books – Page 8 – everything He gives

Favorite Reads of 2014

January 23, 2015January 23, 2015 MarthaKimball4 Comments

Some of my favorite reads from this past year. This stack is missing a few that greatly impacted me this past year, such as Eric Metaxes’ “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prohpet, Spy,” and Jerry Bridges “Transforming Grace.”

I sheepishly admit that I have historically been careful not to venture too far in my book choices into places that would disagree with my firmly held convictions. I have begun to challenge myself to read some things that might intrigue, provoke, and even irritate me. To read some things that I think I will probably disagree with. I have been afraid to do this in the past, not trusting my mind + heart to weed out truth from lie. As my favorite professor from school once counseled me, we can engage in content that may make us squirm because we can trust that God will separate what is wheat from what is chaff.

The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I see that He continually leads us into more spacious places. He always leads us on to greater freedom (2 Cor. 3:17), and that He will increase our awareness of the great freedom already won for us in Christ Jesus.

Some books that made me squirm and were out of my comfort zone to read were Sarah Bessey’s “Jesus Feminist” and also Barbara Brown Taylor’s “An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith” (not pictured above). I have to tell you: I am SO GLAD I picked those two up. I’m not sure I can tell you that I agree with everything written therein, but I can tell you that I am better off for having read and engaged in those two books. Well worth the journey and the squirming. I think I’m finding that when I read things that are outside of my comfort zone, I am reminded of how much bigger God is than I can possibly wrap my arms (or mind) around. I am reminded that it is in the diversity of the body of Christ that His incredible, unfathomable largeness and otherness is expressed. No one denomination has a corner on all Truth, and we are wise to remember that. I am reminded that Christ’s final prayer with His disciples centered around pleading for them to be ONE (John 17).

I have a big stack already waiting for me to dig into in 2015:

And since I am now reviewing books for fun (pushes nerd glasses up bridge of nose) this stack will definitely grow over the year. Of course, I will share the best with you here, as I firmly believe in sharing good resources and in reading, reading, reading. Not just to stuff our heads with knowledge, but because we want to learn, to change, to have a conversation with the community of brothers and sisters of our faith both in the current day and in times past. What a beautiful privilege that is!

This season of being a mother to little ones has taught me that the best things in life must be fought for. The path of least resistance is not the way of Jesus. I have so little time as a momma for reading, and yet I’m passionate about squeezing it in. There is so much I want to learn and have yet to learn! This year I am convicted afresh that my focus needs to be on my marriage and my children. So I’m hoping to fill my shelves (figuratively speaking) with words that build up and strengthen my marriage and my calling as momma first and foremost.

Of course, I’m hoping to squeeze in some fiction as well. Sometimes a momma just needs to get lost in a good story.

What are you hoping to read this year? What books would you recommend?

Longing For More

January 22, 2015January 22, 2015 MarthaKimball2 Comments

A brand new year unfolds before us. How many of us find ourselves restless, longing for more? The holidays are behind us now, and we are tired of all the activity, the rushing, the memory-making + merry-making, the feasting and the getting.

Now we start again, we re-set, we look into what is both ordinary and fresh at the same time. We’re back to our usual work. Laundry piles, dishes stack, children squabble, bills accrue again. How can we enter into the sameness and the ordinary and yet become different?

What are we so restless for?

Timothy Willard offers us companionship in our restlessness and offers a soul-remedy: God.

The month of January is a clean start, a time when many of us are thinking about change, the changes we want to make to become more of who we desire to be. We go into a new year and bring our old selves into it; but how can we be changed? How can we be transformed?

Scripture tells us we can be transformed by “renewing our minds” (Rom. 12:2). We renew our minds by immersing them in the Truth and abandoning the lies that have taken root there. Willard’s book is just one more weapon in our arsenal to immerse our minds in truth and meditate on it.

In his book, Willard offers us companionship throughout the year with daily readings organized into 52 weeks, each week offering 5 meditations on scripture and short prayers. The readings are fairly concise, leaving you often hungry for further exploration on your own into the scriptures. The weeks are arranged topically, giving you the option of either following allow chronologically or using the book topically as it suits you. The topics are things such as love, joy, confession, family, worship, beauty, forgiveness, faithfulness, etc. Willard arranged the book around the natural rhythms of life, understanding that we experience and relate to God in the ordinary and often mundane activities of our days.

