Pearls of Wisdom

December 15:
12 Pearls of Christmas: Just God

 

A Tangible Reminder
by Mary Byers

Last year I read Me, Myself, & Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer, creator of the Veggie Tales video series. I was interested because my children grew up on Veggie Tales. But I was also interested because somewhere along the way I noticed Phil Vischer was no longer with Big Idea, the company he founded. I knew there must be a story there, so I picked up the book.

Though millions of children can sing the Veggie Tales theme song, Big Idea no longer exists. After expanding too quickly, the company was forced into bankruptcy. Vischer writes about the experience in his book, which is part memoir and part business tutorial. And it's a touching example of how one man encountered grit and allowed it to be turned into grace.

At the end of the book, Vischer outlines the lessons he learned from the rise and fall of Big Idea. In part, he shares, "I was ready to be done, if that's what God wanted. To just rest in him and let everything else fall away. At long last, after a lifetime of striving, God was enough. Not God and impact or God and ministry. Just God."

His words convicted me. As an author and speaker, I realized that I'm often more focused on my deadlines or my next speaking engagement than I am on God. I have it backwards. God first, then everything else will fall into place.

It's a powerful message for us as women, too. When we focus on God first, we'll have everything we need to handle whatever is happening in our families and our lives. As Vischer reminds us, God is enough. As we approach Christmas, I'm reminded that this is the time when God shared his Son with us-a tangible reminder of his love for us. And a reminder that when we have him, we have everything we need.

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Mary Byers is the author of Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof. She offers advice and encouragement for moms work from home for profit at www.makingworkathomework.com.

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A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year's Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is leave a comment here. Come back on New Year's Day to see if you won!

12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit www.pearlgirls.info

 

Pearls of Wisdom

December 14:
12 Pearls of Christmas: Home

COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
by Virelle Kidder

My mother had remarkable zeal for Christmas. Weeks in advance, she would come home from teaching school and bake late into the night. I helped clean the house and decorate the tree while my older brother Roger wired the house with Christmas lights, transforming our humble red house into a place of magical beauty. Following the church candlelight service, a crowd of happy people crunched through the snow to our house for cocoa and cookies.

We were, like many, quite alone in the years after my father left. Our Christmas open house was my mother's supreme effort to make us feel complete. It almost worked.

Despite years in church and Sunday school, God was more a distant relative I wished I knew. I grew up with a gnawing sense of incompleteness, and longed to find meaning and purpose in life. Strangely, it was shortly before Christmas years later that it found me.

My husband Steve was fully absorbed with his new job at Johns Hopkins University, and I was home with a two year old. We wanted friends, but were both hesitant when Steve's officemate his wife invited us to attend their church. We had nothing in common with "religious types," but Steve said, "Let's be nice and go just once."

Sitting in church that Sunday, my temples pounded. Hymns and Scripture verses long ago ignored called to me from my childhood. Could others tell I didn't belong here? Oddly, I felt jealous of their peace. They looked happy.

First thing Monday morning I began tearing through the unpacked boxes in our basement. At last, I found my mildewed Bible from fifth grade. I resolved to read it cover to cover. I opened to Genesis, chapter 1. Same old story; I've heard this a hundred times, and quickly slammed it shut.

No one told me God could hear my thoughts. A soft Voice whispered, Why not read as if it were true? I opened my Bible again. Suddenly I was listening to the most interesting person I had ever heard. By afternoon I was still reading in my pajamas. I couldn't stop.

I read for weeks until one day, a picture popped in my mind of a beautiful old house with wide porches, brightly lit at night. Music, laughter and lively conversation carried onto the porch where I stood in the dark, peeking in. I saw a feast and a fire on the hearth, much like the Christmas open houses from my childhood, with one important difference. There was a Father here whose face mirrored love and warmth at His children's presence. This was God's family, and I desperately wanted to be inside. But how?

A voice taunted, Why would God want you? You don't fit in this crowd! It was true. I considered giving up. Instead, I marched upstairs to our bedroom, knelt down and prayed out loud, "Lord, help me find the way! Please don't let me go!"

