Reading, Writing & Pondering

  The Girl on the Bathroom Floor by Amber Emily Smith is a story of God working through a tragedy in a family.  My Review:  The Girl on the Bathroom Floor is sad but yet the story shows how God used redemption in this sad tale to heal a hurting family. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to deal with an unexpected death of a three-year old child. However, she also shares her miscarriage story and that is one I am sure many of us can relate to. I know I could understand that part well. At the same time, many of us have gone through hard things and, in the end, have found God to have worked through those difficulties. This story is inspiring in that way, especially for those who like memoirs. From TLC Book Tours: The Girl on the Bathroom Floor   is a raw and unflinching look at the moments most never share, the ones behind closed doors, on the bathroom floor, in your car, or hidden in the closet—where pain, fear, and grief seem to hit hardest. It’s also a p...

  From Trophy Wife to Cosmetic Surgeon by Victoria Johnson, MD is an autobiographical look at a woman who freed herself from an abusive relationship and went on to become a trusted cosmetic surgeon. Dr. Victoria Johnson started out in a marriage with a spouse who was abusive and disrespectful. She shares in this book how she turned in life around. It didn't happen over night but it did happen in time as she took steps to free herself from her husband and went back to school to become a doctor. She started out as a family physician and then became a cosmetic surgeon.  Throughout the book she shares her faith and how her faith in God and certain books influenced her life to make changes. Her faith may not be the same as yours but it is clear that it influenced her life for the better. She also tried to help others and to share with those she met along life's way. I am not familiar with the books that influenced her along with the Bible but will look into those more. At the same...

  Are you a sports fan? I'll be honest, I'm not a huge sports fan although I occasionally watch some. However, I really enjoyed Lucky Girl by Scout Bassett. Some people, like Scout, like to watch sports all the time--when they aren't participating in them. When you look at the cover of Lucky Girl , you probably noticed that Scout Bassett's legs don't look alike. Scout's story begins in China where she survived a fire that took her right leg. She also spent many years in an orphanage before being adopted and coming to America. While that may sound like a dream come true, it also is a dream that comes with a bag full of trauma and struggles as Scout felt different than other people, as a minority and a disabled person. In this book, she shares her story from her beginning until now. She also shares how she learned to accept herself as she is and many of the things she has overcome throughout her life.  I found Lucky Girl to be an inspirational book. I enjoy mem...

  I have followed Sean Dietrich on Instagram for a couple of years. I wanted to read You Are My Sunshine since it came out last fall. I am glad I started my year with this couple's adventure. In You Are My Sunshine , I followed Sean and his wife, Jamie, as they went on a big adventure--riding their bike and recumbent trike on the Great Allegheny Passage and C & O Canal Towpath Trail. The book starts out with a bit of marital history so the reader knows how the couple decided to make this journey, then goes into the journey and ends with a bit of marital history to complete the story. I enjoy Sean's humor on his social media Instagram page. While this book isn't entirely humorous, there were a few places I laughed out loud. I mostly pulled for this couple to make it through this really long bike/trike ride. There were also some serious places in You Are My Sunshine where he shared stories about people they met on the trail who face life challenges and sti...

On May 16, 2013, Becky Powell received a phone call that would change her life. Her husband, Mark, called her and told her he had done something terrible. That day she learned he took his own life and that he also had borrowed millions of dollars over a period of several years and was deeply in debt. In her book, Awful Beautiful Life , Becky Powell tells her story with the help of writer Katherine Reay. Awful Beautiful Life: When God Shows Up in the Midst of Tragedy is Becky's story of how she handled life and promised to pay back every penny her husband took from those he borrowed money from while he was alive. Even more amazing to me than that, is that in our modern world where many turn away from God, Becky turned to God every day to help her through the challenges and stress of this difficult situation. Becky and Mark also had three children: Madison, Boone,  and John Luke. As a mom, she wanted to be sure she guided her kids to keep looking to God and not become victims in...

If you listen to Christian music, chances are good that you have listened to Big Daddy Weave. One of their biggest hits is I Am Redeemed. In the book I Am Redeemed , Mike Weaver, with Jim Scherer, tells why the song was written and shares his personal story. Weaver tells the story throughout the book of how he struggled with lies and anxiety coming from the enemy that he had no value. He has struggled with relationship difficulties and his weight as a result of his personal fears and self-loathing. I Am Redeemed chronicles his struggles with his thought life in spite of following Christ. He also shares other challenges that he faced including the illness that almost killed his brother, the loss of his father, and other personal struggles. I Am Redeemed was in interesting read. I believe this book could be a real encouragement to others who struggles with negative thoughts and weight loss as well as other issues. I could relate to some of what Weaver shared from the times I have...

