In 2010 I read a total of 91 books. A lot of them were a waste of time to read, but I wanted to share my favorites from 2010 with you, along with a little bit (a very little bit) of what I liked about them. Here we go!
* these are in no particular order; they're not listed from best to least, etc.
1. The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers - At first glance I didn't think this would be a very good, but I was surprised in the end. The author was brave in approaching the difficult subjects contained in this book, and in my opinion it was well written too.
2. The Heart-Reader by Terri Blackstock - This is the kind of book that plunges right into the middle of the story rather than giving a basis at first. In this case, that was a good thing. This book reminded me of why we're here on earth--to share of Christ and tell people of the hope He brings. I really enjoyed it!
3. Holiness by J. C. Ryle - I spent about a year trying to make my way through this book. It was really good, but it was hard to read. I ended up enjoying the last chapters better than the beginning, which was a nice surprise. It was an extremely challenging book, and I would recommend it to anybody!
4. Boy Meets Girl: Saying Hello to Courtship by Joshua Harris - This was an excellent book. I'd heard a lot of good stuff about I Kissed Dating Goodbye and ended up reading it in 2010, but was really disappointed by it. I felt like Joshua Harris didn't approach the subject of dating very well in that book, and kind of just left people wondering "Well, how else are we supposed to get to know each other?" In contrast, Boy Meets Girl was excellent. It was funny and very insightful. It had a lot of great stories about relationships throughout the book, and on the whole it was probably one of my favorite books of the entire year.
5. Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot - No matter how many times I read this book, it just never gets old. I re-read it in 2010, and enjoyed it even more than I had before. Elisabeth Elliot is such a no-nonsense sort of person. She presents the facts as they are and doesn't leave any wiggle room. People like that are incredibly rare these days. Even if you've read this before, read it again!
6. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom - This is one of those extremely popular books in the Christian community that everyone loves but that I had never read. I was thrilled to finally be able to read it in 2010, and I wasn't disappointed. Corrie ten Boom is a lot like Elisabeth Elliot in her straight forwardness and blunt nature. She was honest about the difficulties of being persecuted for helping the Jews, and the book on the whole was just amazing. Read it when you get a chance!
7. In My Father's House by Corrie ten Boom - I loved this book. I had never heard of it until 2010, but I was thrilled to be able to read it. It's a prequel to Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place, and tells about her life growing up. In some ways I liked it even better than The Hiding Place!
8. Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss - This is another book that everyone talks about but I'd never read. I expected this to be a book about dealing with sin and preparing for Heaven, etc.; and it was, but it was in a format that I didn't expect. Stepping Heavenward is the fictional journal of Katherine and tells of her life as a believer. An excellent book!
9. Plague Maker by Tim Downs - I really only started reading this book because I thought the front cover looked cool. Not much to go on, I know, but I was really glad I read it. Tim Downs must have had to do an amazing amount of research to write such an informative and articulate book. The ending was a bit disappointing, but the book on the whole was good.
10. The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges - My dad recommended this book to me in September of 2010, and it was one of the best books I've ever read. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but it was just really good in that it gave techniques for fighting sin, but it focused most of all on the gospel and the freedom we have in Christ, freedom from condemnation and shame as well as freedom from sin. I really liked it!
11. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - This book is long, but it has become my favorite book by Jane Austen. She gives you a great look into the lives of each person, and this book was funny too, unlike with Pride and Prejudice.
12. Authentic Beauty by Leslie Ludy - I'd heard a lot of good about this book, and after months of being on a waiting list I finally got it! I was not disappointed. Leslie Ludy reminded me of Elisabeth Elliot in her no-nonsense approaching to finding sin in our lives and ripping it out. I had to read it twice, and hope to read it again soon!
13. Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot - I am a champion worrier, so I really enjoyed this book that talking about resting in God, and trusting quietly in Him. I'm going to try and read it again in 2011!
14. Then Sings My Soul by Robert Morgan - I already wrote a review about this, and you can read it here. It was great!
15. Quest for Love by Elisabeth Elliot - This book is kind of a sequel to Passion and Purity, and while I didn't enjoy it as much as that book, this was good too. In it were contained a bunch of stories about relationships, and throughout the book Elisabeth Elliot challenges the reader to ask questions like "What did these people do wrong?" "Was God really at the center of their relationship from the beginning?" "Was it right for them to think that they could finally be content with each other, rather than being content in Christ first?" It was very good, and I would suggest that other people read it, but only after they've read Passion and Purity because that's just the way the books go together.
