We always have a Christian radio station on in our car, and anytime we listen to music at home. So, I get to enjoy listening to lots of different Christian singers and songs. When I was asked to review Hiding Place CD by Tori Kelly, I was excited to get to hear music from someone I’ve never heard before!

About The “Hiding Place” Album

*This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (This means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)!  Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

While working on the follow-up to her debut album Unbreakable Smile—a 2015 release that premiered at #2 on the Billboard 200—Tori Kelly felt compelled to include a track that honored her lifelong passion for gospel music. With the help of her manager, Scooter Braun, the L.A.-based singer/songwriter soon connected with Kirk Franklin, a 12-time Grammy Award-winning gospel artist and one of Kelly’s musical idols. “I flew to Dallas and Kirk showed me a few songs he’d written, and I fell in love with all of them,” says Kelly, a 2016 Grammy Award nominee for Best New Artist. “Next thing you know, one song turned into us doing a whole album together. It just took on a life of its own.”

With its R&B-infused, deeply melodic take on classic gospel, Hiding Place offers up what Franklin refers to as “hope-pop”—a classification that fully resonates with Kelly. “One of the things I want for this album is for people to feel uplifted and encouraged when they listen,” she says. “I want them to know that, no matter what they’re going through, there’s a God who loves them so much and so unconditionally, and there’s always a reason to feel hope. That’s what I really believe in, and I want everyone out there to hear my heart.”

As Kelly explains, the title to Hiding Place draws inspiration from a line in one of her favorite psalms (“You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with songs of deliverance”). “That always stuck with me: this idea of God being a place of safety, a place where you can hide from all the crazy things that this world can throw at us,” she notes.

Produced by Franklin, Hiding Place unfolds with a lush yet simply adorned sound beautifully suited to Kelly’s incomparable voice. “I’ve worked with Mary J. Blige, Bono, Yolanda Adams, and I’ve never seen anyone that’s a monster behind the microphone like Tori Kelly,” says Franklin. “She’d nail one song in three takes, and all those takes were amazing. It set the bar higher for my whole career.”

While half of the songs on Hiding Place were penned solely by Franklin, the remaining tracks came from a collaboration between him and Kelly—the first time that Franklin’s ever co-written in a decades-long career that’s seen his songs performed by legends like Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston. (“It blew me away that she wanted us to co-write, because she’s a phenomenal songwriter and could’ve easily done it herself,” Franklin says.) And at Franklin’s urging, Hiding Place was mostly recorded at his studio just outside Dallas. “The most important thing to me was that if Tori wanted to do a gospel album—a real, authentic, heart-throbbing gospel album—she’d have to come to the South,” he says. “Then she showed up at my studio with no entourage, no handlers—just Tori and her guitar, standing at my front door.”

With its sonic palette gracefully rooted in live instrumentation, Hiding Place first reveals its unbridled spirit on the album-opening “Masterpiece” (featuring Houston-bred hip-hop artist Lecrae)—a joyfully uptempo track that instantly sweeps the listener into a more radiant state of mind. From there, Kelly delivers her slow-burning lead single “Help Us to Love,” whose breathtaking harmonies feature the famed HamilTones (official background vocalists for Grammy Award-winner Anthony Hamilton). Proving her versatility as an artist and musician, Hiding Place then shifts seamlessly from the silky groove and playful scat singing of “Sunday” to the sweetly ethereal soul of “Just As Sure” (a duet with chart-topping gospel star Jonathan McReynolds) to the quiet intensity of “Psalm 42.” “So many of the songs on this album are so intricate, I wanted a song that I could play completely stripped-down, just me and my guitar,” says Kelly of the tender piano ballad.

One of the most profound moments on Hiding Place, the hushed yet urgent ballad “Questions” finds Kelly tearfully examining the current state of the world (sample lyric: “What happens when the healing never comes?”). “It’s about trying to make sense of all the dark and heavy things that keep happening, sort of crying out to God and asking, ‘What’s going on? I don’t like what I see down here,’” says Kelly. Then, on the subtly determined “Never Alone,” Kelly recollects her own struggles (“I’ve cried many rivers/I’ve walked through some pain/Seen my world crumble”) and ultimately re-discovers comfort and peace through her faith.

