Gravel Road Musings

52 Encouraging Reminders of How God Cares for You I am not sure why I requested this book except I have read one of Holley's books and just really, really liked it and so therefore, I thought getting one more devotional book would be worth it to read Holley's words. And you know what? I think it was.  This book was filled with hope and encouragement, maybe bordering on a too-good Gospel, but I also felt it was fairly accurate as well.  When you are looking at a book on encouragement, you aren't necessarily expecting discouraging comments and it is really hard to get both sides of the coin in one book. Names and descriptions of God make up the titles on each daily reading: Author, Counselor, Friend, Shepherd, Comforter, Instructor and on and on.  There is a Bible verse to go along with each day as well, as well as a little story to get you started. "He is not a God of soul starvation but of salvation. He is not cutting portions; he is passing out extra helpings....

Chick flick supreme, but a good read. I say chick flick because it had the happily ever after, girl gets guy or guy gets girl, everything always works out and everybody is lighthearted and happy. And yet, the book isn't just full of happy moments. There's some really tough stuff to deal with in this book as well. I don't want to give away too much about the book, but Phylicia (Phee) is the oldest of three sisters. Jo and Britt are the other sisters and they have just lost their mom to cancer. They were a close, loving family and they are devastated. On top of that, their Dad goes AWOL and moves to Florida and pulls a few fast moves that leaves the girls wondering who their dad even is anymore. So three girls, all in their 20's, take on a huge project. The spokesman behind the project is "the man" for Phylicia, of course.  But I don't want to focus in on that. Phylicia had a lot to fight against in this book emotionally. I have discovered that grief...

So after reading what felt like quite a bit of deeper, inspirational reading, I have a few fiction light reads to review this week and it's looking like fun. Along with that will be a book by Larry Crabb, which I don't expect to be light reading at all. But anyway, it's fun to just read for fun without trying to mine the truths out of it. Which is exactly what this book was. I have learned to like Diann Mills and her FBI investigator stories. This one was a bit of a different twist than her normal. A female FBI agent is kidnapped by the innocent party, partly because she was handed his daughter by the child's kidnapper and partly because he realized she was an FBI agent and would be able to help him. So the story was worked from a little different direction than normal. Of course, the "kidnapper" was the good guy and he was a widower and so everything all worked out in the end of course, in that regard!! But, the story didn't quite end up the way I...

True Stories of the Dogs We Rescue and the Dogs Who Rescue Us This book is a compilation of 36 dog stories. Most of these dogs were dogs that were rescued, either from the side of the road, a foster dog system, etc. The stories then go on to show how they helped their owners, either by just being a companion when they most needed one, saving their lives in a literal physical sense, or just being a big help in alerting them to trouble, etc. I found the stories quite interesting: the lengths people go to save dogs that have been abandoned. I don't think I had any idea that there was such a thing as a foster dog system. I especially liked the stories of the dogs who were active physically in protecting their owners or the dogs who overcame their own fear when it was to help their owners. While I am not a dog person, as in kissing and petting and hugging and having a dog in the house, etc. I was a little saddened that people would just abandon their dogs to their own fate, what...

Discovering God's Unexpected Blessings in a Desert Season I feel like there's something I need to be learning right now. Yesterday, I posted my review of "Silencing Insecurities" and to me at least, this book is great one to read next. This is a journey to more fully know God and to be more fully known, a journey to intimacy, strength, and blessing that comes only by walking first through the desert with God at our side. Allison recounts her desert experience of being couch bound for three months and the way God used that time to point out things in her life that she needed to change. She points out the blessings that can come out of the desert. Some of the best wine and grapes are grown from grapevines whose roots go deep and whose plants have had some water stress or lack of water. Where can this happen? In a desert. It was interesting to me. "Gather daily. Feast daily, Trust daily." "What sustained us yesterday cannot sustain us today...And...

Favorite quotes:  So I was going to post more than just book reviews now that the craziness of summer is over. And since all it seems to do anymore is be cloudy, rainy, and dreary, I should have lots of time. Well, here it is, almost the middle of October and I'm still waiting. In truth, I actually did write up a blog post the end of September, but I haven't the courage to post it yet. So the only person who got to see the rough draft was my sister and for now that is how it will stay. But, I did want to do a fun post about some of my favorite things, but... I have mulled this over occasionally the last couple weeks and I only get to about three or four things max and then I get stuck. So I have decided just to name those few things and call it done. This summer I listened to a lot of podcasts in the early morning hours of baking and also during nap time and I came across some really good ones, some good ones, some okay ones and some I unsubscribed to. My top favori...

Believing God's Truth about You Appearances and comparison, success and failure, approval and rejection, life experiences and trauma, roles and responsibilities, background and origin, these things can all cause us to feel insecure at times. But are you lingering in those feelings of insecurities? Are you allowing those audiences to define who you are, to drag you down and make you feel worthless?  If you are, then I think you need two things: the Bible and this book. I felt like Donna did a really good job of bringing out the insecurities we all face, how they affect us emotionally, mentally, relationally and developmentally. And then she ties it all up in the end with some really good thoughts. My favorite part of the whole book, the part that resonated with me, the part that I know I need was her chapter called an Audience of One. God is the only Person we should be worried about pleasing. He is the one who determines our self-worth. We don't need to jump on the other ...

Helping Your Child through the Tough Days Sometimes when I request a book, when it comes I wonder why. This book would probably fit in that category. I think I requested it the most because it was by Dr. Leman and I have read enough of his books to know that I like them and want to keep accumulating them. And this book did not disappoint. Yes, it is geared to your hurting child and yes the average age of the children talked about was a few years older than my two, I still feel like I gained a lot of helpful information from that book. Maybe, just maybe, if I apply a few of the things I learned, I can address some of the issues now before they become big blown up and crazy when they are middle schoolers.  One of the best quotes talking about your relationship with your child is this: "And above all, focus on improving your relationship in every way possible. If your kids are safe and secure with you, they truly can overcome anything."  And that right there is my goal f...

I have not read a lot of Terri Blackstock's book, but I am aiming to change that. I have read her "If I Run" series (definitely a good place to start if you haven't read any of Terri's books), her Seasons series with Beverly LaHaye and now this one. And I will be on the lookout for any of Terri's books, both new and old to add to this collection. When people say that a book will have you laughing on one page and crying on the next, I am generally disappointed. I don't laugh very much when reading. I can cry, but I would even say that doesn't happen that often. But this book had be definitely grinning and all out crying. To be honest, I am not sure why I cried. Without giving away too many spoilers, I think it had to do with recognizing the deep hole death leaves, no matter when it happens and when it happens relatively suddenly, it just feels harder. I'm not sure, I just know I was reading the book with tears streaming down my face and that is ...

Making your relationship matter now and for generations to come Married for 47 years, Crawford and Karen know a thing or two about marriage. Coming from very opposite backgrounds, even encouraged not to get married because of that, yet they chose to base their relationship on Jesus Christ and overcome the status quo and having a thriving marriage. Looking at them, they didn't have the best examples. Out of Crawford and Karen's parents, one was unknown for much of their lives, one had a strong marriage history and the other two had single parenting and divorce for their record. The number one emphasis in this book is having a solid relationship with Jesus Christ. That needs to be first and foremost for a marriage to thrive, for a person to thrive. Then the marriage needs to come next. It's not a book about a perfect marriage, it's a book about being real and working through the hard stuff, facing conflict head on and finding a solution to it. It's a simple ea...