Some Books for your Reading Pleasure

I have found that I love when other people tell me about a good book rather than trying to find one myself! I have also found that I love it even more if they lend me that book or it takes two days to get to the Hold Shelf at the library!  Here are the books that I have read over the past few months and really enjoyed.

Laura let me borrow this book months ago.  At first, it was a little hard for me to get in to because missions has never been a calling on my life.  I highly support missions, it has just never been a passion the Lord has laid on my heart.  However, children have been and continue to be!  Matty V and I have talked about the possibility of adopting one day and praying about that in our future.  So once I got to the part about her adopting all of her children and her heart for each of them, I was hooked!  It didn't take me too long to finish after that!  The book was amazing and Katie's heart for the Lord is inspiring.  I have at least 3 quotes up on my Wall of Strength from this book.  I highly recommend it!

I waited and waited for this book to come out!  But then being the frugal girl that I am, I couldn't bring myself to spend the $18 it cost.  I was in Mardel right after we had lost John Marshall and I found it on the bargain bin for $3.  I knew right away that the Lord had put it there for me and I grabbed it!  I LOVED this book.  Now, I am a self-professed Bible nerd and love anything that has to do with studying God's Word and how it all weaves together.  My husband would tell you that whenever he asks me to help him on his homework I can't remember answers to anything about theology but I can always remember the stories!  The stories of the Bible and how they come together is like the ultimate Hallmark movie/fairy tale to me.  LOVE IT!  That is what this book was about; how the chapters from Genesis to Revelation fit perfectly together.  The one thing that has gotten me through the past couple months is my strong, unfailing belief that "God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called to His purpose." Reading this book, encouraged my heart and pressed that truth into my heart.

This one was counseling homework and I am still reading it.  It's very interesting though if you consider yourself an introvert in anyway.  I had actually never considered myself one until we started discussing it.  Did you know that you don't have to be a bookworm or want to spend time by yourself all the time to be an introvert?  You could just do things like "prefer one on one conversations to group activities, dislike small talk and prefer in depth conversations, not be a big risk-taker, like to celebrate your birthday on a small scale (I celebrated the big 30 with only my 3 sisters on a getaway my husband gave me), work best on your own, dislike conflict, often let calls go to voicemail."  Crazy how much that describes me and my husband!  The book is about embracing that part of your personality, honing into the strengths that personality has to offer, and famous people in history who have used those strengths to their advantage.  It has encouraged me in embracing who God has created me to be and respecting my husband (and 3 year old) for who God has created them to be as well.

 
Both of these books were given to me.  The first was given to me in this precious bag full of keepsakes at the hospital.  It took me a very long time to be able to pick it up but so far it has been the most helpful of the grief books given to me.  Honestly, it's hard when you miscarry or lose a baby to find a book that isn't completely depressing.  This book on the other hand validated the feelings I was having and where I was in my grieving process. 
The second was given to me by my future MIL, Debi.  This one was encouraging to me and gave me an easy read when life seemed a little overwhelming and I couldn't think about reading more than my Bible devotion for the day.  It is a book of short meditations for someone who is grieving.  Not every page applied to me, which made it even easier for me just to read the subject and skip the page if I didn't need to read it.  However, some pages hit me right where I was at!

I am currently finishing Quiet, reading through Empty Cradle, Broken Heart and excitingly waiting to read a new book that Laura C. let me borrow.  It's about heaven and I am a little obsessed with books about heaven, even more so now that I have two little boys wiating there for me!