Anthony B. Thompson's wife was shot on June 17, 2015 at Wednesday evening Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. How do you forgive someone who kills your spouse and is not even remorseful? Thompson tells his story in Called to Forgive . Called to Forgive is a powerful memoir written by the surviving spouse of someone who was brutally murdered for her skin color. Thompson shares his thoughts and feelings in this book. He also shares the stories of other people who have been involved in shooting or other difficult situations. He tells his story and the stories of others with both compassion and heartfelt details. At the end of the book, he writes a letter to Dylann Roof sharing how and why he forgives. There is also a Bible study that goes along with this book and several appendixes. While Called to Forgive is quite powerful in content, I especially found Appendix 3, The Ten Stages of Biblical Forgiveness, especially helpful in thinking about instances requiring forg...

"The middle is the place where we might have outgrown the shape of our teenage jeans but have finally grown into the shape of our souls, "I think this quote from Lisa-Jo Baker's The Middle Matters sums up her book. Baker talks about how women's bodies and lives change as they get older and how we can embrace that change. The Middle Matters is divided into eight sections: Why the Middle of Your Muffin Top Matters, Why the Middle of Your Marriage Matters, Why the Middle of Your Parenting Matters, Why the Middle of Your Living Room Matters,  Why the Middle of Your Failures Matters, Why the Middle of All Those Sports Practices Matters, Why the Middle of Your Friendship Matters, and Why the Middle of Your Faith Matters. Each of these sections have a few essays related to the topic that are easy for many women to relate to. Baker's stories and essays are down-to-earth in The Middle Matters . She seems to share from her heart and is "real" with her rea...

What is a Christian Mystic? If you don't know, it is okay. I wasn't sure either until I read Confessions of A Christian Mystic by River Jordan. However, as someone who has enjoyed her previous books, I was intrigued enough to read this one and find out. . .and she does define it within the pages. Confessions of a Christian Mystic is a collection of fifty essays, stories and personal letters in which Jordan shares her search for God and spiritual things in her every day life. River's writing encourages me to want to look for God in the every day of my life. Where is God in my story? How is He showing up? Am I looking for Him? River is a storyteller queen. She draws me into her stories and I feel like I am there with her. In the Pocketbook Saints chapter, I cried for little girl Jordan when she was manhandled by the teacher in her day care and I rejoiced with her when Alice stayed and sat with her after the incident. I read Confessions of a Christian Mystic fairly qu...

John Smith, 14 years old, fell through an icy Missouri lake on a winter morning. . .For more than 60 minutes he laid lifeless. However, his mom, Joyce, was not ready to give up on him. She prayed and cried out to God to save him. . .and he did.  Miraculously his heart started beating again. However, that was just the beginning of John's recovery in Breakthrough . He still had a healing process to go through. Thanks to social media, millions of people prayed for John's complete healing, along with his family. God did answer those prayer and in the end he astounded the medical community with his recovery. Breakthrough is written from the point-of-view of John's mom. I can't imagine watching my son go through this. It truly is encouraging to read her words. Near the end, she had to convince the medical people that true healing had taken place and had to advocate for John. I could see real strength in her coming through. I would think Breakthrough would be especial...

A War of Loves is a beautifully written, heartfelt autobiography offering hope to all of those seeking to reconcile their faith and sexuality today. Bennett shares his story and reflects on it in light of the Bible throughout the book. I truly appreciate his thoughts from all angles of the subject. Because we have a loved one that is gay and against Christianity because of it, my husband and I want to love him as Jesus would. I think reading this book has helped me to gain better perspective and to be able to offer more compassion. I see Bennett's heart toward serving Christ and sharing in such a way that the church and the gay community can both converse and reflect in a better way. Honestly, before the gay member of our family told us, we didn't know anything except what we heard on the sidelines of the discussion. After reading Bennett's book, I feel like I can better support our loved one. I also better know how to pray for him as a result of this book. I appreciate...

