Michelle DeRusha’s memoir Spiritual Misfit – A Memoir of Uneasy Faith releases today and let me tell you her missive, her message in this book is massive. I love her honesty and her humor in telling the story of her faith. This book will bring a smile to your face and faith to your heart. Every one has a story, but many times we don’t share our inner struggles, our doubts and even the times when we feel ashamed of our unbeliefs. In this book Michelle describes her time of wearing the masks we think others want us to see and how revealing our raw selves leads to discovering our true selves we find only in Christ. I really liked this book. We can be brought to tears by hearing someone’s dramatic testimony while our own faith lies idle, growing at a snail’s pace that often we can’t see. Michelle shares her faith walk that shows us, there is a path laid out for us that God is unfolding in his magnificent way. Thanks, Michelle for reminding me of this! The poet Rainer Marie Rilke … [Read more...]

Author Jane Riess has recently published a book by the delightful title of Flunking Sainthood. She tells the story of her year long experience, trying various spiritual practices like fasting, honoring the Sabbath and generosity. What I loved about this book is she honestly shares not her success, but her failure with every single practice she tried. It was refreshing to read her reactions, knowing I would be flunking sainthood right along with her. “What emerges is a vulnerable story of the quest for perfection and the reality of failure, which turns out to be a valuable spiritual practice in and of itself.” Even her subtitle is refreshing and freeing: “A year of breaking the Sabbath, forgetting to pray and still loving my neighbor.” I love her conclusion: “In a culture that stresses perfection, I’ve often heard the maxim that ‘good is the enemy of perfect’, in other words, when people of faith aim for anything short of godliness we miss the mark. I’ve learned the … [Read more...]

A healthy spirituality balances the nourishing of the mind, heart and spirit. The spiritual practice of reading and studying is one habit that feeds us and keeps us going. Holidays and the days when we end one year and launch into another can be crazy and chaotic, but I did find a few segments of quiet time to read. I hungered for moments of solitude to rest my soul and to feed my spirit with God's word and what others write about our experience with God. I thought today I would share what I read the end of the year. 1.  Nelson's Annual Preachers' Sourcebook - I received this huge resource from Thomas Nelson in exchange for a book review. I am under no obligation to give it a good review so this is my honest opinion. As a newly commissioned Associate in Ministry at my church I am thrilled to add this to my bookshelf. This book gives sermon outline for weekly and special occasions. It is full of lots of ideas for when writers presenters' block pop up. What I really like … [Read more...]

    Travel. Vacations. Pilgrimages. Whatever you call it - the time away from the routines and ordinary duties refreshes the body, mind and spirit if we intentionally seek deeper nourishment.  I like the word "Pilgrimage" which originally meant, "to go through a field." Often this term refers not only the physical trip to a special place, but an inward journey also. We venture out on a tour paying attention to where God speaks and beckons and we come home transformed by his grace and wonder. On a pilgrimage, we see the world from a new perspective and discover new wonders. A pilgrimage can be to any place where we find God, even the stillness of our own backyards. But  "thin" places also exist in multiple sacred locations throughout the world. Perhaps that's why the title of a new book by Lynn Austin intrigued me - "Pilgrimage - My Journey to a Deep Faith in the Land Where Jesus Walked."  Her journey to the Holy Lands renewed her passion for prayer and encouraged her … [Read more...]

Dr, Bob Moorehead wrote an essay about paradox.  Here is part of his quote: "The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness...We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, buthave trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outerspace but not inner space..."A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself or a situation, which seems to defy logic. We assume the bigger and better prepared Goliath could easily defeat young, inexperienced David - but the opposite happened. The title of the newest book by Malcolm Gladwell … [Read more...]

I love non-fiction.  I know that puts me in the minority, but give me a good book full of fascinating info and I am a goner. Here are three good ones I devoured in August:Living theQuaker Way by Philip GulleyI received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review, but am not obligated to give it a good review.In Gulley's latest book he explains some of the key beliefs in the Quaker faith. These pillars are simplicity, peace, integrity, community and equality. I really enjoyed this easy to read peek into a faith I really didn't know much about.On Simplicity he writes:  "What is needed is a new measure of success, for it is clear the further acquisition of good is not only unsustainable but also ultimately unsatisfying."With quotes like this and the included questions in the back of the book, this would be a great topic to study in a small group or Sunday School class interested in learning more about Quakers.  Not only will you learn more, you will have … [Read more...]

A breath prayer is a simple prayer we can say over and over again in a single breath."Lord, have mercy." is one example. This prayer from the heart can be expanded also to be, "Lord, Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." or any variation of those words.Since this is a breath prayer that has provided me comfort and strength in the past, I was excited to review the new book, The MercyPrayer - The One Prayer Jesus Always Answers by Robert Gelinas, to be released on July 30.Here are a few tidbits I learned from this book that provides a rich background to this prayer:·      Lord have mercy is the most prayed prayer in the Bible·      Kyrie eleison means Lord have mercy·      The Greek word, elaion, sounds like eleison and means olive or olive oil. Makes one wonder about a play on the words. If we would say kyrie elaion we would be praying  "Lord have medicine on me" or bring healing into my life.  The author includes Bible stories and references, personal stories and … [Read more...]

Looking for an inspirational book to read?I heard the story of Joni Eareckson Tada years ago. I have watched her ministry to provide wheelchairs throughout the world. I smiled when I heard she found love and married Ken. What a courageous woman she is. I admire her willingness to share her experiences and its lessons with us.Joni and Ken - an Untold Love Story is their latest book just released by Zondervan.Yes it is a love story but not exactly a “happily ever after” one. Joni and Ken’s 30 years of marriage has been full of challenges for both of them, but a path that has made them stronger. But like most of life, it is the day-to-day routines and problems that wears us down.“In reality, living with quadriplegia was never normal and even the most compelling of international escapades began to fade after a while For Ken what didn’t fade was the daily-nightly-daily-nightly drudgery of Joni’s disability routines.”Ken and Joni are honest and open about their ups and downs of their … [Read more...]