When GOD Shapes a W.I.F.E. – A Journey of Grace Moves by Rev Jenni Ho-Huan

“Good books can mentor us and speak truth into our hearts. Healthy conversations with others on the journey is powerful for relief, insight, and encouragement.” – Jenni Ho-Huan.

That is what When GOD Shapes a W.I.F.E does. Each page gently mentors the reader’s heart back to the truth of God that is so often drowned by the voice of societal expectations.

Unlike other books on womanhood, Jenni does not give a model picture of how a godly wife should/must look like. Recognizing the uniqueness and preciousness of each individual, this book celebrates that particularity and provides ample room for the Holy Spirit to work His unique plan for each reader. Through each illustration, Jenni’s own journey and helpful reflection questions, the book simply invites each woman to enter into a heart’s conversation with God and with herself, and ultimately to reach a place of understanding God’s grace in her life, and of joyful surrender and trust in her Lord, her Father, her Creator.

Habitudes – Images that Form Leadership Habits and Attitudesby Dr Tim Elmore

Habitudes, or the habit of attitudes, is a string of books written by Founder-President of Growing Leaders, Dr Tim Elmore, that represent a different way to teach leadership principles to the younger generation. Using the power of images, conversations, and experiences, these books are great for the visually inclined (like myself) and those with limited attention span (again, like myself!) as each chapter is only a few pages long. There is also a section whereby the reader is led to reflect and respond, followed by a self assessment and an exercise to facilitate application at the end of each chapter to keep ourselves in check.

There are currently four books in this series:
Habitudes #1: The Art of Self-Leadership?Habitudes #2: The Art of Connecting With Others?Habitudes #3: The Art of Leading Others?Habitudes #4: The Art of Changing Culture

Because Tim believes that most of us are visual learners, the chapters of his books are called images, and each chapter is headed with a full page image to help us connect, learn, and remember the habit that we need to develop from the principle derived from that image.

The first book in the series, titled The Art of Self Leadership sets the context for the reader’s leadership journey, recognizing that leadership is multi-dimensional and we should always begin by leading ourselves well first before we can influence those above and around us, and finally those whom we are responsible for. In fact, he claims that if we can lead ourselves well enough, others will be magnetically drawn to follow us, as opposed to being forced by us into compliance.

The chapters that resonated with me most were the first – “Iceberg” – and the last – “Drivers and Passengers.” “Iceberg” represents our leadership. The 10% that is visible above the water represents our skill and the 90% below the surface or visibility line represents our character, which is the factor that can sink the ship. “Drivers and Passengers” talked about responsibility. When things go wrong, do I act like a passenger by acting like the victim and blaming others for the problem, or do I realize that I am the driver who is responsible for the attitudes and destinations in life?

A great tool – the Habitudes series is good for small group discussions and there are different books in the series to educate and challenge youths and adults alike in various stages of their lives.

Dr Elmore will be addressing the topic “Leading for the Future” in a plenary and “Habitudes – Growing the next-gen leaders” in the workshop session at the Eagles Leadership Conference 2011 (www.leadership.com.sg) in July. You can also find out more about the author at www.Growingleaders.com and www.habitudes.org.

Jessica Zhuo is a wife and mother of a one year old son. Managing both work and family, she continues on a journey of discovering her purpose, passion, and priorities for each season, leaning on the love of her Heavenly Father and the grace of her Maker.

Sheryl Han is the Senior Executive Editor of Eagles VantagePoint. She attends and serves in Rivers of Life Church, Singapore, and has the habit of traveling and eating vanilla ice cream with an enthusiastic attitude.