Busy Mom's Bible-Zondervan (review)

About a month ago I received an email offering me the opportunity to receive a free copy of the new "Busy Mom's Bible" from Zondervan, if I would read through it and post a review on their website for others to read. I have now had a chance to look through and read many of the devotions, so I want to share my review at this time....

First Look:
I received my copy soon after signing up and was immediately impressed with how lovely and feminine it is. The cover is cute and modern with the two tone pink and brown design. The size of the Bible is small and easy to carry with you, but not so small that the type is too tiny to read like many compact Bibles I have seen.

Inside the front cover is a feminine designed dedication page, decorated with bright flowers and pink designs. This same design style is found on the devotional pages throughout.

The Nitty Gritty:

The devotionals dispersed throughout the pages are what make this Bible different, qualifying it as the "busy mom's" edition. There are thirteen pages of topical devotions throughout. Each page focuses on the one topic (like emotions) with four different devotions, two on front, two on back. They each have the choice of a 1-minute, 5-minute, or 10-minute reading or exercise related to the topic, so if you chose to do each of those activities on a different day, then you could have up to 156 different daily devotions. In my opinion, that is a very realistic amount of daily devotions when you factor in that sometimes you may not take the time to sit down with this particular devotional Bible at all, or if you participate in other Bible studies or groups with your local place of worship. You could even schedule to do one of the readings per week, which would use all of the pages in a year's time.

The topics are very well chosen for the typical "Busy Mom" and address things that I find come up often in my ladies' book club as things we struggle with regularly. With pages addressing topics like "Raising Your Kids" and "Your Spiritual Life" you can see that a wide variety of real life stuff is covered.

In addition to these colorful devotion pages, there are reading plans in the back of the Bible that go more in depth studying the life of Jesus and another studying women of the Bible. Another great resource to extend your yearly devotional plans. A concordance and color maps in the back complete this edition.

My "fav:"

I love that it gives three choices for each devotional based on a given amount of time. It allows for flexibility without missing out. You aren't wasting that book you bought with a year's worth of 5 minute devotions when you may only have 1 minute some days! My favorite feature in The Busy Mom's Bible is the fact that I can take any amount of time I have and get a really great reading about a real life problem I am having...the guides give you scripture and insight into dealing with real life stuff. No excuses about not having time to read the Bible! Thanks Zondervan!