Originally, the readings began as a series of emails written over the course of two years to fellows in an entrepreneurial incubator program for founders of social justice organizations called Praxis. Willard says, “I wrote weekly devotional emails crafted to inspire, challenge, and engender transparency among those in the program. I wanted the writing to reflect the rhythms of daily life but also point to the heavens, to God…Why God rhythms? Because life is anything but formulaic. Though I try to implement systems to help organize my time and relationships, these life buckets tend to mix and gel, clash and explode. I experience life like you do, in the whirlwind of reality’s rhythms. But I do not despise the whirlwind. Instead, I look to its creator, the author of life, the poet of the universe who holds the ebbing and flowing of life like a valley holds its rivers and streams and trees: in the beautiful cadence of balance. The storms interrupt, the rains nourish, the sunlight quickens, the fires purge, and the seasons create of cycle of anticipation. We are always looking to the daffodils, to the picnics, to the harvest parties, to the Christmas trees.”

Willard’s writes as a fellow-sojourner and the readings carry the sense of the dailyness of life, symbiotic with my own feeble heart each day. His writings stir up my affections for Jesus and always leave me longing to dig deeper into God’s Word and to linger in His presence.

Pick up your own copy HERE and visit Timothy Willard’s website HERE.

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I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Every Bitter Thing is Sweet

December 30, 2014January 2, 2015 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

The book drew me, beckoned to me, really, from the bookshelves at Barnes + Noble. I was looking for a gift for my sister, and it wasn’t what I was searching for. But something about it spoke to me. Maybe because the title and theme speaks to something I continue to struggle with and seem to learn over and over again with God: Every Bitter Thing is Sweet.

How can every bitter thing be sweet? Truly, can we say every bitter thing? Can we really taste the goodness of God in our darkest of days and trials? Will God hold up under the weight of that, under the weight of our darkest questions and scrutiny?

Sara Hagerty is familiar with bitter trial and circumstance. In this precious book, she explains some of her story, her struggles in early marriage, her struggles for many years with infertility. Her struggle with a God who spoke to her and gave her a vision of a child toddling across her bedspread, and then closed her womb to this possiblity. The struggles through multiple foreign adoptions and the seemingly endless setbacks and disappointments. And all the way, she traces the glory of God shining brilliant in these darkest moments.

In her book she reveals how God took her, a child who believed in a God whose love was best displayed in blessing, and transformed her into a desperately hungry soul. She writes her story of encountering a God who cares to carve out spaces in the soul, empty, hungering spaces that He can fill.

“A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb,
But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”
{Proverbs 27:7}

What if our places of discontent and brokenheartedness, what if we discovered that these places are the very holy + sacred ground of God’s deepest riches, the “treasure of darkness” that Isaiah 45:3 talks about?

Here’s a little excerpt from the first chapter:

“The Bible resting on my chair showed wear–how could it not? My friend, my best friend in this hour, was the Author. The book I’d once used to plan youth ministry talks, the book I’d once used to quote pithy sayings and to confirm opinions I’d already formed, that book had found its way into my deep.

The God behind it was proving Himself to be fundamentally different than what I’d supposed for at least a decade, maybe more. But I was finding Him. In the places I had feared most and spent a lifetime avoiding, He was meeting me. My worst, my very worst moments were getting rewritten without circumstances changing. I was getting acquainted with the kind of deep satisfaction that bad news can’t shake. He was showing me Himself as strong enough. He was letting me hide in Him, letting me find a safe place.

And so I cradled my midnight questions while mamas cradled their babies, and I let God’s psalms tell me He cradled the answer in Himself. I felt forgotten, but I heard God speak that He had not left me. I felt weak, but I heard Him promise an overshadowing. I felt anxious that my constant fumblings would annoy Him, but I heard Him say He delighted in me.

And I felt hungry.

I wasn’t this hungry when God was a distant coach, forcing me to perform.
I wasn’t this hungry when I had a life easily explained, easily predicted.
I wasn’t this hungry when everyone understood me.

Pain had created space. Space to want more. Space to taste a sense of being alive. An alive that would grow to be my favorite kind of alive: secret, hidden to all eyes but mine and those nearest to me.

This had to be the hope of a lifetime, Him and Him alone.”

