Small Victories

"Small Victories" by Anne Lamott

This is the second book I've read by Anne, while a little unconvential I do appreciate her candor and honesty.  This book is about "spotting improbable moments of grace".  This seems to be a running theme in the last few books that I've read, finding grace in the moments that seem like there is not a bit of it.  Life is hard, and messy, and painful, and full of grace and wonder and joy.  It's how we choose to look at things, and choosing is the hard part.  "I didn't know that wounds and scars were what we find welcoming, because they are like ours."  Wounds and scars are what draw us to others, knowing they have been through hardship and come out the other side is very encouraging.  Why do we try and hide our scars?  "...let's face it, it's so inspiring and such a relief when people find a way to bear the unbearable, when you can organize things so that a small miracle appears to have taken place and that love has once again turned out to be bigger than fear and death and blindness."  "You want to protect your child from pain, and what you get instead is life, and grace."  None of us can completely protect our children from pain and pain is where growth happens.  "This is how we make important changes-barely, poorly, slowly.  And still.  He raises His fist in triumph."  God rejoices with us when change is made, no matter how slow.  "I know that when I call out, God will be near, and hear, and help eventually.  Of course, it is the 'eventually' that throws one into despair."  Oh the waiting, the hardest part of God's perfect timing.  "Hope is not about proving anything.  It's choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim bleak s*@# anyone can throw at us."  Love is always bigger because God is love.

One Thousand Gifts

"One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp

The author writes in a very different way, almost like poetry.  The book is about how the author started making a list of 1,000 things that she was grateful for and found joy through this.  She was able to find joy in the simplest things throughout her day and even joy in the hardships.  It is a book about learning that joy and greatefulness take action and those actions can change a heart.  Choosing to be grateful takes giving up control and trusting that we have a God who will take care of us no matter the situation.  Being thankful is the building blocks to the bridges of trust as we look back and see all that God has done for us and blessed us with.  Writing our blessings down, the little things that we are grateful for every day helps us become more aware of them and how blessed we truly are.  

What's Your God Language

"What's Your God Language" by Dr. Myra Perrine

This is a great book to figure out how you best communitcate and feel closest to God.  If you are feeling frustrated because early morning quiet times are not working for you this might open your eyes to other forms of connecting with God.  This book gives the nine main ways that people find connection with God.  The book has a few quizzes to help you figure out where and how you feel closest to God.  It gave me a new perspective, helped me feel less frustrated, and gave me new respect for others who do not connect like I do.  God created us all different so why wouldn't there be different ways to connect with Him?  

Now You See Me

"Now You See Me" by Kathy Sanders

This was a great and amazingly powerful book.  The author is the grandmother of two little boys who were killed in the Oklahoma bombing.  She was one of the very first on the scene and she became the spokeperson for the victims.  Kathy struggled to go on with life after her grandsons were killed.  She struggled with her faith and she was determined to find out why this happened.  In her search for answers she finds forgiveness towards those that committed the crime.  She even befriends the perpetrators and their family.  This is an amazing story of forgiveness that can only come from God.  No one would forgive and be friends with the person that killed their loved one unless God was at work.  And the healing that Kathy received from opening her heart and listening to God was a healing beyond what she expected.  "Clearly His blessings come with bonuses."  What a great statement, God really does desire to bless us beyond what we could ever imagine.  "Our uncommon pain became our common denominator."  When you suffer through something with others there is a bond that is unbreakable.  "His invisibility need not diminish His power to comfort."  Just because we can not see Him doesn't mean He isn't there and that He can't bring comfort.  'It's the constant push and pressure of everyday life that forms character ever so slowly-so slowly that we do not even notice it happening." when we look back on a year or a month we see the challenges we have faced and how we have grown.  "God has given each one of us a little chunk of eternity called time.  Each one of us is the steward of what time we are given.  These precious moments of opportunity are given to us for our benefit and God's glory."  

Blue Like Jazz

"Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller

This book is a look at the Christian faith through every day circumstances and how the author came upon his own conversion. I really appreciated the honesty and realism of this author. It was refreshing to hear Christianity defined and explained through everyday happenings and not lots of "holy" words. "I mean to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously. And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can't accept who God is; a Being that is love. We learn that we are lovable or unlovable from other people. That is why God tells us so many times to love each other." It is hard to accept a God who IS love if we don't love ourselves and He created us! I have a lot of work to do in this area, do you? Loving people for who God made them to be, seeing God in them and not judging them. Good book for a fresh perspective on the things of God.

A Severe Mercy

"A Severe Mercy" by Sheldon Vanauken

This book was given to me by my friend, as she is a big fan of C.S. Lewis. This book includes 18 letters to Sheldon from C.S. Lewis. This is a story of a mans journey to Christianity, his love for his wife and his grief in loosing her. It is a touching book of love given and lost. It is an interesting book as to how Sheldon came to research Christianity and thus became a believer. It takes a lot of mind power and thinking to read this book as all who are in it are scholars or writers of some sort but it is good because it does get one to start thinking. Sheldon and his wife make a pact to never let anything or anyone come between their love for one another. It is a beautiful thing that they attempt and even more beautiful when it is God the Maker of love that comes between them. Sheldon deals with his grief in such a touching manner, trying to find the meaning in his wife's death and trying to carry on her love of God. This book is proof that when one seeks God they will find Him and that He works all things, even the death of someone we love, for good.