The Promise of a Pencil

"The Promise of a Pencil" by Adam Braun

This was a motivational and great book.  If you think you can't accomplish something or you're too young, you need to read this.  The author knew since he was very young that he wanted to work in finances and his whole life was a clear path in that direction.  Then he did a semester at sea and he began to wonder if thee was more to life than what he had been chasing.  He backbacked around the world and would ask a child in whichever country he was in if they could have one thing what would it be.  One little boy said he wanted a pencil.  Adam had a pencil and he gave it to the little boy and this is when he realized that something as small as a pencil could change a childs life.  Adam realized that giving was better than receiving and he decided that he wanted to fund a school in a third world country.  He quit his job at the prestigious finance company and started a non-profit.  He has now opened many schools and his non-profit has received numerous awards.  Truly when we mix our passion with determination it is amazing the impact we can make.  "I believe that where you start in life should not dictate where you finish."  Because not everyone gets a fair start but I think everyone deserves a fair shot.  "We fear leaving those familiar surroundings, which is natural, but through exploration of the unfamiliar we stop focusing on the labels that define what we are and discover who  we are."  "In moments of uncertainty, when you must choose between two paths, allowing yourself to be overcome by either the fear of failure or the dimly lit light of possibility, immerse yourself in the life you would be most proud to live."  So good, so, so good.  Live the life you would be most proud to live.  What a great statement.  The first school Adam built was dedicated to his grandma who was a concentration camp survivor.  When he told her why he was building these schools and helping others she responded, "It feels like this is why I survived.  I survived for this.  It feels like it's all coming back to me, everything I suffered for is coming back to me, but in good ways.  All the bad things I went through were for these good things to happen."  God sees the suffering and He always turns beauty for ashes. "...that the biggest opportunities for growth are not found in the midst of success, but in the methods through which we address failure."  Growth occurs when we fail and get back up again, willling to try again.  We can't reach success until we've failed.  "Here's my best advice: make the little decisions with your head and the big ones with your heart."  "Certain people help you see a future that you could never have envisioned without their influence.  They make you a better version of yourself."  Surround yourself with these people.  "...you can't keep saying, 'I'll get started tomorrow.'  The world has far too many problems, and you are way too smart and capable to not help tackle them.  Your time is now."  Take that first step towards what you've always wanted to do and start living the life you've always wanted to live.  "I'll tell them that the most direct route to happiness is through creating joy for someone else, and that change doesn't happen through hard work alone."  I highly recommend this book.  Read it and be inspired.

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."  

Special Heart

"Special Heart" by Bret Baier

The author Bret Baier is a big time Fox News correspondent and had a thriving carrer when his first son was born with multiple heart defects.  Bret realized what really mattered in life was family, love and faith.  His son underwent three life saving surgeries and Bret's faith was challenged.  This book is full of love for his son and all the strength it takes to believe all is going to turn out the way God has planned. "Like it or not, this was exactly what God had given us to deal with, so we were on the job."  When we find ourselves in circumstances we can't change instead of fighting it we need to rest in the fact that God is in the struggle with us.  "...and one day we'll look at the scar on his chest and consider it the most beautiful thing in the world."  All of our scars, physical of emotional, are beautiful, they make us who we are, they have made us stronger and they remind us that God has brought us through.  Celebrate those scars, they are beautiful.

What I Know For Sure

"What I Know For Sure" by Oprah Winfrey

I used to be a big fan of Oprah's, I still like her but am not over the moon about her any more.  This book caught my eye at the library.  It's a book about things Oprah knows for sure, as the name states.  Things that she has learned throughout her life.  For the most part I agree with her although she does have a few askewed thoughts when it comes to God.  This is just a quick little book of a collection of good nuggets to keep in mind when you are walking this journey called life.  "Sometimes we get so focused on the difficulty of our climb that we lose sight of being grateful for simply having a mountain to climb."  There is always something to be grateful for.  "When you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it."  Where our focus lies is what becomes magnified so if our focus is on the good in our lives that is what becomes the greatest.  "You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more."  I love that.  We are to be more, keep growing and learning and loving.  "If I know nothing else for sure, I know that the big miracles we're waiting on are happening right in front of us, at every moment, with every breath."  It is just a matter of looking for them, of being open and aware and taking the time to notice.  