If you’ve ever wondered about this God, this mysterious God who both gives and takes away, and how anyone can love a God who gives the strange gifts of hardship and hunger at times, you would be helped to read Sara’s story.

If you’ve ever battled fiercely with hard circumstances and painful seasons and have wondered how to make sense of it all, you would be helped to read Sara’s story.

Essentially, if you’ve ever lived the human experience, you would find sweet company in Sara’s poetic prose.

Triumphant, encouraging, beautifully crafted. Sara Hagerty not only shares with you her journey to a deeper hunger for God, she stirs up your own hunger, too. I highly recommend it!

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Book Look Bloggers sent me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I am not required to give a favorable review and the opinions expressed are my own.

The Way to End Idolatry: Look Through

November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 MarthaKimball2 Comments

“This is how our souls climb out of their weariness toward You and cease to lean on those things which You have created. We pass through them to You, Lord God, who created them in a marvelous way.”

Augustine

“The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean.”

Jonathan Edwards

“Christianity is not religious escapism, nor is it overindulgent secularism. It is not escapism — we do not run from the world, for God has given us all things for our enjoyment (1 Tim. 4:4). The creation is ‘scattered beams’ — God’s artwork, full of glory and dignity.

But Christianity is also not secularism — we do not run to the world. We don’t feast upon the world for its own sake, because these are just ‘scattered beams.’ They are not the sun, and thereby are unable to bear the full weight of our worship and interest.

To be a Christian means we don’t look from the world, and we don’t look to the world. To be a Christian means we look through the world. Idolatry looks at the world in amazement. Worship, true worship, looks through it in amazement. To its source. To the One who is infinitely more amazing. More interesting. These things God has made — these shadows, these scattered beams, these shallow streams — are good. And God is better. This is what the universe is all about. This is the end of idolatry. This is the glory of God.”

Matt Papa, Look + Live

Learning about Prayer

November 4, 2014November 4, 2014 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

Lately this sweet little one has had a renewed interest in praying. For a while she hasn’t wanted to pray when we’ve asked her to, and we haven’t pushed it. Recently she’s been spontaneously praying throughout the day or asking to pray at meals or bed time. Her prayers are so sweet, so profound even though she has no intention of being profound. Often she asks the Lord to help her obey, thanks Him for the wonderful life He’s given us.

I recently received this child’s book to review and it seemed appropriate to dig into it this week with my daughter. It is part of an “interactive, fun-filled series that uses a train locomotive theme as a method for teaching kids core Christian beliefs and principles.” Some of the other books in the series cover basic theological topics such as baptism, church, faith, grace, salvation, worship, etc. The series is inspired by the familiar scripture in Proverbs:

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).

Naturally, the book and the accompanying CD start off with the child’s song “Get on Board, Little Children.” We listened to the whole book on CD as we turned pages and then listened to many sweet children’s bible songs about prayer sung by a chorus of children.

My little one enjoyed the book but kept asking who the children were, what their names were. I think it was maybe difficult for her to connect with it since it wasn’t written in story form but more conceptually. I’m not sure what the target age is for this series but it would probably make a great homeschooling resource or supplement to bible study time with kids who are early elementary aged. The book ends with a simple quiz about the concepts covered. I thought it was a sweet, easy-to-use resource that we will return to. And we will definitely listen to the CD as well!

What strikes me is how naturally prayer comes to children. How they don’t try to dissect and understand prayer, but rather just talk with their heavenly Father, sharing the ramblings of their little hearts. How much we can learn from them about prayer!

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Tyndale House Publishers sent me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My review is not required to be favorable, and the opinions expressed are my own.

How to Turn a Bent Soul

October 27, 2014October 27, 2014 MarthaKimball1 Comment

If anyone needs to pray, a momma needs to pray! But the weary days.. the discouraging days.. the days when your brain is so fried trying to multitask 173 different things at once and answer the children’s incessant questions. Kindly.

How to pray? What to pray? Often throughout the day, many of us shoot up our thoughts, our ramblings, our pleadings, our worries to the Lord, talking with Him over everything. And we know He gladly hears + receives these prayers, as we know He tells us in Psalm 62:8 to pour out our hearts before Him because our God is a refuge for us.

Maybe like me, many of you struggle with prayer. You can find time to fit other disciplines into your day, but taking time just to sit and do nothing but talk over specific needs and desires with the Father? It feels like an unjustifiable luxury (especially in light of the dishes waiting to be washed, the laundry that needs folding). It is hard to quiet our busy souls, our busy minds, and to feel allowed to sit before Him in stillness and pour out our hearts.

