Book Review: CALLED to Inspire Journal by Marsha DuCille

About the Book:

Do you sense God prompting you to do something special with your life? Do you feel totally unprepared to answer his call?

Get ready for your heart to be emboldened and your faith strengthened! In CALLED to Inspire, Marsha DuCille, founder and publisher of CALLED magazine, leads you through a 52-question devotional experience to help you discover a rich, victorious life guided by God. With each weekly devotion, you’ll find compelling answers to life’s most significant questions. Each reading is accompanied by a powerful prayer, a meaningful verse to hide in your heart, a declaration to defend and fortify your faith, and journaling space to record your thoughts.

Let CALLED to Inspire encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and give you the strength and confidence to hear God’s calling in your life. Cling to this companion week after week—and dare to render your answer.


My Thoughts:

Just last week I told some friends how journaling has been a life-giving experience for me. When CALLED to Inspire by Marsha DuCille arrived in the mail and I held this gorgeous journal in my hands, I had a bit of instant love. It’s a beautifully designed, smooth surface, hard cover journal. The built-in bookmark, floral images, and gold foil letters lend a touch of elegance.

Being practically in love with the cover and excited about the prospect of journaling, I didn’t delay in reading through the devotions and accompanying prompts in CALLED to Inspire, though I didn’t attempt to respond to them all right away. Each topic comprises a set of four pages. The first two pages ask a question and provide a devotional thought. The third page has a prayer, a Scripture, a statement to declare and limited writing space. The fourth page features a short journal prompt to respond to and a larger writing space. Personally, I wouldn’t want to attempt a topic each day. It seems more suitable to contemplate the topic and respond over the course of 3-4 days, letting its message really seep into one’s mind and heart. A week on each might be too long, but there are 52 topics, so one per week would make for a year-long journey.

As far as content, I liked and agreed with most of the topics. I especially liked #24 – Is the Baby Protected? (Protecting your dream), #28 – Does It Hurt? (The power of your mind), and #49 -What is Joy (True joy versus happiness). There were a few that I didn’t care for, but I would still take the time to consider and respond if only to examine and affirm or alter my own position.

CALLED to Inspire by Marsha DuCille could be used by any one seeking to move forward in their personal calling. However, it is definitely slanted toward women with career-style callings. Those, like me, who consider mothering their primary calling for this season, can still benefit as there are plenty of applicable topics and I’m aware there may be other callings from God on my life that I’ll pursue at another time.

Visit the publisher's website to view an excerpt from CALLED to Inspire by Marsha DuCille.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.