Tag: Mark Batterson

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Spiritual Growth Resources from 2018

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Spiritual Growth Resources from 2018

Posted on by Jaymie

Last December I posted a list of spiritual growth resources I enjoyed using during 2017. You can see that list here. Today I’m going to highlight similar resources from 2018. Also check my post on Enneagram resources here. Those have been a big part of my spiritual work this year, too.

A Mile Wide: Trading Shallow Religion for a Deeper Faith – This is one of the books my husband challenged me to read this summer. And one I actually read! (I am STILL behind on the summer challenge!) I enjoy Jen Hatmaker’s books so much, but this is the first book I have read from her husband. I enjoyed this one. I think I underlined something on almost every page. This really lined up well with things we have been talking about at church this year.  I’ll be reviewing this one in January.
Draw the Circle Study Guide – I talked about Draw the Circle in last year’s post, (and posted a full review earlier this year ) but then I did the study again for Lent with this study guide and a free video series I found. I enjoyed the study guide, but I don’t think it is essential to using the original resource. Either alone or with this extra resource, Draw the Circle would be a great annual experience for spiritual growth.
The Dream of You: Let Go of Broken Identities and Live the Life You Were Made For –  I adore Jo Saxton! The only thing better than reading her thoughts on identity (one of my favorite themes in spiritual growth books as well as novels) would have been an audio book version so I could hear it in her own delightful accent! I will listen to and/or read anything she puts out there. She’s one of my favorite speakers.
Heir to the Crown – I have become an Alisa Keeton fan over the last year. I support her fitness/health/wholeness ministry, Revelation Wellness, and I thoroughly enjoyed her 2017 book The Wellness Revelation. She, like Jo Saxton, is someone I want to hear from regularly. I am slowly working through her new devotional for teens and women about our identity as daughters of the King. Each entry includes a brief meditation thought (which I rarely do – I know I would get more out of this if I would take the time), the devotional, a couple questions related to the day’s material and space to answer some wellness/wholeness questions that are part of each day’s page.
Isaiah (Life Change Series) – While I am familiar with several stand alone verses from Isaiah, it wasn’t a book I had ever read from start to finish. And the parts I had read seemed hard to follow. This particular study was a treat for me! In fact, Isaiah has become one of my favorite books of the Bible because of this study. The book is set up so you can use it for individual or group study. I usually work through each section over the course of a week, answering 2-3 questions (often with multiple parts) every day. I feel like going slowly really helps me dig into the material rather than just check it off a list that I did some reading, but not letting the material really sink in. I love the format of this so much, I have asked for several more for Christmas!
Made Like Martha: Good News for the Woman Who Gets Things Done – This was the sort of book I felt was written just for me at just this moment. So much of what I read here tied into the work I was doing in my Enneagram reading, too. You can read my review here.
Romans (Life Change Series) – I am working my way through Romans right now in the same study series as the Isaiah study. The language of Romans at times seems to circle in on itself, and I have found this study is helping me piece through it so I get more out of my reading and study.
The Quest: An Excursion Toward Intimacy with God – Lifeway offered a free study with videos this fall, and since I already had the book, I jumped at the chance. The first and last video are around an hour long and were really rich experiences. The rest were fine, but I didn’t find them essential to the whole. The book, though, was fantastic. It’s a detailed and in-depth study. I highly recommend this one – even if you can’t get to the videos. The study stands on its own.
Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God – I am a huge Mark Batterson fan (Draw the Circle), and I enjoyed this exploration of listening to the voice of God. I enjoy Batterson’s writing style and the stories he tells. But most of all I enjoyed the topic of this one!

REVIEW: Draw the Circle by Mark Batterson

REVIEW: Draw the Circle by Mark Batterson

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary and Review

A 40-day prayer journey by the author of The Circle Maker. Each day’s entry includes stories and personal testimony, an idea for changing or enhancing your prayer life, and a take away/summary statement.

Ideas and challenges include making prayers more specific, persistence and thinking bigger.

It’s hard to describe this book well and really capture it. For me, this was an amazing little book. I enjoyed the writing style, and the prayer stories were inspiring. I looked forward to reading this each day. In fact, I longed to read the whole thing cover to cover and just soak it all in. But I knew if I did that, I wouldn’t get the same take-aways and growth.

This is a book I will keep close at hand and read more than once. In fact, but the time this posts, I will be wrapping up my second journey through this little book. I think any time you feel like your prayer life needs a fresh infusion of faith and energy, this would be the resource to grab. There’s also a study guide and a video series for group use. I liked this so much I put all of Batterson’s books on my TBR list. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. This was one of my top 10 reads from 2017.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: My 2017 Favorites

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: My 2017 Favorites

Posted on by Jaymie

I read a lot of books every year.  I like to keep track of what I read every year and see how it stacks up to years before. Here are some of my reading statistics for 2017.

2017 Stats

Through the course of 2017 I read 308 books.  There were 26 more that I started but did not finish.

