I‘m excited about this one. An orphan overcoming tragedy and addiction to rise to....

This book is heart-rending. Christians ignorant of the ways the Church has enabled and propagated racism MUST read this book. It is imperative for the sake of those who have been oppressed while their white brothers and sisters remained unmoved or unaware. This ought not be. This book is a good step in understanding the injustice perpetrated against African Americans while the white Church was largely silent. To heal, we must first understand.

I loved this story. It‘s nothing short of a miracle.

LOVED this story. If you wonder if miracles still happen, if God loves and pursues people, if even murderous or abusive hearts can be softened and transformed to truly love others, this book answers with a resounding YES! Esther Ahmad‘s courage to follow Jesus and stay true to him, trusting God to give her words to defend her newfound faith, even against highly educated Muslim clerics, inspired courage in me in my own situation (I am outmatched).

Ooo, excited about this one!

Did you ever wonder what the heck the nephilim were, the giants of the Old Testament born from the sexual union of divine beings and earthly women?

Find out in Michael S Heiser‘s eye-popping book, solidly grounded in heady, deeply researched and supported theological views, made surprisingly accessible by his clear writing style. I‘m devouring this book.

“Nayeri‘s exploration of the exile‘s predicament is tender and urgent.”

—The New Yorker.

Nadia Hashimi has taken me back to Afghanistan with her story! I‘m rooting for the women unjustly imprisoned and hoping Zeba isn‘t actually the one who put an axe in her husband‘s head.

I was having trouble hanging in, but am glad I did. At about 30% of the way through, something changed. The writing got better. The pace picked up. Now, I‘m being pulled along by the story itself and the desire to get answers to my questions.

I love that the author includes an element of Afghan culture that that is only spoken of in whispers and resorted to when the majority faith has failed to produce a child from a barren womb or deliver someone from jail or make the father of a girl‘s baby marry her: jadu—magic.

Brene Brown is a gift to the world. Her insights born of research shed healing light on shame, its origins, and its effects. She reveals the power of vulnerability and outlines the mechanics of trust. All truth is God‘s truth. And truth really does set us free. Already I am changed. She‘s teaching me to to be courageously (not indiscriminately) vulnerable. This is a book so rich with healing truth, I‘ll listen again. Don‘t want to miss a word!

Home Fire is the genre of book I can‘t get enough of. It has international intrigue. It‘s suspenseful and delivers a twist. By the end, I felt satisfied, but sad. The sex scenes are a bit over the top and unbelievable at first. The author keeps the reader puzzling over an incongruity between the protagonist‘s professed religion and her behavior. That‘s why I kept turning the pages, and scratching my head. She‘s a great storyteller. More please!

What is your favorite memoir and why? GO!

I‘ve studied the Bible since I was a child, but Nancy Guthrie is making new connections between Genesis and Jesus for me. I‘m more convinced than ever that the Word who was with God from the beginning, who is God, and through whom and for whom everything was created, is able to REcreate any of us. We may be malformed from a lifetime of abuse or our own bad choices, but Jesus can make us a new creation. He still has the blueprint for beautiful you!

Ever find a book so full of timely truth that you want to inhale it?

“Over and over, parents, congregations, and religious leaders deny abuse reports regardless of the weight of the evidence…Unspeakable damage can occur when we deny the possibility that a pastor who powerfully communicates God‘s word on Sunday could beat his wife or molest his daughter on Monday.“

Recognizing that evil might be resident among us is Step 1: Opening our eyes.

In only the first half hour this book, I can tell I‘m going to love it. If you‘ve ever experienced abuse, you‘ll find it validating from the first pages. It addresses the spiritual roots of abuse—of evil—and calls on the Church to “stop revictimizing survivors and begin facilitating their healing.” (James R. Beck) In Light of the #metoo and #churchtoo movements, the Church has a second chance to champion victims and call abusers to account.

This surprised me.
“I know of many Muslim women who recognize their need for Jesus, but have nowhere to turn if their husbands abandon them, or worse. They often do not have the financial means to survive the next day, let alone fight for their children in court. They would have to do all this while reeling from an emotionally violent expulsion from their extended families.” —Nabeel Qureshi

Nabeel‘s 3+ year wrestling match with his friend, himself, and God about whether Islam or Christianity is most internally consistent and historically verifiable, comes to an unlikely conclusion. Nabeel is forced to either accept what he has come to believe is true-Jesus did die for his sins and rise again, defeating death itself-and lose the Muslim family he loves, or keep his family and deny what God has revealed, thereby denying God Himself.

Nabeel‘s appeal, in his own voice, to his family to receive the salvation Jesus offers so that they might be a family again even after death, is incredibly moving, as he is now in Heaven awaiting them. Nabeel is an American-born Muslim, moved by reason and visions and dreams to embrace Jesus.

Only on chapter 2, but LOVING this study. It‘s rich and deep and life-giving to my soul. God seems to be speaking the same messages to me at every turn, among them that he does the same creative work in our hearts (feelings, will, intellect) that he did in Genesis at the creation of the world by removing our hearts of stone and replacing them with new, recreated hearts of flesh—hearts that look very much like his own.

I‘m sorry to say that I‘m actually going to return this Audible book, having made it to chapter 35 of 48. This is the kind of book that makes me wish that books had ratings like movies do. The sex scenes are graphic. Beyond that, I find the drawn-out internal (and waffling) dialogue almost torturous. Midway through the book, I started disliking both of the protagonists for being some combination of promiscuous (unfaithful) and stupid.

By telling her own story, Lyneta shines a light in the darkness for people who struggle with overcoming past abuse and trauma. She found a way to be victorious. I want to spend time with her!

This is my favorite book in the world: the Bible. I love this version because it highlights verses that reveal God‘s heart for the poor, the stranger, the widow, and the orphan. It shows how important it is to Him that they are treated right, and that we are part of making sure they are.

I‘m starting this book again for the third time this summer—ironically because, Ruby, my puppy won‘t let me read. Ironic because the book is set in a world of a fictional breed of dog. She‘s not content to be on the floor beside me, or even in my lap. She has to be in my face, kissing me. Now she‘s barking at me through a glass door. Third time‘s the charm. Here we go!

Rosaria‘s lifestyle of lavish hospitality kicked down the doors in my own heart. In an age of epidemic loneliness, with so many families broken and dysfunctional, welcoming people into our homes is good medicine for souls. Hospitality is something we take with us, a heart cultivated with tenderness toward neighbors, the stranger, the prisoner, the sick, and children who need a forever home or just a stop-gap. Read in a stimulating book study.

One of my all-time favorite books. It‘s tragic and inspiring, a story vividly and beautifully told. Katherine Boo transports you to Mumbai slum, takes hold of your heart, and doesn‘t let go. It‘s a true story with multiple storylines woven together like a novel, a rare work of art. Even all these years after reading it, my heart aches when I think the people whose lives she captures in its pages. I want to be Katherine Boo when I grow up.