Verses I'd read made sense. Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Our friends explained that God already knew I was a hopeless mess and loved me anyway. Opening the door to Heaven was a gift that cost God everything. It was on the cross Jesus died to pay for my sins. He rose again to prove forever that He is the Truth. Weeping at such love, I knelt and gave Christ my life. I found that, with or without a happy family, no one is ever complete without Jesus.

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Virelle Kidder is a conference speaker and the author of six books and numerous articles whose passion is sharing the love of God with women around the world. For her latest books, please visit her at www.virellekidder.com and www.meetmeatthewell.fm

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A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year's Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is leave a comment here. Come back on New Year's Day to see if you won!

12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit www.pearlgirls.info

Pearls of wisdom

December 13:

12 Pearls of Christmas: Life Beautiful

Life Beautiful
by Margaret McSweeney


During a quiet moment after Thanksgiving, I started reading my parents' stack of love letters that I recently found in a storage box. As a Christmas gift to you, I would like to share my father's words to my mother written to her during Christmas 1949. This incredible "hug from heaven" has been a tangible affirmation that Pearl Girls has true meaning and great worth for women throughout the world. I pray that God will continue to bless this ministry and outreach. May we all realize that the grit in our lives can be transformed into grace through the love of God.

This is what I found written on a tiny folded card inscribed with "Christmas Greetings" on the front:

Christmas 1949

My Dearest Carolyn,

Truly a jewel is a thing of beauty, but a life that is lived to serve others and to glorify our Christ, such as yours, is my dearest, a far surpassing gem in radiance and beauty.

Pearls to me, symbolize this "Life Beautiful" that you have achieved, Carolyn. Each pearl is a result of a great hurt to the oyster's life. But the little mollusk builds an iridescent coat around this source of hurt, and as a result, the precious pearl comes into being. Life is like that too.

If we, like the pearl, can make of our hurts the basis of a thing of beauty, then we can bear witness to an on-looking world how Christians can overcome through Christ, blows that are seemingly insurmountable.

At this happiest season of the year, I give thanks to God for you, Carolyn - my Pearl of Great Price.

Your Claude

Isn't this an amazing Christmas Pearl? I hope this message has touched your heart, too. Another Christmas gift I would like to share with you: My father's lessons on leadership. These can be found on my guest blog post at Michael Hyatt's website.

During this holiday season, decorate your life with Christmas Pearls --- strands of God's grace-reminders that nothing can separate us from his love, not even the grittiest of circumstances.

And please celebrate the "Pearls of Great Price" in your life through Post a Pearl. It's a fun and free gift that you can share with special people who have been a blessing to you over the years.

Merry Christmas!

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Margaret McSweeney lives with her husband David and two teenage daughters in the Chicago suburbs. She's the founder of Pearl Girls and a published author. Please visit  www.pearlgirls.info for more info. You can also find Margaret at her writing blog, From Finance to Fiction or on Facebook and twitter.


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A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year's Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is leave a comment here. Come back on New Year's Day to see if you won!

12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit www.pearlgirls.info

Pearls of Wisdom

December 12 (extra post):
12 Pearls of Christmas: Gifts of Purpose

Too Precious to Wear
by Sarah Sundin

One Christmas when my mother was a girl, she received a string of pearls from her father. Since her parents were divorced-an unusual situation in the 1950s-she treasured the pearls as a sign of her father's love. When he passed away her senior year in high school, the pearls took on even greater significance.

When I was growing up, my mother talked often about the pearls, but my sister and I never saw them. Mom kept them safe in their silk-lined velvet box tucked in her jewelry box. For dressy occasions, she wore other nice jewelry, but never the pearls.

The pearls were too precious to wear.

What if the strand broke and even a single pearl was lost? What if the clasp broke and she lost them forever? She couldn't risk it. Better to keep them cocooned in silky security.

When my mother offered to let me wear her pearls on my wedding day, I was deeply touched. This was more than "something old" or "something borrowed," but a sign that she trusted me and loved me.

A few days before the wedding, my mother pulled the box from seclusion. My sister and I watched with curiosity and awe.

The pearls had turned a deep grayish-yellow, they were flaking, and some had fallen apart.

They were fake.

For over thirty years, my mother nurtured a piece of costume jewelry. All that time she could have worn them and enjoyed them without worry. Her father gave them to her for a purpose-to wear them and feel lovely and ladylike and special. He didn't mean for her to hide them away.

