Gravel Road Musings

Feeling Stressed? Overwhelmed? Critical? Guilty? Upset? Restless? Take a moment, pick up this book and read a page or two and I would bet you will find something to calm your heart. Count your blessings, read some Scripture, ponder an inspirational quote, or just look at one of the beautiful pictures scattered throughout the book. I just quickly read through this book and various quotes and sayings stuck out to me. I am planning to write a few down that I would like to display on my clipboards in the coming year. There are ten chapters and each chapter is further subdivided into sections. There are very few sections that are more than two pages. There are Bible verses, there are short sections taken from Max's other books, there are strategies for coping with the challenge addressed in the book and always each chapter ends with a journaling section of thought-provoking questions. Let me share a few things with you that stuck out to me: C elebrate God's goodness A sk G...

The setting is just prior to the Revolutionary War, Lady Elizabeth is the daughter of a Tory who treats her with contempt. He escapes in the night, leaving her to fend for herself. I don't want to say much more because it would give the story away too much. This was the second of Laura's books that I have read and I liked it better than the first one. Lady Elizabeth who goes by Liberty has courage and strength and is willing to take risks for the good of the cause she believes in. She believes God is able to protect her. And, of course, Noble Rynallt is all that is desired in a hero who sweeps in. He's a Patriot but rescues a Tory and saves the day. There is, of course, more to it than that, but I can't give away too many spoilers. As far as depth to the book, there was some, but I didn't walk away really inspired. I was impressed with Liberty's courage in the face of danger and her strength of character that allowed her to do menial work even though she...

My Story of Captivity, and my Fight Against the Islamic State At the risk of exposing my ignorance on world events, I don't recall ever hearing about the Yazidis until I read this book. As best as I can understand them, they are/were a minority religious group in Iraq. They were viewed by ISIS as less than the least and completely expendable and mere property. This book has a bit of the history of the people of Kocho and the story of Nadia and the genocide of the Yazidis by ISIS. It's an awful story of men being killed and women being taken as sex slaves and viewed as property nothing more. It blows my mind how someone could use another human being in this way, but I don't doubt the accuracy of the story at all. From what I have understood of ISIS, I can believe they would treat women this way. This is Nadia's story of her capture, escape and her current work as a human rights activist and also working to bring those men to trial. Why the title? Because she ...

This is the Valerie's debut novel. She is an award winning writer and a senior travel editor for Southern Living, so she is very familiar with writing stories. This was a very well-written book that I did really enjoy. It's hard to find authors that can tell a fascinating story that has a good moral and isn't all roses and kisses and money. However, the title here is a bit misleading, in my opinion. Isaac is an employee of Jack McLean. Jack died when the tractor he was driving disappeared into a sinkhole. Isaac became a mentor/father figure to Jack until his mysterious disappearance a few years later. The sheriff was a dead beat and really didn't conduct an investigation, but it always bothered Pete as to what happened to Isaac. In a search for him, he stumbled across Dovey, a girl from the hollow, meaning she was poor and their people kept to themselves. And that is, to me, what the book is really about, a young, fresh-faced friendship/romance between Pete and ...

Tactical tools for intentional living Is anyone needing a last minute Christmas gift for that lady who is always rushing here and rushing there, mostly overwhelmed, and always wadded up with 50,000 things to do? Stop right now and go buy her this book. If she can ever force herself to sit down and read it and then get up and follow it, she will thank you for for ever. First off, let me start by exclaiming over how beautiful this book is. It's just like the title, simple. But it's also just pretty like that. A nice thick hardcover, with thicker than normal pages that are bursting with lots of beautiful photographs or sometimes just a full page dedicated to a profound sentence or two. It would make a great gift or even a coffee table display. Now about the meat of the book. Emily looks at ten areas that can be simplified: space, style, meals, schedule, finances, hospitality, technology, self, motherhood, and faith. With each of these she offers helpful tips on ways to mak...