The Lost Boy

"The Lost Boy" by Mike Rossman

My friends husband wrote this book.  I've been waiting a while for its release.  First I'm so proud of this couple for sharing their story.  It's not an easy story and it took courage.  God is woven throughout their story though and they believe, as do I, that their story will be used to encourage others.  Mike is a testimony that God relentlessly pursues His children.  Mike was abused as a child and because of this lead a life of drinking to cover the pain.  He was determined to drink himself to death to end the pain he could not escape from.  After many years and many losses Mike finally found freedom in Jesus.  This story is hard and sad but our God is a good God and I have seen firsthand the blessings He has given Mike and his beautiful family.  "I wanted to be free, but I was convinced freedom would not be mine."  I have felt this, thought maybe healing was not for me in this life.  This is such a hopeless place to be.  "He reminded me of what my childhood should have been but never was."  Mike had a son and he desperatly wanted to be a good father but had too much pain to be able to be the father he wanted to be. His son was a reminder of all that he had lost.  "The dysfunction resulting from sexual abuse was consistent-shattered lives made worse through addiction, broken relationships, job loss, and incarceration."  Sexual abuse severs the soul and only God can repair it.  "Now I know when I find Jesus in it, He can use my story to bring freedom to others."  And Jesus is in all of our stories and He wants to use our hard stories to grow us and to bless others.  I can accept things in my life if I know that they will be used, don't let my struggles and pain be for none.  This is an amazing book of redemption and of God being faithful.  It is encouraging to those of us who have struggled from the pain of abuse.  God is there and He does care and He will take our pain and turn it for our God if we let Him.

Ragamuffin Gospel

"Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning

I know I'm about a decade behind in reading this book.  To me it wasn't as life changing as others have said but it was a good book.  The author writes about God's grace and how if we really believe in His grace, really believe it to our core, it will change how we do life.  We are but poor sinners and yet God loves us, loves us so much He died.  It is a truth that will transform you if you let it.  That someone could love us that much when we have failed and blown it too many times to count.  "When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes.  I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty.  I am trusting and suspicious.  I am honest and I am still playing games.  To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark."  Christ died for the whole of you, not just the good parts.  "God intended for us to discover His loving presence in the world around us."  His creation is designed to remind us how much He loves us.  I liked the reminder in this book that I can not do anything to make God love me more.  He loves me just the way that I am.  That can bring a lot of relief to a perfectionist.  If you are having a hard time grasping how much God loves you or understanding His grace this is a great book to pick up.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

"A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller

The author realizes that his life is very meaningful but that he has the power to change his story.  He figures out what makes a story powerful and uses that to edit his life to make it powerful.  We all have the power to make change happen.  We all have one beautiful life to live.  "These polar charges, these happy and sad things in life, are like colors God uses to draw the world."  "We get robbed of the glory of life because we aren't capable of remembering how we got here.  What I'm saying is I think life is staggering and we're just used to it.  We are all like spoiled children no longer impressed with the gifts we're given-it's just another sunset, just another rainstorm moving in over the mountain, just another child being born, just another funeral."  How true, the things that are truly amazing, truly miraculous, become mundane.  The sun rising every morning is truly spectacular but it does it every morning so it looses it's coolness factor.  When we stop and actually think about these wonders they become wondrous to us again.  Stop and savor, stop taking for granted.  "People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen.  But joy costs pain."  Because it does take work and the work is hard and long but in the end it is worth it.  "But fear isn't only a guide to keep us safe; it's also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life."  Fear stops us from really living.  "It made me think about the hard lives so many people have had, the sacrifices they've endured, and how those people will see heaven differently from those of us who have had easier lives."  The pain makes the beauty that much more beautiful.  "There is no conflict that man can endure that will not produce a blessing."  That is so encouraging, what we are going through has a reason, a blessing.  "After a tragedy, I think God gives us a period of numbing as a kind of grace."  "When we look back on our lives, what we will remember are the crazy things we did, the times we worked harder to make a day stand out."  Being willing to risk is what makes life worth living.  We can find beauty in the everyday but I think the memories are in the extraordinary.  "We don't know how much we are capable of loving until the people we love are being taken away, until a beautiful story is ending."  This book was an encouraging book to make your life matter, that we all with God's help can make our life meaningful.  It is when we give of ourselves that life finds meaning.