On our wedding day, my husband gave me a strand of real pearls. They symbolize my husband's sacrificial love for me-they were expensive for a graduate student with half-Scottish blood.

I vowed never to tuck them away but to wear them often. Yes, I'm careful. I inspect the cord and knots and clasp, and I plan to have them restrung when necessary. But I wear them and enjoy them. That's why my husband gave them to me.

Our heavenly Father gives us gifts too-brilliant and costly. We should cherish them, but we should use them. Whether our individual gifts involve serving, teaching, encouragement, evangelism, or even money-they have a purpose. The Lord wants us to use our gifts to bless others and to spread the message of His love.

While pearls make women look lovely, using our God-given gifts for His kingdom makes us even lovelier. And just as pearls grow more lustrous with frequent wear, our gifts from God grow in beauty and strength the more we use them.

This Christmas I plan to wear my string of pearls, a sign of my husband's love-and to display my pearls from heaven, a sign of my Father's love.

Have a lustrous Christmas!

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Sarah Sundin lives in northern California with her husband and three children. She works on-call as a hospital pharmacist. Her first novel, A Distant Melody, historical fiction set during World War II, will be published by Revell in March 2010. Please visit her at http://www.sarahsundin.com or her blog or find her on Facebook.

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A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year's Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is leave a comment here. Come back on New Year's Day to see if you won!

12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit www.pearlgirls.info

The Christmas Dog

In the book "The Christmas Dog" by Melody Carlson, a dirty, uncared for mutt shows up on the doorstep of Betty Kowalski's house, and completely changes her views and her Christmas!
 I generally don't enjoy the kind of 'mushy' stories that tend to come out at Christmas time, they tend to get a little 'corny'. However Carlson was able to capture the emotion in the story without taking it too far. Which meant that although the story was an emotional one, it didn't cross that line into becoming too mushy!
At times i would have liked to have seen a little more depth to some of the characters and their connection in the book, (I.e; Avery's mother, or a little more information/interaction with Jack) however that is about the only criticism i can give this book. It was well written, great story line, and it had a message that was easy to read without becoming "preachy" This is a book that I think even my Non-religious friends would enjoy!
I would totally recommend this to friends and family (Plus its short enough that i was able to read it together with my 7 yr old son, {Who loves dog stories, lol} and he really enjoyed it as well!) Would be a great family story to read through the holidays!!

*Available now at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The Unfinished Gift

I LOVED this book, right from the first page Dan Walsh was able to bring you deeply into the story and keep you there! The story is about a little boy named Patrick who after a series of heartbreaking events ends up having to stay at the home of his estranged Grandfather.  After many mishaps and mistakes we see a true relationship begin to form.
This was one of those books that I couldn't put down until I finished it. Walsh's book was well written and heart warming, perfect for the holiday season! I honestly have no criticisms of this book, this is one that I will be recommending to my friends and family as one of the 'must have' holiday books this year!


* Available now at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group!

An Amish Christmas

I got this book on Friday and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! I had prepared myself for a pretty tame and slow moving novel, but this book is anything but! I love  that each 'book' within the book focuses on a different Character, but is still connected to the other books. The books basically focus on the lives of three Amish women and their hopes, struggles and hurts. One of the things that i really appreciated about the book was that when you read 'outside' your denomination, the authors tend to get a little preachy with why their way is the 'best' way. This book had absolutely None of that in it! They were informative without that 'prideful' aspect you tend to get from some authors!
The books were very well written and moved at a nice pace, I loved hearing about some of the different traditions within the old order Amish. Also I absolutely LOVED that there are Old order Amish recipes at the back of the book! I can't wait to sit down and try them!

Healing Sands

In the book "Healing sands" by Nancy Rue and Stephen Arterburn  we are introduced to Ryan Coe a photojournalist who's job has now turned into a mundane work of shooting minor stories. That is until she's at a crime scene getting ready to shoot some photo's and see's her son right in the middle of it!
I really enjoyed this book, its one of those ones that once you pick it up you can't put it down again till you're finished! The characters in the story we very well thought out and authentic, and I found the entire book to be very well written and interesting! This is definitely one of those books that I'll be recommending to friends and family!

