I wish I had time to read all the time, but my reading usually corresponds to the season.Therefore, I typically write more than I read during the school year and read more than I write when my kids are home during the holidays and summer. So with a couple books fresh on my mind from Thanksgiving and Christmas break reading, I thought I would share my favorites based on what I’ve read this year.
1. Seated with Christ by Heather Holleman
This book spoke to me deeply, not because it was new material, but because of the author’s masterful way of visually placing us at Christ’s Round Table to see how our seat with Him and united together with fellow believers should impact everything. Truly everything. At its core: why understanding our justification – our declared right standing in Christ – matters. As this is the subject of my second book, I am convinced that if we “get our story straight” when it comes to justification, we will be more secure, stop comparing ourselves and actually learn to rejoice with others in their successes.
In this book I love how Holleman teased out how “being seated” would impact our desires for/focus on appearance, affluence and achievement. In essence she says, when you know you are seated, “You’re adoring instead of agonizing over your appearance. You’re accessing instead of architecting your life around affluence. You’re abiding instead of achieving.” This frees us from self and enables us to focus on others. Exactly what happened for her pesonally when she began to rest in her seat (or her lot/God’s plan for her) and because of it other lives were transformed and a whole neighborhood impacted. This is what I want – not just for me but for all of us. So you can be sure what I am still processing from this book will show up in my writing and teaching this year!
2. From to Fear to Freedom by Rose Marie Miller
Same subject, different presentation. Justification is the woven theme throughout this autobiography through the author’s journey of learning to rest in her true identity in Christ.
We all have expectations put upon us and many we put on ourselves. And in those expectations, both real and assumed, we feel like if we don’t perform well enough or measure up to certain standards we will be looked at as less-than or not good enough. Because of it we live under guilt, shame, resentment and disappointment instead of experiencing the freedom that comes in living as sons and daughters of God. To live free though we must know who Christ is for us and who we are in Him. Again a common topic of mine so I loved seeing how this theology truly transformed another.
3. Extravagant Grace by Barbara Duguid
I’ve read this one at least three times, but it never gets old. In fact with each reading something fresh has popped out at me and my book is now heavily underlined! God’s grace and sovereignty held up against our suffering, sin and weaknesses made for thoughtful yet challenging discussions in the two different groups of women I led through this book this past year. Read more about the book in this past blog post: Why Would a Loving God Leave Us in Our Sin?
4. Age of Opportunity by Paul Tripp
Again, a book I’ve read more than once, but a parenting book worth revisiting, especially now that we have middle school boys. Hands-down it is the best on the subject of parenting teens, but don’t pick it up expecting an instruction manual. Instead of giving absolutes and how-to’s, Tripp starts with our hearts and helps show us how to get to the hearts of our kids. Afterall, if we only address outer behavior and not the inner working of our hearts and theirs, there is a good chance we will produce temporary Pharisees more prone to wander away from the church once they are out on their own. The best take away is exactly what the title conveys, parenting teens should be viewed as an opportunity to shape our kids and the most important “job” we have. More on this book in an earlier post: An Age of Opportunity.
5. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
A religious classic I feel like I should’ve read before now but am so glad I finally made time for it. Not only is it creative and brilliantly written, but the exchange of letters between the demon Screwtape and his protigee Wormwood give much insight into our human nature, temptation and sin that can ultimately help us discern our own hearts and see more of our need of a rescuing Savior.
6. I’m Happy for You (Sort of…Not Really): Finding Contentment in a Culture of Comparison by Kay Wyma
Another one similar to the first book mentioned and a familiar topic to me considering my anonymous online teen survey last year that has led to my second book. But this is written to women, because comparison and contentment is sadly just as much a struggle for adults as it is for teens. The book is full of stories from the author’s own life that are easy to identify with to see how we too fall in to the same traps. Wyma seeks to reorient our thinking to focus more on giving thanks and finding joy, kind of like Ann Voskamp; so couple this with Seated with Christ for a perfect duo for living more freely in a culture of comparison. More on the subject written here: A Thousand Words Not Told In A Picture.
7. Get Your Story Straight by ME:)
And last but not least, the book that impacted my year more than anything else in terms of time and thought! As I said to many of my friends on the day it was released in October – it felt like I had just given birth after the longest pregnancy ever! Truly this book was my baby that I carried for so long!! Now I hope you will adopt it by diving in to this year long study alongside your teens. The subjects of all of the previous mentioned books are hit on as I want for our teens and for us to know who Christ is for us so we can rest in who we are in Him. When we get this story straight its implications are far and wide, every. single. day. Whether you feel excluded and alone, have been mistreated, drowning in guilt or doubts or have sinned against someone else, we need to see how the gospel applies. But we don’t get there when we only talk about Christianity in terms of being “good” and living “right” or just plucking Bible verses out of context. Get Your Story Straight is an inductive study of the unfolding story of Christ throughout Scripture with the intent to challenge and change us. Because our adult hearts are no different from our kids, I recommend adults do it too and use it as a spring board to conversation with your teens.
Up for 2016 are a few books that have been sitting on my nightstand just waiting for their turn. These include Simply Tuesday: Small Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World by Emily Freeman, Awe by Paul Tripp and Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love by Ed Welch. And just ordered for devotional reading The Songs of Jesus by Timothy Keller
