Jonah

The Book of Jonah

God says, you are growing up. You can no longer celebrate My love the way a little boy celebrates the care he receives from a good mother, from a tender woman who provides her child with a nutritious meal and a sweet dessert and then, after an hour of play and reading, tucks him into a warm, comfortable bed with the promise of another fun day tomorrow.

Part of growing up, of seeing Me as I am, tempts My followers to run from Me, to establish a safe distance from the distinctly unsafe and inexplicably disagreeable ways I sometimes involve Myself in the lives of those I love.

You are growing up. Your days of naïve worship and shallow but exciting intimacy are
over. It is always difficult for a child to become an adult, to draw close to Me as I AM. 

You are wrong to demand My cooperation with your understanding of life. Because I love you and because My plans for you are good, I demand your cooperation with Mine. There is no other way to enjoy My Presence.

I left Jonah with the same question I now ask you: when your life hits a bump that I could smooth but don't, will you continue to think I should surrender My wisdom to yours and do what you think best?





(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)

Mystically Wired by Ken Wilson

I've been on a reading kick lately (finally) as you might be able to tell from the number of reviews I've been posting. Fortunately for our budget, I'm getting most of these books for free in exchange for posting my honest reviews. Mystically Wired came from Thomas Nelson Books. The subtitle of this book is "Exploring New Realms in Prayer." I was a bit skeptical originally since that sounded a bit New Agey for my taste, but the book was pretty solidly Christian. Ken Wilson argues that our brains are "wired" to pray, that is to connect with God, and that our thinking about prayer is part of how we get in our own way. The beginning of the book is a bit rough to get through, the good part actually starts about halfway in. This is where the author starts detailing a wide variety of techniques that the average person can use to make their prayer time more effective and less discouraging. Interestingly, many of these were suggestions that I associate with a Catholic perspective- praying through the hours, meditating on verses of the Bible, etc. I've been trying a few of them, mostly while driving, and while I can't say yet if they're helpful or not they are definitely relaxing. The author focuses in on building a consistent prayer habit without trying to bite off too much all at once. Instead, he advocates for one short prayer time each day, then slowly building both in length and frequency. This is a refreshing approach to those of us who had come to feel like if we didn't spend hours each day in heavy prayer then we weren't doing enough. Overall, the second half of this book is a helpful guide to getting the most from your prayer time. The first half of the book is a bit more problematic, although there are some good points to be made.

Scars and Stilettos by Harmony Dust

This book is subtitled "The Transformation of an Exotic Dancer." It is real, raw, painful, and graphic. It is also a story of hope and redemption.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Fear of being abandoned keeps nineteen-year-old Harmony Dust trapped in an abusive and cruel relationship. She thinks she has hit bottom-tens of thousands of dollars in debt, struggling to get by, and so controlled by her boyfriend that she doesn't protest when he begins openly sleeping around. Things can't get worse . . . until someone tells her how much money she can make as an exotic dancer. For the next three years, Harmony lives a double life as Monique, a dancer in a fully-nude strip club.
Scars and Stilettos is Harmony's stark, honest, and ultimately hopeful story of how God found her in that dark, noisy place and led her out. She has since married, completed an MA in social welfare, and now leads Treasures, an organization helping women in the sex trade discover their true worth.

"Harmony wrote her story so that you and your friends may get help out of whatever dark tunnel you find yourself in. . . . once you start this book, you will not be able to put it down and you will want to get a copy for every person you know." -Holly Wagner, from the preface

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 
Harmony Dust is founder of Treasures, a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles that reaches out to women in the sex industry to show them they are loved, valued, and purposed. Find out more about Treasures, Harmony, and her book at www.IAmATreasure.com or http://www.ScarsandStilettos.com. Check out Harmony's Press Page for magazine articles and videos about her work with women in the sex-trade industry.

I received this book for free as part of the litFUSE book tour, and I think I read it cover to cover in one day. I spent the first half of the book alternating between wanting to give the author a hug, or grab her by the shoulders and shake her. Harmony seems as though she hardly stood a chance- from the beginning she was abused, neglected, and taught that she was of value only for her body. I think part of what struck me was the path that she took to escape that life. It wasn't a straight path, and if I had my math right there were at least a few months where she was attending church some nights and stripping on other nights. There were a few people who simply decided to love her instead of judging her. 
Like the preface states, it blows my mind that Harmony decided to willingly go back and minister to the girls who were in the same situation that she was. She created Treasures to help women in the adult entertainment industries get out.
This book is one of the better books that I've read all year. It definitely stands on its own.
To read other reviews of this book, visit the blog tour home page here.

Acts

The Book of Acts

God says, what My Son began through His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, He now continues.

You are not alive in this world in order to experience Me or to enjoy the blessings of a comfortable life. If that were My purpose, I'd have brought you into My Presence in heaven the moment you were forgiven and adopted into My family.

Your purpose until you die is to reveal a new attitude toward suffering and a new agenda in prayer that flows out of your new purpose in life that makes sense only if you claim your new hope of resurrection.

You are now free from slavery to the demands of self: for recognition, for life to go as you want, for good health and prosperity, for freedom from emptiness, and for the experience of fullness.

You are now free to advance the only plan whose promise of joy will be kept.

You are now free to tell people the full message of this new life.

You are now free to really live!





(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)

Romans

The Book of Romans

God says, you still tend to approach My letters the way a chess player comes to his game board. G. K. Chesterton was right when he observed that people who play chess with My truth try to get the heavens into their heads, and it's their heads that crack.

Poets, on the other hand, fill their heads with truths that lift their imaginations into the heavens. They are the grown-ups who hear the music of truth and dance like children. Do you want to discover the truth that sings?

