Please excuse the fuzzy poor quality picture from my copy/paste job off of Amazon's website. This is a book called: how people change by Timothy S. Lane an Paul David Tripp. My friend Julie gave me this book after one of those conversations you would really only have with your good friend. I love to read. I read tons of books every week: all children's books and I love it. But, the Lord saw fit that it was time for me to again read for myself and this was the book.
There are really only a few books that I recommend reading apart from the Bible. The two had been: Safely Home by Randy Alcorn and What God Wishes Christians Knew about Christianity. (I think that's the title: I don't actually own that. My brother lent it to me about 10 years ago so I could be rusty on the name also.) How People Change now joins the ranks of recommended reading. The book is 223 pages long: For some, that's a short weekend read. For me, 223 pages may as well have been a set of encyclopedias as I barely have time to groom myself lately- let alone read a page out of a book...223 times. God's answer to that: insomnia. Seriously. I read this book in the quiet of the night when I could not sleep, which was often. But the house was quiet and I was never interrupted.
Summarizing the book would be difficult and also sell it short. However, I'll start with 2 main take home lessons:
1) How many times have you heard that everyone has that "God sized hole that only He can fill" in their lives? If you just add Jesus to your life, it should all settle into this nice Focus on the Family- worthy example of godliness. I've known that wasn't true for a long time (reality taught me that lesson!), but it was difficult to put into words why. This book did that for me: Because I have filled that hole with something else. Add Jesus all you want, but the hole is still filled with the wrong thing.
2) Your hole being filled with the wrong things (aka your life's idols) are revealed in both times of Heat (trials, etc) and Rain (blessings that tempt us to forsake the Lord...chew on that thought for a minute). Essentially, learning to recognize when your anger at life or the aggravations of life are actually your worship of your idols rather than God and then repenting of that is the first step to being able to let Christ live His holiness in your life.
It is hard to swallow that God might not be just about to take away that huge frustration or make right that disappointment or injustice but rather to reveal His power through it. But, it is what I needed to hear and I thank God for Julie's gift of that book at just the right time.
And on a much lighter note: The Maglinger happenings are many. Hope is learning to ride her bike with no training wheels. Will is learning to go potty. There is a lady named Bonnie in the nursery of Hope's school that keeps Will. She just told me that he was ready and talking frequently about it with her and I was not to bring him back without Pull Ups. So, ok- Pull Ups it is.
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| We still have a ways to go, but progress is being made. |
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| And some good news: Holiday World now allows season pass holders to come in to the Halloween Weekends. What a treat! So, we'll be heading there as the schedule allows! |
