NIV, Life Connect Study Bible Growing Deeper, Growing Stronger in Your Spiritual Life By Wayne Cordeiro

NIV, Life Connect Study Bible Growing Deeper, Growing Stronger in Your Spiritual Life By Wayne Cordeiro is a new themed bible published by Zondervan.  In light of the new creativity genre filtering its way into bookstores- with journals and adult coloring books- this niche bible is created for those who wish to write in their bibles.  This bible is made to record your thoughts and your notes with thin lines on the margins of each page, as well as blank lined pages at the end of each bible book.

The book introductions are informative and give additional insight.  They are short and to the point without extraneous detail. There are relevant short articles throughout the bible to allow readers to literally connect what they read to their own lives.

The only thing about this notetaking bible is that some readers might find it too structured or too limited for their needs.  For example, the blank lines in the margins are narrow and thin- not enough room to write anything unless you are the type of individual who writes with tiny, minuscule handwriting.  Basically the one inch space that normally would be blank is filled with tiny lines.  It certainly isn't wide enough for most people to write anything of substance.  I see no advantage to the writing space over a blank unlined margin.  At the end of each book is a full page allotted for writing - this too is limited; too structured, as each page has a heading for a date, title and page.  In otherwords, this journal page is not intended for free writing but rather a structured writing assignment in which the reader simply records his or her own personal reactions using a one word response to a particular bible verse and the page number on which it can be found.  The end result if this bible is used as intended would be a long list of dates, one word thoughts and page numbers.  Nevertheless, I think many readers might choose to ignore the guided headers and use the blank pages for free journalist space.

I was looking forward to this bible, but after receiving it, it just was not what I was expecting.  I was hoping for a bible with less structured writing  space, and I found the margin writing lines to be too inadequate and mostly for show.   The font color wasn't very readable.  The cover is misleading as it suggests that there are natural green earth tones  in the interior with a leafy theme. I could not tell if the font was dark gray or cadet blue.  All I knew is that it wasn't black and it made me question my eye-sight.  I would have preferred a plain black font.  I could not determine if the spot color was simply a grey-scale or blue tint.  I am not sure of the rationale to choosing this washed out font color and spot color.  The binding is very high quality, and the textured cover will stand up to years of use.  Overall this bible is a satisfactory choice.  Of all the bibles on the market it isn't the most impressive.  Perhaps I have been spoiled by the full color study bibles adorned with full color photographs, which are also published by Zondervan and available in the NIV. As a blogger for Booklook I received a copy of this bible for the purpose of writing this review.