03 Jun Summer Book Club

Since we are all embarking on a summer of re-emerging (but not quite there) and there’s no bible study until Fall…. Let’s continue to fall in love with Jesus with one or more of these books!

These are 10 of my all-time favorites— in no particular order. I encourage you to grab a book, hold it in your hands, turn the pages and fall in love with reading!

New Morning Mercies, Paul David Tripp (Daily Devotional)

• Why I read it: I started reading this devo last summer after my dearest friend sent it to me. I’ve loved Paul Tripp’s other books, but this one is different… and it hooked my heart the first day.
• Why I love it: Paul David Tripp has a brilliantly beautiful way of speaking the hard truth about our human condition in that kind of “hurts so good” way, but always quickly pointing to the Cross and reminding us of the depth of God’s grace for every single part of our life. If you want to “grow in the GRACE and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), this is the devotional to start reading now. In the same vein as Morning and Evening and My Utmost, I’m sure that New Morning Mercies will become a beloved devotional classic.

Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers (Historical Fiction, based on the Old Testament book of Hosea)

• Why I read it: I read it at the suggestion of one of my best friends.
• Why I love it: Francine Rivers has a tremendous gift of brining some of the right stories of the bible to life in ways that minister to your heart. In Redeeming Love I saw myself in both Hosea and Gomer, and I saw my Savior Redeemer as the true Lover of my soul.

The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer (Christian Growth)

• Why I read it: I was longing for something more than just the proverbial “personal relationship with Jesus.” I wanted intimacy with God; to know him and love him more than anything.
• Why I love it: Tozer’s lifelong pursuit, his driving passion and the glorious ambition of his life was God. His writings have profoundly impacted me in the same way—to know God and keep falling more in love with him.

Simply Jesus: Experiencing the One Your Heart Longs For, Joseph Stowell (Christian Growth)

• Why I read it: I’m drawn to authors who’ve experienced a deeper intimacy with the Lord. Decades ago, I began praying to fall in love with Jesus. I wanted more than Crisis Jesus; I wanted to become intimately acquainted with “My Jesus.”
• Why I love it: This tiny book is practical, prayerful and powerful– full of treasures that will fan the flame of your heart and guide you seek to go deeper still with Jesus.

Intimacy with the Almighty, Charles R. Swindoll (Christian Growth)

• Why I read it: Ditto above… my life theme has been cultivating intimacy with Jesus. A friend gave this to me after she’d heard me teach on this and this little book just slayed me!
• Why I love it: I’ve read this book over and over again for years and each time I get something else out of it—practical truth about loving my Savior first, most and best, and living in his love. This is a little book and you can read it in one sitting, but I encourage you to re-read it often…savoring every page and applying it to your life.

Abbas’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, Brennan Manning (Christian Growth)

• Why I read it: I knew that I was God’s child, but I didn’t live like it. Believing it…living with that intimate knowledge that I was loved as God’s daughter was something I hadn’t fully realized, but I knew I desperately needed to. This book invited me to know God in the way my heart desired to know him—as my Father.
• Why I love it: If you have a hard time embracing the love God has for you as his child, this book will take you to another level in your relationship and knowledge of God as your Abba Father. Brennan Manning has the most beautiful way of revealing his heart, our hearts, and our desperate longing for our Abba Father’s love. I would highly recommend anything Brennan Manning has written.

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith and Traveling Mercies, both by Anne Lamott (Real Life Stuff)

• Why I read it: I was in a funk one summer and a friend suggested reading Anne Lamott’s books while I was on vacation. Quirky as they are, these two reads were just the elixir I needed.
• Why I love it: Truth and laughter go a long way with me and I absolutely laughed my way out of my funk with every turn of the page—one minute laughing ‘til I cried and the next crying ‘til I laughed. I’m talking soul laughter, where you can barely breathe because of the profound beauty and hilarity of real-life stuff. And P.S.: you don’t have to agree with someone on all fronts in order to enjoy them, laugh with them and learn from them. I enjoy Anne Lamott. Very much.  She keeps it real (sometimes a little too real), she’s hilarious, she talks about real-life gritty faith in the trenches, she amplifies what’s truly important important, and she loves Jesus.

My Heart Christ’s Home, Robert Boyd Munger and

Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles E. Hummel

Two little sticks of dynamite!

• Why I read it: My husband, John, suggested these two classics early in our marriage. I’ve given away more copies of these tiny booklets than probably any other book I’ve read because they were both so profoundly life-changing.
• Why I love it: Who says storybooks are just for kids? My Hear Christ’s Home is an allegory of the Christian’s life of surrender, transformation and daily intimacy with Jesus that Munger tells a beautiful simplicity that stirs your imagination. To this day I imagine Jesus walking with me through the “home” of my heart. There’s also a children’s version!
• Tyranny of the Urgent is more than a book about time management; it’s a critical exhortation to mindful, prioritized living and understanding the difference between the urgent and the important. As Hummel says, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” I try to re-read this book often… especially when I feel my life becoming more of a reactive hustle than a responsive walk.

He Speaks to Me: Preparing to Hear From God, Priscilla Shirer (Christian growth)

• Why I read it: Next to my salvation in Christ, nothing blows my mind more than knowing that my God, the Creator of the universe, wants to speak to me (John 10:27). With my insatiable desire for intimacy with God, I desperately desired to hear his voice and to know that it was Him speaking. At the time I knew very little of Priscilla Shirer, but I did know one thing: I wanted to hear God speak. And not just speak through someone else, I wanted to hear God speak to me.
• Why I love it: Communication is critical to human relationships—it brings a depth of intimacy and trust that is vital if that relationship is going to thrive and flourish. Our relationship with God is no different; we must know how to communicate with him, how to position our self to hear his voice and respond if we are ever to develop intimacy with him. I read this book in the summer of 2007 while in the mountains of Colorado—the place I often feel so close to God and it took my relationship with the Lord to a whole other level. One I’ve never come back from. Over the years I have grown to know and love and be taught by beautiful Priscilla Shirer, a true lover of God who lives what she teaches… and she does both so very well. You will love this book. (Also the Bible Study, “Discerning the Voice of God.”)

The Magnificent Obsession, Anne Graham Lotz (Christian Growth, follows the life of Abraham)

• Why I read it: I couldn’t not read this book. The title captivated me (I’d prayed for years for God to become my magnificent obsession) and the story compelled me to chase hard after God like—like Abraham did.
• Why I love it: Anne Graham Lotz is all kinds of lovely and she has the most profound but simple way of communicating biblical truth that causes it to ring every spiritual bell in my soul. This book challenged my faith in so many ways—to dream bigger, go farther and risk more for God…with That’s where true intimacy with God is found…and that’s precisely what Abraham found: intimate friendship with God as he risked it all for Him. Y’all—this is what the Christian Life is supposed to look like—walking by faith beyond your wildest imagination! Where “feet may fail” but faith fills your sails; where your hair gets all windblown from the wildest ride and biggest thrill of your life. Through Abraham’s life we see this ordinary man whose life became extraordinary all because he was completely sold out to God. Ever since reading this I’ve prayed, “Lord, what do you want to give birth to through my life and John’s in this “past the age” season of our life?” Because I want an Abraham kind of life… a life that pursues God with an obsession! I want that more than anything! Don’t you?

I love y’all!

xo – P ❤️