But sometimes we need help. Sometimes we don’t know what to pray. Sometimes we don’t have a lot of time to pray, just minutes squeezed in while we wait in the school pick-up line, or the line at the grocery store, for pete’s sake! It’s times like these that we can learn to lean on the prayers of others, the words of others that may give expression to the groaning of our own souls.

This little book is a sweet companion for mothers. It is small (and light) enough to fit easily in your purse and have with you or simply to keep it tucked in a spot where you can turn to it daily for help and encouragement. There is a topical prayer for each day, ending with scripture, enabling you to journey through the prayers each day of the year. Or you can flip through the topical index in the back to find words for the particular struggle or need, with topics such as fear, anger, conflict, comparison, marriage, money, guilt, regret, worship, etc. I have found it to help me to pray more specifically for myself and for my children. I am also finding myself turning to it at a particular time each day when my soul is most distracted, and turning my thoughts and words back onto the Lord. Maybe I’m the only one, but I find my soul naturally bends away from God in the course of the day. Prayer is such a mystery to me, how it works, even (dare I say it) if it works, or if “working” is even the goal of prayer. But maybe “turning” is what prayer is about. Turning again to the Lord. Turning back to Him. Turning over to Him what we are wringing our hands over. Turning back what has bent away. Re-turning.

“For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” {Isaiah 30:15}

I would highly recommend it to all the mommas looking for a small and simple prayer help! It would also make a lovely gift for a new momma.

“Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.” {Hebrews 4:!6}

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*Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I am not required to present a favorable review of the book and the opinions expressed are my own.

What is Art?

March 7, 2014 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

I have been thinking so much on art lately. Ever since reading Emily Freeman’s book A Million Little Ways. I have been mulling over what the purpose is in art, in beauty, in good food, in laughter, in good movies or piercing music. In cleanliness, in order. Does art matter? Does it have a purpose or is it an unnecessary trivia in this world rife with pain and turmoil? People are suffering–does art matter?

Today these words from Francis Schaeffer’s wife, Edith:

“What is Art? Authorities do not agree. Definitions differ. Who draws the line that separates
Art from Design?
Sculpture from Ornaments?
Poetry from Jingles?
Great Music from Pooh’s Hums?
Great Literature from Daily News?

Is Art beauty, or depth of expression?
Is Art communication calling for response?
Is Art talent for involving other human beings in what otherwise would remain locked in the mind?
Is Art something that draws many others into the beauty, joy, and vividness of another person’s understanding?
Is Art something that includes others in the torn struggling of another person’s suffering?

Whatever it is, surely art involves creativity and originality. Whatever form art takes, it gives outward expression to what otherwise would remain locked in the mind, unshared. One individual personality has definite or special talent for expressing, in some medium, what other personalities can hear, see, smell, feel, taste, understand, enjoy, be stimulated by, be involved in, find refreshment in, find satisfaction in, find fulfillment in, experience reality in, be agonized by, be pleased by, enter into, but which they could not produce themselves.

Art in various forms expresses and gives opportunity to others to share in, and respond to, things which would otherwise remain vague, empty yearnings. Art satisfies and fulfills something in the person creating and in those responding.

One area of art inspires another area of art, but also one person’s expression of art stimulates another person and brings about growth in understanding, sensitivity, and appreciation. One active artist gives courage and incentive, and germinates ideas in others for producing more art. Hence a very poor, humble or unknown artist might easily provide the spark which kindles the fire of a great artist. But however good or great, his art is never perfect.

The only artist who is perfect in all forms of creativity–in technique, in originality, in knowledge of the past and future, in versatility, in having perfect content to express as well as perfect expression of content, in having perfect truth to express as well as perfect expression of truth, in communicating perfectly the wonders of all the exists as well as something about Himself, is of course God–the God who is Personal.

God, the Artist!”

-Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

{The Shelves} Glimpses of Grace

March 1, 2014October 27, 2014 MarthaKimball2 Comments

The sun rises on a crisp new day.

She stands by the window, steaming cup of the strongest coffee in cold hands. She just stands in the silence. Her heart is quiet. She wants to just be here, in this hallowed here. A whisper in her soul says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” {Lam. 3:22-24}.