Of those 308, the break down for target audience is

  • 127 adult
  • 98 middle grade
  • 63 teen/young adult
  • 10 picture books/early readers
  • 9 transitional chapter books
  • as well as 19 graphic novels for various ages

The genre breakdown (some books are counted in two categories) is

  • 77 mystery
  • 73 realistic
  • 72 fantasy
  • 35 science fiction
  • 18 romance
  • 17 non-fiction
  • 6 Christian fiction
  • 5 Christmas
  • 4 historic fiction
  • 3 memoirs/autobiographies
  • 2 dystopian
  • 3 suspense

This year most of the books I read were from the library (104). I read 59 books from my To Be Read shelves (which are overflowing), as well as 58 advanced reader copies from publishers. I also re-read 47 favorites this year.

I read more fantasy and nonfiction last year and more realistic fiction and science fiction this year. And I can see what difference not teaching has made in my reading. Last year I read a lot more picture books and early readers. This year there were more books for teens and adults.

 

2017 Favorites!!

I read a lot of books every year. I often don’t remember all the details, but I remember how they made me feel. I remember which books follow me throughout the year – how I feel when I see them in the bookstore or library or online. These are the ones I want to go back and read again. These are the ones I recommend over and over and over.

You can see my list of favorites from 2016 here. Last year I had five middle grade books, two YA books, and three books for adults (all fiction). When I went back through my list of the 300+ books I read in 2017, I came up with 50 that were candidates for the best of the year. I whittled that list down to ten – only one middle grade this time, five YA books, two adult fiction books and two nonfiction. And here they are:

10. Nothing to Prove – A fantastic non-fiction book. I hope to read it again this year and complete the Bible study that goes with it. You can read a little about this here and my full review here.

 

 

 

9. Barking Up the Wrong Tree – I loved this romance book, second in a series. I reviewed the third and final book in the series earlier this week. You can read my review of book one here. Book 2 is even better than the first! I enjoyed the chemistry between the main characters.

 

 

 

8. Draw the Circle – This is a forty day prayer journey. This is one I will go back to again and again. You can read a little about this book here. I’ll be doing a full review later in 2018.

 

 

 

7. Alien Education – This is book 15 in the Alien series by Gini Koch. This is my favorite fiction series. I included book 14 in my list last year. Book 16 releases in February. I just finished a re-read of the whole series, and I was struck again by how fun this particular book is. I know it is because so much of the story centers on the kids. I can’t wait to see what happens next!  You can read my thoughts about this book here.

 

 

 

6. The Names They Gave Us – This book stuck with me all year because there were so many times in it where I felt known and understood in the description of the main character. You can read my review here.

 

 

 

5. It’s Not Me, It’s You – This book was not at all what I expected – in all the best ways! I loved the unusual format and the terrific characters. I actually have two books by this author on my list for 2017! You can read my review here.

 

 

 

4. Greetings from Witness Protection – This has a fantastic premise and the main character is a delight. I hope there will be more books with these characters. You can read my review of this one here.

 

 

 

3. Letters to the Lost – Another fantastic book for teens and young adults. I am chomping at the bit for her new book that comes out this spring since this one was so great! You can read my review here.

 

 

 

2. Prince in Disguise – This was a late addition to my list as it came out in December. Reading it was like eating a favorite dessert. I savored each page, giggling. The writing is so smart and the characters are delightful. This is the second book I have on my list from Stephanie Kate Strohm. You can read my full review here.

 

 

 

#1 – A List of Cages – Oh, this book. Whenever I see it I think about how the characters impacted me. They have followed me all year long. It’s a difficult read, but worth every tear and every tissue. You can read my review here.

 

 

 

As always, if you are looking for even more fantastic books, you can always check out my Five Star Reviews to see all of my favorites! I had a hard time choosing only 10 from all the terrific books in 2017. I have high hopes for great reading in 2018!

 

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Spiritual Growth Resources from 2017

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Spiritual Growth Resources from 2017

Posted on by Jaymie

I have had fantastic luck this year finding terrific spiritual growth resources. I wanted to highlight a handful of them here today. These would make great Christmas gifts.

Draw the Circle – A 40-day prayer challenge. This was inspiring! I would have preferred to read it cover to cover because I enjoyed the writing so much, but I’m so glad I took it one day at a time.

Enjoying Jesus – This study on spiritual disciples from the folks at IF: Equip was exceptional. I completed the study with the folks at IF, and I enjoyed the videos that went along with the study. I have tried a lot of studies this year, trying to replicate the experience I had completing this study.

Enough – I chose “enough” as my word for 2017. Our pastor’s wife posted about this study  on Facebook, and as soon as I saw the title, I knew I had to try the study. It was excellent. I felt like I was able to split the sessions into polite-sized chunks to cover a portion each day and really dig into the material. I wanted to go deeper, not just check something off a list. I have a second study by these same folks waiting on my shelf for 2018.

Nothing to Prove – I read this with a group that was meeting each week on Facebook with the author. It was a timely book, working with my word for the year, “enough.” And I have purchased the Bible study that goes with this so I can spend more time with the material in 2018. You can read my review of the book here.

She’s Still There – Proverbs 31 hosted a study of this book that included videos and conference calls. The entire experience was excellent! I grew so much from working through this book. I’ll be reviewing this in 2018.

The Wellness Revelation – This may be the resource that impacted me most this year. This 8-week journey toward lifestyle change and pursuing wholeness was like a breath of fresh air. I’ll also be reviewing this in 2018. I highly recommend this book!