4 Books I Read While in the Mountains

Posted on Jan 30, 2012 by Chelo in Book Reviews, Books, Featured Articles, Things | 0 comments

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One of the things I was able to do while visiting in Rocky, Mt. VA was to read.  While my baby nap, while her grandparents played with her, while I went on walks.It was a bliss to have the free time to read (of course having neat tools also help).

Here are the books  in the same order I read them:

Blogger Behave

Is an ebook by Laura Booz.  She blogs at 10 Million Miles and The Homeschool Baby.

I found this book to be a very easy read at the mere 112 pages.  A good book to read for a beginner or a veteran blogger.

 ”Make Your Blog Benefit Your Life So You Can Love Both”

After reading Blogger Behave: Make your blog benefit your life, so you can love both! , I come away challenged in my own thinking about why and how I write in this tiny little web space.  She gives some practical tips on blogging but more on the philosophy of it.

What I appreciate most about Laura’s e-book is her courage and humility in sharing her life and marriage testimony.  Something I would have been too embarrassed or intimidated to write.  But she made much of God’s grace through Jesus Christ.

 ”We simply cannot pursue this craft without Jesus Christ who loves us, and even understands our odd penchant for blog-hops, giveaways, and linky-love. What matters is that we make the effort to live and blog beautifully with God’s blessing, for His glory, and showered in His grace. What matters is that we do all of these things with Jesus Christ, gabbing our heads off occasionally and listening all the while” -Laura Booz

Candle in the Darkness

My mother-in-law had a collection  of books by Lynn Austin (Not related to Jane AustEn )  This is a 364-page historical fiction set in the 1860s. Dealing with the slavery and the American Civil War.

One of the reasons I picked this from the pile was that the story is set in my VA hometown, Richmond.It was exciting to read and recognize the places Lynn mentions in the novel.  West Broad St., Mechanicsville Turnpike, Grace Street and the like.   I appreciate her aim to exemplify Christian themes and biblical principles in her character and story as well as the growth and development of the heroine.

There is a reason that this is only the second fiction that I’ve read.  I try to stay away from “romantic themes” (though I believe Austin was careful in making the story between Caroline and Charles beautiful and honorable).  Other ladies may not  have trouble with it, but I know I personally would find it easy to compare the “prince charming” of the books to the my prince charming of real life.  There is a danger in getting disillusioned on what love should look in real life.  But I speak of personal conviction.

I felt the the story ended a little too abruptly.  I found out later that Candle in the Darkness  is part of Lynn Austin’s Refiner’s Fire trilogy.

Overall, I do appreciate the educational historical tidbits and the author’s attempt to show what being a believer looks like in real life situations.  This story makes me think of Rahab’s courage and dilemma in the old testament

This book also inspired me to read/learn more of the topic of slavery and racism (here’s a good list I’m starting with).

What’s It Like Being Married to Me

Let me start with a confession: I am still on the last chapter of this book.  As soon as I complete it in entirety, I will write a separate book review on it.

Whew! Glad to get that out of the way

Linda Dillow authored several books dealing on womanhood and marriage.  One of which is my favorite: Creative Counterpart : Becoming the Woman, Wife, and Mother You Have Longed To Be.

So far, what I liked about this book is the readability, good anecdotes, and the simple fact that it calls me to really ponder some “Dangerous Questions” about myself in relation to God, my husband, and marriage.

 ”My goal can only be to be a godly wife.  My desire and earnest prayer—to have  a wonderful marriage.  I am responsible for me.  I am not responsible for Jody.  I can’t be responsible for what I can’t control,  and I certainly cannot control my husband.  BUT I can control me, or better stated,  I can learn to control me.  I can learn, with God’s power and motivation, to daily make the choices that will lead me toward my goal of being a godly wife. – from the author’s personal journal p.29

 The Bible :  Ephesians

Being in the Virginia mountains and being unplugged from the internet has really allowed me to focus on the REAL LIFE things and people without the distraction of email, facebook, blogs, etc.etc.

One of the the highlights of our days is sitting around the livingroom and my father-in-law sit on his chair to read from the Bible (Ephesians and Psalms).  Even my little girl would sit and flip through her baby Bible board book Precious.

Some specific things I thought of while reading Ephesians as a family:

• Thankful that God allows us to know Him in His Word
• Thankful that we CAN freely gather to read the Bible without fearing for our life.
• Thankful that God is not a God of chaos but of peace and order.
• Thankful for Jesus Christ.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— Ephesians 2: 1-6, ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8-9

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