On “Soul’s Anthem,” Kelly closes out Hiding Place with an a cappella, full-choir-driven rendition of the beloved hymn “It Is Well.” Perhaps the most powerfully captivating track on the album, “Soul’s Anthem” also gave way to what Kelly considers a landmark moment in her musical career. “Before we started, Kirk said to me, ‘Don’t look at me or the choir, just look down and get into your own world,’” says Kelly, who recorded “Soul’s Anthem” at the iconic Capitol Studios. “So I sang it all the way through, and at one point there’s a part where the choir takes over. I looked up and saw all these incredible singers, and it finally hit me that this was really happening. You can’t hear it on the recording, but I’m crying at the end of the song.”

Looking back on the making of Hiding Place, Kelly still marvels at the experience. “I always thought I would do something like this, but I thought it would be much further down the line,” she says. “It’s been in my heart for some time, but the timing didn’t feel right until now. I didn’t think I’d get the chance to work with someone like Kirk just yet, and that people would be so excited and accepting.” And though the album marks a stylistic departure from her work in the pop world, a commitment to uncompromising artistry carries through all of Kelly’s music. “No matter what genre you’re working in, there should be a level of excellence, and Tori definitely brought that excellence to this album,” says Franklin. “A lot of artists out there will rely on Auto-Tune or studio tricks, but there’s no button you can push for emotion, and there’s no button for skill. Tori is excellent in everything she does, because she’s a real, pure artist.”

As she gets ready to share Hiding Place with the world, Kelly hopes that it might give others the same sense of solace and joy she’s found in gospel in her entire life. And as the album’s creator, one of the most rewarding aspects of Hiding Place was embracing gospel’s boundless intensity, and pushing her vocal performance like never before. “With gospel music, you can’t sing without all your heart being in it,” says Kelly. “This album was an opportunity to not only express my faith and my love for God, but to do what I felt and never hold back. I could just be free and let the song take me over.”

Do you want to hear an encouraging message about God's love and how He's always there for us? Check out my giveaway for the Hiding Place CD from Tori Kelly!Click To Tweet

Song List for the Hiding Place CD

1. Masterpiece
2. Help Us to Love
3. Sunday
4. Just As Sure
5. Psalm 42
6. Questions
7. Never Alone
8. Souls Anthem (It is Well)

What I Thought About the Hiding Place CD

All of the songs on the Hiding Place CD are all about God’s love and how much we need him. God is always there for us and He always loves us. It’s such an encouraging message!  We can have assurance when we go out into the world because God is with us.

“Masterpiece” is a great song with a really catchy tune.

“Help Us to Love” had a great message to it! You can listen to a clip of it here:

Help Us to Love

“Sunday” had really nice jazzy instruments in it. I really enjoyed listening to them play.

“Just As Sure” is a wonderfully encouraging song talking about the assurance you can have if you follow Jesus.

“Psalm 42” is one of my favorite songs! It talks about how much we need the Lord. One of my all-time favorite songs has a line in it, “as the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after You.” This song from Tori Kelly has similar lines in it! You can listen to a bit of it here:

Psalm 42

“Questions” is a very pretty song. It talks about how bad things happen in the world and we wonder why.

“Never Alone” is a really encouraging song that I will listen to often. I feel lonely a lot, so to know that I’m never alone is so encouraging!

“Souls Anthem (It is Well)” is another one of my favorites. I love the song “It is Well” and enjoyed singing it with my friend’s dad when I was growing up. This song talks about how life’s tough and when it’s hard to keep going, we need to remember “yet it is well with my soul.”

Where to Find the Hiding Place CD

(click on the links in the box)

Giveaway Information for the Hiding Place CD

I am also running a giveaway for you. You have a chance to win a free copy of Tori Kelly’s the Hiding Place CD. This giveaway is open to the US. All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Fill out one option or as many as you want. The giveaway ends at 12:01 a.m. pacific time on 9/15/18.