Practical Principles to Make Your Marriage Great 1. Thou shalt be selfless. 2. Thou shalt have no strings attached. 3. Thou shalt continually communicate. 4. Thou shalt make conflict thy ally. 5. Thou shalt avoid the quicksand of materialism. 6. Thou shalt flee sexual temptation - online or otherwise. 7. Thou shalt forgive thy mate - 490 times and more. 8. Thou shalt romance the home. 9. Thou shalt begin again and again. 10. Thou shalt build a winning team. So there you have it. This book was full of practical tips for making your marriage work and be great. A few things that stuck out to me and/or convicted me, I can't change my spouse. I can only change me. And the sooner I accept my spouse the way he is, the happier I will be. Expanding on this a bit: if I focus on his negatives, they will increase in size and unforgivability (yes, I think that might be a new word), but I believe that if I focus on his good points, his negatives will shrink and become miniscule. ...

Orange Pear Apple Bear Apple Bear Orange Pear Orange Bear Apple Pear Pear Bear Apple Orange There I think I should write children's books. After reading one book like that above few sentences, I'm pretty sure I could do it?  Or how about this? Have you seen my duckling? Followed by a blank page or two showing the duckling hiding. Then Have you seen my duckling and so on and so forth until the end of the book where of course the illustration shows the duckling reunited with its mother. I'm not sure what I would write about. Maybe I could write a book called "Have you Seen my Sanity?" and on the no word pages, I could have a picture of a hidden brain for the children to find. If that's too scary, how about Goat, Goat, Cow. It would go something like this: goat goat cow, baa-baa-moo. horse, sheep pig, neigh-baa-oink. That idea isn't original with me. I saw it in a book called Chicken Chicken Duck. Another idea might be Snow. Snow is white. Snow ...

A Modern-Day Slave, An International Art Dealer, And The Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together. The Incredible True Story That Inspired Millions He was a black man born to sharecroppers. Sharecroppers were still basically owned by "the Man". He kept track of what they made taking care of cotton and he kept track of what they bought from his store and somehow at the end of the year, there was also a debt to "the Man."  This is the life Denver Moore was born into, though his was even worse as he was the son of a sharecropper and then there weren't even records kept, he just lived and worked there with no chance of a better life, until one day he decided to ride the rails. He lived homeless, he lived in jail for the next many, many years. He was born to lower middle-class parents. His grandpa also had black people working his plantation, though he treated them a bit better. He grew up and became an international art dealer, living high-end and making milli...

A gay son's journey to God. A broken mother's search for hope. Wow!! This is quite the story, a bit graphic maybe for some, especially younger readers, but very much a God work. At first I was a little disturbed by the details of his sinful life, but then I realized he was also pretty detailed about his new life in Christ as well. And knowing the depravity that he had dropped to makes the story all the more amazing. The story begins with Christopher "coming out" to his parents. His mother Angela is used to manipulating and controlling and this is the final straw. She is in a loveless, disconnected marriage and decides to commit suicide after a last visit with Chris. Instead, she finds Christ and starts reading the Bible and praying and her husband joins her. Chris, in the meantime, continues down the path of sin: homosexuality, drugs, etc. until the law catches up with him. His parents try to stay connected to him, but he rebuffs their efforts. Finally jail t...

Advent: what it is and what does it mean? I'll be honest, I'm not really sure. I know it has to do with Christ's birth and involves the four Sundays before Christmas. So let's see what Wikipedia has to say:  Advent  is a  season  observed in many  Christian churches  as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the  Nativity of Jesus  at  Christmas . For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from three different perspectives. "Since the time of  Bernard of Clairvaux  (d.1153) Christians have spoken of the three comings of Christ: in the flesh in Bethlehem, in our hearts daily, and in glory at the end of time." [2] The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for his Second Coming. Practices associated with Advent include keeping an  Advent calendar , lighting an  Advent wreath , praying an A...