June 2023 – Welcome

Books Worth Reading – Healing What’s Hidden by Evan & Jenny Owens

Practical Steps to Overcoming Trauma

If you have ever been through a trauma, I cannot recommend this book enough. Evan and Jenny Owens originally started their ministry helping veterans heal once returning home from deployment. They eventually formatted their program to more civilian, generalize trauma and wrote this book. It gives a combination of “clinical insight and faith-based support” that is so rare in the trauma informed world.

I read this book last summer as I started my journey to heal from a decade-long marriage trauma. It was the perfect kick start to the work that was ahead as we moved towards reconciliation. The book introduced me to the clinical terms involved in healing a trauma, helped me identify my feelings, and take the first steps to feeling and healing all the things that had been tucked away.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the journal prompts at the end of each chapter designed to help you process and apply what you had just read. Though healing trauma is hard, messy work, it is absolutely a book worth reading!

Books Worth Reading – Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge

Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad

This is one of the few books my husband and I read together. Released in 2020 during the height of the global pandemic, racial tension, and political unrest, this book was life giving to our household. John Eldredge reminds us that we were not created for the pace of this world, but we have full power to take control. He speaks to how the tragedies of life around us, the bombarding of information, and the speed in which we do things is chipping away at our souls.

Eldredge gives the most practical advice on simple things to incorporate in your day to “take back your life”. Simple things like the One Minute Pause, benevolent detachment, being kind to yourself, embracing beauty, and unplugging from technology. There is even an app for the One Minute Pause!

This book helped my husband and I to make simple adjustments that were crucial to surviving 2020 but also just as relevant for today. The “everyday practices for a world gone mad” that are in this book definitely makes this a book worth reading!

Books Worth Reading – Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons

Trading Stress and Anxiety for a Life of Peace and Purpose

I have battled anxiety and depression since childhood, but the struggle became unmanageable after I had our oldest son. I have written in the past about caring for the holistic self and this understanding started with the book Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons.

In this book, Rebekah talks about her own struggle with anxiety and how she learned to manage it by fostering four areas of her life – rest, restore, connect, & create. The book is full of practical advice that she implemented into her own life in order to enjoy life rather than being consumed by stress and anxiety.

I have read this book twice while using the companion online Bible study the second time around. Though I have read other books addressing anxiety and mental health since then, this one remains a go to for me. I often journal these four areas to ensure they are all being nurtured and are in balance. When a book gives you practical advice you are still utilizing years later, it makes it a book worth reading!

Books Worth Reading – Seamless by Angie Smith

I’m starting the first book review by breaking the rules. Seamless is not a book! However, it makes my top books worth reading list because of how it helped me read the most important book, the Bible. Seamless is a Bible study by Angie Smith that walks you through the entire Bible and teaches you how the Bible fits together to tell a seamless love story between God and His people.

This Bible study changed my life by igniting a deep desire to understand God’s word and teaching me to study it on my own. Angie explains how everything, even the hard to read, confusing, and sometimes boring parts of the Bible points to Jesus and is vital to our understanding of the overall story God tells us in His word.

I have done this Bible study twice, the first time on my own during the lockdown of Covid in 2020 and then with a group of women from work when I was at the bank in 2021. I can assure you, if you do the study on your own, it is impactful, but I strongly encourage you to walk through it with a friend or group of friends. This Bible study is definitely a book worth reading!