Inspiring books

Often times people have asked me what grief books would be good to read. There were only a very few that I found helpful when I was grieving Art. Looking back without realizing it at the time, the books I have found most helpful for me during my time of grief and even just in my life in general have been biographies both fiction and nonfiction. After Art went to be with the Lord, our friend, Amy Peterson, had just finished and published her book "Perpetua". She gave me a copy and I read it in only a couple of days. I found it bizarre that a book about a first century martyer would give encourage me so much and make me fall deeper in love with the Lord.

After Zeke went to be with the Lord, someone had mentioned that in Francines Rivers, Trilogy Mark of the Lion, the main character's name is Hadassah so I decided I would read it. Again this book is about one who has suffered greatly and yet continues to testify and worship the Lord. My heart came alive reading that series that it hadn't felt in a long time. Hadassah's life exempified the Lord in so many life giving ways. After reading it, I was even more glad that I was naming our daughter Hadassah.

Now, I find myself after Wyatt going to be with the Lord reading, "The Heavenly Man". It is a true story about a Chinese Christian Brother Yun and his impact for the kingdom and what he endured and how He has remained true to the Lord and preached the gospel to so many and experienced many miracles as well as great suffering. Before reading this, I read a book on grief and to be honest I was dissappointed I was hoping that it would bring some sort of wisdom or comfort but instead I still felt empty. I brought the book "Heavenly Man" from home because Paul put it on the reading list. Reading "The Heavenly Man" although it has been hard to read at times due to the intense suffering, I have found myself wanting to pray more, memorize scripture, evangelize, and know the Lord in a deeper way.

I started to ponder this today: What is it about these books that impact me so much? I think it is because they don't try to give you answers. They simply tell a story of people's lives who experienced life like we do with its highs and lows and it is how they choose to deal with each situation. We can see the big picture because we read the story as a whole to know the impact of what their decisions made. Then it started to dawn on me of the wisdom God had of how He has written the Bible with it being primarly a collection of stories. Since everyone's sitution is unique, there is no way to give patted answers. We learn and are encouraged by the great cloud of witnesses who walked through this fallen world and tried to live a godly life which their Creator instructed them to live. The life of Jesus is so powerful because He is God in the flesh ... leaving His footprints for us to follow. It is easy to say but hard to do when you really apply his teachings and they way He lived his life. It is so counter-cultural. This is one of the reasons why these books impact me because the people actually live and respond like you think Jesus would have. Oh Lord this is my prayer help me to learn to respond to grief and my everyday daily decisions properly that it will draw others and myself to You. I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this subject or your favorite biographies.

Here are some more of my favorites:

No Compromise - The life of Keith Green

Brucko- by Bruce Olsen

A Chance to Die- The story of Amy Carmichael