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The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers
This book was quite a journey through the beauty and difficulty in marriage, both in a historical sense and in the present. Two marriages from modern-day and a journal from the 1800s Oregon Trail provide the backdrop for this beautiful story of redemption and learning how to trust in God’s provision and grace in your life. I had a hard time putting this down and loved every minute. Rivers also refences Rahab and a connection to the two wives for a beautiful understanding of time, patience, and redemptive grace.
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Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools by Tyler Staton
This book was such an incredible experience. The author incorporates some personal experiences alongside Scriptural accounts for how to both understand and also accomplish meaningful prayer with God. He provides examples to promote thinking and self-reflection from the reader as well, and I truly walked away from finishing this book with a better grasp for how to perceive prayer in my daily life but also in its ability to deepen my relationship with God.
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The Unashamed Life by Miriah Taverna
This was such a beautiful memoir and call to action. The author details her path from being so far from God that she fulfilled herself in every way possible, but the most beautiful and evocative part is how it details in such an authentic way what the act and experience of coming to know Jesus can truly be like. I love this book! It was truly such an honest and authentic account. She’s raw and evokes emotion in her writing and descriptions and whether you are asking questions about God, curious to know more, or a seasoned Christian, this beautiful account will help strengthen your understanding and walk with Him. Excellent read, I highly recommend!!!
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I Want to Trust You, But I Don’t by Lysa TerKeurst
What a read! This was such an exceptional book that follows the aftermath of trauma, pain, grief, devastation, and how to move forward without staying wounded. She details the pain she experienced in the dissolution of her marriage and how navigating that pain in a biblical and physical sense was a place that she needed God’s provision.
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Scouting the Divine: My Search for God in Wool, Wine, and Wild Honey by Margaret Feinberg
I love this book so much! It was so informative about not only the specific roles and tasks that a shepherd, farmer, beekeeper, and vintner accomplish but also how those tasks translate to an ancient practice along with biblical insight. She broke down Scripture that alludes to these caregivers and jobs in a way that brings such a clarity to understanding God’s Word through a different viewpoint. I loved every minute of this read and would highly recommend!
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The Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst
This book was such an insightful read about feelings of detachment, frustration, grief, or disappointment in being left out, feeling forgotten, or struggling with feeling overlooked and lonely. This is one of my favorite authors, and she really pulls in the intimate and authentic feelings of navigating these human elements alongside Scriptural advice to us from God.
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Windows Into the Bible by Marc Turnage
What a read! This book challenged me in so many critical ways. Turnage approaches Bible study from four major pillars: cultural, historical, geographical, and spiritual contexts. He connects ancient Jewish and Christian writings to archaeological findings, and he provides a very relevant and real view of Jesus and His ministry. Chapters focus on topics that may be widely assumed in Christianity but he provides a clear and focused lens for elevated and critical thinking based on contextual factors (e.g., the language of Jesus, time between Old and New Testaments, Pharisees and the New Testament, the census and Old Testament, and the family and ministry of Jesus). This book was an excellent academic and contextual read for anyone who wants to dive into the ancient Middle East and further understand different aspects of the Bible and ministry of Jesus!
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Asking Better Questions of the Bible by Marty Solomon
This book does an incredible job of framing the right questions and reshaping the wrong ones when you pursue a deeper Bible study and understanding of Scripture. Solomon applies a hermeneutical approach to realizing the context around Scripture, authorial intent, what the audience understood, and reframing the text in a way that incorporates Hebrew and Greek origins as well as an Eastern mindset and literary tools in writing. He looks at Old and New Testaments, and incorporates a breakdown of Jewish ideology and class or group divisions at the time. This is a phenomenal read for anyone who wants to delve into a deeper understanding of Scripture!