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

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We love coffee in our house! We also love to try different varieties! Flavored coffee is so much fun to drink! So, I’ve been lucky enough to get to review Two Rivers Mega Coffee Sampler. You are lucky enough to get to enter a giveaway for it!

About Two Rivers

Two Rivers Coffee manufactures over a hundred different coffees made with 100% Arabica beans and roasted to perfection. Two Rivers sampler packs are a great way to find your prefect cup of coffee.

To get the perfect tasting flavored coffees, the highest quality coffee beans are selected from around the world and are roasted locally for freshness. Our small batch roasting process gives our coffees a rich robust flavor without any bitter aftertaste.

The Mega Coffee Sampler Box

All  4 sides of the box are different. I like this because you can learn about all of the other different varieties of teas and coffees that Two Rivers offers.

However, when my younger son and I were first looking at the box, we were so excited because we thought these flavors were in the box. I wanted to try the cider and he wanted to try the vanilla hot cocoa. We were disappointed to find out these varieties are not in the box. So, I told him, we would have to look for those flavors sometime and try them.

This side of the box tells you about all the different kinds of choices they have available. Multiple sampler packs available for different coffee preferences – bold roast , medium roast , light roast , decaf, and flavored varieties. More coffee with more choices.  Also, suggestions for ways you can prepare your coffee, tea, or cocoa.

What’s In the Mega Coffee Sampler

*This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (This means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

According to the description on Amazon for the Mega Coffee Sampler:

Coffee, coffee and more coffee. This sampler pack has it all from bold to decaf and flavored to complex roasts. If you enjoy a variety of coffees or you are trying to please a crowd, then here you go.

The coffee is from these different companies: Brooklyn Bean, Bosco, Felix & Norton, Friendly’s, Hamilton Mills, Java Factory, Realtree, Workaholics.

The pods are compatible with Keurig K-Cup brewers compatible, including 2.0 brewers.

Here’s all of the 40 different types of coffee in this mega coffee sampler.

• Flyin’ Hawaiian kona style
• Heritage Blend dark roast
• Coconut Cream Pie flavored
• Da Bomb extra bold dark roast
• Toasted Cinnamon flavored
• Ebony & Ivory gourmet
• Choconut flavored
• Timber medium roast
• Mocha Swirl flavored
• Chocolate Marshmallow Swirl flavored
• Mystery Flavor
• Boardwalk Blend medium Roast
• Express-O espresso roast
• Butterscotch Swirl flavored
• Macadamia White Chocolate gourmet
• Vienna Mocha Chunk flavored
• Xtra dark roast
• Colombian medium roast
• Hamilton House Blend medium roast
• Morning Roast light roast
• Andes Mint Chocolate flavored
• Vanilla Bean flavored
• Buckshot Blend light roast
• Mint Chocolate Chip flavored
• Chocolate Chunk gourmet
• Breakfast Blend light roast
• Brooklyn Bridge Blend medium roast
• Chocolate Caramel flavored
• Fully Torqued extra bold dark roast
• Cyclone dark roast extra bold
• Chocolate Hazelnut flavored
• Blaze Cinnamon flavored
• Big Kahuna flavored
• Take it Sleazy light roast
• Dark and Handsome extra bold dark roast
• Straight Grizzly flavored
• Max double caffeinated
• Corner Donut Shop medium roast extra bold
• Cape Cod Roast medium roast
• Smooth Caffeinator medium roast

We love coffee in our house! We also love to try different varieties! Flavored coffee is fun to drink! So, I've been lucky enough to get to review Two Rivers Mega Coffee Sampler. You are lucky enough to get to enter a giveaway for it!Click To Tweet

What We Thought of the Mega Coffee Sampler

This is the first thing my husband saw when he opened the box. He was so impressed with them including a thank you note, that he told me I should save the card. He wanted to make sure I included it in my post. It’s very rare that a company includes a nice thank you card with your purchase.

