Gravel Road Musings

Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life Anne tells the story of going to Trade Joe's and debating endlessly about buying flowers. She puts them in her cart, does all her shopping, stands in line at the check out and then takes the flowers back, only to get home and regret that decision while also realizing she missed buying the thing she really needed at the store.  I can SO relate to this. I will debate and debate a purchase and generally I will leave without it. Currently, I have 4 tabs open on my computer, all with purchases I need to make, and most of them I've simply been procrastinating or debating about. I need the items, but what if? What if I find something I like better? Or I just don't want to spend the money right now. But really, I'm not going to want to spend the money in a week either, so just do it and get it over with so I can move on. All that to say, I think I needed this book. There were a couple really good...

Prayers for Women This is a collection of 40 prayers and sitting here during Co-Vid 19, there were many that were quite applicable. "We also know You well enough to know our days are numbered; we do not know what tomorrow may bring. This knowledge is in Your safekeeping that we might trust You above our own abilities to control, as we are so prone to do."  How much I need this right now. I know that God is in control, but I need the reminder that my future is in His safekeeping. Just so many fitting prayers. Quite a few of the prayers offered an explanation at the end as to what prompted Barbara to write the prayer in the first place. I can relate to the writing of prayers, sometimes I feel like I can pray better, stay for focused if I write my prayer down and then read it. It can feel like a deeper connection, in some way, more meaningful perhaps, I'm not sure how to describe it. Another quote that I wrote down was this: "...but doing the ordinary can tarn...

Finding Soul-Deep Strength in a Skin-Deep World I picked this book because a friend had talked about getting it and I was curious what it was about. The title is catching and makes you wonder what the author is meaning to talk about. Well, it turns out, that that is exactly what the author wanted to address: Stop calling me beautiful. In an age, where women strive for beauty, where we give lip service to God and tell our fellow sisters that they are beautiful and God loves them and now all their troubles should be over, Phylicia comes with a different message. She brings a message of change, but also one of lasting hope. She encourages women to move past the "pink fluff" of being beautiful in God's eyes, which while true can hide a lot of sin, and to purse lasting change, to pursue a real relationship with God.  "Being told we're beautiful in God's eyes is a surface response to a soul-deep problem. That problem is our own sinfulness." "A wor...

Twelve months, eleven family members, and one impossible goal First off, how fun is that cover? Rain and sunshine, so fitting for grumbling, right? Or not grumbling? I just think this is a fun looking cover. Calling it a social experiment and a book contract, Tricia joins forces with her husband, John, their 8 children still at home, and her grandma who lives with them, but has dementia, to try a year of no grumbling.  How can this possibly work?  When you embark upon an experiment like this, you have no idea what the end result will be, but however it ends, there will be a book about it.  Tricia hopes, before starting the experiment, that this will be a real example to other moms about her skills and intentionality with her children, but realizes very shortly that there is so much more to this. This experiment becomes about changing from the inside, it becomes about letting God be in control, it becomes not a year completely free of grumbling, but a year in which a...

Note: this is for the sheer pleasure of writing, not so much about perfect production. Photo by  Aaron Burden  on  Unsplash Clean slate: pure, plain, and black. Though today, clean slates could also mean a white board, so then the description would be pure, plain, and white, which fits so much better into a Christian viewpoint.  We don't like to think of pure and clean as black, that is so evil instead.  This was the poem that came immediately to mind when I thought of clean slate: "He came to my desk with a quivering lip, the lesson was done. 'Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher?  I've spoiled this one.' I took his sheet all soiled and blotted and gave him a new one all unspotted. And into his tired heart I cried,  'Do better now my child.' I went to the throne with a trembling heart; the day was done. 'Have you a new day for me, dear Master? I've spoiled this one.' He took my day all soiled and blotted ...

Why I traded two dream jobs for a life of true calling. It's not about what you do, it's about who you are.  If I could sum up this book in one sentence, I think that is the sentence I would use. Paula Faris used to co-host The View, Good Morning America Weekend, and do anything else she was asked to do. She led a crazy work schedule to the detriment of her marriage, her family, her children. Failure was a real fear and always felt just a misstep away.  Then God started getting her attention through some unfortunate events and she started to listen and hear what He was saying. She made some potentially career-ending choices and started a faith podcast with the ABC network. Today, she has more time with her husband, she's home most days when her children come home from school and her podcast is bringing her more fulfillment than she ever imagined.  I hope that is not too much of a spoiler, I am assuming that since this book is true and Paula is a journalist, a lot of...

The Inspiring True Story of Green Beret Medic Gary Beikirch, Medal of Honor Recipient Courage for Battle, Faith for Crisis I really knew nothing about the Vietnam War when I started this book. I did know it was a controversial war in the US, but other than that, not much. Gary is a Green Beret medic, committed to the Montagnard people he was there to protect. They became his friends and he loved them. When April 1, 1970 dawned and the siege of Dak Seang began, Gary was all in. Even though he was badly injured himself, he persisted in being dragged around in the midst of the battle, to help others who were injured. What he saw and what he endured was unimaginable.  This is not a spoiler, it's in the prologue of the book. But this doesn't end up being Gary's biggest battle, he has his own internal demons to fight and they are determined to win. I don't want to give more of the story away, but to say this, Jesus gave him the answer to his hurts and struggles, but...

Discovering Grace, Freedom, and Wholeness Where You Never Imagined Looking I'm not sure why I picked this book to review, because I wasn't sure I wanted to read another book like this, but I am so very glad I did.  It was just what I needed right now. Let me start by saying it's a pretty book: one of those smaller-sized books with a hardcover, but no book jacket. It looks like a book you could sit down and read in just a few short hours. It doesn't look as daunting as the normal paperback, standard size inspirational books can look. It begs to be opened and read and read it I did in just a few days. Let me also add that the title is so appropriate for this day of "Safer-At-Home" orders during CoVid-19. Staying is definitely what I have been doing these days, but the meaning behind this title is so much deeper than just a physical staying. What does it mean to stay in your pain, in your disappointments and work through them to find healing rather than...

I feel like I should be posting something about Co-Vid 19, something profound, something noteworthy or at least something funny.  But I have nothing. Well, maybe that's not true. I did write something recently, something I call "The Blog Post that Will Never Be." It was raw and painful, but it was a way for me to process my thoughts. I realized something recently after reading "Thriving in Love and Money" by Jeff and Shaunti Feldhahn. (I highly recommend that book, by the way.)  As women, we tend to process externally and immediately, but men need space and time and can't think when we are going on and on about whatever issue is at hand. While I can process internally, I do tend to do best when I can talk about things. It helps me to verbalize it and that is what the blog post was, I think, the written processing of my internal thoughts.  So I want to do better at being patient and waiting without growing frustrated. I also realized recently that some pe...

Experience the Deep Delight You Were Made For First off, is that not a pretty cover. I think that drew me in at first. It's just a spring-looking, happy cover and makes you want to pick the book up. "There is a direct relationship to our view of God and our experience of all He's promised us." That is the premise of the book. I think if the word happy bothers you, it can be easily interchanged with joy. This is  not a flippant happiness, but a happiness that comes from knowing who God is and who you are in God. It's a happiness that comes from focusing on God, following His will, depending on Him and being surrendered to God as King. This is an excellent resource for someone who is new in their Christian journey or for someone like me, who has been a Christian for years, but needs the reminder that there is more to this journey than just following a list of dos and donts. I needed to hear that "Focusing on God is not a one time action, it is a lifel...