Gravel Road Musings

"Before you get married, you need to make sure you love him enough for a life of sickness, poorer, and worse. 'Cause that's what you're committing to."  More people need to think on this before they get married. However, the health, richer, and better does help round out a marriage and I believe even in sickness and poverty, you can have the better if you have the right attitude and, most of all, if you have Jesus to guide you. Other than that quote, this book is one of those that I enjoy reading for the light fluff that it contains. It's not one of those I enjoy writing reviews on because it makes me feel light and fluffy. But the premise of a cooking show is what made me pick up the book. I enjoy cooking shows, especially the competitive ones and that is how this book starts, it's how the two main characters meet, if you can call it a meeting. Hadley and Max are opposite, but then Max gets sent away and he changes. He tries to be a nicer person a...

I don't always post my NetGalley book reviews on here, but this was a really good book that I would recommend to those who like World War II historical fiction. Another World War II historical fiction book.  There are a lot of them out there and I have been enjoying them, even though they are rather hard reading.  This book is more historically based than some historical fiction books are.  It follows the lives of two fictitious Jewish boys, Jacob and Moses, on the quest to find their parents. It is based in France during the Nazi occupation, so it was a setting I was unfamiliar with. Le Chambon-sur-Lignon was a simple village in France that was home to thousands of refugees during the war.  It was fascinating to read about real people who were willing to risk all to help their brothers and sisters regardless of race or religion. Jacob and Moses showed the resilience of the human spirit. They were determined and willing to move forward in spite of great risks...

"Arrgghhaaaaahhhhahhhmmmahhhargh", the unintelligible moanings of a five-year-old fill my ears and my mouth instantly opens with one of two response, "Use words" or "Stop whining".  I mean really, how hard is it to just use words to say that your brother hit you? You don't need to sit on the couch whining or crying in that tone of voice that tells me you are not really hurt, but you are really offended and you really are hoping the offender will be duly punished for his offence. Whining grates on my nerves in a very big hurry. But you know what? Way too often I respond in a nasally, equally whiny tone of voice to say, "Stop whining". I catch myself sometimes and think, "Really, what am I becoming? How am I different? Responding to whining with whining is not the way to teach by example." So with toes feeling the effects of the smashing they received, we try again and again and again, both to teach that whining is not the recomme...

Embracing the Mysteries of Providence "Situations that seem confusing and chaotic to us are actually plot threads He is weaving together to create a story...a beautiful, compelling work of art." "Your life and your story actually matter. They have meaning as you view them against the backdrop of God's ultimate Story." This book is full of stories, stories of financial difficulty, marriages gone awry, sickness, death, and grief. So many stories were shared in these pages and to me, that made the book so much more readable and relatable. You can say all the right things, but until you have lived it, it is hard to know if those principles you claim hold weight in your real life. This book is about people who lived the hard things and walked victoriously through them. It didn't mean their lives turned out right in the end; there were sons who still lived away from family togetherness, spouses who were still unfaithful, health was still lost, and people s...

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...