And, that's it! Throughout 2011 I hope to start posting more reviews of books. Check these ones out when you get a chance!
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Prentiss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Prentiss. Show all posts
1.01.2011
8.25.2010
WOW #2
So, back in January I wrote this post, fully intending to post things like it regularly. Ha! I'll try to be more consistent this time around. Here's some quotes, poems, etc., that I hope will bless you today.
Positive Character Traits (1 Cor. 13:4-5)
• I am patient with you because I love you and want to forgive you.
• I am kind to you because I love you and want to help you.
• I do not envy your possessions or your gifts because I love you and want you to have the best.
• I do not boast about my attainments because I love you and want to hear about yours.
• I am not proud because I love you and want to esteem you before myself.
• I am not rude because I love you and care about your feelings.
• I am not self-seeking because I love you and want to meet your needs.
• I am not easily angered by you because I love you and want to overlook your offenses.
• I do not keep a record of your wrongs because I love you, and “love covers a multitude of sins.”
-- Jerry Bridges
Make your complaint, tell Him how obscure everything still looks to you, and beg Him to complete your cure. He may see fit to try your faith and patience by delaying this completion; but meanwhile you are safe in His presence, and while led by His hand, He will excuse the mistakes you make and pity your falls. But you will imagine that it is best that He should at once enable you to see clearly. If it is, you may be sure He will do it. He never makes mistakes. But He often deals far differently with His disciples. He lets them grope their way in the dark until they fully learn how blind they are, how helpless, how absolutely in need of Him.
What His methods will be with you I cannot foretell. But you may be sure that He never works in an arbitrary way. He has a reason for everything He does. You may not understand why He leads you now in this way and now in that, but you may, nay, you must believe that perfection is stamped on His every act. -- Elizabeth Prentiss
To always be intending to live a new life, but never find time to set about it—this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking from one day to another till he be starved and destroyed. -- Sir Walter Scott
The Lord be praised for all His tender mercies and loving-kindnesses—unceasing and unwearying as His love. My continual shortcomings, and oftcoming for forgiveness again and again, does not exhaust Him. I should have wearied out the whole host of heaven before this; but Jesus is never wearied with hearing the cries of His poor tried and tempted saints. Always are they welcome, and I think the oftener I go the more welcome I am. Not a frown upon that countenance towards one who really feels his need of Him. A smiling welcome, fraught with mighty blessings, which, while it gladdens the heart, fills the soul with a humbling sense of its own vileness, humbled in self, exalted in Christ. -- Mary Winslow
Light Shining Out of Darkness
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
-- William Cowper
O Lord, if it is not springtime in my chilly heart, I pray You make it so, for I am tired of living at a distance from You. When will You bring this long and dreary winter to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my soul! Quicken me, restore me, and have mercy on me! This very night I earnestly implore you, Lord, to take pity upon Your servant and send me a happy revival of spiritual life! -- Charles Spurgeon
Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend. -- Charles Spurgeon
O gift of gifts! O grace of faith!
My God! how can it be
That Thou, who has discerning love,
Shouldst give that gift to me?
How many hearts Thou mightest have had
More innocent than mine!
How many souls more worthy far
Of that sweet touch of Thine?
Oh, grace! Into unlikeliest hearts
It is thy boast to come,
The glory of Thy light to find
In darkness spots a home.
Oh, happy, happy that I am!
If thou canst be, O faith
The treasure that thou art in life
What wilt thou be in death?
-- Elizabeth Prentiss
In this, the hour of our calamity and peril, to whom shall we resort . . . but to the God of our fathers? -- Abraham Lincoln
Always add, always walk, always proceed; neither stand still, nor go back, nor deviate; he that standeth still proceedeth not; he goeth back that continueth no; he deviateth that revolteth; he goeth better that creepeth in his way than he that moveth out of his way. -- Augustine
Lord, evermore Thy face we seek:
Tempted we are, and poor, and weak;
Keep us with lowly hearts, and meek.
Let us not fall. Let us not fall.
-- Charles Spurgeon
For helping and hiding the Jews, my father, my brother’s son, and my sister all died in prison. My brother survived his imprisonment, but died soon afterward. Only Nollie, my older sister, and I came out alive.
