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My identity is in Christ, not in being a minister's wife, not in how I serve my church, not in the fact that I am a mom of boys. My worth and my self esteem comes from the fact that the Creator Lord knows me and has woven me into who I am and that is enough. Those truths are what the Lord has been driving home in my life during this time of pandemic. The pandemic made me unable to serve at church the way I usually do, I spent a lot more time in our home with our family and there was an underlying anxiousness about looming national health concerns which gave a way for sin and shortcoming to become very evident in my life. I found that I needed to make sure that my foundation was built on Christ alone or I would find myself on the sinking sand of circumstances. As the Lord has been continuing to cement that foundation in, I came across this book and knew I needed to read it. This is my second compilation book of several authors and I have really enjoyed them. They are easy, concise reads. Identity Theft would make a great book for a small group study. There are thought provoking questions at the end of each chapter. I really enjoyed hearing of each author's perspectives on different pitfalls we are prone to fall into when it comes to giving up parts of our identity. I especially enjoyed Chapter 2, entitled "Reflection: Made in God's Image" by Hannah Anderson and Chapter 8, "Servant: Reaping a Reward" by Betsy Childs Howard. I felt yes and amens rising in me while I was reading these chapters. I love it when the Lord continues to wash your soul over with the same truths you are learning, we truly learn by repetition. In conclusion, this book will convict you in a good way and would make a great discussion book for a small group. #MelissaKruger #ChristianNonFiction

This book is the cure for complacency. The Pursuit of Holiness was first recommended to me when I was in college and I have read it several times since then. It never fails to convict me through the entire read. Even though The Pursuit of Holiness was written decades ago, the prophetic voice of Bridges is still applicable today. In fact, after reading this book I just mailed it to a young lady in college hoping its words would encourage her. Bridges writes "Bitterness arises in our hearts when we do not trust in the sovereign rule of God in our lives." As I was listening to this book through audiobook, I quickly scrambled to write this quote down as I listened. Bridges reinterates several times that any sin we allow in our lives no matter how small leads us away from Christ and his holiness. This practical book then gives examples of how we can strive for being holy not just good. This is a book you need on your shelf, highlighted and dogeared, and you need to give to friends, a true Christian classic. #PursuitofHoliness #JerryBridges #ChristianNonfiction

Melba Patillo Beals The Oxford Languages dictionary defines persecution as hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs. In the books I normally read persecution is based on religious beliefs. This book is about the persecution and determination of nine high school students as they integrated into a Little Rock, Arkansas high school. Is this America? This thought kept going through my mind reading this book. This book was a very hard read. I lost track of the number of times I teared up. The language was hard to read but much harder to live through. In the epilogue, Patillo Beals go into some of the lasting emotional effects of her time at Central High but I'm sure there were physical effects after this year of torture as well. It was hard to understand how people could be so cruel to children or use their own children to promote hate. Our county still has lasting effects from the behavior described in this book in which the events took place in 1957. It is our job to educate ourselves on the past so that we might try to prevent the same atrocities from happening in the future. Melba Patillo Beals uses her diary notes, newspaper clippings, and memory to reconstruct her journey into Central High School. Like so many other biographies, Warriors Don't Cry had me researching other events and people around this era to learn and understand more about this time in our history. Quick Glean: Keep reading past the political undertones in the prologue. Whether you agree of disagree just keep reading to get to the heart of the story. #NonFiction #Warriors #LittleRock

This is third book I have read by Lauren Denton and I have increasingly enjoyed her novels. I could not put Glory Road down. Glory Road is a sweet story is told from the points of view of three generations of women. I think this book would make a great movie. If you need an easy and light my hearted read maybe something to take in vacation, then Glory Road is the book for you. Denton's books are published by Thomas Nelson which is a Christian publishing company. Although Denton's book are clean, the characters do not come across to me as overtly Christian. In Glory Road going to church is mentioned a few times. In Hurricane Season and The Hideaway the characters grapple with a theological issue or two based on life choices. However, I would love to see her integrate more of a character's spiritual development in the future. Quick Glean: Lauren Denton changes the point of view of the story with each chapter. Make sure you pay attention to the heading of each chapter and read the character's name so you don't get lost on which character is speaking for each chapter. #ChristianFiction #LaurenDenton #GloryRoad #VacationRead

