It's amazing what can happen in twelve months, isn't it?
On my personal list, I went from engaged to married to widowed. I moved out of my parents' house into a home with my new husband and am closing out the year by signing on the dotted line to lease a one-bedroom apartment where I'll be living alone.
It's been strange and surreal, and I know I'm not alone in feeling that way.
It was an election year. The Eastern seaboard was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. A tragic shooting took the lives of schoolchildren in Colorado. And those are just a few of major events that I can recall right off the top of my head.
One happy thing that 2012 will have left me with, however, is something that is invaluable: fresh perspective. And I can't wait to start 2013 with that new outlook, that new appreciation for things.
A sweet gift for a high price, perhaps, but one I will definitely hold on to.
With all that's gone on in life over the past twelve months, my faith has grown and deepened, and sometimes it's been the only thing that's gotten me through. Which makes finding great, faith affirming books all the more important and enlightening. Here are just a few I've had the pleasure of discovering....
In his book, Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life (Moody Publishers) Goins, a writer and blogger, defines being “wrecked” as an experience––a time when a broken world slams into our comfortable lives and what remains is a tension between a lifetime of adventure and our daily commitments. Wrecked centers on stories of ordinary people doing incredible things to be transformed from the inside out, and Goins explains that being wrecked can take place at any time, at any place. Goins touches upon other elements of being "wrecked," including understanding commitment issues, getting attached to feeling good while helping others, learning to know when to walk away, and helping others getting wrecked. The book is both powerful and relatable in its narrative, and Goins is a great story-teller, taking readers along with him as he explores what it truly means to allow your life to be "wrecked" for God's purposes.
Wives who choose to follow Ephesians 5:33 ("and the wife shall respect her husband") make a dramatic impact on their marriages. But many married women struggle with the concept of respecting their husbands. What does respect actually look like? Why should wives respect their husbands? Shouldn‘t husbands have to earn the respect of their wives? The Respect Dare by Nina Roesner is a 40-day challenge that makes the whole concept a little less confusing. Readers are given a series of dares that offer a more intimate connection to both their husbands and to God, and the book is filled with stories of struggle and success paired with practical applications of respect that have dramatically impacted marriages. The book is especially relevant in today's culture, when men and women's roles have become so undefined and have strayed so far from God's original intent for marriage.
Dear Deb: A Woman with Cancer, a Friend with Secrets, and the Letters That Became Their Miracle. Follow Margaret Terry as she shares stories that represent a full lifetime of miracles, stories that changed the writer as she wrote them and stories that will touch the heart of the reader, one by one by one. These stories are not just stories. Instead, Dear Deb is a collection of letters about living to a dying friend, a search for love and how it’s found in the most surprising places. A book of short stories about past secrets, and the hopes and dreams of a messy, imperfect life. A memoir via email. 