I grew up loving to read; getting lost in adventure, being transformed into a different place and time. Climbing up in grandma’s four poster cannonball bed; on one side, the stack of green and gold Book House books and Mama on the other.
We called my grandma, Mama – pronounced Mawmaw. The sweet smell of honeysuckle drifted through her open bedroom window. My favorite green and white gingham blankie, my thumb, Dr. Seuss, Mama and I snuggled together at the end of the evening.
Even now, forty years later, that smell carries me back to the middle of Mama’s big bed. If I close my eyes, I can hear the familiar rustle of the wind through the forest of trees in her back yard and the soothing song of the train in the distance.
One of my favorite books is Shell Silverstein’s, “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” I love the poem titled, Sick. As a child, it brought me unbridled joy. It’s about a precocious little girl who came up with every ailment she can think of to get out of going to school; however, she didn’t realized it was actually Saturday.
“What…what’s that you say? You say today is Saturday? Goodbye, I’m going out to play.” I wanted to be that little girl who broke the rules; I memorized every word of that poem.
As an adult, my passion for reading continued mostly with fiction; Stephen King, John Grisham, some romance. Truly an escape.
But I now found myself in a foreign place; my life was in chaos and my marriage was failing. No time for reading or much else, I was physically, emotionally and spiritually drained. Searching for answers and begging Him to change me, I thought, I should start with reading the bible.
I could never read the whole bible. It’s too hard.
Plagued with the inability to sleep and up each morning at 4am, it seemed like the time to give it a try. I mean, seriously, what else does one do at that hour, besides sleep? No one has ever described me as a morning girl. But nevertheless, each morning, I would visit my soft leather chair, a cup of strong black coffee in one hand and my trusty bible app in the other.
365 days later, I had done it. Surprising even myself, I read the whole bible, the Message version. My friend, Kevin teased declaring “that’s cheating”; like there is some reward for reading the bible in the King James even if I don’t understand a single word. The Message reads more like a story and HIS power shot like a flaming arrow through my soul.
I craved more of HIM and reading became a way for me to find Him. In the bible, at first, but then in other books too. Each time, I would repeatedly hear of a book, I would think, I‘m supposed to read that book. (See my Palms Up blog post.)
As if drinking from a firehose, I would grab the next book and dive in; ready, excited and a little scared to see what He had for me.
God is weaving an incredible tapestry in and through my life; in all of our lives. In the small daily moments, peering through the fog, it’s hard to see but looking back the picture begins to comes into focus. There is a thin God sewn thread that runs through each of these books, leading me from one to the next.
And, the list keeps growing…just like he’s growing me.
I would love to hear from you, share with me, what book has transformed you? I would love to add it to my list!
- Jesus Calling by Sarah Young : A daily devotional. Sarah writes as if Jesus is having a personal conversation directly with us, one on one, and embedded with scripture.
- Love Dare by Alex and Stephen Kendrick : A book with a call to action. 40 days to change your marriage, but something more; a true picture of the unconditional love God has for us and wants us to have for others.
- Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend : Creating personal boundaries for safe relationships, overcoming guilt and fear.
- Love Does by Bob Goff : Showing up and loving others how Jesus loves us! Love does stuff.
- Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller : Life, Love and redemption. Transformed the “rules” of Christianity into freedom in Christ.
- Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers : The Biblical Stories, historical fiction, of five imperfect women in the bible who were transformed by God’s love and grace and who were ultimately used by Him.
- Life Interrupted by Priscilla Shirer : Navigating the unexpected in life through the life of Jonah.
- The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis : Fictional novel of two demons playing with a human to bring about temptation and chaos. Incredible picture of how satan creatively plants his lies into our hearts and minds.
- The Shack by William P. Young : Fictional novel that challenges us to “see” God differently; gives personal tangible human qualities to God.
- Scary Close by Don Miller : Don’s personal story of stepping into fear and grabbing ahold of intimacy to find our true identity and real relationships.
- Wild at Heart by John Eldridge : A book written for men, but not only men. A picture of a man’s heart, a woman’s heart but also taking risks and stepping out to discover our deepest desire.
- The Art of Work by Jeff Goins : Discovering your life’s work, what you were meant to do – your calling.
- Crazy Love by Francis Chan : Going all out for God, living above the status quo. Falling in love with God and our passionate pursuit of HIM, daily.
Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
I’ll echo The Shack, too
Kristen, I love this post. It is so well written and touches on the important subject of how and which books have affected our growth in life. I too began reading the bible in earnest after a divorce. First, I began by reading a lot of psychology when I noticed almost every book I read referenced the bible in some way. So I went to the source and began reading. I can’t say I read the whole thing in a year, what an accomplishment, but I did begin to see the relevance of biblical stories to modern life. Some of the books on my list came out of that period of life, others touched me in different ways. Here’s my list.
Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine – I think I read every Danny Dunn book in the library in the mid-sixties. This was the beginning of my life as a reader.
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver Kingsolver is such a great writer that I have drawn inspiration from her. During the time I read this book, I also began writing for the first time.
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger The father in this story has a near death experience. I love the way the author handles it.
A Place Where the Sea Remembers by Sandra Benitez Benitez is an outstanding Latino writer who has written more important works, but this one was the first of her that I read and still a favorite.
The absolutely true diary of a part time Indian by Sherman Alexie Alexie is a Native American from the Northwest with a great sense of humor and a poetic imagination.
Going All the Way by Dan Wakefield They are dedicating a park to Wakefield here in Indianapolis. I’ve met him a couple of times and felt inspired to write my novel after reading this book.
Love and Wisdom by Emmanuel Swedenborg Hardly anyone even knows who Swedenborg is these days, but I find him fascinating (though extremely difficult to read).
Daring Greatly by Brene’ Brown This is a wonderful book on vulnerability and taking risks.
A Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer Parker is a brilliant writer and thinker from the Quaker tradition.
The Natural Depth in Man by Wilson Van Dusen This book was written in the late sixties and has nourished me for many years. Like Swedenborg, hardly anyone knows of Van Dusen these days. But he feels like a kind older uncle to me.
Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Carl Jung Jung’s psychology has been instrumental in my understanding of the spiritual life.
The New Being by Paul Tillich Tillich was a brilliant Lutheran theologian who ushered in a new way of understanding God in the modern world. His ashes are scattered in a park named after him in New Harmony, Indiana. It was one of the first places we visited when we arrived here from the Seattle area.
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Everyone in Indianapolis should read Vonnegut. Everyone in Seattle has.
The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell Campbell’s series with Bill Moyers on mythology opened from me a new way to understand the bible that made sense to my modern, skeptical mind. He also describes in this book the basic storyline of a mythology which can be applied to works of fiction. The plots of the Star Wars movies were based on his writings.
You have amazing stuff here