I too enjoyed the little tales of trials in her personal life, and the wisdom she gleaned from them. But what makes this book stand out is that she doesn’t pretend that this is always an easy thing to do.

I can see where it would come in very handy for someone who doesn't have a great deal of education, and there's nothing wrong with that.Positive thinking helps; I've seen it work in others and I've seen it work in me sometimes, but it waxes and wanes. Another example of the way the spirit and the mind work together is the gift of tongues with interpretation. It is a "go-to" book for me, when I find myself worrying too much, which is why I'm reading it again. Happily, this isn't true; if I believed it were, I would almost certainly develop paranoid schizophrenia.

I would much prefer a regular translation, even the King James version which I don't have any trouble reading, but that's just me. This book truly makes you analyze your ow approach to life, but also gives you tools to understand the inner workings of other's minds that cause them to act and speak the way they do. The latter half of the book (approximately) is filled with ten "Wilderness Mentalities" - reasons that the Israelites stayed in the desert for 40 years instead of going to the Promised Land - and she goes into depth explaining how they still apply to us today. Im one of those people who likes to be taught how to cook by the chef that can actually cook, not instruct me out of the recipe book. Much of the book is devoted to getting the reader to change their thinking and discusses how to tear down the "strongholds" that the devil tries to set up in the mind.Let me give you an example: Sister Smith may stand up in church and give a message in an unknown tongue. I don't even know where it came from or how it got there, but nonetheless, I've walked by it too many times to count. The fact that it is already so mass produced that it can be very cheaply bought and yet so powerfully change someone's life ( by the work of the Holy Spirit ) is a testament to Joyce, it is completely grounded in scripture all the way through, my critical mind couldn't fault it while my open were being opened and my soul being fed. Ephesians 6:12 states "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood, but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the world rulers of the present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly(supernatural) sphere.