Thursday, April 16, 2020

Reading Challenge Update

What I (& we) have been reading:

Stella by Starlight - this is a reread for me and for some of my girls, - we loooooved it just as much if not more this time through.  And for those that this was the first time through?  Totally enchanted by Sharon M. Draper's ability to tell a story about such an ugly topic.  The mistreatment of any human for any reason is such a difficult topic to talk about, but it is necessary in order that our children fully understand how to avoid something so heinous as slavery.  I highly recommend this book!

I used the kindle/digital copy from our library, so I am sorry I don't have a page number for this but I absolutely loved this prayer:

"Then let us pray," Pastor Patton said finally.  Stella noticed a few townspeople slowing down as they passed by; none of the faces looked pleasant.  She closed her eyes.  "Dear Lord," said the pastor, "we bow down before You as we stand up for dignity.  Be with us and protect us both morning, noon, and night. Amen."

The Lady's Confession (Book 2 in the trilogy The Curate of Glaston by George MacDonald) - I love this trilogy so far, the first two books have been excellent.  With that said, it did take a bit to get into the second one, but I think the introduction that Michael Phillips included helped with that problem.  I absolutely loved the two prayers below - both hit close to home for different reasons:

pg. 79-80
"Oh God," he prayed, "You know how hard it is for us, & You will be fair with us.  We have seen no visions, we have never heard the audible voice of Your Son; we have to fight on in much darkness of spirit & mind, both from the ignorance we cannot help & from the fault we could have helped.  We inherit blindness from the error of our fathers; & when we fear or the dread of shame or the pains of death come upon us, we are ready to despair & cry out that there is no God, or that if there is He has forgotten His children.  There are times when the darkness closes about us like a wall & we can see You nowhere, either in our hearts or the outer universe.  We cry aloud and we listen for any sound of Your voice, but we hear nothing.  You who know that for which we groan, You whom Jesus called Father, we appeal to You, not as we imagine You but as You see Yourself, as Jesus knows You.  To Your very Self we cry - help us!  Be our Father.

"We beg You for no signs & wonders, but only for Your breath upon our souls, Your Spirit in our hearts.  We pray for not tongues of fire, for no rousing of brain or imagination or emotion.  But we do with all our power of prayer pray for Your Spirit.  We do not even pray to know that He is given to us.  Let us, if it so pleases You, remain in doubt of the gift for years to come; but still lead us by Your Spirit.  Aware only of ordinary movements of mind & soul, may we yet be possessed by the Spirit of God, led by Your will in ours.  For all things in a man, even those that seem the most common & least spiritual, are the creation of Your heart, & by the doors of our wavering judgment, dull imagination, lukewarm love, & palsied will, You can enter and glorify all.  Give us patience, because our hope is in You, not ourselves.  Work Your will in us & our prayers are answered.  Amen"

pg 194
"Father, through Your Son, You know pain & even now You feel the pain of this Your child.  Help her to endure until You shall say it is enough.  Let is not overmaster her patience; let it not be too much for her.  What good it shall work in her, Lord, we do not need to instruct You."

Letters to the Church by Francis Chan - This has long been in a stack of must-reads.  I checked it out from the library a year (or more?) ago but ran out of time before I finished it.  This past fall/early winter I saw a copy at Hobby Lobby and snatched it up so that I could finally finish.  It did not disappoint.  This particular point that Francis Chan brought up, absolutely nailed me to the chair:

pg 53-54
'Many of us make decisions on what brings us the most pleasure.  This is how we choose our homes, jobs, cars, clothes, food, and churches.  We pursue what we want; then we make sure there are no biblical commands we are violating.  In essence, we want to know what God will tolerate rather than what He desires.  Maybe we are afraid to ask what will bring Him the most pleasure. Ignorance feels better than disobedience. *** (omitted a few sentences) Scripture is our starting point, not desire or tradition. Rather than thinking of what we would enjoy or asking others what they would like - we ask the simple question - what would please God more?'

pg 214 (my thoughts in parentheses)
'One of the biggest mistakes we make is to allow proud people to consume our thoughts.  We allow our minds to replay the instances when others have offended us. (OH BOY - YES YES YES, anytime my feelings are hurt - when the person is arrogant, or rude, or angry, or just plain offensive - I allow it absolutely consume my thoughts and I replay it over and over and over - what I should have said, what I wish would happen to that person etc;) This robs us of our joy (YEP!  My otherwise okay day has been completely ruined when I have failed to control my thoughts) and robs God of the worship He deserves' (ouch!  I am actually robbing God of the worship He deserves.  And for what?  To waste it on something so unworthy)  ***jump ahead a few sentences and he says: 'Whenever I feel like I'm being mistreated, I start worshipping Jesus.  I tell Him I am amazed...'

Francis ends the book with Isaiah 57:15:
For this is what the high and exalted One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Wow!! 

How to Enjoy Reading Your Bible by Keith Ferrin.  I also printed out the study guide that goes along with this (the link is included in the book).  This was a quick, easy read, I am actually going to go back through it with my girls.  Whether you are a new Christian or a seasoned one, if you are struggling to get into the Bible and truly enjoy it, then this book is for you.  It t has so many wonderful, practical ideas and a lot of great prayers to pray over your time in the Word.

Refugee by Alan Gratz.  One of my girls spied this book in a book store around Christmas time, but since we already had a stack selected,  I took a picture of it and put it on our running list of 'want to' reads.  After I read the reviews online though,  I was nervous about purchasing it.  The reviewers kept commenting about how political of a tale this was, how much they wish the teachers had asked their opinions before assigning the book etc;.  I am not familiar with the author at all, so I honestly have no idea what his political stance is.  I also understand that the topics of borders crossings, illegal aliens, and refugees are hot button topics.  But - just because there are no easy answers this doesn't mean we should stop asking the questions or stop considering all sides of the argument, especially when there are lives on the line.   After reading this book,  I honestly think everyone needs to read this book.  No matter which side of the fence you land on - this book is SO SO SO SO wonderful.  We laughed, we cried, we talked, we debated - this is such a great book.

We got a package in the mail a few weeks ago (thanks Mom!!), it arrived before the pandemic hit the US - and we are so excited to start:

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles
&
Mandy
both by Julie Andrews Edwards (Yes - that Julie Andrews!!!  I had NO idea she was an author, I mean I knew she had published a book of poetry, but she has children's books!!!!  Can NOT wait to read these!!)

Finding Home by Katen Kingsbury and Tyler Russel (this is book two - we just read the first one this past fall.  Best Family Ever is the name of the first one and we adore the Baxter kids.

I am also finishing up the Bible verses to accompany The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn.  I decided to copy and paste all of the Bible verses that go with each day of the year to help make sure it was readily available for my mom and I, this is such an amazing book, and it is one I want to dig into over and over and over.

One last thing my girls have LOVED stories.audible.com.  Especially Gail Carson Levine's books.

I am behind on the challenge, but I'm reading and enjoying each book, and that's a win!  Tim Challies is the person behind the reading challenge -  if you are interested check out his blog - search for the 2020 reading challenge.

No comments:

Post a Comment