Tina Boesch - Given: The Forgotten Meaning and Practice of Blessing

Our efforts to express blessing to others often become routine and trite. However, reading this book will awaken the spirit to the power of words of blessing.

GARY D. CHAPMAN, author of The 5 Love Languages

I started reading Tina Boeschs book like a freight train rushing to its destination. Instead, I found myself on a slow hike, immersing myself in the words that caused me to observe Scripture and principles of blessing in a new way. Her words left me captivated with a desire to be like Jacob and wrestle with God until receiving a blessing.

KELLY KING, manager of magazines/devotional publishing and womens ministry training at LifeWay Christian Resources

Tina tells the biblical story with great attention to narrative detail and has chosen her examples astutely. Interwoven with all this are many wonderful stories from her own and others lives, which illuminate the themes shes trying to get across.

IAIN W. PROVAN, Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College

In our day, blessing has sadly been reduced to a hashtag, frequently used in a shallow or braggadocio way. But in Given, Tina Boesch unpacks the richness of the biblical meaning of blessing. Her writing is exquisite, poetic, and rooted in the biblical narrative. In the truest sense of the word, Tina has richly blessed the family of God with her book. I highly recommend!

SUSIE HAWKINS, speaker and author of From One Ministry Wife to Another: Honest Conversations about Ministry Connections

Tina Boesch can bless in a wide range of modes: artist, art scholar, tour guide, theological teacher, evangelist, hostess, daughter, sister, friend, wife, mother, and more. This beautiful book comes from a heart ready to bless, a mind brimming with good things, and a mouth able to put things fitly, like apples of gold in a setting of silver (Proverbs 25:11) all bundled with a strong back, capable hands, and a quick smile. Come and be blessed!

JOHN G. STACKHOUSE, JR., Samuel J. Mikolaski Professor of Religious Studies at Crandall University

Given is a book that should not be ignored. In it, Tina Boesch explores the biblically significant notion of blessing. Rejecting both the prosperity gospels reduction of blessing to economic success and many evangelicals reduction of it to some sort of vague future hope, she argues that the ultimate expression of blessing is the Cross, where Christ gave himself on our behalf, blessing us so that we could bless others even our enemies. In a delightful and surprising manner, Given not only explores the richness of biblical teaching but also takes the reader on a journey through history and across the globe. Highly recommended.

BRUCE ASHFORD, dean of faculty at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of Letters to an American Christian

A year or so ago, I was led to Tina Boeschs blog and soon found myself binge-reading her posts. She has a tremendous way with the English language her prose is redolent, Christ centered, even pungent at times, but always winsome. And this book is no exception. I have long thought that blessings and benedictions are a lost art among evangelicals, and Tinas book is the very thing we need to recover a vital part of our heritage. May it be widely read, appreciated, and put into practice!

MICHAEL A. G. HAYKIN, professor of church history at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Given brings back the soul songs we shouldve been singing to each other for centuries. Its like a deep breath that pulls the reader into a place of rest, a place where God himself and his goodness is enough a place where we live to share that goodness with others.

GRACE THORNTON, author of I Dont Wait Anymore: Letting Go of Expectations and Grasping Gods Adventure for You

What the next generation looks for is legacy. How do the decisions we make today affect their tomorrows? In this book, Tina talks about whats obvious and not-so-obvious in the legacy of blessing that we offer to those in our lives. Her perspective is practical and demonstrated through history and personal experience. If were able to extend that hope to others, we hold a gift few fully comprehend.

REGGIE JOINER, founder and CEO at Orange

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Given: The Forgotten Meaning and Practice of Blessing

Copyright 2019 by Kristina H. Boesch. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

NAVPRESS is a registered trademark of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. The NAVPRESS logo is a trademark of NavPress, The Navigators. TYNDALE is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team:

Don Pape, Publisher

David Zimmerman, Acquisitions Editor

Elizabeth Schroll, Copy Editor

Dean H. Renninger, Designer

Cover painting by Dean H. Renninger; copyright Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; all rights reserved. Author photo by Josh Bourgeois; used by permission.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; used by permission; all rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers; used by permission; Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB, and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. Scripture quotations marked ISV are taken from the Holy Bible: International Standard Version; copyright 2003 by The ISV Foundation; used by permission of Davidson Press, Inc; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson; used by permission of NavPress; all rights reserved; represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation; used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NET are taken from the New English Translation, NET Bible, copyright 19962016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.; http://netbible.com; all rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV; copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.; used by permission; all rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation; used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188; all rights reserved.