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Women of the Bible Speak by Shannon Bream
The women of the Bible are truly fascinating, and their stories go unrecognized as more of the well-known Bible stories that remain prominent in our understanding belong to men of the Bible. They had incredible and timeless stories, and this book brings out the contextual focal points of their bravery, individuality, value, and purpose in furthering the kingdom of God. Warriors, sisters, judges, queens–there is no limit to the extraordinary lives these women lived. 16 stories of these Biblical women, paired, contrasted, juxtaposed, and contextualized, brings us both meaning and relevance in the nature of their understanding of life and how we experience ours today. It’s a beautiful testament to the love that God has for us and how His guidance can lead us on the journey of a lifetime.
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The Deepest Well by Nadine Burke Harris, M.D.
Dr. Harris opens a conversational door between parents/adults, the medical field, and adverse childhood experiences (ACES). She incorporates both pediatric experience with research and history to create a comprehensive picture of overall health impacts. She paints a personable story that reads in both formal yet familiar tones, and introduces a rationale that many doctors and people in general may not consider connecting. She provides effective, powerful accounts of detailed patient experiences while lending a compassionate voice to each one. This book provides a transformative way of thinking about both adverse experiences and how the body will process impacts in an overall health point of view. She breaks down complex medical concepts into revealing, tangible stories that are both memorable and touching to the soul. She is both a physician and a scientist, and she established a way to bring that newfound knowledge to a community in need of remedy.
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Raising a Sensory Smart Child by Lindsey Biel & Nancy Peske
This incredible book details and outlines a navigational map for sensory parents, whether you are familiar and experienced with sensory sensitivities/disorders or are finding your way through the uncharted waters of a new diagnosis. The book begins by defining and outlining how sensory processing works correctly and how changes take place when it does not work correctly. It transitions to a form of identifying triggers and factors that may influence or cause a sensory event for a child. The authors provide incredible definitions, solutions, tips, strategies, and resources for parents to better understand and support their children through the complex difficulties of sensory integration in their daily lives.
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The Daily 5-Minute Bible Study for Women by Barbour Publishing
There are so many times when it is hard to make time for Bible study and devotional readings! This book is put together so well, the back cover even suggests a 5-minute approach by the minute. Minutes 1-2, read the passage(s) of Scripture. Minute 3, understand what you read, look into the Bible for more context, author, setting, etc. Consider thoughtful questions about the content you read. Minute 4, apply by reading a quick devotional in order to apply the passages to your perspective, day, and life in general. Minute 5, open your conversation with God in prayer. Continue praying and talking with God throughout your day. This establishes a foundational approach to diving into quick Bible study readings and devotionals but breaking it down to a point that you think about it and focus intentionally on it throughout your entire day.
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Helping Your Anxious Child by Ronald Rapee, Ann Wignall, Susan Spence, Vanessa Cobham, & Heidi Lyneham
This book is a beautiful package of information for parents who have an anxious child at home. The fear, panic, anxiety, and compulsion that can be involved may feel overwhelming to many parents, but this award-winning book provides pragmatic, effective tools and solutions to help both calm their children and bring them peace but also lasting peace through understanding and implementable tools. The authors provide tips to parenting with the goal of compassionate solutions so your children can both confront challenging moments and implement actionable solutions.
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The 5 Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell
It is so important to ensure that children feel loved, and one of the most effective ways to do that is to understand their love languages. Those certain needs play an integral role in the lives of children as they grow and become adults who also interpret love in different ways. This book was recommended to me by a friend, and it speaks to parents and educators in pragmatic ways to interpret and understand how to establish love and trust in children. Our family is blended and with so many different dynamics and complexities, it is important to understand the individual love languages of each child and how each adult speaks to those specific needs to build a loving foundation and environment. It is an excellent read, and I highly recommend!
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The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian
From finding and following truth, to enjoying life, the desire to learn, freedom from fear, seeking wisdom, growing in faith, and feeling loved and accepted–this exceptional book provides an approach to prayer over your children that is contextual to both your environment and perception as a parent as well as theirs as children. Omartian delves deep into the weight of what parenting can bring as well as the joy and reward, and the positive influence and approach to prayer that she provides can serve parents with both young and adult children. It is an influential read that I’d highly recommend to any parent!
