Miracles and Other Reasonable Things-review

Sarah Bessey is one of those writers who, I always feel like I really want to sit down with over some tea and scones and just talk geek about Doctor Who, Netflix, our kids, and our complicated relationship with the Church and God. While I have thought this previously with her two other books, as well as her Field Notes emails, I felt it in an even deeper way with her newest book, Miracles and Other Reasonable Things: A Story of Unlearning and Relearning God. I cried, laughed, shook my head, Googled, and commiserated (chronic pain is no joke).

Some quotes that really struck me and I highlighted:

I believe with my whole heart that the number one place where women should be flourishing is in the body of Christ. So I preached about what it might look like when ordinary women like us rise up in faith, at our full strength, instead of silencing or numbing or dumbing down or retreating in response to cultural pressure. It’s dangerous. Women who are awake are dangerous to the powers and principalities around us. We need to stop waiting for permission that has already been given. We’ve been commissioned to embody the Gospel in every corner of our lives.

 

If God had not forgotten me—and clearly God had not—and yet I was still part of the company of the unanswered prayers, perhaps that meant that I had misunderstood something about God. Perhaps the problem wasn’t God; perhaps the problem was the God I had created and the God I had been given.

 

Like most of us, when I walked through my own valleys of darkness and suffering and loss, God was often revealed to me in the darkness rather than in the light. The valleys were where I became intimate with God, far more than the mountaintops.

As someone who also deals with chronic pain and frequently wonders if I have pissed God off somehow, or if God even cares, this book really resonated with me. Also! The cover is beautiful and after you read it, the back sort of hidden image makes more sense.

The benediction at the end will. make. you. cry. It is so so beautiful. I actually did receive this copy as part of the launch team but I had already preordered an audiobook copy and all opinions are most definitely my own!

The Dream Daughter review

I was able to read an advanced copy of The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain in July and was like, okay this sounds kinda interesting let’s read it. At first, I wasn’t sure about it but I quickly was sucked into it and how the heck it was going to end!

Publishers synopsis:

When Carly Sears, a young woman widowed by the Vietnam war, receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970, and she is told that nothing can be done to help her child. But her brother-in-law, a physicist with a mysterious past, tells her that perhaps there is a way to save her baby. What he suggests is something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Carly has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage she never knew existed. Something that will mean an unimaginable leap of faith on Carly’s part.

And all for the love of her unborn child.

There is time traveling, heart break, friendships, puppies, children, and hope. Honestly, it may be one of the best books I have read this year and absolutely recommend it. It isn’t normally the type of book I read, but I really loved it and kept thinking “there is no way her baby isn’t going to be with her.” A mother’s love it never ending in this one.

Recent books I’ve loved

I adore books. I’ve posted more about books than just about anything else on here. So I’m going to post some I’ve loved and why (if I can remember, because, let’s be honest, sometimes brains decide to forgot specifics and instead just GUSH!)

I mostly read on my Kindle lately because constantly buying books can get expensive. However, if I really love a book, I will buy it anyway. I also enjoy audiobooks for my commute and have listened to several I enjoyed that way as well.

First up, are some Christian books I really loved. I read a bit of everything;  these just really spoke to me in some way.

Wreck My Life by Mo Isom (Christian Audio). This book may have been the most raw book I have ever read. Honestly. I had never heard of her prior to seeing this book come around. I thought “well this sounds like it could be interesting. I’m going through some craziness, I’ll listen to it.” She talks about her childhood, her soccer career at LSU, her father’s suicide, marriage. It’s amazing. I enjoy her social media posts (if you haven’t seen it, please do, and I’ll link one of my favorite ones below because she’s hilarious).

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Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi (Christian Audio) This is about a man who fully tried to prove to Christian classmates that Islam was the true religion and ended up finding Christianity as where he belonged. Really good! I listened to the audiobook version and loved it.