As my husband pulled out the coffee pods one by one, we were all amazed at all the different flavors. As he read the names out loud, we said, “Yum,” to several of them. He was having a hard time deciding which one he wanted to try first. In fact, he couldn’t decide, and it was time to leave for fishing. So, he just choose his normal coffee for that time. He’ll have to look through the box again when he has more time to decide what to try first.

When we came back from grocery shopping, my daughter pulled out all the flavors again. She thought all of the coffee pods laid out would make a pretty picture. (You can see the picture above.) She enjoyed looking at all of the flavors again. As she pulled them out one by one, she was assigning them to different people. She knows her dad likes the medium roast and unflavored coffees. My dad likes the dark roast unflavored coffees. In fact, there’s one that’s “Dark and handsome” and she joked we should tell her grandpa we chose that one especially for him!

She also had a hard time deciding which coffee to try first. However, she knew we needed to have one for the picture, so she finally chose. She picked the Chocolate Marshmallow Swirl.

She was so excited to try the coffee that we didn’t get a picture of it in the Keurig. However, it did fit very nicely in there. Sorry about the reflection in the coffee. I think it’s the chandelier.

My daughter wanted me to make sure I got a picture of her coffee cup too. She’s very proud of this cup. She bought it on sale when the Bible Bookstore was going out of business.

This Chocolate Marshmallow Swirl Coffee smells delicious! I can only drink decaf coffee, but because it smelled so good, I tried a tiny sip. It tasted pretty good. My daughter liked the flavor also. In fact, she didn’t put any creamer in it! That’s amazing, because we put creamer with all of our coffee. She said, “It’s not bad black. Actually, it’s pretty good black.” However, if she had tried the coffee without knowing the flavor, she probably wouldn’t have been able to tell what flavor it was.

The only things we didn’t like about this mega coffee sampler was a few of the names. A couple of them weren’t very appropriate. My husband and daughter are both intrigued by the mystery flavor.

I was disappointed that there weren’t any decaf varieties available. It says there are, but all 3 of us didn’t see any.

Where You Can Find Two Rivers Mega Coffee Sampler

All 3 of us agree that the Two Rivers Mega Coffee Sampler is worth a try. It’s a great way to try lots of different varieties without having to purchase 40 different boxes of coffee. You can find some new favorites that are worth trying again.

If you want to know more about Two Rivers Mega Coffee Sampler, you can check them out on:

The Giveaway for Two Rivers Mega Coffee Sampler

I am also running a giveaway for you. You have a chance to win a free 40 count box of Two Rivers Mega Coffee Sampler. This giveaway is open to the US. All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below, fill out one option or as many as you want. The giveaway ends at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on 5/24/18.

I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post, however all opinions expressed are my own.

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I love reading books before bedtime with my son. We enjoy reading all kinds of different books together and we’re always excited to find a new book to read. God’s Great Love for You by Rick Warren, Illustrated by Chris Saunders is a very beautiful book to read and is just the right length for reading before bed.

About God’s Great Love for You

*This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (This means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I will earn a small commission which helps keep my blog up and running but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

God’s Great Love for You, written by #1 New York Times bestselling author and respected pastor Rick Warren, takes children on a whimsical and heartfelt journey that lets them know God’s love is with them wherever they go. With breathtaking illustrations by Chris Saunders, the simple yet poignant text comes alive as a child journeys to places far and near and discovers God’s great love is perfect, and everywhere, and will never end.

My 10 Year Old Son’s Opinion of God’s Great Love for You

My 10 year old son thought God’s Great Love for You was a good book. He said, “I liked the pictures because they showed an example of what the words were, that they were talking about in the story.” When I asked him what his favorite picture was, he chose the one above. That was the same one that I chose as my favorite! He liked it because he said, “It looks really cool!”

This book is much better suited for younger children, probably ages 2 – 5. However, my son still did enjoy reading it with me, he just noted that there weren’t very many words on each page.