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The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
This enlightening, funny, and inspiring book will open your mind to how you determine your perspective about your life and the tasks in your life each and every day. Gretchen Rubin provides a fresh approach on how you think about your experiences and plans, how you spend your time, and how you choose optimism when you feel like there are not many choices. Rubin provides tips, advice, encouragement, experiences, approach to expectations, possible improvements, and actionable steps that are both practical and motivational. She spent a year revolutionizing her life in small ways to where it, ultimately, modified the way she thinks and views her existence. Beautifully and hilariously written, you will love her approach, insights, and strategies for happiness.
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From Grits to Grace: Devotions from the Farmhouse Porch
This charming devotional includes verses and devotional passages throughout each chapter, including lyrics and poems that were published prior to 1923. This little dose of history incorporated with Biblical foundations, sections such as “rest assured,” “why worry,” “heavenly bound,” and “promises we can count on,” (just to name a few) provide a contextual and comforting addition to your morning, afternoon, or evening quiet times. Southern implications are laced throughout, and some Southern Gospel and country wisdom accompany the scriptures, stories, poetry, and advice — “Just like your grandma used to give.” Happy reading!
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Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst
Lysa Terkeurst is one of my favorite authors, as she pushes through the uncomfortable, raw emotional turmoil of life and addresses being honest and kind with yourself. She identifies Biblical teaching and how it relates to confidence, conflict resolution, relationship-building, emotional intelligence, response tendencies, and the pursuit of peace in situations that you cannot control. Her ability to write to mothers, daughters, and wives is incredible, and she has a remarkable story that has impacted women all over the world for years. She writes with emotional, insightful, and pragmatic influence, and this book is an incredible addition to your bookshelf!
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I Do Hard Things by Havilah Cunnington
This Bible study devotional is so complete and focused toward how we approach obstacles in our lives, how we endure the things that are tough, and how we are able to overcome in the end. Havilah Cunnington addresses how pain can be paralyzing, how dreams can be destroyed, and how suffering can take your breath and your focus. She writes, “Doing hard things isn’t always something you’ve been taught, but it’s something you were made to do.” She incorporates the story of Joseph, who was able to “conquer the unthinkable” and identify and implement God’s purpose into his life. The book is about taking risks, having courage, building identity, and finding strength in God. It’s a 15-day devotional that is split into three 5-week periods, and it is an excellent addition to your bookshelf.
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Through Painted Deserts and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
Donald Miller authored Blue Like Jazz first, which situates Christianity into a modern culture by detailing intimate moments and encounters with God. The sincerity of his depictions is honest, pragmatic, and really beautiful. One quote from the text reads, “I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. . . I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.” – Blue Like Jazz
Through Painted Deserts is a road-trip memoir across our beautiful country, where encounters with God happen, not in a Baptist sanctuary, but at the foot of a mountain during a Montana sunset, or at a river outside of Navajo country surrounded by open skies and possibilities. It’s evocative, honest, and a story of growth and awareness. Both of these books are reflective, breathtakingly honest, and beautifully written.
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The Unoffendable by Brant Hansen
This incredible book can change your life from the first page until the very last. We all can understand how difficult it can be working with so many diverse personalities or just communicating in general. The author provides multiple scenarios, examples, and biblical passages to demonstrate how changing your perspective on how you interpret dialogue with other people can change how you participate in and remember the entire conversation. Even more than that, it can shape your approach to future conversations. It is an excellent, uplifting read, and I highly recommend it.
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Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther by Ginger Garrett
This exciting, classic, boundary-defying story is a wonderful book for all of you who love Esther! The details of the scenes are relayed in such a rich, evocative way that Esther’s story comes alive off of the pages. There are fictional liberties that the author took, in order to place you into Esther’s world in the most engaging context, and it is such a compelling journey. This emotional, empowering read will keep you holding on tight to her story until the very last page.
