Current Reads

I love to read! I always have, -once I got past those laborious Dick and Jane books back in first grade. Come to think of it; it’s actually a God protected wonder! That’s never occurred to me before. There’s something new to be thankful for!

Moving across the States back in the day with a child born late in the year had it’s trials, for this said child (I can’t assume what it’s like over fifty years later). Compulsory age laws varying from state to state landed me straight in the First Grade at five years old, with no Kindergarten, and no previous home teaching.

With only vague memories of my teacher’s disapproval, I’m told she was not a bit pleased to be teaching me to read from scratch. I have torturous, five-year-old memories of reading homework every night, with pictures covered until I read each page. But how did I get on to all that??…

Oh yes, Reading!

It didn’t take long for reading to become my greatest academic strength. Not that I used it well in my early years. After devouring every age-appropriate book I could get my hands on and plowing through every Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries ever written, a well-meaning relative introduced me to romance novels.

Those early reads were chaste and sweet stories, but they were also the baited, discontented hook that reeled my mind and heart away from reality and the Lord, for years into my twenties. Admittedly, my later reading choices didn’t stay chaste in the least. There came a day when the Lord opened my eyes undeniably to these regretted realities.

Other than novels that I read aloud to my kids in school, I can count on my hands the very few fiction books I’ve allowed myself to read since. Please, don’t get me wrong. I am NOT speaking against fiction as a whole.

Regardless of clean, pure content, long involved fictional stories prove overly consuming for me. The Holy Spirit was faithful to show me that I’m not remotely who He wants me to be when I get obsessed in that way.

Novels, for the most part, put away, I began devouring all sorts of recommended books on education, Christian womanhood, marriage, and the Christian walk. God enabling, I can pleasantly step in and out of this style of reading.

Similar to good friends, books are like walking with the author and talking about God’s word together. The books themselves aren’t God’s word and have no authority as such. But they do shed a fresh perspective on God’s Word for me to pray over and to consider with the Lord.

I mentioned in my ‘Meet Renee’ post that I have begun studying Biblical Counseling. There is a boatload of recommended books to read for that! And there are few books written by the same authors that I’ve had an interest in reading. I won’t attempt to drag you through the complete list, but I can’t think of a better place to begin selecting books to discuss.

I hope you enjoy the selections as they come. They will be my honest real-time reads. Books I’m laboring with before the Lord, like the New Testament Bereans, praying for discernment and matching up, alongside the Bible for verification of truth.

I’d love to chat with you as I go. I invite your discussion and questions, perhaps spurring us both on to further growth.