A Royal Christmas Wedding by Rachel Hauck was AAAAMMAAAAAAZZZINGGG!!!
I know it’s after Christmas (someone should really tell people this fact though, Christmas lights on the house in March is really not cool) but this book was a Christmas gift and I adore Hauck books so of course I had to read it now! As always it was great! It makes me want to read the entire series again (which I may do). I think the best part about this one is how connected it was to the first book in the series! Loved it!
I enjoy reading Christian fiction. Something with a little bit of a love story, but it is good and clean. I want books that describe scenes that I can play out in my mind. Rachel Hauck is one of my favorite authors for many reasons. The first book I read by Rachel Hauck was titled The Wedding Dress. This book hooked me and I have read all of her other books since discovering her. A great thing about Hauck is she writes books that you can read as a stand alone, but if you happened to have read her other books you may find ties back to them. The Wedding Shop by Rachel Hauck tied into the previous two books in the series briefly as well as having a few nods to other Hauck books. The Wedding Shop also follows many characters and jumps from different years in history as well. This adds some interest and keeps me guessing what is about to come. In the end she ties everything up into a beautiful package! If you like Christian fiction try Rachel Hauck. You won’t be disappointed!
I finished a great book yesterday by Mark Batterson and Richard Foth called A Trip Around the Sun.
This book was a collection of stories and godly wisdom on how to live a more adventurous life. I didn’t want to put it down but often had to with a 1 month old baby to enjoy and care for.
One of my big take aways from the book has to do with taking chances (anyone who knows me understands that I am not a risk taker). Mark wrote something along the lines of you will never walk on water if you don’t step out of the boat. (I don’t know the exact quote because it’s hard to hold a sleeping baby, read, and underline passages that you love.) I love the boat, the safe spot, my comfort zone. I don’t like the unknown, unplanned, or risks outside of the boat. Mark is referencing Jesus’ and Peter’s story of walking on the water.
“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.””
Matthew 14:22-33 NIV
I would never have the courage to step out of the boat but as I have thought about Mark’s reference this week I realized I have in certain ways. Kyle and I stepped out of the boat when we left our home church to take a ministry job at ATCO. We stepped out when we both answered the call to go to St. Vincent on mission not knowing how it would be financed. We stepped out when we realized God was leading us to do fertility treatments. Our boat has been left more times than I realized until God showed me how often Jesus had told us to come.
I highly recommend this book and would encourage you to think about how Jesus has called you to come onto the waters, step out of the boat, leave your comfort zone.
I just finished another book by Gloria Furman and let me just tell you again how much I enjoy her writings (the first book I read by her was The Pastor’s Wife). She is real, Christ-centered, and hits you (and herself) with God’s word continually throughout her book. I love how she doesn’t try to seem like she has it all figured out and shares her life stories and then connects them to the bible.
In this book, Gloria discusses how God is in the midst of our mundane daily tasks as wives, moms, and women. She shares stories that will make you laugh (her son loving to stick his hand in the toilet while it flushes) and cry (her husband’s constant battle with pain in his arms) while relating them to our spiritual lives.
“God can use the ordinary moments in your life to glorify himself by conforming you into the image of his Son.” If that quote from the book doesn’t make you want to shout, “Amen!” then I don’t know what will.
Yesterday I finished reading The Chance by Karen Kingsbury. It was the first one of her books I had ever read (which seems odd since I LOVE Christian novels), and I was hooked, addicted, had to know how it would end, LOVED IT!!!!
It is about a teenager girl (Ellie) whose family falls apart, is uprooted from the only place she has ever called home, and loses contact with everyone(including her mom and best friend-who she loves!) except her dad. Because of this she feels unwanted, unloved, and doesn’t believe in God anymore. Eleven years pass and suddenly things begin to change…
I finished it by the pool and got too much sun…but it was so worth it!
Just like the lost son, when Ellie finally realizes that God is real, that she was never really alone, she is so loved and has always been wanted, God welcomes her with open arms!
Today, if your lost and wandering around aimlessly…know that you are loved by God. You are wanted, valued, and cherished. You can come stumbling, crawling, or running and skipping back to God the way the prodigal son did to his father.
Yes, I am a pastor’s wife. Correction—a youth pastor’s wife. With this title/description/label comes many amazing and challenging things. But today I want to talk about a book I finished reading this weekend, The Pastor’s Wife by Gloria Furman. I’m not sure what I expected when I started this book, but in my opinion, every Christian woman would benefit from reading this book.
There are three parts to this book:
I think every woman needs to know how to love God, love their spouse (even if he isn’t a pastor/under-shepherd), and love the church. These are essentially the three things that Gloria writes about. She slathers this book in scripture (which I adore!) and adds in humor from her own experiences of being a pastor’s wife (which you may or may not find humorous if you are not a pastor’s wife).
I hope that you will consider reading this book, pastor’s wife or not.
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