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The Deborah Company: Becoming a Woman Who Makes a Difference by Jane Hamon
In this captivating work by Jane Hamon, Deborah from the book of Judges in the Bible is examined as well as an evocative view of how women make a difference through transformation. Contextual themes such as passion, vision, worship, courage, spirit, destiny, and business application are all examined, and this is such an empowering read for women of any age or placement in life. With so much emphasis on the significance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and how we situate our relationship with God in our lives as women, this book is an exceptional and influential addition to your bookshelf.
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The Ashley Stockingdale Series Books by Kristen Billerbeck
Kristen Billerbeck is a best-selling author who specializes in a Christian segment of “chick lit” and feminine novels. She has published over 40 books and has been featured in the New York Times as well as on “The Today Show.” Her novels maintain a balance of charismatic plot development, serious conflicts, lighthearted humor, sentimental tone, and feel-good story lines. I have read her books over the last decade, and I love her ability to intertwine reality, feminine intuition, emotional conflict, and pragmatic decision-making while incorporating God into her diverse story lines and complex, emotional characters.
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A Women and Her God by Beth Moore
Beth Moore does it again. She writes the perfect combination of words to inspire, comfort, and encourage the souls of women. She points out the extraordinary perceptions in which God sees us, those perceptions that He has outlined in His Word for us, and it communicates those insights evocatively and passionately for any overwhelmed, stressed heart. She provides a sense of encouragement to dive deeper into your relationship with God so that you can begin looking at yourself, with value, the way God sees you.
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The Comeback by Louie Giglio
Louie Giglio does such an incredible job at identifying points of weakness or difficult seasons that we not only endure but, sometimes, put ourselves through. He challenges our perceptions about difficulty and how our view of our circumstances can leave us lost, wandering in our dark seasons and blind to the intention or purpose of God’s will. He focuses, optimistically, on the comeback season, and how our comeback may not look like we thought it would, if we expected one at all, but that God is always the Author. He illustrates God’s grace and mercy and provides a foundation for seeking out that healing relationship with Him. It’s empowering, inspiring, and full of demonstrations of the love of God.
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Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper
This book addresses how and why Jesus’s death is so profound in the Christian faith. It’s a more critical read, and it focuses on the central issue of Jesus’s death and not the actual cause of it but the meaning imposed on it by God. The book is composed of 50 reasons or purposes that God’s meaning for Jesus’s death is so crucial to the root of our faith. It’s a thought-provoking read, rooted completely in scripture, and I highly encourage it.
The Shack by William Paul Young
I’m sure many of you have heard of this book or film as it received national attention, and after reading it, I found it completely appropriate that it did. This story is a novel that brings heartbreak, loss, situational awareness, identity, obligation, family, and darkness out into the open. The humanity of a man’s life and his encounters with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are profound, captivating, intrinsic, merciful, patient, and rooted in love. I had the whole human experience reading this book, and I would certainly do it again. I can’t recommend it to you enough.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
This literary icon passed away today, so it only makes sense to include her and the rich artistic vision she encompasses in this library of resources. In this fictional account, her novel addresses and evokes the joy, richness, heartbreak, surprise, disappointment, and beauty of what it means to be human. She utilizes allegorical and metaphorical references to Christianity with images and accounts from the Bible while incorporating a national and ethnic heritage into the story as a framework for the events to come. She’s a beautiful author, and her contributions to American literature are profound and critically acclaimed.
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
This book impacted me at SUCH a young age and has continued to inspire and motivate me into adulthood. I love how the context of the book provides guidance that is based on scripture. The language is motivating, powerful, and broken down to daily increments for you to fit into your busy life. This is such a powerful combo, the journal provides areas for you to write insight as you read and discover more of your identity in Christ, and the daily inspiration is a devotional that is full of daily encouragement and based on the Word of God.
