Review and Giveaway of Dineen Miller's The Soul Saver

This week I have the pleasure of reacquainting you with author Dineen Miller. I previously featured Dineen when her non-fiction title, Winning Him Without Words, was released. Now, Dineen has written a companion fiction title, The Soul Saver.

Here's a blurb about the book from Dineen's website:

Meet Lexie Baltimore, who is in the supernatural battle of her life. In obedience to God’s calling, Lexie uses her art and dreams to help others. But will she have enough courage to help herself when she becomes torn between her atheist husband and a godly man?

A widower and a father, Pastor Nate Winslow is drowning in darkness. Will he resist his treacherous assignment to win Lexie’s heart, or give in to the attraction between them?

As events unfold, Lexie becomes entangled in a twisted plot. Can she overcome the evil assailing her, or will she yield to the dark side?

I want to say that Dineen's heart for ministering to people in mismatched marriages touches me. As a woman, as a counselor, as a wife. Reading about Lexie's unequally yoked marriage was heartbreaking. I can't personally relate to that predicament, but I know plenty of women who can. I've utilized her non-fiction title in individual relationship counseling, and I know it's blessed my clients.

Now, I have at my disposal a fiction title to introduce some of the concepts in her non-fiction title a bit more...softly. And by that, I mean that reading about someone else in your predicament is easier than reading a book geared to help you in your predicament.

Dineen's book is very spiritually-focused. Lexie receives dream visions from God of a person she's supposed to sculpt, and then later on that day meets them and hears from God how she is supposed to help them. This is her calling, and she's unable to share such an important part of her life with her atheist husband. Her husband, on the other hand, a Stanford physicist, has placed all his eggs in the very wordly basket of seeking tenure at the university. Two polar opposites who experienced trauma in their family life which caused Lexie to seek God and Hugh to seek academia.

It's also supernaturally-focused, with the introduction of a real demon who takes on a major role in the story. The way Dineen portrays this demon-man is wonderfully wicked. His hold on Nate has rendered Nate to a shell of his former self, yet he's still more spiritually-minded than Lexie's husband, which of course leads to the attraction on her part. Women the world over should relate to this aspect of the novel, because less the grace of God, there we go.

By this point in the story, I was totally hooked...trying to read in the bathroom, on breaks at work, late at night. I wanted to know how it was going to go down! I got chills reading about the supernatural element and the powerful use of prayer throughout the entire novel. The fight for Hugh's soul and the takeaway lessons about God and his faithfulness engender a hope in the reader that stayed with me.

Dineen has offered to giveaway a copy of her debut fiction novel to one lucky commenter below. Tweets and facebook links will get you extra entries...just use the buttons below so I'll know. Open to the continental US and open through Sunday. Comments without email addresses will not be valid.

Let's Analyze: Do you know anyone or are you yourself in a spiritually mismatched marriage? If you feel so led, leave just their first name below so we can lift them up in prayer.

Winning Him Without Words Review and Giveaway!

"...they maybe won over without words by the behavior of their wives." 
1 Peter 3:1

I was eager to be an influenced for this book simply because unequally yoked marriages is something all counselors encounter in session. We are trained to bring up the "hot button" issues like children, finances, and faith during premarital counseling because differences in key areas like these can lead to marital disharmony. In essence, therapists operate on the assumption that it's better to know ahead of time if you and your partner don't see eye-to-eye, so you can get a head start on resolving the issues instead of being blindsided by them later.

But what if faith wasn't an issue when you first married? What if you came to a saving knowledge later in life and your spouse didn't? Or what if you shunned your faith values for a period, got married, and then came back to your faith?

Authors Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller wrote their book Winning Him Without Words in an attempt to answer questions just like these, because they found themselves in the scenarios mentioned above.

Here's a blurb about the book from the Winning Him Without Words website:

Week after week, you sit in church…alone. You are one of many women across the country who are spiritually mismatched; committed to a spouse who does not share your faith.

You may feel abandoned by your spouse or forgotten by your church. You may feel like you have to live out your faith in survival mode, guarding the spiritual flame yet never feeling free to share it.

But don’t lose hope! God wants you to thrive—not just survive. Winning Him Without Words presents 10 Christ-centered keys to thriving in your spiritually unequal relationship. In the pages of this book, you’ll learn from real life stories how to:

• commit to Christian community
• release your spouse to God’s capable hands
• find peace in your relationships with Christ and with your spouse
• continue your pursuit of a growing faith
• and to love your spouse with fresh enthusiasm

God wants every marriage to exude peace and love, and Winning Him Without Words will help you to create that environment in your homes and thrive as God works.


Both authors are so candid throughout the book that I never felt like this was just another Christian self-help book. These are real women, struggling with real issues, who don't claim to have all the answers. They do, however, claim to know the One who does. Despite years or praying for their husband's salvation, both Lynn and Dineen found certain principles to help their marriage thrive instead of wither and die.