A heavy sigh. A deep breath. Yes. A new start, thank you, Lord.

The list of resolves begin: Today will be different.
I won’t raise my voice at them today.
I won’t be irritated and distracted and selfish today.
I will serve them happily.
I will enjoy them.
I will open my heart to the beautiful messes.
I won’t be surprised when they disobey.
I will be patient.
I won’t discipline in anger.

And on and on.. this litany of guilt and hope.

And then, the first child’s cry and the day of work has begun. She leaves her coffee, and gets the littlest one to nurse, and the giving away begins again.

But then the baby has a blow out. And the three year old wakes up whining and with a runny nose again. Her husband forgot to take the trash out. Milk is spilled, plastic forks are banging on the table and dropping on the floor, along with food. There’s one child talking back and another one screaming. And she’s hardly made it through breakfast before every single resolve has been broken. What to make of this? What hope is there for tomorrow? What hope is there for her, in her frail and broken flesh to love well?

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If there is one book I would recommend to any mom, maybe even any woman, it’s this one by Gloria Furman. It’s what’s on the bedside table this month.

Gloria writes for the stay-at-home momma or the working woman, and she writes to unveil how the Gospel impacts our normal, daily, mundane lives. Does God care about the mundane tasks we perform day in and day out? How does His grace change the way we do laundry, potty training, bed-making, cooking, grocery shopping, guest-hosting?

For me, per the parable at the beginning of this post, this has been my greatest struggle as a parent thus far. This seeming endless battle to live a pure and holy life before God in even the mundane details of life, and yet this daily failing and floundering. My heart is so often discouraged and barely feels brave enough to whisper: Is there any purpose in it? Is there any hope in it? Can a sin-bent woman such as myself ever live a life that pleases God?

“Theology is for homemakers who need to know who God is, who they are, and what this mundane life is all about…As homemakers who are made in God’s image and desire to live for God, we need to know what God’s intentions are for us and for the work we do in the home. More specifically, we need to know: What does the gospel have to do with our everyday lives in the home? How does the gospel impact our dish washing, floor mopping, bill paying, friend making, guest hosting, and dinner cooking? How does the fact that Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24) make a difference in my mundane life today?…This book is a description of the distinctly Christian hope of God’s glory and how it relates to the home” (Furman, 16-17).

Gloria Furman is a momma to four children, a pastor’s wife, a doula, a blogger, a missionary and church-planter in Dubai. In this book, with a ton of humor and fresh vulnerable honesty, she shares about the way the gospel of grace has impacted and sustained her in each of these endeavors. How it has impacted the way they open their home, deal with a debilitating nerve disorder in her husband’s arms, raise their children, serve the people of Dubai, learn a new language, deal with infant-induced sleep-deprivation, dirty dishes, bill paying, etc.

One of the things that struck me to the core was her discussion of our common “use” of the gospel as the means for salvation, but not our daily means for sanctification. She quotes D.A. Carson:

“First, if the gospel becomes that by which we slip into the kingdom, but all the business of transformation turns on postgospel disciplines and strategies, then we shall constantly be directing the attention of people away from the gospel, away from the cross and resurrection. Soon the gospel will be something that we quietly assume is necessary for salvation, but not what we are excited about, not what we are preaching, not the power of God.”

Her book goes on to unfold how we need the gospel, how we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily, that we are to appropriate God’s grace to us in the gospel in order to depend moment-by-moment on Christ’s sufficient righteousness instead of our own attempts at righteousness. It is so transformative a truth, so freeing, and so mind-blowing that it is one she applies to the various different aspects of managing a home, revealing how it plays out practically in our day-to-day.

It’s a book I will treasure and will read again and again. There has not been another book, outside of the inspired words of Scripture, that has met and been a salve to my soul like this book in the current circumstance as a stay-at-home momma, wife, and manager of the home. It literally has breathed new life into this soul of mine! I highly commend it to you!

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“Even in my darkest doubts when I do the same thing again the next day, my hope is still built on the righteousness of Christ. The gospel keeps me relating to God on the basis of Jesus’ perfections, not on the illusions of my religious achievements. God strengthens me and protects me according to his faithfulness, not mine (2 Thess. 3:3)” (Furman, 33).

