14: Kisses from Katie

Here I wrote about Kisses from Katie in 2013...this morning...early this morning, as I stayed up very late...I finished this one again.  Such a joy!  Such reminders.

Blessed we are to live in America, in the land of abundance, where we have so little appreciation for the grandness of all we have.  Katie, who went as a missionary to Uganda in 2006 and stayed to become a "Mommy" to  14 young ladies, found her calling:  to love.  That should be my calling, your calling.  This calling of hers?  It stirred my soul as I realized the failure I am in this part of my life...and the accountability I must one day face.

What horrific circumstances witnessed...and witnesses...as she remains today in that country.  What amazing circumstances she witnesses, what rewards, as she fulfills the calling on her life, living where Jesus has placed her.  Please consider reading her blog here...especially this post, written for Mother's Day, about being a mom and pictured there with her 13 daughters.  Precious.  (Number 14...her story is related in the book.)

Really wish she would write another book.  Like she has the time in her oh-so-busy life!

Tonight, I go to my local book store's book club, where one of the ladies chose this book as our monthly read for June. So glad she did.  I have been blessed to re-read this book.

Interestingly enough, we have a guest scheduled to visit our church in a couple of weeks who himself will travel to Uganda in a month or so.  Reading this book has brought that county alive for me.

Happy reading!

13: Orphan Train

History I never knew?  How did that happen?  Christina Baker Kline intertwines historical elements into the narrative of Molly and Vivian; though decades apart in age, each is similar in experiences, one in foster care in current times, the other a child, an orphan who rode the Orphan Train.

Learning about the orphan trains was interesting, was sad, was a check with reality.  Two hundred thousand.  200,000.  Either way I type it, that's a large number of children who had lost parents, families, who were transported across this nation to families desiring children, to some only wanting field hands, free labor, or worse.  As a parent, as a Tam-Tam (my name to my grandgirls), I am just at a loss to comprehend such heart-wrenching separations.  How much these children endured.

Kline tells the story of these two through changing lenses, a few chapters of Molly's story, then back to Vivian's.  The echoes of pain, loss, survival, hope can be heard through both stories as they are told along side of each other.

The reader remains intrigued, especially in Vivian's story via the names, the personas others delegate to her as she leaves one experience for another.  Maybe it's my age...but I found myself attached more to Vivian's story.  I could see, though, where some readers might empathize with Molly...or even both equally...based on each reader's background knowledge.

A young adult read, this will capture the interests of this age group, while filling in a historical gap that many will not even know they were missing.  Written through the voices of the young, this novel will resonate with them, either through a clearer appreciation for what they have or through a drive to be better, to help those who live in such heart-wrenching situations.

Five stars.  Definitely.  Please read this book!

12: A Busy Woman's Guide to Prayer

This is one of three books that came along in my life at the same time...a theme or a message to me.  I used Cheri Fuller's A Busy Woman's Guide to Prayer, one of Women's Bible Cafe books of the month along with another of their recommendations The Prayer Box, along with the book on which our Discipleship Training class was study, Michael Catt's The Power of Persistence.  What an awesome focus.

The author of more than 30 books, Fuller brings this book alive, as it is filled with people's testimonies, some, of which, I take to class and share, word for word.

Known for how busy I am, this book spoke numerous times to me, reminding me that prayer can be a focus anytime, anywhere.

This would get a powerful study, taking time to look up scriptures and marinate on the messages in each, completing the questions at the end of each chapter, journaling the impact this book has, sharing the active involvement of God in your life through answered prayers.

I look forward to when this happens again...a thematic approach to a topic on which I need to immerse.

Enjoy!

11: The Power of Persistence

Last Sunday, my discipleship training class completed Masterwork's study of Michael Catt's The Power of Persistence, for which I purchased and read the book on which the study is based, all about prayer and prayer and prayer.

This book I enjoyed immensely.  Totally.  So much so, I purchased a copy and presented to our pastor who attends the Sunday evening class and seemed to enjoy the study much himself.  I know I did!  I have taught this class for nearly three years, and this was, by far, my favorite study.

