Book Review: Finding God's Path Through Your Trials

During my daughter's NICU stay, my Pastor's wife and I read Elizabeth George's book Finding God's Path Through Your Trials. It was extremely helpful at the time, and I would recommend it to any woman going through a difficult season in life, no matter the type or size of the trial. The book is organized by character traits a woman can learn to develop in times of trial; Joyfulness, Stability, Maturity, Mightiness, and Endurance. Each trait is based off of a specific section or verse of Scripture.

I truly appreciate Elizabeth George's ability to take simple truths from God's Word and illustrate how we can practically apply them. She is compassionate and yet no-nonsense all at once. If God says to do something, we must obey. She has lived out His Word through the ups and downs of her own life. Many true stories of herself and women she has known are shared in the book to encourage the reader, no matter their circumstance.

The biggest things I took from reading it were: 1)You are not alone in your trial, and just because your trial may seem more difficult then your neighbor's, doesn't give you any reason to take pride or to develop a superiority complex. 2)You should not desire to rush out of trials, thinking that things will be better as soon as you are relieved. Trials are a fact of life, and the trial you are in now will only lead to greater ones. This is not pessimism, it is reality. Ask the Lord to teach you through each trial, cling to Him and allow your closeness to Him to make life sweet.

A good book well worth reading. I hope that it encourages you as you face life's day-to-day difficulties!

Book Review: The Scent of Water, By Naomi Zacharias

I just recently finished Naomi Zacharias' book The Scent of Water. Wow! It was unlike anything I normally read, it was beautiful and truly refreshing. Naomi works for Wellspring Internartional, part of her father Ravi Zacharias' ministry. Wellspring is an organization that helps women and children at risk. In her work Naomi has helped victims of red light districts and tsunamis, from South Africa to India to Amsterdam.

This woman has such a gift for words, her style is eloquent yet down to earth. Hearing the stories of women and children she has worked with opened my eyes to needs around the world that it is easy to remain blind to. Her own story has been marked with pain and suffering, as she walks through it with the reader she shows the hope that sufferers have in Christ, that there is purpose in pain, and as the subtitle states, "grace for every kind of broken."

My own prejudices against certain types of people were challenged. It is too easy to don the robes of self-righteousness and set myself up as a judge of others. Hearing her story and the stories of the people she has worked with humbled me, causing me to own up to my own sin in this area and reexamine how I view others.

Read The Scent of Water, come to see that there is always hope, and that God uses pain in our lives to accomplish beautiful purposes.