Book Recommendation.

The Hiding Place.   This book is a life changer.  2 of my sisters recommended (actually insisted) that I read this book, so I bought it on Kindle and will add it to my collection of reference guides, to use throughout my life.

This is the true story of a Christian woman named Corrie Ten Boom.  She lived in Holland at the time of the German Occupation and amongst other trials and adventures, spent years or her adult life living in various concentration camps.  She was sent to prison and later concentration camps for assisting and housing Jewish people in hiding. 

It can be difficult to read books like this with such heavy subject matter and while she does explain the horrors that she went through, it somehow is still an incredibly uplifting and in some ways a lighthearted read (somewhat).  Part of the beauty of this book is the details never get graphic, she just tells the facts.  I think this was her point.  The evil that was so prevalent at this time in Corrie's life, is not what stands out to me.  What does stand out and where she focuses the story is on her testimony of God.  My testimony honestly grew leaps and bounds reading this book (as did my sisters) and I came to some very important realizations. 

Here are a few of those realizations:
1.  God gives us the strength we need at the exact moment we need it.
2.  I often feel too vulnerable and weak for this life and that causes me anxiety, because I sometimes lye in wait for the next trial to come along and I just know I won't be able to get through it.  My realization is that I'm not strong enough to get through whatever will come my way.  My awareness of just how vulnerable I am to the trials of life is quite accurate.  We don't have the strength needed to get through the challenges presented to us, but God does and he will give that strength to us, as he's done many times before, if we ask and at the time we need it.
3.  No darkness or trial runs deeper than God's love.  We need to turn our burdens over to the Lord more often, ask him for strength to bear what he allows us to go through, ask him to find joy and peace amidst the trial and ask him to carry the weight of our burdens when we just can't.
4.   Devour the scriptures.  This was a big one for me.  I realized the other night (through a convo with the hubs) that I wasn't turning to the Lord enough when I get discouraged or go through a trial.  I immediately depend on the relationships around me and call my sisters and Mom to talk everything out.  While there's nothing wrong with that, and in fact is a good thing at times, my first line of defense against discouragement should be turning to the Lord.  Prayer?  I've got that down.  I know how to pray sincerely and I do it through out the day, but seeking comfort from the scriptures Is something I struggle with.  I still haven't fully gotten past that point where scripture reading feels a little tedious to me.  Sure I have times that they really speak to me and I have some "ah hah" moments while reading, but it often can feel like a "have to" and not a "want to".  The woman in this book has built a life around scripture study and reads with the same frequency and joy as I do when sitting down for a good meal.
These scriptures that she knows so well literally became her lifeline through the toughest days of her life and the way the Lord protects her scriptures for her, shows the value he places on them as well. 
5.  Joy and peace aren't stable if they depend entirely on your circumstances.  The only joy and peace you can find, that will last is if you depend upon the Lord.  Keep him a regular part of your life, live in the way he asks and be grateful to him for every little thing.  Even the trials.  He knows what he's doing, and we just need to trust that.  The more we learn to do that, the happier we'll be and the less vulnerable we'll feel, because it doesn't matter what comes our way, he will always be there to provide us with what we need. 

Other books in my collection of Life long reference material?

1. Screw tape letters and The Great Divorce.  I suggest reading these side by side or back to back.  One tells of what Satan does to lure us from Heaven and the other tells what we do to accept or deny Heaven for ourselves.
2.  Jane Eyre.  I especially want my future girls (if any) to read this one.  She's a fantastic example of how to be a strong woman.
3.  This should have been first, but of course the Book of Mormon and Bible. 
4.  Jo's Boys.  This is somewhat a sequel to Little Women.  Shes the kind of Mom I want to be, if I have lots of little boys running around. 

There are more, but those are the few that first came to mind.

Enjoy :)

10 Book recommendations

Here's a list of a few books I recommend.

