Seriously, I've wanted to rant and rave about all the books I've been reading they are sooo amazing, every book surprises and surpasses the previous book in knocking my socks off! So I need to give a little shout out to each book (I'll start with my first 3) ~ all you veteran book worms can giggle away at me, but I'm new to this thing called "reading for enjoyment" since I haven't read anything for pleasure in my lifetime unless it was in PEOPLE magazine while I was standing in the grocery line! Now I'm proud to announce 5 books under my belt in under 2 months, working on my 6th book as I type! When I started this journey and learned 2 books were required reads for this mission trip, I nearly sank in my seat thinking "there's NO WAY I can read or finish 2 BIG, LONG, WHOLE, ENTIRE BOOKS in the 2 itty bitty months we have to prepare!" Well, not to toot my own horn but HELLO, look at me now!! (picture me dancing around the kitchen like I'm getting my white girl groove on ~ and yes...tootin a horn!) And there is soooo much to learn in the pages of all these books, WHO KNEW!?! I've quoted quite a few things from some books already in my posts but I honestly feel each one deserves a personal review from the "almighty" Maria or it would be a disservice to the authors ~ ha ha! So for your torture, I will ramble on about how I love all these books and how they've "opened" my eyes and more importantly my heart in all sorts of new ways!
1. "Kissed the Girls and Made them Cry" by Lisa Bevere
I bought this book because Lisa instantly became a spiritual icon to me and I knew this book had to be good yet I wasn't sure if I'd ever 'really' find the time to read the whole thing! As I mentioned before, I stumbled onto Lisa's amazing wisdom by attending a women's retreat and she was the main speaker. She floored me and I instantly loved her. All 100lbs of her was a faith-filled firecracker exploding with God's energy! She inspired me and so many times during the weekend I found myself longing to have known a woman as personable, comical, spiritual and so freakin REAL as Lisa during those tough teenage years. She would've been a phenomenal mentor for me! She is definitely a "been there done that" kind of story with the happy ending of redemption ~ she doesn't just air her dirty laundry, she personally delivers it to your doorstep and shouts through a loud speaker so no one in the neighborhood is gonna miss one filthy little detail, I'm talking Desperate Housewives style! Then she shares how God saved her life and she inspires every sinful misguided girl(ahem, kinda like me), along the way to rise up to the realization that she's a miracle of God, a precious gift that glistens like a diamond in the eye of our Savior. She opens your shame filled eyes to see you deserves more than a label of sin that engulfs your past! It was an amazing book that healed wounds sooooo deep inside my soul! Wounds I couldn't even recognize on a concsious level but had trapped my spirit and caged my ability to truly share LOVE because of all the ways I was ravaged by sinful decisions of my past. Her book is so amazing it's like "healing for dummies" as she guides you through the immense love our heavenly father has for us and she kindly holds your hand and provides the perfect prayers for you to just embrace as you repent and seek forgiveness from our merciful Lord! That was the most wonderful part for this "new girl"...someone holding my hand showing me "hey pudding head...here's how ya pray". April 5, 2008 Lisa became a mother to me (and only Lisa would understand that reference/context), she wrapped me in the loving arms of a spiritual mother, wiped my tears when I cried, hugged me tightly when I was consumed by fear, held my hand and gently guided my frightened footsteps until I found the courage to embrace the Lord's healing love....all through the pages of her wonderful book! I strongly suggest this as a "must have" for EVERY pre-teen, teen, early 20's girl who has not followed or is contemplating not following the 'rules' of virtue!
