Purity: A Godly Woman's Adornment

"Unique and to the point, this is a devotional for women who want to see God by focusing on purity in several areas of life." This is a unique Devotional book broken into two parts: Part One: A Pure Heart, and Part Two: The Fruit of a Pure Heart. There are 42 devotions in all. I purchased this book as research for a book series of my own and it proved to be very beneficial. Part One: A Pure Heart focuses on the description and the behavior patterns of women who seek purity in all areas of their lives. I found several of these devotions refreshing, especially since the author did not limit the discussion of purity to simply sexual purity. My personal favorites in Part One: A Pure Heart were those dealing with discernment, desire and hope. Part Two: The Fruit of a Pure Heart includes more devotions than Part One and addressed more personal issues such as identity, modesty, relationships and idolatry. Again, it was refreshing to see these topics included in a discussion of biblical purity. My personal favorites in Part Two: The Fruit of the Heart were those dealing with personal restraint, passions, and mission mindedness. We need more books on this topic. We need to begin to see purity not as a trendy topic to focus on for a short time but in a cleansing, consecrating way. Lydia Brownback does this in this devotional. Purity: A Godly Woman's Adornment is well researched and well written, this is a book I'd recommend for any woman wanting to know the truth about purity supported clearly God's word. Reviewed by: Keiki Hendrix Reviewed for: The Vessel Project

The book is a collection of short devotional entries, about 2 to 3 pages each. The book is small in size, so the pages are not big ones. It is typical of devotional books, I think. With most devotional books, you can pick up the book and turn anywhere in the book and read an entry out of order. It should make sense as a stand alone entry. Usually, I've found that there is a theme among the book--whether chronological or topic. This book is about a theme, but the entries can be read out of order. Two months ago, I read Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild by Mary KassianGirls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild. It was also about purity. It was very good, surprisingly so and it caught me by surprise. Though the author shared some things from her life, she shared more personal stories about other women and women who had written or spoken with her. In this book, the author is not very personal about her own life in the entries I read. She does the same thing that the author of another book I'm reading does. I think I've come to almost view the authors of the books I read as mentors and friends in a way. A friend doesn't just say "I understand" and placate you. A friend says "I understand because..." It is the because that tells you that they really understand and that you're not alone. I long for the "because" part in the books I read. But, if you are more logical than emotional, you may not want that "because" part. I'm coming to realize that. I read entries out of order. I read one in the car with my husband and he was really concerned because he felt it was twisting what the Bible says about suffering. That gave me a read flag. It also prompted us to have a good discussion about suffering. The entry actually sounded right on and it resonated with what I thought about suffering, but after talking to him, I could see his point and his concern. That discussion though made me cautious about reading more of the book. I flipped through another day and read another entry. I thought it was great! I was encouraged and hopeful again about this book. But, then I turned back two pages and read another entry and was disheartened. Ms. Brownback inferred a great amount of details into the story of Dinah in the Bible. It is not explicitly unbiblical to infer. But, I have deep concerns about this practice that is common among many authors today. If we read books that pose hypotheticals about the details in the Bible or that ask us to infer how the people in the Bible felt or acted, it is a very slippery slope to the point of believing those inferences and thinking that those details we have inferred are actually in the Bible--unless we know the Bible really well. I opened up the devotional on another day and again was encouraged by the entry. It was written as a pastor would speak to his flock, not as a mentor or friend, but it was appropriate for the topic of that entry. In the end, I was encouraged by some entries and then was conc