Steadfast Love by Lauren Chandler (Christian Audio) I just really like her. She’s funny and real and her husband’s church is local to around my hometown and I know/knew

The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp (Kindle) I actually tried to avoid this book. I mean, I really actively tried to avoid this one. I listened to the narrator, didn’t like her voice (I prefer when an author reads their own words but meh, that’s me). I just sometimes am not sure what to think of Ann Voskamp’s writing, or her but this book oh man, it was beautiful and strong and weak and conflicting all at the same time.

Wild and Free by Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan (Kindle) Just, just read it. It’s like having convos with your long distance best friends.

Play With Fire by Bianca Juarez Olthoff (Kindle) As a fellow Latina, I HAD to read this book by Bianca Juarez Olthoff. I had been following her sister, photographer, Jasmine Star for a long time on Instagram and and started following her a couple of years ago. Adore this loud, opinionated, spitfire of a Latina and all her quirks and realness.

 

I purchased most of these books on my own. Wild and Free and Play with Fire were both review books but it’s been a while and reviews were previously posted.

Cook Korean! Comic book cookbook

So, this cookbook comic book, Cook Korean! by Robin Ha is really fun and really cute! The pages are presented in comic book format with recipes, background information, and tips and tricks. My 13 year old was instantly attentive and looked for recipes to make in it ( we are teaching him how to cook). We haven’t had a chance to take any pictures of the meals we’ve made yet, but so yum!

I found this image on a google search, and it just shows a great overview of one of the pages. If you are new to Korean cooking (me!), you like comic books, or you just want to try a new type of cookbook, I’d highly recommend this book.

 

I chose this book from Blogging for Books because I love trying new recipes (especially Asian ones it seems) in exchange for my honest opinion.

Uninvited review

I have read quite a few books by Lysa TerKeurst, enough where I can consistently spell her last name correctly, have listened to a couple of audiobooks as well so I read everyhting in HER VOICE NOW (When she writes it anyway). Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely might be my favorite. It’s beautiful, seriously, READ IT! The title describes it well, about drawing nearer to God and keeping Him first, even though you feel like He’s far away because the world feels against you. So, instead of butchering her words, here are a few quotes that I hope I typed up correctly.

 

Finally I see that honesty isn’t trying to hurt me. It’s trying to heal me.

 

We run at a breakneck pace to try and achieve what God simply wants us to slow down enough to receive. He really does have it all worked out. The gaps are filled. THe heartache is eased. The provision is ready. The needs are met. The questions are answered. The problems are solved.

 

Fullness comes to use when we remember to be with HIm before going out to serve Him. He wants our hearts to be in alignment with Him before our hands set about doing today’s assignment for him.

 

The spotlight never fixes our insecurities. It only magnifies what we though popularity would cover up.

 

One of the most damaging elements in relationships is pride. That need to be the expert, the right one, the most knowledgeable-it pulls us down into a pit of pride we probably would never label as such. And because pride is so hard to see, here’s a hint of how to know it’s there: The less we feel we need to address pride in our lives, the more it has already blinded us.

I received this book from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest opinion.

Oz Naturals Retinol Moisturizer review

So I’ve reviewed an OZNaturals product before, an under eye gel (that I loved) and so I was really excited to try their Super Youth Retinol Moisturizer. {Sidenote: my overall eye care review will be up soon! I promise}

I’ve been using this one the last few weeks on my face, neck, and décolletage area. Since I’m in my early 30’s, I have been researching skincare as is evident by all of my various reviews and I thought that maybe others would be interested as well.

My skin is pretty sensitive, mostly on my chin where I tend to get cystic acne when I use certain products, or when I’m particularly stressed. I had absolutely no bad reactions to this product. It barely has a smell which was nice (their eye gel didn’t either, woo hoo!) My skin smoothed out, no new breakouts while using it, and some visible dark scars lightened during the two or three weeks I have been using the product. Unfortunately, no pictures this time around. Didn’t help that a vitamin I started using broke me out like crazy this week, so nope!

One of the reasons I love OZNaturals is that they are a cruelty free company who uses almost solely all natural products.

I received this product in exchange for my opinion.