I think many of us have wondered at one time or another if we really matter--matter to people around us, matter in our jobs, or matter in the scheme of the life we live. Mandy Hale spent some time wondering if she mattered as well and the result of her wondering and going through life's challenges and depression is the book, You Are Enough . You Are Enough is mostly a memoir of a time in Hale's life when everything fell apart for her in a short time and she became depressed. She shares how things went wrong, how she dealt with her life, and how she came through it in the end to feel that she truly was enough. At the end of each chapter, along with sharing her story, she has a side-bar of encouragement for the reader. Not to be overlooked, Hale has an appendix in You Are Enough that offers several resources for suicide prevention. For someone who needs this book, this list alone, may be the biggest thing they need if they don't know where to start looking for help. Y...

I live in a university community with people coming in to our area from all over the world. More and more I see people from other countries living in my neighborhood. I want to reach out to them but honestly I don't know the best way. I wanted to read Once We Were Strangers by Shawn Smucker to give me some ideas of what it could look like to reach out to those from other parts of the world, whether they are refugees or students. Smucker tells this story along with Mahammad, the Syrian refugee that he met in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The story is told from both Smucker's point of view and with Mahammad's memories of the trip as he shares them with Smucker. There is a gentle back and forth motion to this story. It isn't a fast tale with high adventures, which Smucker thought he might be telling. However, it is a beautiful story of two human beings seeing past their differences and forging a friendship both with each other and with their families together. Mahammad has...

Leaving You For Me by Alex Nicollet Delon is one woman's story of leaving her husband after over four decades of marriage and making a new life for herself. Delon married her high school sweetheart and they had three sons while also being business partners and building a successful business. Unfortunately, there were also difficult things going on that she kept a secret. . .until she got the courage to walk away from it all at age 65. Leaving You For Me is one woman's story of her healing journey from a narcissistic husband into becoming her own person. She shares it all  from the challenges of dating again to learning to just be herself again. I was once in a relationship with a similar type person, got out, got counseling and became a new person too. Her story is different than mine, but I think we can always learn something from someone else telling us their story. There are parts of this book that could encourage someone else in a similar difficult position. The one ...

I am probably one of the few people who did not know who Rory and Joey Feek were before I read, This Life I Live last year. However, I enjoyed Rory's tender, thoughtful writing and then listened to their music several times since then. When I saw Rory had a new book out, Once Upon a Farm , I was anxious to see how he, Indiana and his girls were doing. Once Upon a Farm is book of random essays. I expected the book to be mainly about life after Joey passing away and fathering their daughter Indiana, who is in the cover photo with Rory. However, they seemed much more random to me and the book sort of jumps around from one subject to another in the short chapter essays. The good part of that is that you can set the book down and read short chapters whenever you get time. I enjoyed Once Upon a Farm as a whole. Rory is a thoughtful person and writer and I can relate to that as I have been told I am a deep thinker myself. However, because of the randomness and the wandering eleme...

What if people knew your past--a past that you aren't proud of? What if they knew that secret that you have tried so hard to guard? Jamie Ivey decided to stop guarding her past that she isn't proud of and start looking for Jesus to use it for good. She shares her story in If You Only Knew . If You Only Knew is a memoir of sorts where Ivey shares about her life. She shares all of the hard things to hear that she did before she started living her life for Jesus. She also shares how she uses her hard things to minister to women in prison through sharing those tough parts. In the last part of the book, she shares how she became and pastor's wife and how she seeks to be used by God every day. However, Ivey is not only a pastor's wife. She also blogs and hosts a podcast called The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey. I wasn't too familiar with Ivey's blog or her podcast before I read If You Only Knew . I didn't think that Ivey's writing was clean and polished, but ...

Gratitude In Motion is the true story of Colleen Kelly Alexander. Alexander is a regular person like you and I--except she has survived some truly big challenges in her life. Alexander survived both a lupus diagnosis and brain surgery. Then, not long after marrying the love of her life, Alexander was riding her bike home from work when a truck driver ran a stop sign and then ran her over. I can't imagine surviving that, but she did. Not only, did she survive but she went on to continue her athletic challenges in various races. Gratitude in Motion is her story of survival through unbelievable life challenges--and is nothing short of AMAZING. Through Gratitude in Motion , Alexander's story is told candidly and shows just how resilient a human being can be. I have a bit of a squeamish stomach when it comes to medical details so some parts were a bit too detailed for me. However, in telling those details, it is clear how much Alexander truly went through and survived. I hav...