Great for adults and teens! These books are written on a young adult level but they are packed with great information. These are a great place to start if you want a quick biographical sketch of some of Christianity's Heros of the Faith. You can find these on Amazon or many used books stores. I have seen several them called Heroes of the Faith and Christian Heroes: Then and Now. I try to pick them up whenever I see them. #Biography

"These are not your sufferings; they are not beating you. These are My sufferings: all I ask of you is the loan of your body." Helen Roseveare, Living Sacrifice, 22. Helen Roseveare, Esther Ahn Kim, Sarah Edwards and Elisabeth Elliot are a few of the faithful women written about in this book. I was familiar with some of the twelve women and some of the women were new introductions for me. In this book, each chapter was written by a different author and overall edited by Melissa Kruger. The chapters include a short biography, some of their accomplishments and lessons we can learn from these women's lives. I love biographies. I love learning from people who have gone before us and some who are still with us (Joni Eareckson Tada). It was an encouragement to learn about these women, their hardships, even their character flaws and how God uses his faithful servants to the end. Quick Glean: This is a short concise book that is packed with information. This is a great place to start for those wanting to wade into biographies. I myself will be finding a more in-depth biography on Susannah Spurgeon. Also, I found out I have been pronouncing Joni Eareckson Tada's name wrong all of these years 🤯. She was named after her Dad so it's pronounced like Johnny! #Biography #MelissaKruger

I found this on audiobook through my library and I'm so glad I did. I have been looking for books by Trillia Newbell as I have heard her name lately and have been looking forward to reading her work. Although she is listed as editor she also introduced the books and several chapters. This book is written by a full cast of influential women giving us a snippet of advice on subjects affecting our culture right now. I recognized many of these authors for each chapter but I was also introduced to some new voices as well. There were so many nuggets of truth packed very concisely into each chapter. The chapters were short enough to read one at a time maybe accompanying a devotional. There were things I was agreeing whole heartedly with and also things I was convicted by. I was personally convicted by Kelly Needham's chapter in the first section, "When Food Becomes a False Gospel." The second half of the book was entitled, "Listening Well" and it gave practical advice to how we can love our neighbors of different ethnicities and different backgrounds well. This book is very timely and I so glad I stumbled upon it during a search for audiobooks on the Hoopla platform. #ChristianNonfiction #BeautifullyDistinct #TrilliaNewbell

"The enemy will put a gate from your past in front of every new things to which God is calling you, and you will have to decide if you will take a rest and move forward" (Caine, 2016, p. 90). Christine Caine starts her book by using her own journey to unpack how shame affects our lives. She then uses God's truth to dispel the lies of guilt and shame throughout the book. Caine defines shame and compares it to guilt.  She ends her book with a call to take up arms against the enemy and implores us to use God's gifts to chose to overcome shame in our lives. This book was recommended to me by a friend so I grabbed it from the library which was the first source that I could find.  After reading it, I knew this would be one needed for my shelf. This will be a book I skim from time to time and reread my own highlights.  As with all good books Caine's quotations and mentions of other books in her writings have added at least two more books to my future book list. Quick Glean: If you have to skim this read at least turn to page 37 to fully soak in Caine delving into Brene Brown's definitions of guilt verses shame. This one page is powerful enough to buy the book. Goosbump alert: In Chapter 3, "Reaching for Freedom," the story of the woman with the flow of blood from Mark 5 will change the way you envision that chapter of the Bible. #ChristianFiction #ChristinCaine #Unashamed #PandemicPick

An Ex-monk marrying an ex-nun could be the headliner for any newspaper. Loving Luther is a fictionalized account of two fascinating leaders who lived their lives to serve God and through that found each other. Allison Pittman was nominated for a 2019 Christy award for her novel The Seamstress. Allison Pittman is a new author for me. A reviewer of The Seamstress mentioned that they loved Pittman's previous novel Loving Luther. In my fascination of historical fiction lately I decided to pick this book up first. Like the reviewer as a result of reading Loving Luther, I am really excited to read more of Allison Pittman's works. Loving Luther was a book I could not put down. In the midst of my child's first week of remote learning, I finished this book in two days. Honestly in doing bare bones research on Katharina von Bora, I did not come up with much information. Therefore, I have no idea how which parts of the story are true and which are fictionalized but it nevertheless gives us some great insight to how things could have been for Luther and his wife. Quick Glean: If you are unfamiliar with Martin Luther do a quick google search and find out more about him before reading this book. There is a lot more information on him and his writings are still published. As I said I could not put this book down. I definitely recommend this book and I will be reading more of Pittman's other novels as a result. #ChristianFiction #Historical #LovingLuther #AllisonPittman