Graf Martin

So i've joined a Blog Tour with Graf martin, and they sent me some excerpts of a few books to post until i post my review. So i wanted to share them with you! (I'm very excited about reading these!!)

The Christmas Dog:


http://www.revellbooks.com/Media/MediaManager/Excerpt_9780800718817.pdf

The Unfinished Gift:
http://www.revellbooks.com/Media/MediaManager/Excerpt_9780800719241.pdf

 Finding Christmas:

http://www.revellbooks.com/Media/MediaManager/Excerpt_9780800719395.pdf

Faith, Hope, Love

Ok, this is the last of the paintings that i completed for Christmas! The pictures look orange but are really a deep red in person.
The verse on the main one is from 1 Corinthians 13:13 "But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Close up of the right side

Close up of the left

Fearfully and wonderfully made!

My second painting, that I just finished this evening! This one was made for my nieces, and has the verse from Psalm 139:14 on it!

Love is:

This is the newest painting, and hopefully a first in a series of paintings! I absolutely without a doubt love this one. The verse at the top is from 1st Corinthians 13:4+7.

The Liturgical year

I was a little disappointed with this book,  when i requested it I imagined it would give me a bit of historic background, look at the practices. And while it does give  one, i was really hoping it would go deeper. Plus It was a fair bit more difficult to understand than i thought it would be. The book reads a lot more like a text book, which in its own sense is fine, but when i read something i tend to want more of a flow to what i'm reading. It is however well written and Chittister definitely has here info down pat.
One other thing that confused me was I'm not sure if what i read was Catholic/Lutheran/ etc... it was really hard to pin down what denomination this book was aimed at. So it was informative, but i would have liked a bit more information wise, and well written but didn't quite have the flow that i really like. All in all, i probably wouldn't reccommend this book to my friends, I just didn't enjoy it very much!

Encouraging Words!

Psalm 103:8-13(NIV)

 ⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
       slow to anger, abounding in love.

 ⁹ He will not always accuse,
       nor will he harbour his anger forever;

 ¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
       or repay us according to our iniquities.

 ¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
       so great is his love for those who fear him;

 ¹² as far as the east is from the west,
       so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

 ¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
       so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+103%3A8-13&version=NIV 

Graf martin Review

A while back Graf martin sent a christmas package (Including a new testament book, invitation card, and 30 free days of an online study bible). I have to say i was really impressed! The whole presentation of the package was really classy (a white and gold theme), and very appropriate in a church setting. I really thought that the New Testament, paired with the study bible online was a Fantastic feature, and a great evangelism tool!

The tallest of smalls

Max Lucado's children's book "the tallest of smalls" is a parable from his book "Fearless". I think this is a fantastic book for children, I read it to my little guys here and they absolutely LOVED it. It was simple enough for them to follow without too much trouble, but still kept their attention. They also absolutely loved the illustrations, we spent more then half the time reading the story looking at and pointing out different things in the pictures.
Lucado provides a great lesson that children in these times really need to learn, That Jesus loves them and that They Matter.
This story is fantastic and I can see already that its going to be a favorite in this house!

Green

When i first started reading this book by Dekker i was really weary on actually being able to follow the story without having read the rest of the series. And i have to say for the first couple of chapters it was a bit difficult to understand some of what was going on. But by the time i got past them i was completely hooked on to the story! The story revolves around the idea of one man Thomas Hunter going into the future (after the apocalypse) in an age where good and evel could be seen.
The book was a fantastic read, i had a hard time putting it down! And i'll be searching for the rest of this series now! Something else i like was that previous books that dekker has written were tied into this series as well. Definately something i'll be recommending!

Find Your Strongest Life

It took a bit but i did get through find your strongest life, and it might be because i don't generally read these types of books but i found it difficult to really get into. The author did present some great idea's though that already i've tried hard to implement into my life. I also like the amount of examples he gave in the book on way to apply what he was saying to our lives.
So in all i can't say i really enjoyed the book, but i don't think the idea is to so much enjoy it as to learn from it. And i did learn a lot from what Buckingham wrote, he presented a clear and easily understood way to grasp success.
I would recommend this book to those who are looking to move up in life and find ways to get ahead. I think this book would be very helpful to those people!

