stories

I think all collectively I have written at least 40 pages today. My brain is tired and because of such, I had every intention of skipping out on my reverb post for the evening. And yet... here I am. I claim often that I like to write but maybe I need to amend that statement. I love to write about what I want to write about. Pushing through to the end of the semester....

Tonight's post comes to you from a mountain house in the hills of North Carolina. My sweet roommates and I got out of town for the weekend to study, eat, watch the game, and just be together before everyone heads separate ways-- some of us for the holidays and some of us for good. So far we have had such a wonderful time just laughing, drinking coffee, and telling stories. You'll be proud to know that I've gotten a shocking amount of schoolwork completed today also and it's been so nice to just relax together.

Anna and I went on a morning walk to here today:

Okay, okay, it isn't snowing. We just walked to the edge of the fake snow at the nearby ski resort... tricked you ;)

The prompt: What books have you read?

Earlier this year, Jeremy Echols shared with me the bit of wisdom that "a leader is a reader". As a child, I was a big-time reader but just as school can make you hate to write by constantly forcing it upon you, the same can happen with reading. I have a passion for books-- just the other day I found myself wandering through Barnes and Noble helplessly. It melts away the stress somehow. I also really love old books and the fact that they have stories not just inside them but behind them also. There's something about the way they smell...

That being said, I unfortunately don't always find myself actually reading those books that I love so dearly. But in this past year I feel that I have done a better job of that so I'll share just a few books that stick out in my mind that I have read, cover to cover, in the past year.

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp 
If you've been around my blog at all this past year, you'll know that this book entirely and completely spoke to my heart and largely changed the way I view my world and my faith. It was given to me by my sweet friend Karen last year, beautifully wrapped with a piece of twine, and we walked along the journey of discovering eucharisto together-- an adventure that resulted in the two of us with our toes in the sand of a beach counting the little blessings we were grateful for in each day. I highly recommend this book to anybody. I may read it again soon.

Walking with God by John Eldridge
I have to admit that there are a few things in this book that I didn't necessarily agree with. That just goes to show me that unless you are reading directly from the word of the Lord, you have every right to (and should) run everything you read through the filter of Scripture to see how it comes out the other side for you, even if written by a Christian author. Despite that, I really enjoyed this book at times and the Lord certainly spoke to me through it. I enjoyed watching how directly what I would read would correlate with what God was trying to teach me at the time. Definitely a solid read.

Grace for the Good Girl by Emily Freeman 
I mentioned this book in my blog post yesterday. I'm not all the way through this one yet but I started it in hopes that it would compare to One Thousand Gifts and I'll be honest-- it's not exactly the same. Still, Emily shares some beautiful truths and the Lord has been pairing her words with my study of Scripture to teach me some incredible things lately. I'll probably go read some more after this :)

I've read a lot of stuff for school... I read a book for church... I've read pieces of a lot of books... I read a book written by a friend of mine and I've read lots of children's stories. I read blogs every single day-- those aren't books, but they are stories. I won't share any more specifically tonight (I'm running on some cold coffee fuel right now) but I will say this:

Reading is important. Stories are important. Time and time again lately I have walked with my kids at church through the power of stories and the power of sharing your story of what the Lord has done in your life. You never know who might need to hear it. I'll close tonight by sharing my friend Anthony's story. I hope the power of the Lord speaks to you the way it speaks to me here. 



This Is My Story: Anthony Welch from Elissa Ewald on Vimeo.

Farewell, friends. I'm off to sit back in front of the fireplace.