It’s no secret I’m a big reader. I feel like it’s the chance my soul needs for nourishing…and my brain desires in not becoming perpetually consumed with changing diapers, doing laundry, and menu planning.

It continues to get me outside my little world of “mommydom” and allows me to remember when I could weave words like innocuous and soliloquy through conversations, without need of a thesaurus.

My brain does not like to be idle…and neither do I.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll already have seen me reading some of these…but with the past few months of ravenously pouring over pages…I thought I’d share some of my favorites!

I don’t want you to think that I consider all books I take the time to read, to be incredible and life changing.

There are about six more books I have read within the past few months that I’m not including in this list because in my opinion, they don’t deserve to be. They were fine, had good portions, but I didn’t come away feeling changed. In these following books however, I most certainly did.

I just finished this heart-wrenching and beautifully written book yesterday. I so strongly recommend it even though I sobbed through the whole thing {and I am NOT a crier}.

A House in the Sky tells the true story of Amanda’s life growing up poor in a small town in Alberta, traveling the world, and ultimately being kidnapped in Somalia by Muslim extremists. A captive held for 460 days, she recounts the terror and abuse, her daring escape, and pretending to convert to Islam as a survival tactic.

What gripped me the most was how she got herself through without losing all hope. She’d look for something…one little thing, each day that was good. Things like, “I am thankful that today Jamal set my food down on the floor instead of throwing it at me…I am happy that I heard a few seconds of the boys laughing and horsing around in the hallway today because it reminded me, if only for a minute, that somewhere inside each of them is a teenager who wants to be carefree.“

In her mind, she’d run through all the different things she had to be thankful for and pray for every person she could think of. Those at home in Canada, others who she’d met in her travels, or had tried to hard to help her escape. She’d also picture all the places she had visited, imagining a house in the sky away from all the pain of torture, rape, and misery.

Of Beetles & Angels {which I still need to return to my sweet friend who loaned it to me} is a remarkable memoir about a boy whose family was able to escape the dangers of northern Ethiopia and fled to a refugee camp in Sudan, where they were finally granted permission to move to the US.

Suddenly dropped into a affluent suburb of Chicago at the age of seven, Mawi recalls living on welfare as a child, struggling to adjust to American life, all the while being challenged by prejudice, language barriers, and financial disadvantages.

Following his father’s advice to “treat people . . . as though they were angels sent from heaven, ” Mawi tightly grasped the idea of good work ethic, and delighted not only himself, but his family’s dream of a full-tuition scholarship to Harvard University.

As an adoptive mom to older Ethiopian boys, it was incredibly eye-opening as I imagined our boys going through similar pain, loneliness, and loss as they manouver their new lives in America.

I got more insight on the division of African kids within each other {which we’ve experienced with Abreham and other African {non-Ethiopian} kids at school}, the fighting that is ingrained within them from early years in rough areas, and missing absolutely everything about their homeland. Even recalling the awful parts brought pangs of mourning and wanting to go back.

I picked up these two books at our church’s $1 used book fair and finally got to reading them. A series of four books, I’m really excited to finish the story.

Last Light begins as a wealthy father and grown daughter step from their airplane onto the tarmac in Birmingham. All of a sudden, an eerie quiet settles over the airport “as if someone had muted all the machinery around them.” Suddenly, planes begin to fall from the sky, exploding around them as they hit the ground. As moments continue, the pair realizes nothing works… phones, cars, water, anything that requires electricity to work.

After riding a bike part of the way and walking the rest, the Branning family is reunited and safe {for now}. The entire country {later they learn the entire globe} is thrown back into an age before electricity. Banks are shut down, stores are empty. People are acting out in violence because of fear and lack of food and resources.

The Brannings are quickly faced with the decision of hoarding everything…or trusting God to provide as they offer their resources to others. But trust is sometimes difficult when someone in their neighborhood is a killer.

Night Light continues where the previous book left off. The Branning family {and the rest of the community} seems to be getting the hang of walking to get water, living by candlelight, and the slow-paced yet hard working lives that has become their reality. Their front yards are no longer beautifully manicured lawns and rosebushes, but rather have been tilled and seeds planted, as crops are needed so families can eat and live.

With the discovery of four children living alone in a filthy apartment, stealing to stay alive, the Brannings know the right things is to take them in. But with them comes a lot of pain and obstacles to overcome. The search for their mother uncovers a trail of desperation and murder…and for the Brannings, a powerful new purpose that can transform their entire community…and above all, themselves.

I can’t wait to read the next books! I keep thinking how prepared {or not} our family would be if this happened in real life!

The Blessed Child is such an amazing story of a young orphaned boy who was abandoned and raised in an monastery in the jungles of Ethiopia. He has never seen outside its walls, but suddenly he is running from men with guns…he must flee those walls or die.

Relief expert Jason Marker agrees to rescue little Caleb from the monastery and travels on with him to his own home in California, joined by Leiah, the French Canadian nurse who escapes with them. His heroism in saving the little boy however, unknowingly opens the door to an incredible journey filled with thrill, romance, and supernatural experiences.

Jason and Leah {and me!!} all have our eyes and hearts opened to this little boy who pours out the love of God, sweet innocence, and immense manifestations of the Power of God. The question is how the world will receive him {and who they believe the power is from} and if the men with the guns can finish the job they set out to do.