My Opinion of God’s Great Love for You

I thought God’s Great Love for You was a very beautifully illustrated book! Like my son, I liked the pictures because they really did show what the words were conveying.

This picture talks about God’s big love, and that’s definitely shown in the big heart the girl is standing on. I also like how the ribbon from her dress just flows, showing that God’s love is unstoppable. The dove is a nice touch on every page since that often symbolizes God’s love/presence.

The book’s message is that no matter where you are, what time of day it is, or what kind of day you’re having, God is always there with you, loving you. This is a message that the world today definitely needs to hear! What better way than to instill it in the littlest of children so that they will remember this all of their lives. Can you imagine how much better our world would be when those kids grow up, knowing that God loves them and has always loved them?

This book would be really great to read to a Sunday School class, as part of a homeschool curriculum, to your own children, grandchildren, etc.

Where to Find God’s Great Love for You Book

Giveaway Information for God’s Great Love for You

I am also running a giveaway for you. You have a chance to win a free copy of Rick Waren’s book God’s Great Love for You. This giveaway is open to the US. All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below, fill out one option or as many as you want. The giveaway ends at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on 11/16/17.

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

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Brooklyn Bean Roastery is run by 3 guys from Brooklyn who love coffee. They grew up with an appreciation for quality, originality, and local pride, so their company is based on those values. They only use the highest quality Arabica beans for each of their blends and roast them in New York. Brooklyn is diverse and never boring, so their coffee includes a variety of flavors to suit any palate. Whether you prefer a smooth, mild blend, or a rich, dark roast, Brooklyn Bean Roastery has the perfect blend for you.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission which helps keep my blog up and running but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

I was sent the Brooklyn Bean Roastery Pink Pumpkin coffee to try. I received a box of 40 single serve coffee cups that are Keurig compatible. Pink pumpkin coffee is pumpkin vanilla flavored coffee. I was so excited when I found out I was going to be reviewing this flavor coffee! I absolutely love anything pumpkin flavored! I also like vanilla, so this was a win-win!

By the way, my dad was helping my husband fix our fence and he noticed this box of coffee in the garage. He said he would be willing to try a cup, which is pretty impressive coming from someone who only drinks black coffee. However, unfortunately, I was busy cleaning and getting ready for my parents to come over for dinner that night, so I hadn’t had time to take my pictures for this post yet. So, I told him he would have to wait until next time he comes over.

My daughter also saw this box of coffee in the garage and she likes that it’s pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. One of her closest friends growing up, had her mom die when she was very young (5 or 6 I think), of breast cancer. One of the teachers in our elementary school has also had breast cancer twice, once while pregnant with her son. The teacher and a friend always participate in the local 3-day breast cancer walk now. My fellow sign language interpreter at our previous church had breast cancer, and my oldest son’s friend’s mom just battled breast cancer too. So, this cause is very dear to our hearts.

As you can see, this pink pumpkin coffee pod fits nicely in our Keurig.

Mmm, I wish you could smell this coffee; it smells so good! I could smell the nice pumpkin spices and a little bit of vanilla. It also tastes very nice, just like it smells. It has a nice subtle flavor of pumpkin spice and vanilla, not overpowering. It adds a nice flavor to the coffee. I usually have my coffee with creamer, but I think this coffee doesn’t need it.

I definitely think Brooklyn Bean Roastery Pink Pumpkin coffee is worth the try. The pumpkin vanilla tastes delicious and makes you feel like Fall is here. Every purchase of the pink pumpkin coffee supports Breast Cancer Awareness, so you can enjoy your coffee and feel good knowing you’re helping other women too.

If you want to know more about Brooklyn Bean Roastery Pink Pumpkin coffee, you can check them out on:

I am also running a giveaway for you. You have a chance to win a free 40 count box of Brooklyn Bean Roastery Pink Pumpkin Coffee. This giveaway is open to the US. All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below, fill out one option or as many as you want. The giveaway ends at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on 10/31/17.

I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post, however all opinions expressed are my own.

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