, as the subtitle suggests, was God’s work in their lives, shaping them into faithful women—women who loved God.

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Over Easy with Bacon and Hashbrowns

You Are Eggs

Traditional and totally grown up, you truly believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You don’t skimp on nutrition or quality. You’re likely to take the time to make yourself a decent meal each morning. You’re a great cook, even if you aren’t a showy one. You can make a feast out of simple ingredients. The food you eat may be basic, but you prefer to think of it as classic. What Kind of Breakfast Are You?

HT: John Dekker

Sunday's Hymn: Reader's Choice

It’s Even So’s turn to pick our Sunday hymn. He gave a list of his favorites that included

• Great Is Thy Faithfulness
• (Even So, my namesake) It Is Well With My Soul
• Amazing Grace
• When We All Get To Heaven

The first two have already been featured as reader’s choice hymns, so I’m choosing one of the other two. I featured Amazing Grace not too long ago during my John Newton/William Wilberforce/William Cowper phase, so I’m going with the last one on the list.

When We All Get to Heaven

Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
Sing His mercy and His grace.
In the mansions bright and blessèd
He’ll prepare for us a place.

Refrain

When we all get to Heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory!

While we walk the pilgrim pathway,
Clouds will overspread the sky;
But when traveling days are over,
Not a shadow, not a sigh.

Let us then be true and faithful,
Trusting, serving every day;
Just one glimpse of Him in glory
Will the toils of life repay.

Onward to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we’ll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open;
We shall tread the streets of gold. 

—-Eliza E. Hewitt (Listen.)

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• A Quiet Place at Above the Clouds
• Ye Ransomed Sinners, Hear at joythruChrist
• The Collect for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity at Magic Statistics
• We’ve a Story to Tell at The Happy Wonderer
• Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee at Thoughts from the Teahouse
  
• Lord’s Day 32, 2007 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Whate’er My God Ordains is Right at Seasonings of the Heart
• It is Well With My Soul at Home but not Alone
• Father of Peace and God of Love at John Dekker’s Journal

Have you posted a hymn this Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list. If you’d like to see your favorite hymn featured as a Reader’s Choice hymn, go here and leave a comment. Just tell me your favorite hymn and a little bit about why you like it and I’ll feature your hymn when your turn comes.