Lonestar Secrets

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Lonestar Secrets, it very well written and easy to read. Colble writing really drew me into the story and continually surprised me. The book Lonestar secrets revolves around the life of Shannon Astor who return to her hometown to work as the vet. Colble very masterfully wove Biblical truths throughout her story without it becoming preachy or tedious. She was able to keep the story flowing at a good pace while still making it easy to read and understand. All in all, i really enjoyed reading this book, it was the kind of book you pick up and can't put down until the last page. Now that I've been introduced to this author I'll be looking for more of her books!!

Fearless

I have to first say that i have yet to read a book by Max Lucado that i didn't absolutely Love! And of course Fearless went far beyond my expectations! In his book Fearless Lucado talks about living our live not in fear but with trust in our Heavenly Father! Lucado gave many great examples of how to overcome and move beyond this paralysing fear that people tend to live with. I love that he uses real life situations as illustrations and gives us straight forward ways to apply these truths to our lives! Lucado as always, lays it out in an easy to read/understand and an easy to apply way, that makes changing one's life and outlook as simple as it can possibly be. I also am so happy to see how much Scripture he uses in his book! I love that he gives us simple ways to apply God's truths to our lives!
This is one of those books that i honestly can say has absolutely changed me and the way i look at the present time and future!

The Expanded Bible

The Expanded Bible is quickly becoming one of my favorite references when i want to get deeper into God's word, and get a deeper meaning as well. I Love Love LOVE to find the meaning behind the words used in the Bible to try and get a deeper understanding of what's being written and The Expanded Bible has now made that Much easier for me! One of my favorite features is having the expanded parts (like the different meanings of the words, the cross references for other scriptures, ect...) lined up right with the text. It made it so much easier to find! I spent a great deal of time (especially when preparing Bible studies) online searching for information like this, so i am in love with the idea that now all i have to do is open The Expanded Bible in order to find this out!!! It took a bit of getting used to, with the layout looking slightly different (since the 'helps' are alongside the text) but once you get past that, its proven already to be an incredibly Vaulable resourse!! In the long run this will be saving me hours of searching and allow me to be putting that time into getting to know God's Word even better! I 100% recommend this book to anyone who wants a better understanding of the Bible!!

Faces in the Fire

When i Saw T. L. Hines new book Faces in the fire up for grab i was so excited! I loved his book The Unseen and had incredibly high hopes for this! I'm happy to say it doesn't disappoint, i immensely enjoyed reading "Faces in the Fire". It was full of twists and turns (That T.L. Hines seems to be known for, lol) and kept me guessing right till the end! This was one of those books that once i picked it up to read, i didn't put it down until I had finished the book! Faces in the Fire revolves around the lives of 4 people; Kurt a trucker turned artist, Corrinne, an e-mail spammer (who is surprisingly a very likable character!), Grace a tattoo artist and heroine addict, and finally Stan the hit man. Hines weaves together this story in a subtle way, yet it is easy to pick out, in the story, what is tying them together. I absolutely loved this book! It will definitely be at the top of my recommendations!

Jesus Calling

I wasn't sure about how much i would like this book when i signed up for it, but i have to say that by the time i finished it i was absolutely loving it. I love the simple way that the author (Young) presents the words of Jesus and how her devotions really tie in with scripture. Plus something that i appreciate is that they aren't really long ones, so i can sneak a devotion in even when i'm busy! Young really captured the heart of Jesus in her book as well as keeping the devotions inline with what Scripture says.
As well i truly love the way the book speaks to you in a first person, like Jesus is speaking directly to us through this book. It was insighful and heartwarming!!

God's little Princess

God's little princess devotional Bible is such an adorable book, from the sparkly jewel encrusted cover to the fantastic applications and devotions inside. Not only does it give some great easy to understand ways to apply God's word to your life (or a childs life, lol) but its paired with some charming illustrations. I love that the goal of Walsh's devotional Bible is to help little girls develop into the princesses they were always ment to be. I read though it before showing it to my kids and i have to say my absolute favorite part are the beauty secrets. In todays society where beauty is pushed as a physical only attribute it is wonderful to see someone working to develop children's inner beauty and instilling Godly characters in the children. I 100% think this would be an awesome book for any little girl or princess!