Spine tingling in places and leaving me in awe in others, I came away from this book not only entertained by a fantastically written novel…but encouraged in my Christian walk, as well.

 

Though it admittedly took me awhile to get into this book because of her poetic manner of writing, One Thousand Gifts is one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life {in fact, I am thinking about reading it again!}.

In it, Ann Voskamp takes you through the horrors of being a child and seeing her sister hit by a car on their farm and die in their mothers arms. Ripping apart the hearts and souls of her parents, any faith in God was gone. Hardened by pain, she went through life with many more sorrows, many hurtles {some of them self-induced}.

Now married to a farmer, and in the midst of home schooling their six children, her soul awakens to the thought of eucharisteo - the Greek word for Thanksgiving. And yet the word also envelops the Greek words for grace and joy.

I whisper it out loud, let the tongue feel these sounds, the ear hear their truth.

Charis. Grace.

Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving.

Chara. Joy.

…A threefold cord that might hold a life? Offer a way up into the fullest life? Grace, thanksgiving, joy. Eucharisteo.

A Greek word…that might make meaning of everything? {page 32-33}

Joy is a huge theme for me. It’s something I search out every singe day of my chaotic life.  My post on Perfection and Joy, this one called Weary, Worn, and Remaining talks of it as well. Every post I write is signed off with TAKE JOY, which the Lord spoke to me while doing my early morning quiet time.

Take Joy. Seize it.

In this book, Anne recounts how she counts her little pieces of joy. Her blessings, however big or small. She gives thanks, eucharisteo for them.

{page 103}

Her goal was 1,000. But as she far supposed that goal, she realized what real happineness {joy} is, and how it completely changed her life…and the lives of everyone in her family.

I love, love love loooooove this book. Another life-changing one as my eyes were recently opened to what an incredible burden it is to be one.

Since I’ve already talked about the book here and here, I thought I wouldn’t reinvent the wheel…but direct you to my past posts on what an impact it’s made in my life.

This book, so perfectly titled Anything, is another life altering, face on the ground before the Father kind of story.

Jennie writes how God had been opening the eyes of she and her husband Zac {a pastor in Austin, TX} to how precious our temporary lives are and how numbly we move through them. One night while climbing into bed, they began to pray Anything. “God we will do anything. Anything.” they told Him.

We were over it. We were over building our lives. We were over houses and cars and cute Christmas cards. We wanted something; we just couldn’t put our finger on it. It was burning in us. We had loved so many other things more than God. {page xi}

The book weaves around their desire for God to answer their prayer. “Lord, do you want us to give up the house we just built for something smaller, less expensive?” They felt a no. What about filling the extra bed in their son’s room, they questioned. Yes, they felt God answer. Adoption? Yes.

And so much more.

Inside these pages are lessons on trust…

Do I trust God? Today as I write, I am in Colorado with my sister, Brooke, who just bravely delivered her daughter, little Lucy, twenty weeks too soon. Lucy is with Jesus. Today Brooke said through tears, “I trust God.” The beauty of the statement on this day makes me cry. God, give us enough faith for whatever the stories of our lives will hold, even in the worst of days. {page 61}

Overcoming doubt…

We avoid compelling anyone to God because it may feel cheesy or annoying. Well then, we have to find ways to compel that aren’t cheesy or ann {page 139}

One big thing – God must replace the chaos of me. I’m over my cute, comfortable, easy life. I don’t want to make decisions based on my adequacy and capacity. I don’t want to miss what God has for us because I’m afraid. {page 144}

God in the chaos…

At some point you either live perpetually anxious or give in and embrace the fact that your life is now completely out of your control…

…You still train your kids, but somehow you learn to let it all play out rather than trying so hard to smash it and them into perfect compliance…

…And while it was hard…it was simple. God was in control. he was real. He saw us. And we were going to eventually or quickly get to heaven with him. See, we weren’t going to be here very long. And everything we did between now and when we met him was up to him. {page 147-148}

control…

For years, I had known what I should do but could not seem to control my heart to do ti. I could hear good advice, even godly advice, but I couldn’t seem to stop my heart from feeling the out-of-control feelings of fear and insecurity and pride. How does one control the heart? 

Jesus prayed before he died, “You live for this other world, you live my mission, you glorify me here by obeying my voice and my Word, and you fight well, and I am telling you all of this because I want you to have joy. {page 163}

{ahhh joy. we’ve come full-circle. I told you it’s the theme in my life}

It’s chalk-full of thought provoking lines, such as…

We weren’t as scared as we should have been. We were just so tired of normal. {page 91}

I wanted to be right with my God at the end of my life rather than right with all the people in it. {page 92}

So how do we actually let God change us? {page 102}

Without the Spirit of God to lead our anything, we will only be do-gooders with our own agendas. {page 121}

If life is temporary, why create the safest one possible that gets you through it with the least amount of scars? {page 135}

We don’t follow God just because he is God, just because he is boss. We follow God because he builds beautiful stories, even if they are not easy. {page 135}

If we pray anything, we will all, like Christ, be called to give up this life and things we love. We will be called to risk for his glory. Christ never intended those who walked with him to feel comfortable and safe… {page 136}

Ohmygosh, I obviously could go on and on about this book.

Basically? You need it. Get it. Read it.

I so hope some {or all} of these books have stirred up something within you and will sometime rest in your hands as you curl up in the coziness of your bed or favorite chair.

They’re amazing, thought provoking, and if your heart is open for it…life changing.