It's time for you to pass through the corridors where truth is carefully outlined on the walls, where people take notes and mistake the truth that is living water for the dry dust of mere facts.
These parched souls endlessly analyze the composition of the water I've provided but never seem to realize it was meant for drinking.

Keep moving, not beyond truth but into truth. The corridor opens onto fields where flowers bloom and birds sing. If you listen, you can catch the scent and hear the music while you're still in the corridor.

Let the fragrance and the melody awaken your desire to drink from cool springs and stir your longing to swim in refreshing lakes. Let your time in the corridor achieve its purpose, to increase your capacity to drink more and to strengthen you to swim further, further away from shore, in sight of home.




(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)

1 Thessalonians

The Book of 1 Thessalonians


God says, only in unplanned, unarranged, unwelcomed, unmanageable, and thoroughly unenjoyable dark nights will My plan for your maturity unfold.

Listen to what an offbeat follower of Mine, Tim Farrington, wrote in A Hell of Mercy:

"You will be graced with the disaster your soul requires to find its way home."

John of the Cross put it this way:

"No matter how much an individual does through his own efforts, he cannot actively purify himself enough to be disposed in the least degree for the divine union of the perfection of love."

Your frustration with everything, including yourself, makes it possible to turn in deeper dependence to Me. Your weariness requires the strength of supernatural love to continue serving Me. Your haunting sense of futility shuts you up to a kind of endurance that can be sustained only with hope in My Son's return.

You are in a good place.







(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)

Overcoming Autism by Lynn Kern Koegel and Claire LaZebnik

This is the first in what will be quite a few upcoming book reviews. I've finally been reminded of how much I like curling up with a good book and I'm determined to start working through the multitude of books that I have set aside waiting to be read. Some are books I bought used, some are books I borrowed from the library, and some are books that I received to review.
The first book is Overcoming Autism by Lynn Kern Koegel and Claire LaZebnik. This book is about...well...overcoming autism. This book is co-written. Lynn Koegel founded and runs the Autism Research Center in Santa Barbara, CA. Claire LaZebnik is a parent of a child with autism. The dual voices of this book provide a good balance between professional advice and been-there done-that parenting testimonials. I actually read this one on the airplane while we were flying to and from Michigan. In a way, this was a particularly good read for me because a lot of the techniques that they advise are things that I am already doing in therapy with my kiddos. However, this books isn't perfect- it has its good points and bad points. Here are some of the pros and cons.
Pros:
-Wide variety of techniques that can be used working with kids who have autism
-This is not a miracle cure book. The authors emphasize that the work is hard and the road is long, but worth it.
-Emphasizes the importance of early intervention and skilled therapists to help the parents learn to help their children.
-Focuses on Pivotal Response Training- encouraging and teaching behaviors in everyday life without the drill and kill approach of traditional ABA.
-Divided up into sections based on the behavior you are trying to encourage or discourage (stimming, communication, picky eating, daily living skills, etc).
-Testimonials from other Claire and other parents keep it real. If you read between the lines you can see that the kids they talk about are at a wide variety of functional levels.

Cons:
-I wish there had been more than one or two techniques given for each goal or situation
-Most of the tips and ideas are geared towards children who are more verbal. There is not as much here for children who are not talking yet.
-At times it seems as though the author lives in a fantasy world in which all kids make rapid, amazing progress as soon as the right techniques are applied. This could be a difficult read for parents of kids who take longer to make progress.

Overall, this one gets 4 out of 5 stars from me. It is a helpful book, and does give some encouragement for walking through that initial period immediately following diagnosis. It is also a hopeful book. The techniques are generally good and possible to implement, and the main downfalls are mostly those that I described above.

Cars

So I have a very love-hate relationship with cars in general. My job would be literally impossible without one, since sans individual transportation there would be no possible way to cover the amount of ground that I do in a work day. At the same time, I often wish that we could be really frugal and have just one car between Chris and I. With him in school and me working, it just isn't do-able though. Public transportation here isn't the best. I would love to live in Europe or somewhere where public transportation was a viable option. When I was in Denmark, the family that I stayed with didn't even own a car. They got wherever they needed to go using the buses and trains (subway). And so did I. It was great- even without a car I could go wherever I wanted without having to bother anyone for a ride. I had a 45 or so minute commute into downtown Copenhagen in the morning and in the evening. But without actually having to be responsible for driving, I could do anything during that time. Usually it was my time to journal. Or read. Or study. Or sleep (not really- I was too afraid of missing my stop). When I'm responsible for driving the car, the most productive thing I can do is listen to books on tape. Which is better than nothing, but it is still a solitary experience.
And of course, with cars come car problems. Which are never good and always expensive. Which is why our Escort is in the shop again. The air conditioner is on the fritz, and of course it is supposed to be 110*F next week. They figured out that there are a few blown relays. Which aren't that expensive to fix. They also recommended flushing the system, which is a bit more expensive. And apparently there is also a wiring issue that is making the relays burn out, which we've known for years. Fortunately, they're trying to track that down free of charge. Hopefully we'll have the car back Monday. UNfortunately, I just realized that I forgot to get any of my toys out of the car before dropping it off. That could make Monday interesting.

The Book of Jude

The Book of Jude God says, My power is sufficient to keep you from falling off the narrow road. But on that road you will feel, more acutely sometimes than others, the unbearable ache of repeated failure to love, of always falling short of My glory. Don't be surprised by your failure. Instead, be surprised, staggered by My response. Only in worship will you keep yourself in My love. Only in brokenness will you know My power to keep you from falling. As you feel the unbearable ache of failing and being failed, I am able—if in brokenness you worship—to keep you persevering on the only road that will bring you into My Presence, full of joy and ready to dance. Your failure provides you the opportunity to, once again, celebrate the love you taste from others but fully enjoy only from Me. That's the gospel. That's My story. Contend for it with all your might. (from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)