A Book in the Hand

Ever since learning how to read (which was frankly quite late)...I've been a word lover.  Well-chosen words can form interesting sentences. Interesting sentences form fascinating paragraphs. And fascinating paragraphs form unforgettable stories and a jewelry-box of ideas. For these reasons, I personally know a book in the hand is worth two in the bush, because it can be read then and there. And if it is actually in my hand, that means I have wiled away some time while I stir my cup of Ramen and the kids', between matching socks for feet that are all the same size and scooping up dust bunnies which perpetually congregate in the burrows of our hall. With a stack of my most recent reads beside me, here are some suggestions for you.

 

This is an excellent in-depth look at what is eternally important and God may use it as a means that could transform your whole life.   Don't read this if you are too comfortable or not serious, because you will find it provokes a response.

 

 

This is a pure blessing to read as Words of Life are so beautifully entwined in her Spirit-filled account of going after the enslaved and forgotten victims of human trafficking.  A must-read for all who wish to be like the Good Shepherd who goes after the one lost sheep.  This book will inspire a closer walk with the Whisperer of Our Soul.

 

 

Tear-jerker.  I feel I understand the life of an elite soldier so much better.  Between bruises and broken bones, bravado and brotherhood this is a redemptive story.  Adam is a brother of mine as I will meet him in the resurrection.

Meet God who brings us out of the far corners.  An amazing read of an orphan who the Father of the Fatherless took from Stalin's controlled Ukraine to the wastelands of China and beyond.  Not often can we see a whole life with such detail and with such clear supernatural guidance even among unspeakable desolation.  God is the focus and that makes this book irresistible.

A California wildfire will be the means which God uses to change the lives of two particular families in this modern miracle story.  There seems to be a reoccurring theme that in the devastation God can be trusted and he has not abandoned his own.  How God works all things together is a great mystery, but once again God's attribute is to turn ashes into beauty.

 

 

This book is difficult to read, because in some ways it is more graphic than any of the others above.  There is such pain in the telling that it angers this protective parent, but somehow God takes the worst of situations and shapes, Josh McDowell, a man with a tenacity and assurance that can only be His work.  Again God gets the credit for wooing this influential thinker into his kingdom and healing his past.