{For those of you who are interested, Gloria Furman will release her second book, Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms at the end of this month!!!}

my good reads of 2013

January 4, 2014October 27, 2014 MarthaKimball2 Comments

I believe in the power of words, the written word especially. Words are highly flammable, explosive. And I believe in resources. In fact, I’m somewhat of a resource geek. I know the power of a good book at the right time, words that can wake up the dead, words that can be used of God to heal, to transform. I have a passion to connect others with good resources, because when you’ve been set free, when you’ve been transformed, when you’ve been brought to life, you can’t help but share it. It burns in you to be told, and it’s a crazy dizzy happiness in you that must bubble out.

I also believe that reading is a discipline we must continue to cultivate. Since God gave us His Word in written form, I believe even for those of us who find reading dull or difficult, we must continue to teach ourselves, discipline ourselves, to read. It was eleven years ago that I read J.P. Moreland’s wonderful book Love Your God With All Your Mind and I believe that reading God’s Word and good books is a part of how we do that. The Christian faith is not a mindless, reasonless faith. The Bible has satisfied some of the greatest minds in history, and continues to today.

With that said, I believe in sharing here in this little quiet space of the internet my humble finds. The books that are speaking to my soul, the truths that are ministering to me. I hope that it can be helpful to you in some way.

This stack of books were some of my very favorites from this past year, the ones I just couldn’t {and still can’t} stop thinking about and flipping back through. The ones I know I will read over and over again.

Anything by Jennie Allen
This one rocked me and gave words to a restlessness that I have been struggling with for a solid year. {I will have more to say on it in a separate post.} Jennie Allen wrote this book to describe her & her husband’s experience of leaving behind the Christianized pursuit of the American dream. She writes of becoming restless with worship of a small “plastic” god and finally surrendering to the one true God. They prayed a prayer, a one-word prayer that forever changed everything: “Anything.” Whatever You want God, wherever You would have us go. You can have us for anything. This book is the story of how that little prayer exploded in their lives and led them on the adventure of a lifetime. An incredible read, I flew through it in a few days.

“God builds our lives whether we give him permission or not. It is the fight for control that has us all tied up, while it’s really an illusion anyway. We control because we are afraid of what may happen if we let go. Do we really think we are better captains of our lives than a God who sees everything and deeply loves us?…He calls the shots on what happens to us in this short stint here. He calls them, whether we want to let him or not. Our faith must remain greater than our pain and our fears.” (Allen)

Weakness is the Way by J. I. Packer
Ever since doing Priscilla Shirer’s recent study on Gideon earlier this year, I have been deeply affected in the way I view weaknesses, my own in particular. Why are we trying to present a shiny veneer to the watching world? Why are we trying to craft a pinterest-perfect life? It is natural for us to want to cover our ugliness, our weak areas, of course. But what if all our posturing and pretending serves only to suffocate us, to stir up pride when we gain other’s much-sought-after approval, or to further isolate us from others who find us too “perfect” to be approachable or real? What if all our pretending-perfect only makes others feel like less? Is that really the goal? What would happen if we let the guard down and let our weaknesses show? What if we stopped trying to be sufficient on our own and let our weakness drive us to Jesus? What if we stopped resenting our limitations and instead let the one whose strength is perfected in weakness perfect His strength in those limitations? This is essentially what Packer is reflecting on in this little book, as he unpacks truths from 2 Corinthians.

“When the world tells us, as it does, that everyone has a right to a life that is easy, comfortable, and relatively pain-free, a life that enables us to discover, display, and deploy all the strengths that are latent within us, the world twists the truth right out of shape. That was not the quality of life to which Christ’s calling led him, nor was it Paul’s calling, nor is it what we are called to in the twenty-first century. For all Christians, the likelihood is rather that as our discipleship continues, God will make us increasingly weakness-conscious and pain-aware, so that we may learn with Paul that when we are conscious of being weak, then–and only then–may we become truly strong in the Lord. And should we want it any other way?” (Packer)