100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible songs!

What an adorable book! I was so excited when it came in the mail, my son and i poured over the pages! I love the simple yet truthful way that Elkin's presents the Bible stories in, its not only easy for my son to understand, but he's also captivated by them as well! Plus i can't say enough good things about how absolutely adorable the illustrations are! The color and just over all well done job on them really add to what is being read!
I would definately recommend this book to anyone with young children, its sure to be a great hit!!!

Nelsons Illustrated guide to religions

I have to say that this is one of the few books i absolutely could not wait to get!! I was so looking forward to reading this!!!!! And I wasn't disappointed either, James A. Beverly gave a very detailed and intamite look into each religion, including (and one of my favorite parts) a guide of key theologies of each religion. As well as a deep look at the leaders or founders of each religions' life and death (if they had passed on). The book was incredibly thourough when describing each religion, and gave an honest look at it. (i even looked up my own and was pleasently surprised to see that he got it quite right!!).
I would definately recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick and thourough guide to each religion. this is one of those books that'll be on my bookshelves for years and years!! (and well flipped through as well!!)

In the Footsteps of Paul

I had the opportunity to review this book and what a fantastic and inspiring book! The book is full of pictures of places where Paul was known to have visited, or may have used certain roads to travel. The photographer took some amazing photo's (there were times where you could almost picture Paul walking down some of those roads!). I really liked how Ken Duncan (the photographer) kept out the more modern aspects for the most part and kept to a lot of nature in the pictures. It made it easier to see how Paul could have walked these roads.
Plus I loved how he included scripture to go along with the photographs, and described how and when Paul may have been in the places that were photographed. overall, i really enjoyed this book, it was inspiring and had some amazing photo's. Would definately recommend this to anyone!

Christianity In Crisis

I had some great expectations for this book as well as some misgivings as well, i was pleasently surprised by the authors knowledge of Scripture and the application of it. I did find that there were quite a few things in the book that i didn't agree with, i am a big Osteen fan, and didn't really think that his book compared that well to Rhonda Byrnes 'the secret'. Although i do agree that in certian area's that the 'faith movement' has moved beyond what is Biblical and Scriptural and into more of an occult like belief (in certian areas). Although i do 100% Agree with Hanegraaff regarding sickness and suffering, and that these faith preachers seem to have taken it a little too far and off the Biblical track.
All in all, although i didn't always agree with the book, i found it to be very insightful and thought provoking. Hanegraaff did well in capturing his readers and causing them to at the very least consider what and why they believe the way they do.

Kiss

I just finished reading an absolutely fabulous book this afternoon. It was "kiss" by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy. Seriously though, its not your typical Christian book at all, it gave some really great insights without being really preachy. Basically its a story about a young woman who was involved in a horrific car accident that resulted in the brain damage of her younger brother. With no memory of the accident nor six months of the past, the main character Shauna sets out to discover everything that she has forgotten. In the course of her investigating she uncovers a sinister plot that has many twists and turns, that turn Shauna's (the main character) world upside down. In a struggle to discover who she can and can't trust Shauna stumbles upon an amazing ability that will aid her in her search for the truth.
I loved this book, its one of those novels that will keep you up late at night, its that good. There were enough twists and such that it really held my attention plus it was tied in together in a way that although is still 'sci-fi' in nature has the possibility of being a reality as well.
Fantastic book and i definiately reccommend this!

For these tough times = Max Lacado

So i finshed reading one of the newest Max lacado books, "for these tough times" and I have to say, while i've always been a big fan of Lucado, i think he really outdid himself on this book.
I really enjoyed that he includes a great number of personal stories to show how he applies his points to real life. Plus he backs up what he has to say with Scripture, which is always important.
In his most recent book Lucado gets to the heart of what a great many of Christians struggle with in their daily lives. Why do bad things happen? What should we do as believers to deal with these time? Lucado gives some great insights not only on how to deal with these situations but also Lucado give great insight into our relationship with God. I love the one chapter where Lucado talks about how eventually we just have to stop talking and start listening, listening for what God is telling us.