Bookstore Conversations

I actually haven't been out of the house much lately. Holiday laziness, or the health thing, pick one. So today while we were out, my boyfriend decided I needed to go to bookstores. (I think he likes me...way to my heart? Books and food).

Half Price Books was having a 20% off all purchases event which goes through Tuesday so we went to two different ones on our way home from dinner. At the second one, I was looking at the various Study Bibles and Bible translations. I've been following Jen Hatmaker's Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study and was looking for a physical study Bible. I have a few Bibles, but was hoping to find something else. I ended up deciding just to stick to the ones I have.

So while looking, another person was looking at them as well. He was solely looking at the Study Bibles, various translations, varying content such as MacArthurs, ones for men, and so on. I mentioned that there are just so many versions, it's hard to pick one. At first I think he was just confused I spoke to him, but then we spoke a bit and he asked if I had a church I attended. I said I didn't at this time as we are still working on finding a church home. He asked if I lived in the area and I said yes, and then he mentioned his church to me, where it's at, the type, and how to get to it. It was an engaged conversation and I could tell he felt happy about sharing his place of worship with someone. We also had a conversation on how relationships HAVE to have God or they will never work. I told him yes, I completely agree. My boyfriend did not grow up going to church, so this has been a bit of trial and error with him trying to get him to go because he simply has no idea what to expect. He laughed and said "Good, I'm 37 years old and I'm JUST now getting that through my head." He tried to find a card for the church, couldn't, but later found me in the store and handed it to me.

It was a short conversation, not even 5 minutes but it felt awesome. Awesome to share in the Word, however slight, with a stranger. To share a topic that so many people forget, that without God in the middle of everything, it will not work. It reminded me how much I miss the community of belonging to a church.

Every Bitter Thing is Sweet review and reflection

I kept seeing this book pop up in my social media feeds. Jennie Allen, Jen Hatmaker, and several other authors were raving about it. Me, being the huge book nerd I am, HAD to read it. I was waiting until after Christmas but when it popped up as a book I could select on booklook, I immediately hit request so I could read this book. Also, something about the cover just intrigued me.

Every Bitter Thing is Sweet discusses Sara, and her husband Nate’s, struggle with infertility. It goes through the ups and downs of that journey, how that led them to adopting a few beautiful children (I stalked her instagram…which also gave me a spoiler, so if you're going to read it, DON'T DO IT!) 

But honestly, maybe as much, or more of the book focuses on her relationship with God and I found that poignant and amazing and it made me crave more time with Him, which I think is exactly how a Christian book should grab you. Reading or listening to someone's journey and relationship with God should light that fire in you that gives you something for our own relationship with Him, especially if you feel like you are lacking. An excerpt below:

I need to remember that God’s answer is not to lift me out of “the crisis of the moment” but to speak His word into it, and over it. I was made to find joy in relating to Him across the whole span of my day.

This book is beautiful, deep, heartbreaking, and filled with spiritual wisdom. At the end of each chapter, are several "For your continued pursuit" verses that direct the reader to verses mentioned in the chapter, either directly or implied. Research nerds like me love this!

Sara has a gift for writing that I can’t explain. The words just grab you and you are sucked in. I finished this book in two sessions because after chapter 1, I was completely hooked! She has a monthly adoration schedule on her blog that I am definitely going to be doing for the month of January. A verse a day to focus on (here is what December looked like).

I know I discuss a lot about books on here, but this is hands down in my top 5 spiritual memoirs I have ever read. 

I received this book from booklook in exchange for my opinion but I selected it because I was excited to read it! All opinions are my own.

Bible reading-or lack thereof

Stolen from Holdingtotruth.com

I read a lot, which is more than evident if you've even glanced at my blog! And as my blog title states, I'm in a constant state of pursuit regarding my faith, which I believe is how a lot of us are. Some days being faithful, loving ourselves and our God, is easier than others. Some days it feels like all is well with the world and our faith, others we feel like complete failures with our faith. 

I'm currently reading (among a few other books because I have book AD/HD), "Grace for the Good Girl" by Emily Freeman. I've heard a little bit about this book, but had seen several people recommend it. It went on sale for 99 cents a few weeks ago so I knew I had to get it!

She mentioned that when she doesn't feel like she's been a good girl, she wants to wallow. Lack of perfection. This is how I feel daily. I never feel good enough in anyone's eyes. My weight is wrong, my hair is frizzy, I have a pimple on my chin. But mostly, what struck me is what I'm not doing for what's most important: my faith. Do I read Christian literature? Every day. But do I pray daily? Do I attend church regularly? Do I read my Bible daily? No to all of the remaining questions. Church and prayer occasionally. Read my Bible? Rarely. It's not like it would be hard to read my Bible. I own an NLT version, two different e-Bible's, Amplified and ESV, and I also own The Story and a Chronological Bible. Plus a few New Testaments I have lying around that were given to me. Oh and a Bible application on my phone as well as on my tablet. I have NO excuse. So why is it so hard?

What is it about having the world at your fingertips that makes staying faithful so dang hard? Or maybe I answered my own question. We live in an age where we have easy access to everything, and we devote little time to what is important because of the constant glare of screens and easy access to information. We don't have to think so hard about so many things.

Is the Bible just not as interesting as the Christian living books I read? Or the works of fiction that I enjoy as well? 

Do you find yourself at odds with regularly reading the Bible? How did you overcome it?

I started some new books, Jen Wilkin's Women of the Word (Amazon had a used copy for $1 I think) and I also purchased Jen Hatmaker's A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study. Also, just realized that they are both named Jen, both live in Texas. The first lives near my hometown and the other in my current city. Crazy!