2. "Bait of Satan" ~ by John Bevere
This book was our first required read from Amanda to prepare for our mission trip. I'm wondering if y'all have caught the first "crazy coincidence" of this babbling book club review. First I read Lisa Bevere's book (not even knowing one thing about this trip to Africa as it had not materialized in my life yet). I found myself idolizing Lisa and her wonderful husband(that she spoke of often at the retreat) as role models for the parents I wish Donny and I could grow to be for our children. Then WHAMMO, looky here....John Bevere makes it on my "must read" list next in line right after the amazing Mrs. Lisa! So cool, a man I thought must have certainly hung the moon since he led a true blue heathen like Lisa to Jesus ~ surely he'd have a couple good things to say, right? RIGHT! Bait of Satan was filled with the greatest conviction I've ever felt! I loved that someone was saying "Hey YOU, yeah Maria...I'm talking to YOU....knock that off right now" and making me accountable for some very miserable behaviors that I let rule my life. Teaching me all about the almighty sin of OFFENSE and how it totally rules, consumes and destroys your life. Pretty much sets you up to be Satan's favorite rag doll if you let your life be trapped by all the variations of offense. In this book I learned so much about how I need to do A LOT of growing, his personal testimonies inspired me to challenge myself to continue to grow. One hidden revelation I stumbled upon while reading this book is the realization I haphazardly landed on the right track and I'm finding the tools along the way to stay on the right track! I wish I had his book in my hand so I could quote and share some of my favorite lines and show how much his words motivated me. It's the kind of book you love so much you want to "force" your family to read it too! So needless to say, Donny's reading the book right now! ;)
3. "Red Letters" ~ by Tom Davis
Funny little story how Mr. Tom Davis came into my life and lit my passion for compassion! I had heard rumblings through my adoption blog circle of this new campaign they were all in love with: the RLC (link is found on the right side of my blog). I checked it out one day as I seen this RLC blog badge and "promo" video popping up on more & more blogs I perused. I thought it was a WONDERFUL cause and instantly thought to myself "WHEN, I adopt from Ethiopia some day I would love to support something this amazing." Then one blogger spoke of an amazing book titled "Red Letters" and as I was shopping Amazon one day for Ethiopian related books (I thought I was patiently preparing for my next adoption journey), up popped "Red Letters" in the 'books you might be interested in' column and I instantly recognized and remembered the book ~ so with a simple click in the shopping cart it went!! Just days later I joined this mission trip and within the first week found out from Amanda that this VERY BOOK was our 2nd required read in preparation for this trip. SHUT UP! I'm mysteriously one step ahead of you girl!
Do me a favor ~ re-read the title of this book ~ you should know from the front cover it's all business, there's no snoozing on this one! I had no clue what I was in for and Mr. Davis came swooping into my life like a thunderstorm through a campground, rattling every inch of my comfy, cozy, tent and shaking me right out of my warm sleeping bag at 10:30pm on a week night. I know I've already mentioned that 'national holiday' of me rising out of bed but do any of you realize how insane it is for this haggard mother to NOT choose sleep over anything in existence? Sleep is the rarest commodity I know of, in the house of a 7 month old party animal! But Tom surely knew how to rev my engine so that I had no choice but to be hostage of my adrenaline charged soul and thus the birth of this blog! I've quoted a few of the "goodies" from his extraordinary book already. No words on a piece of paper have ever motivated me like this book did. Kudos to you Tom, now I'll never have a moment of ignorant peace again since I'll be constantly engaged in ways to bring justice to this world throbbing for God's healing touch ~ truly I vow to live my life bleeding the faith of Jesus Christ!
In previous posts I've pointed out a couple scriptures that spoke to me, but I wanted to share another quote that enthralled me with conviction and it originates from Eleanor Roosevelt, "So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have more devastating effects." Tom shared this quote in reference to(the first half of his book) how the Western half of our world has shunned the growing problem of the AIDS pandemic that is rampedly destroying so many lives in the Eastern hemisphere. We have turned a cold shoulder as a people, a church and a nation. Essentially our apathy & laziness results in death, that my friend is the most destructive outcome of 'passive' sin that I could fathom.
Tom then goes on to talk about a bit of the work he does and he explains a little something that only the mind and heart of a true missionary could share; he says, "Every time I go into a community to offer help, I take with me little more than a sincere desire to do whatever is needed. I go with the expectation that I will leave a little of my money, my time -a little of myself- with the people who need it more than I do. I don't do this to get anything in return - I do it because it delights God. But here's the crazy truth: Every time I leave that kind of environment, I walk away with far more than I gave. I walk away with the smiles I saw in people's eyes, with the echoing laughter from the mouths of children. I walk away changed." Did your heart flutter when you read that? Mine stopped beating, jumped up in my throat and I gulped it back down best I could while it fluttered away uncontrollably! When I'm asked by people with that "girl, you've gone crazy" look in their eye as to why on earth I'm going to Africa and what it is I'll be doing there and what I have to offer? I can't help but hear these words from Tom fluttering through my heart and I simply respond to those who can not understand the depths with a straightforward answer: I want to be changed.
He ends that paragraph with the perfect "Red Letters" of Jesus himself: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35 Enough said.
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