Mckay's Used Books: If you are in Tennessee or North Carolina or passing through, this is my favorite used book store. BookBub: You can sign up here and get free or discount ebook deals based on your genre preferences. Amazon: If I am going to buy a new book I usually buy it on Amazon. I also just ordered my first used book from them so we will see how it arrives (used books shipping is about $3) Lifeway: Another place I buy new books or gift books. They have been sending out coupons for ten dollars off. When those come out I usually find a book on my list and order it. Buy Local: Books are always a great gift idea, they can be inexpensive and many local bookstores even wrap for you! YOUR LIBRARY! Libraries are great resources, I love using Hoopla and other free ebook/audiobooks connected through my local library. Not to mention my kids aren't crazy about ebooks yet so they always have a library book list ready to go. #PlacestoGlean #Stores #Amazon

This book was a wonderful challenge that led me down a rabbit hole of several other historical biographies and the need to brush up on history lessons. For a New Year’s Resolution my friend at courtneygracewrites.com challenged me to finish all the books I had started.  Although it took me the entire month of January, seven books later I felt so accomplished to have a clean slate as far as my book list was concerned. After completing this task I went on to look at my bookshelf to find any books that had been hiding and collecting dust.  After perusing the books I hadn't read, I stumbled across a biography of William Wilberforce.  In light of the the many events plaguing our country today I found myself wanting to know more about this man who had fought to abolish slavery in England.  After an excruciating eighty pages into this biography, my husband noticed my very slow reading pace.  I told him I was reading a book that I was determined to finish although clearly written by a historian and not an author.  The next day my husband had Amazing Grace delivered to our door via Amazon.  It was a very sweet gesture and I was very excited to restart the biography written by Eric Metaxas. Although Metaxas is a much better writer this book was still a challenging read.  I found myself stopping every once in a while to brush up on nuances of Parliament or the French Revolution or even the lineage of the monarchy in England.  I even waded through nightmares of the Zong slavery ship which was the catalyst to start the dubious work of passing antislavery bills through Parliament. I enjoyed the challenge and it spurred me on to read three more books by Metaxas and another book about Hannah More who I was introduced to during my reading of Amazing Grace. This book isn’t for everyone but I was challenged by it. It is a great read for background into the abolishment of slavery which will help all of us in having deeper understanding of many cultural events of today. Quick Glean:  There is a lot of wading through letters in this book if you want a more concise read check out Eric Metaxas’s book “7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness.”  He has a chapter on Wilberforce in that book. #Biography #WilliamWilberforce #EricMetaxas

About this study from the publisher: Are your thoughts holding you captive? Jennie Allen knows what it’s like to swirl in a spiral of destructive thoughts, such as I’ll never be good enough. Other people have better lives than I do. God couldn’t really love me. But Jennie also knows we don’t have to stay stuck in toxic thinking patterns. As she discovered in her own life, God built a way for us to escape that downward spiral. Freedom comes when we refuse to be victims to our thoughts and realize we have already been equipped with power from God to fight and win the war for our minds. After seeing the byline I knew this was something I needed to pick up for myself.  This was a perfect summer study for me after being at home and in my own thoughts during this pandemic and quarantine time.  I was so thankful that FaithGateway was doing this as their free summer online bible study.  I bought a copy of the study myself and was able to watch the video lessons through FaithGateway Online Bible Studies.  Allen's study is a 6-week walk through the book of Philippians (my favorite book in the Bible).  I finished this study a month ago and have already pulled it back off of my shelf to reference it again.  The study is about memorizing scripture and adjusting thought patterns or “spiraling up” thoughts to praise God.  This study was extremely helpful to me and I have used this concept with parenting my children as well.  This is why Get Out of Your Head is one of my 2020 Pandemic Picks. Quick Glean:  I have gone back to reference session 6 several times, it was my favorite chapter so if you don’t have much time definitely check out that chapter. I would recommend this study and I will probably lead a small group to do this study in the near future. There is also a book on this topic which would make a great gift. This study is very short (6 weeks in length).  The homework to me was perfect, each day maybe took me 20 minutes with distractions.  The homework length was much shorter than a Beth Moore study and easy for me to do while the boys watched a quick tv show and our summer schedule.  Also I did this on my own but it would make a great group study as well. #BibleStudy #JennieAllen #PandemicPicks