Author * Speaker
The opening chapter of this book stopped me in my tracks. In A Fellowship of Differents, author Scot McKnight posits that our local church determines the direction of our discipleship. Put plainly, he’s saying that the type of church we grow up in –what that church focuses on, what it dismisses (because no church focuses […]
Read MoreThe title of this book cracked me up… I’m Happy For You (Sort of…Not Really): Finding Contentment in a Culture of Comparison. Funny, right? Author Kay Wills Wyma takes on our constant need to compare ourselves and how this holds us back. From the Publisher: Do you find yourself measuring your value against your friend’s […]
Read MorePublisher’s Description: In Trying Not To Try, Edward Slingerland explains why we find spontaneity so elusive, and shows how early Chinese thought points the way to happier, more authentic lives. We’ve long been told that the way to achieve our goals is through careful reasoning and conscious effort. But recent research suggests that many aspects of a […]
Read MoreWhen Mockingbirds Sing: A Novel Description: Leah is a child from Away, isolated from her peers because of her stutter. But then she begins painting scenes that are epic in scope, brilliant in detail, and suffused with rich, prophetic imagery. When the event foreshadowed in the first painting dramatically comes true, the town of Mattingly […]
Read MoreThis was SUCH a fun read! Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection, is author Jia Jiang’s account of what happened when he decided to overcome his paralyzing fear of rejection by going toward rejection rather than running away from it. Jiang set out to be rejected in […]
Read MoreThis might be the most growth I’ve seen in a memoirist from one book to another. In Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church, Rachel Held Evans (author of the somewhat snarky takedown of Fundamentalist Christianity, A Year of Biblical Womanhood), offers a heartfelt and achingly honest account of her attempts to reconcile […]
Read MoreTongue Pierced is by far my favorite of Searcy’s books. I was surprised by how much his exhortation to think and speak in a positive way stirred something inside me. I’m a longtime believer in lining up my thoughts and words with Biblical principles, so the material here wasn’t new to me. But Searcy’s tone […]
Read MoreI loved both of Gretchen Rubin’s “project” books (The Happiness Project, Happier at Home) and Better Than Before is a fantastic addition to the collection. Here, Rubin explores the question, “How do we make (and keep) habits that work for us?” She shares her research and personal experience after trying pretty much every habit making/breaking […]
Read MoreI’m on a middle-grade reading kick, and so when I saw this Bible laid out like a story for young readers (ages 8-12), I was excited to check it out. I was surprised how much I liked it. It reminded me of reading the Narnia books or Lord of the Rings. The chapters seem like […]
Read MoreSo…blogging for Lent. That went well, huh? :) I’m not sure what happened. I woke up on day 3 with a clear plan to write here about shopping for a new car and realizing that I am more of a “satisficer” than a “maximizer” when it comes to adding new things to my life. (I […]
Read More
Trish Ryan 