One thing that God often uses to challenge and encourage me through various seasons of life is a good book, as well as a good Bible study. This year, there were several!
If you are looking to deepen your relationship with Jesus, or just want a good read to cozy up with your steamy cup of coffee, tea or hot cider as the air turns crisp this fall, consider checking these out. There are so many great authors and great books and Bible studies out there, but these are a few that were really meaningful to me this year.
Get Out of Your Head:
Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts
Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts
I can't get enough of this book - I'm still rereading it! This summer I read Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts, by Jennie Allen, while in a virtual book study. I loved it so much, I then led a book study with 4-5 others. I even downloaded the audiobook so that I could listen to it while working in the barn, walking or biking.
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:5), is a passage I run to frequently. It is a constant struggle and a choice I have to make every day, every hour, every minute as my mind often runs away with me. But Jennie reminds us, "I have a choice!" I love how she shares her own experience along with practical steps to take control of our thoughts, all from a Biblical perspective.
Be the Bridge:
Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation
This summer I participated in yet another virtual book study with some other women as together we read and discussed, Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation, by Latasha Morrison. I had an opportunity to see Latasha speak at a conference last summer and appreciated her perspective as an African American woman in the church as well as her heart for pursuing both justice and racial unity in light of the gospel of Jesus.
Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation
This summer I participated in yet another virtual book study with some other women as together we read and discussed, Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation, by Latasha Morrison. I had an opportunity to see Latasha speak at a conference last summer and appreciated her perspective as an African American woman in the church as well as her heart for pursuing both justice and racial unity in light of the gospel of Jesus.
This book both challenged and encouraged me to continue to seek to understand those who are not like me, who come from different ethnic or cultural backgrounds and perspectives, while doing what I can to be a 'bridge builder' both inside and outside the church. And we look forward to the day that we will be gathered around the throne of Jesus with brothers and sisters from all time and all places as described in Revelation 7:9...
"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb."
Nehemiah:
a heart that can break
Nehemiah is one of my favorite leaders and this study, Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break, by Kelly Minter, is now a favorite! Nehemiah was a man who led from a heart that desired to follow the Lord and that broke for the desperate condition of his people and their city, Jerusalem. He led the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem with great vision and much prayer and dependence on the Lord.
But the Lord also used the book of Nehemiah and this study as I entered into the unexpected journey of grief of losing my Dad this summer. One morning I meditated on the peoples' prayer recorded in Nehemiah 9 when they recounted all the Lord did for their ancestors before them. I wrote the following in the margin of my study...
"You see my suffering, You hear my cries, You divide the seas, You hurl the enemy, You lead me by day and by night and give me light on the way to take, You speak to me, You give laws that are just and right and good, You satisfy my hunger and thirst, You don't abandon me in the desert of my waywardness, You don't cease to guide me or show me the way, You give me Your Spirit to instruct me, You sustain me and I lack nothing."
4 days after writing those words, my Dad suffered a major stroke and passed away the following day. The words of Nehemiah 9 as well as my own words written in this study would continue to be an anchor and a source of light through the fog of the following weeks. "You sustain me and I lack nothing." I'm so very grateful how God meets us and speaks to us through His Word - He is a good Father who knows exactly what we need when we need it.
"You see my suffering, You hear my cries, You divide the seas, You hurl the enemy, You lead me by day and by night and give me light on the way to take, You speak to me, You give laws that are just and right and good, You satisfy my hunger and thirst, You don't abandon me in the desert of my waywardness, You don't cease to guide me or show me the way, You give me Your Spirit to instruct me, You sustain me and I lack nothing."
4 days after writing those words, my Dad suffered a major stroke and passed away the following day. The words of Nehemiah 9 as well as my own words written in this study would continue to be an anchor and a source of light through the fog of the following weeks. "You sustain me and I lack nothing." I'm so very grateful how God meets us and speaks to us through His Word - He is a good Father who knows exactly what we need when we need it.
I would love to hear what books or Bible studies were especially meaningful to you this year!