Women of the Bible Devotional compiled by Barbour Publishing Staff
This devotional is so incredible for women who love to read about women in the Bible. God used women in such powerful ways through some of the most seemingly impossible odds. He still uses women today, and this book is an an excellent resource for empowering women and helping them find their purpose in God’s calling and their identity in His Word. Scripture is accompanied by information about the context and storyline surrounding each woman, including analysis and motivational input. Two indexes in the back refer readers directly to each woman’s name/section and to each area where scripture is referenced from the Bible. I cannot recommend this book enough to women who love to read about women in God’s Word.
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The Bible Promise Book for the Overwhelmed Heart by Janice Thompson
This book is such a good resource to have while you focus your mind and heart on scripture and on diving deeper into God’s word. Throughout this book, there are verses and accompanying prayers on every page, so it serves as a devotion-type study for you to read and learn about God’s promises straight from the Bible. Sometimes, it’s easy to remember that God made promises throughout the Bible, but becoming familiar with those promises and binding them to your heart and mind empower you in so many significant ways to carry out your purpose.
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Crazy Love by Francis Chan
This book is so incredible! Chan illustrates the desire for authenticity in seeking God in today’s culture. He calls on the passionate not to lose hope, and he strategically draws connections between modern tensions, abstract expectations, tangible solutions, and zealous pursuit. This book awakens the soul through the language and passion that pours over each word. We fall in love with so many things today: people, places, coffee drinks, change, new recipes, success, money, adventure, and the list could go on. The type of love in this book, this crazy love, is a way of looking at our value through the eyes of God and seeking him in every aspect of our being.
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Passion by Louie Giglio
Louis Giglio is such an empowering force, and in this book, he focuses strategically on the love of Jesus and the importance of His position in our hearts and understanding. This book centers around Jesus’s glory and how we can find a way to position ourselves within it and find the purpose and grace that God intended for us in our lives. He focuses on how we center our lives around different purposes and how we establish meaning for ourselves based on our interpretations and understanding of our world. Then, he makes the powerful connection between those illustrations and our calling as Christians within the kingdom of God.
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Armed and Dangerous by John Ramirez
This book is so intense, and that is what makes it completely unforgettable. Ramirez writes as a Christian who was saved later in his adult life after living a life within the occult, and provides an interesting and diverse perspective as a Christian living on the offense for God rather than passively, on the defense against the enemy. He calls spiritual warriors to rise up and take confidence in their calling and in their faith in God to carry out God’s work. He uses the most evocative language and compelling stories of his life and experiences to illustrate the importance of thinking beyond this world in which we live and understand. He draws relevance to the fact that God is so much larger and more powerful than the enemy and any circumstances that we could possibly face because of the enemy or ourselves.
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Coming Into Alignment by Graham Cooke
Graham Cooke identifies what it takes to seek alignment in God and truly evaluate how we see ourselves: our weaknesses, mistakes, value, and inheritance. His way with words encourages the reader to cast aside things like doubt, inadequacy, and fear to take confidence in not only the person you are but how God sees you when He intended a life for you. The book navigates God’s promises and unfailing love as a place of peace and comfort and redirects us to remember how inconsequential any circumstance really is when situated next to God. Fear has no place among perfect love, and rising above all that we endure allows us to realize how great He is so that we can extend ourselves to the reach that He intends for us.
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Esther: It’s Tough Being A Woman by Beth Moore
This first recommendation in this book club series is a study book about Esther. This book is one truly one of the first books that ever impacted me in any significant way to want to delve deeper into the Bible. This study book has contextualization, character breakdown, motivation discussions, and places to brainstorm and write in personal perceptions and evaluations. This book was the driving initial force that showed me that women in the Bible played significant roles in carrying out the work of God (aside from Mary, of course). No matter how afraid she felt, no matter how high the stakes were, no matter how inadequate she felt for the job ahead of her, Esther maintained a willingness to endure, and it is in her spirit, that I find so much meaning, empowerment, and truth in the Word of God.
Blue Withens 