So many times we wonder why God has certain things happen to us. We try to understand the circumstances of our lives, and we are left wondering. But God’s foolishness is so much wiser than our wisdom.
From generation to generation, from small beginnings and little lessons, He has a purpose for those who know and trust Him.
God has no problems—just plans!
-- Corrie ten Boom
Positive Character Traits (1 Cor. 13:4-5)
• I am patient with you because I love you and want to forgive you.
• I am kind to you because I love you and want to help you.
• I do not envy your possessions or your gifts because I love you and want you to have the best.
• I do not boast about my attainments because I love you and want to hear about yours.
• I am not proud because I love you and want to esteem you before myself.
• I am not rude because I love you and care about your feelings.
• I am not self-seeking because I love you and want to meet your needs.
• I am not easily angered by you because I love you and want to overlook your offenses.
• I do not keep a record of your wrongs because I love you, and “love covers a multitude of sins.”
-- Jerry Bridges
Make your complaint, tell Him how obscure everything still looks to you, and beg Him to complete your cure. He may see fit to try your faith and patience by delaying this completion; but meanwhile you are safe in His presence, and while led by His hand, He will excuse the mistakes you make and pity your falls. But you will imagine that it is best that He should at once enable you to see clearly. If it is, you may be sure He will do it. He never makes mistakes. But He often deals far differently with His disciples. He lets them grope their way in the dark until they fully learn how blind they are, how helpless, how absolutely in need of Him.
What His methods will be with you I cannot foretell. But you may be sure that He never works in an arbitrary way. He has a reason for everything He does. You may not understand why He leads you now in this way and now in that, but you may, nay, you must believe that perfection is stamped on His every act. -- Elizabeth Prentiss
To always be intending to live a new life, but never find time to set about it—this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking from one day to another till he be starved and destroyed. -- Sir Walter Scott
The Lord be praised for all His tender mercies and loving-kindnesses—unceasing and unwearying as His love. My continual shortcomings, and oftcoming for forgiveness again and again, does not exhaust Him. I should have wearied out the whole host of heaven before this; but Jesus is never wearied with hearing the cries of His poor tried and tempted saints. Always are they welcome, and I think the oftener I go the more welcome I am. Not a frown upon that countenance towards one who really feels his need of Him. A smiling welcome, fraught with mighty blessings, which, while it gladdens the heart, fills the soul with a humbling sense of its own vileness, humbled in self, exalted in Christ. -- Mary Winslow
Light Shining Out of Darkness
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
-- William Cowper
O Lord, if it is not springtime in my chilly heart, I pray You make it so, for I am tired of living at a distance from You. When will You bring this long and dreary winter to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my soul! Quicken me, restore me, and have mercy on me! This very night I earnestly implore you, Lord, to take pity upon Your servant and send me a happy revival of spiritual life! -- Charles Spurgeon
Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend. -- Charles Spurgeon
O gift of gifts! O grace of faith!
My God! how can it be
That Thou, who has discerning love,
Shouldst give that gift to me?
How many hearts Thou mightest have had
More innocent than mine!
How many souls more worthy far
Of that sweet touch of Thine?
Oh, grace! Into unlikeliest hearts
It is thy boast to come,
The glory of Thy light to find
In darkness spots a home.
Oh, happy, happy that I am!
If thou canst be, O faith
The treasure that thou art in life
What wilt thou be in death?
-- Elizabeth Prentiss
In this, the hour of our calamity and peril, to whom shall we resort . . . but to the God of our fathers? -- Abraham Lincoln
Always add, always walk, always proceed; neither stand still, nor go back, nor deviate; he that standeth still proceedeth not; he goeth back that continueth no; he deviateth that revolteth; he goeth better that creepeth in his way than he that moveth out of his way. -- Augustine
Lord, evermore Thy face we seek:
Tempted we are, and poor, and weak;
Keep us with lowly hearts, and meek.
Let us not fall. Let us not fall.
-- Charles Spurgeon
For helping and hiding the Jews, my father, my brother’s son, and my sister all died in prison. My brother survived his imprisonment, but died soon afterward. Only Nollie, my older sister, and I came out alive.
So many times we wonder why God has certain things happen to us. We try to understand the circumstances of our lives, and we are left wondering. But God’s foolishness is so much wiser than our wisdom.
From generation to generation, from small beginnings and little lessons, He has a purpose for those who know and trust Him.
God has no problems—just plans!
-- Corrie ten Boom
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