A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman
Oh gosh. I don’t know how not to write an entire blog post on this one. I’ve mentioned it a couple times on the blog already, but I don’t think this blog would even be here apart from this book. We continue to live in a day where the age-old dualism between the sacred and secular abounds {to learn more about this false dualism, I highly recommend this book}. Where we either don’t realize or live like Christ’s redemption extends beyond just our souls. I could go on, but that’s another blog post for another day. Emily Freeman writes to show that all of life can be lived to the glory of God, not just the time we spend reading the Bible or praying. All of life lived for His glory, even the small and mundane tasks of our day, can be the art that we offer to the world to the glory of God. You may not see yourself as an artist, I certainly didn’t before reading this book. But she argues from scripture how God made each of us a work of art, and each of us have an art to offer. Whether its washing dishes, decorating homes, hammering nails or hammering words on the keys, God is not so small that He is only glorified in what we typically call “spiritual” activities. He wants to be revealed and glorified in all that we do. These words are words I will read again probably every year. She is an incredible writer, and her words set me free and brought so. much. joy. {As an added bonus, there are videos that accompany each chapter with the author discussing here.}

“Exploring desire might be uncomfortable for you. In one way, it almost seems cruel to ask you to access this part of your soul, because really, on earth, there can never be complete satisfaction of our deepest desires. To imply that there can be is unfair and untrue. But hope does not disappoint. When we recognize the place where our desire runs parallel to that of Christ’s, then we will live in the midst of the now-but-not-quite-yet with a peace that goes beyond our ability to understand. When we rescue the dreams of our childhood and respect the hope of things to come, we are agreeing with the Trinity: I am an image bearer. I have a job to do. We trust he knew what he was doing when he made us as we are. We accept ourselves because of the work of Christ, and we accept his invitation to us to enter the world as co-creators with him.” (Freeman)

Your Beautiful Purpose by Susie Larson
Such a beautiful and practical read. I loved this one from cover to cover and slowly went through the study material, soaking it all in. Larson’s writing is scripture-saturated and Christ-exalting. This book encourages you to uncover God’s purpose for you and helps with practical things like when to move forward, how to wait on God’s timing or discern His voice, how to walk in your own calling and not coveting another’s, what to do with being criticized, etc. So very good and helpful and encouraging. I will return to this one often!

“Who we are and what we possess. These are the two targets the enemy aims for again and again. If he can get us to doubt, he can trip us up. If he can get us thinking we’re poor though we’re really rich, we’ll scratch and claw our way through life; and we’ll live anxious and afraid, like we’re without hope. And if he can convince us we lack something good, he’ll be able to tempt us to live frantic and hurried lives, never satisfied, always wanting more. We’ll skim life’s surfaces and miss its depths. We’ll live jealous, me-focused lives and forsake the whole reason we’re blessed: because God loves to love us, and He loves to love through us. Jesus promises that those who trust Him lack no good thing (Ps.34:10). These aging earthen vessels carry the treasure of heaven within. Ponder the significance of that truth every single day.” (Larson)

Simply Christian by N. T. Wright
One of my very favorite bible professors from college tells me if there were one great mind she could learn under for such a time as this, it would be N. T. Wright. I wholeheartedly agree! This book makes sense of Christianity and the basics of what we believe. It is easily readable for someone who is interested in understanding Christianity but has no current background with the faith. It helps one understand the longings and basic desires of humanity, the longings we have for justice, for beauty, for relationship with others, for spirituality, and how God designed us to long for these things so that we would seek and find Him. So that He could fulfill those longings. He beautifully weaves together the overarching themes and purpose of the Old and New Testaments so that one can see the whole of the story God was writing and our place in it. The truths and foundations of our faith revisited in this book brought solid joy, bolstered my faith and gave me much to chew on. I found his final chapter on “New Creation, Starting Now” especially compelling. His constant upholding of the full redemptive work of Christ made my soul sing.

“A great many arguments about God–God’s existence, God’s nature, God’s actions in the world–run the risk of being like pointing a flashlight toward the sky to see if the sun is shining. It is all too easy to make the mistake of speaking and thinking as though God (if there is a God) might be a being, an entity, within our world, accessible to interested study in the same sort of way we might study music or mathematics, open to our investigation by the same sort of techniques we use for objects and entities within our world. When Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut, landed after orbiting the earth a few times, he declared that he had disproved the existence of God. He had been up there, he said, and had seen no sign of him. Some Christians pointed out that Gagarin had seen plenty of signs of God, if only the cosmonaut had known how to interpret them. The difficulty is that speaking of God in anything like the Christian sense is like staring into the sun. It’s dazzling. It’s easier, actually, to look away from the sun itself and to enjoy the fact that, once it’s well and truly risen, you can see everything else clearly.” (Wright)

Happy reading, friends!

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