I am expecting to be snowbound one of these days before Easter. I do live in Oklahoma where last year’s blizzard came in February. I have been preparing for the coming snow. I checked all around the outside of the house. I brought in the hoses, covered the outside faucets and hung the snow shovel in the garage. Our church is being winterized as well. In addition, I have made a list of the books to read when the winds and snow begin to blow outside. I have a couple of recommendations, if you need something to warm your heart on a cold winter’s day.
Snowbound Feb 2011
One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, by Ann Voskamp. This book recounts the author’s personal challenge to discover 1,000 blessings in her life as a believer, the wife of a Christian farmer/rancher in the upper mid-west, as she struggles with the mundane, the gritty, and the heartaches of her life. As she tells some of the stories behind her blessings, she encouraged and inspired me to really notice the everyday gifts from God. She discovered in chronicling her blessings that “in this expressing of the gratitude for the life we have, we discover the life we’ve always wanted.”
7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, by Jen Hatmaker, is a book I am somewhat afraid to read, but plan to on a cold snowy day soon. Jen is a pastor’s wife and popular speaker. She and her husband Brandon had three children when she wrote this book. They have since adopted two children from Ethiopia. Jen Hatmaker was a classmate and sorority sister with our daughters at Oklahoma Baptist University. This book tells of the “family experiment” to take seven months spending each month fighting back against one of “seven modern-day diseases:” Food, Clothes, Spending, Media, Possessions, Waste and Stress. The call to Christ-like simplicity and generosity led the Hatmaker family to a deep spiritual awakening.
Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Warm your heart. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.