Note: finding a church is in the works. Moving to a new city and finding a church home takes a really long time! 

Christmas Playlist

I was a choir girl. I originally played violin but when I moved to another state in the middle of my 6th grade year, orchestra didn't exist at my new school so I chose to go to choir. I LOVE CAROLS! I've been playing this playlist for a few days and thought I'd share.








If you want to listen to the entire playlist, I have a few others on my Spotify playlist as well. And if you've never heard of Sufjan Stevens, listen to him! His music is gorgeous and features prominently on this playlist.

Grace

Image borrowed from Grassland church website (thanks Google!)

I used to think that the word grace was a word only to be added to the descriptions of the elegant; ballerinas, dancers, royalty, pageant contestants. Those people who hold their necks up swan like, with nothing about their person being out of place. 

It was a word that was the opposite of my tomboy, scraped up knees, unruly hair self. The self that took bacon and tied it to a string to catch crawfish in the creek. The self that rarely brushed her long, slightly wavy hair. Who rode bikes until dark and ran into every corner that presented itself leaving her constantly covered in bruises that I wasn't ever sure where they came from usually. My family would jokingly call me Grace, because I lacked it in almost every area (except oddly, gymnastics, I was great at that because I had amazing balance, go figure).

As I've studied more of Scripture, and read books, as well as blogs by Christian authors, I have learned so much more about the meaning of the word that for me now, it holds an entirely different meaning.

Grace is a beautiful word that holds so much meaning to our Heavenly Father. Grace bears multiple meanings throughout the Word, while not always directly stated. It can mean Thanks, Forgiveness, Mercy, Love, Hope, Salvation. For me, it is a word filled with hope, love, forgiveness, and guidance. 

This word no longer holds the teasing, self-confidence busting, meaning it did for me as a child. God constantly shows Grace for us, and has throughout the Bible in so many ways. By giving Abraham a child in his old age, by saving his first son, Ishmael, and taking care of him despite Abraham's disobedience. 

The word Eucharisteo, which is like the word of the day in One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, has the root word "charis" which means "grace. 

 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.-2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Make a Difference: Christmas Shopping

I believe the way we spend has a huge impact on our world. Such as, when buying products exclusively made in the USA, we are giving back to our community by ensuring jobs stay in our country. With so many jobs moving out of the country and high unemployment rates, I think it's important. Just like with our food.

So for Christmas shopping, I believe it's important to shop with meaning. This year, I've compiled a list of companies with products I'm interested in and that also give back to communities in need. I tried to give a fairly wide variety of items in my post.

Noonday Collection was started as a way to raise money for adoption fees and is based here in Austin. It's primarily jewelry and it's reasonably priced! The items in the picture below range from $12-$30 and are made by artisans involved with the Fair Trade Federation.

TOMS is the original "one for one" company. I recently read his book, Start Something That Matters, and was impressed. He was honest (or so it seemed) and passionate. Purchase shoes, they give shoes. Purchase eyewear, they help restore sight to someone in need. Also, right now if you pay with PayPal, you get free two day shipping.

Beyond Beanie is one I haven't shopped at yet but I am planning to for the holidays. Each purchase, a beanie, bag, and other accessories gives back to the community a certain amount. 1 beanie gives 5 meals, 1 bag gives a set of school supplies.

Sevenly is one of my favorites! I own a couple of shirts from this organization. Each week they focus on a different charity or organization and donate $7 from each purchase.

Warby Parker also operates on the buy one, we give one, business model but with eyewear.

MudLOVE is mostly jewelry. I actually own one of the bracelets and love it! The band is my favorite part; it stays exactly where you put it which is amazing for an adjustable band. Each purchase donates a week of clean water to someone in need in the Central African Republic.

Wear Figs is a newer one I have found. Each set of scrubs sold, they give one to someone who can't afford them; Threads for Threads. Prices are $25-$32 for women, and $25-40 for men. They also have scrub caps and v-neck tees.

FEED Project has been one that has gotten some attention lately! The bags seem kind of expensive, at $100 for a tote, but once you read the fine print, you see that one purchase will feed a student for a year! That's amazing. Most of them only feed a person for a week, or a month, but this helps even longer. There are also bracelets that are $18 that gives 5 meals. The bags all contain inside pockets and they note in the description that the larger pocket will fit an iPad.

$80, provides 1 year worth of meals to a student. Image from the FeedProjects website.

$125, gives 100 school meals. Image from FeedProjects website.

Faucet Face are thick, glass water bottles with interesting designs. You can even custom design them with your own, uploaded image which might be neat for Christmas gifts for a family! Free shipping with 4 or more.

Through its 1 for 100 program, Faucet Face donates 5% of ALL sales of hose water, tap is terrific and hummingbird feeder glass water bottles, PLUS, a complete filter for each sale of 5 or more individual bottles to the clean drinking water charity Third Millennium Awakening (TMA).

Infographic from faucetface.com

Soap Box Soaps sells soap, body wash, and liquid soaps. A lot of us give soap related gifts at Christmas (like Bath and Body Works) so maybe something like this would be good gifts as well.

Link up with She Lives Free. 

Quotes

Since it is a well known fact around here that I am a book junkie, it probably stand to reason that I am also a quote junkie. So I thought I'd post some of them here. They may not all be Christian oriented, but they get the message across. I believe quotes can be very motivating and helpful.

"People couldn't become truly holy unless they had the opportunity to be definitively wicked."
Good Omens-Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Etsy link