My Review of Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

Here's a description of the book from Tyndale House Publishers:

"How many Christmas mornings have you found your family gathered around the tree with presents beautifully wrapped and a scrumptious feast on the table, but with hearts that have not been prepared to truly take in the wonder of God become human? Not this year. Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room, a family Advent devotional from Bible teacher and mom Nancy Guthrie, is designed to bring your family together during a season that is oftentimes too much about programs and presents, and simply not enough about Jesus. Along with devotions for every day in December, this resource includes explanations of some hard-to-understand aspects of popular Christmas carols, and discussion questions to draw in your elementary through high school-aged kids, transforming this time together from a dry lecture into a treasured family experience."

My Review:

This is a beautiful book for the whole family to go through together during the Christmas season! With focused devotional pieces on Jesus' birth (and the surrounding events), prayers, questions to ponder, verses, hymns, and places to write down the family's thoughts, this book goes in depth into the true reason we celebrate Christmas.

A small, simple, yet lovely hardcover book, Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room can sit anywhere in your home as a reminder to set aside time to gather everyone together and learn about God and His amazing gift in Jesus, as well as what our practical, real response to His gift should be in how we live our lives year-round. This book is thought-provoking and insightful! Here are just a few lines from some of the devotionals that I underlined:

We have to clear other things--even good things--out of our schedules if we want to make time to listen to him by reading his Word and talking to him through prayer.

Wouldn't a better question to ask each other be, "What are you giving for Christmas?"

Because of what Christ accomplished on the Cross, we can be friends with God instead of his enemies.

If we're not careful, ordinary life can cause us to lose our sense of wonder over Jesus' coming.

I loved that this book included hymns for the family to sing together, along with explanations of the hymns that are helpful. And I also loved that the pieces for Christmas Eve and Christmas are solely Scripture reading (with a hymn following each)--emphasizing our need to spend time in God's word.

While this is a family devotional, I would recommend it more for older children, teenagers, and their parents. I think this material would still be good for younger children, but some of the concepts discussed might be a bit hard for little ones to grasp.

That being said, I highly recommend this book! I read it before Christmas break, so I haven't had the chance yet to read it with my family. But I think whether this book is read alone or with your family it is a beneficial read full of great reminders!

*With thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.*