1.  Heaven is For Real.   Dane and I stayed up till 2 a.m. yesterday reading this book and I LOVED it.  It's an incredible (real) account of a boy name Colton going to Heaven while he was in surgery.  Over the course of a couple years he reveals to his parents all sorts of incredible details about Heaven.  It's one of those faith building books that you just can't deny.

Favorite part from the book:  The dad is praying angrily to the Lord wondering why his son has to go through all this and later he says something along these lines, "while I was yelling at God for allowing my son to go through this, my son sat on his son's lap". 

Also at the end of this book the Dad tells about a little girl named Akiane who is a child prodigy.  She's an artist and she grew up in an atheist home and has claimed since she was 4 that she has visions of Heaven, so she paints those visions.  In Heaven is For Real the parents of Colton show him pictures of Christ and ask if that's what he looked like and Colton always says no and points out things that aren't quite right.  This goes on for years and years until Colton's Dad shows him THIS painting without telling him anything about it and Colton is silent and then says, "that's it".  Pretty Amazing!  It's not how I always pictured Christ but the painting is growing on me a lot. 

2.  Jane Eyre
I love a good classic and even better?  On the Kindle most classics are free!  Jane Eyre is a book I want my girls (if I ever have any) to be well versed in.  She's such a good example of sticking to your morals and to who you are in spite of everything.

3. Anne of the Island
I've loved Anne of Green Gables from the time I was a little girl and as an adult I've recently reread the books and have made it as far as the 3rd book in the series.  Which is, Anne of the Island and I couldn't get enough!  This was my favorite so far.   Now I'm on to Anne of Windy Poplars.

PS I always feel really nerdy admitting I like Anne of Green Gables.  But what can I say, I really do love em.

4.  Little Master Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet
We rent anywhere between 30-50 books from the library every month and fill up Boston's bookcase, so that he always has lots to pick from.  This is one of the books I rented and I LOVE the illustrations.  It's just a little counting primer, but again I love the illustrations and I love that it introduces classics at a young age.  Babylit is a company that puts out all sorts of these books including some Jane Austin primers, such as pride and prejudice.  Adorable!  :)

5.  Two REALLY simple books I love are Go! Go! BoBo colors and Higher! Higher!
I read Go!Go! BoBo to Boston in a CHEER!  the whole time and he laughs his head off.  Higher! Higher! has about four words throughout the whole book and I find it simply adorable.

6.  Another Boston favorite is On the Night you were born.  We bought this book for Boss for his first Christmas and Dane and I both have it memorized.  We read it a lot and the poetry is beautiful and sweet and so are the illustrations.

7.  Three cups of Tea. 
This man is amazing and he wrote an incredible book about his journey to build his first school in Pakistan and the 100's of schools (maybe more?) he's helped build since.  I met him in person at A lecture he gave at Gonzaga and I posted about it here.  Dane and I were one of the only people there with a baby (go figure) so one of Greg's "people" pulled us to the very front of the autograph line.  Greg played with Boston and gave him a c.d. of his daughter singing, with a note to him on it. :)  I like Greg even more now.

8. A Thomas Jefferson Education
My sisters, Mom and I have a book club wherein we discuss this book and it makes for the most enlightening conversations.  It's a great philosophy on education.

9.  The Ugly Series
If you like books like Hunger Games, then you'll love this series too.  It's about a Dystopian society in the future that separates it's society between Uglies (children pre-plastic surgery) and pretties (Teenagers and older, post plastic surgery) and I think the old folks are called Crumblies.  Everyone in this society gets plastic surgery at a certain age to become a pretty, the main character, Tally is about to turn the age of becoming a pretty and this is her story.

10.  The Five Love Languages  This is an excellent book for couples.  It gives you a quiz and helps you and your spouse figure out your love language.  If you have different love languages, you may not understand how your spouse gives and receives love, but knowing the language they "speak" can really improve your relationship and help you to express love in a way your spouse can understand and appreciate.  Great, great book.  There is also a love language book for your children.  I believe you answer the questions for your children, but it helps you to understand how they receive love, so that you can be sure your showing them love in  a way they can understand.