Michael Catt is the pastor of the church that has produced such movies as Facing the Giants, Courageous, and Flywheel, whose next movie War Room will be released later this summer. The success of these movies he completely attributes to the power of prayer.

Lifeway's Masterwork series created a seven-week study based on this book and took the group through various topics, such as warfare praying, praying for the lost, breakthroughs.  Amazingly so, the topics were so fitting on the weeks on which they fell within this study.

Full of testimonies, both modern and from former great leaders, page after page, chapter after chapter was full of inspiration and, again, such timely examples. Based on a recommendation by this author, I also purchased They Found the Secret, another book full of powerful testimonies...more about that soon!

Please read...this study I would do again; this book I will read again.

10: Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman

For the past few months, a few ladies and I have met on a somewhat regular basis (usually weekly) for Bible study, this time focusing on Beth Moore's study of Esther.  What a time this has been!

Moore is simply gifted.  Her studies are so well researched; just a well of knowledge each member book is.  From being born for "such a time as this" to learning that God's name is never mentioned in this book of the Bible to coming to a deep understanding that He truly is all over every page, chapter, verse.

Designed as a five-day, individual study and followed by a video, this allows time for that in depth study.  Okay...yes...at times I got behind!

I simply loved the affirming that we are born for the moments God is preparing us for.  Esther, an orphan, a niece...and then a queen, had to have often felt overwhelmed yet still at such peace knowing that she was doing what she had been born to accomplish.

Tonight, we begin our next Beth Moore study...Breaking Free.  Our group is growing.  May they each be blessed as I have been.

9: The Prayer Box

I started this novel today...and read until I had finished it.  Just that good.

Lisa Wingate's The Prayer Box is about just that...80+ prayer boxes left behind by Iola Anne Poole and discovered by her tenant who has been asked to clean the house while legal issues are resolved concerning the house's ownership.  What a powerful idea:  prayer boxes.  More information here from the author about prayer boxes.

Main character Tandi and her children, running from a past and to a future, arrive in Rodanthe with little and gain a family, a background, a bond.  As Tandi works and reads the prayers, she grows into herself, finding grace, finding the desire, the strength to reveal yet save what meant so much to Iola Anne.

Wingate tells two tales via the genre of letter writing.  Via this letters, the reader takes Iola Anne's journey.  These are some of my favorite lines:

Yet amid all this, there is the water of grace...All in need of the water of grace from one another and from you...There is so much good.  So much grace.  So much pouring into the river.  A quiet water, this river of grace.  Its work done in ways that do not seek attention.  Yet it is there.  Always there.

Many lessons to learn from this novel; lessons that I want to experience, for I want to become a prayer box owner myself.

Upon completing the novel, I discovered the existence of a novella that goes back in time and sets the scene for this novel.  Now, I have to have it and the rest of the novellas and novels in this series!

8: Three Good Things

This past Monday, while on a trip to take our Student Council to their district meeting, we stopped at the mall, and I, of course, never left the bookstore.  While there, a lady asked if I were looking for anything specific.  When I replied that I was just looking, she picked up this book off the shelf and suggested I read Three Good Things.

Author Wendy Francis takes her readers into the lives of two sisters, a bakery, and challenged loves. Both missing their mother, sisters Ellen and Lanie, close and supportive of one another, share secrets...well, most of them.

While getting to know Ellen, the reader also learns about kringles, or, at least, I did.  This pastry sounds tasty...glad the recipe was included in the final pages of the novel.  This bakery, often a means of therapy for Ellen, provides the door through which several of the minor characters are introduced, as well as the man that just might hook Ellen's heart.

I enjoyed the storyline, quckly learning that character development is a strength of this writer, resulting in our visiting the lives of three of the main characters...both the sisters and Lanie's husband Rob, which was interesting rocking back and forth and seeing their marriage through the lenses of both spouses.   All of these characters I liked as I enjoyed getting to know them, happy when their lives began to reconcile as I had hoped.

Wendy Francis' next novel The Summer of Good Intentions releases this July.

Happy reading!