As a counselor, I wanted to take note of the 10 keys that helped them, and I'm so glad I did, because now I have a book to whole-heartedly recommend to clients facing similar life circumstances. Women everywhere will be able to relate to the yearning both women disclose they have for their husbands to accept Christ, because if we haven't prayed for our husband's salvation, then we've prayed for a change in our husband's attitudes or actions. All married women feel alone in their marriage at some point, and these principles Lynn and Dineen offer are solid ways to bring about real connection.

In fact, one of the keys presented was to Stay Connected. In order to do this, Lynn joined a fantasy football league with her husband, even though she knew nothing about football. Dineen started playing disc golf. Yes, it required sacrifice of time and maybe even some of their own desires, but both marriages enriched from it. This is a great takeaway for women everywhere.

I'm giving away one copy of this book to a commenter from the lower 48 states below. If you are not in a spiritually mismatched marriage, still make a comment. This book would be a lifeline for a friend you might know who is. Give it to them as a gift. They'll be so glad to read a book and find community with other women in similar situations.

To enter the giveaway, I'm asking that you please follow my blog first and then leave a comment. You won't be penalized for not following, you just will only get one entry instead of two.

Movies & Madness: Finding Nemo

Since I was at home almost a week with my flu-ridden child about two weeks ago, I watched a lot of animated movies in a short period of time. Finding Nemo happens to be one of my daughter's favorites. As an occupational hazard, I began to point out all the therapeutic issues the characters displayed, especially those in the fish tank. (They might as well be representative of an in-patient psychiatric population!)

Gurgle - OCD - disgusted by human mouth, ocean is contaminated
Deb - delusional about her "sister" Flo who is really just her reflection in the glass
Bubbles -neurotic about the bubbles
Gill - the hard-as-nails fish who's been there, done that, got the scar to prove it; into conspiracy theories
Crush - thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie
Bruce - shark with abandonment issues from his dad
Chum - the shark who relapsed on fish by eating his "bring a buddy" before support group
Dory - major short-term memory loss
Nemo - guilt over last words spoken to his father

But none come close to Nemo's father, Marlin. Let's take a look at him. He got married and hopped on the good fin to do the bad thing, resulting in tons of little babies in need of loving care. He then suffers surely the worst kind of pain when he loses his new wife to a shark attack, as well as all his babies--save one: Nemo.

Marlin has severe PTSD from the attack, as is evident in how he babies Nemo and doesn't want to let him grow up. He believes the little fin is proof positive of Nemo's need to be overly smothered. After all, Nemo can't swim as well with his little fin, which serves as a visual reminder to Marlin of all he lost when the shark ate his wife and other babies. Marlin has a fear of the open ocean, now, and does his best to instill that in Nemo. It's "not safe" to swim there.

Then Nemo comes into his own obstinacy when his dad makes him feel foolish in front of his new school friends, harping on how they could have been killed at the drop-off and that Nemo can't swim because of the little fin. Most of you probably know what happens: Nemo gets defiant and goes to the boat, touches it with his fin--a part that resonates in the hearts of all parents with children--and gets caught by the Australian deep-sea diver/dentist before he can return.

Then Marlin is on a mission to find Nemo and bring him back safely. He encounters all manner of traumatic problems, any one of which would send a sane fish over the edge. First Dory - who can't remember anything. Then the sharks and their "Fish are Friends, Not Food" support group--I can only imagine the true terror Marlin would feel after losing his wife and children to a shark and then to have Bruce chase him down, intent on taking "just a little bite." Then they have the jellyfish ordeal, and the whole getting-eaten-by-a-whale ordeal, having to jump in the mouth of a pelican to prevent getting eaten by seagulls, and all this to see little Nemo belly-side up in a plastic bag, pretending to be dead.

Now Marlin is super depressed. Who wouldn't be? But to be reunited with his son, who is alive, brings out the fierce protective part of Marlin once again. He doesn't want Nemo to do anything to endanger himself or put himself out further than Marlin thinks is appropriate.

Then the last upheaval happens....the part where Nemo is small enough to swim through the fish net, where Dory and thousands of other fish are trapped, to motivate the entire group to "swim down!" as a way to fight against being taken in the net--something Nemo has learned from his time with the Fraternal Bond of Tankhood members. Marlin has to make the decision to let Nemo go once again, and this is the deciding moment for him as a father. (I would think writers would get a lot out of watching this movie as it relates to internal motivation and external tensions. Incredible, really.)

It's a kid's movie, after all, so all ends well. But Marlin has come to a more healthy decision about how to parent Nemo, which leaves Nemo happier and Marlin happy, as well. He's beat his mental illness. Realistic? No...not after all Marlin went through. But then again, who are we to try to fight against the willful tenacity of a father with everything to lose? Perhaps its a lesson of the power of the mind over mental illness.