There were two scenes I favored, both amusing and bringing a smile to my face. First, the scene where Levi first goes to the library while Eden is reading to the kids and also the scene where Levi meets her father. They both made me chuckle!

Hello readers! As you may already know, I, Kait, am in Milton this week. I graduated with several of my closest friends on Saturday from high school. It was a blast! I have been kept quite busy, hence me writing this post late today. Tomorrow we leave and go back to Jacksonville(sigh), so I am enjoying my time here as much as possible! But, duty calls, so I am here to write my discussion post. ;) About a month ago I finished Not My Will by Francena H. Arnold. It was an excellent book, and I thought it would be perfect for today's post. :)

Last night I finished The Journey by Wanda Brunstetter and thought it would make the perfect book for our book discussion today. I'm actually going to be basing this discussion off a few things a side character did, rather than the normal main characters. I think that the lessons learned by the less involved character, Phoebe, were great and would make for an excellent post.



Stubborn.
Contrary to common belief, being stubborn is not a good thing. Perhaps determination is good when applied correctly, but stubbornness - no. Think of the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21, who was stoned because of his stubbornness. Snap.
Stubborn goes hand in hand with "Rebellious" and are often used together in Scripture.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
1st Samuel 15:23


And may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Psalm 78:8



Phoebe, in The Journey, leaves her home in the Amish community to embark on an adventure with her friend to California. It disappoints her parents and her boyfriend, now her ex because of her leaving, yet she is determined to make her own life. Her reasonings were definitely off balance, and she was quite rebellious, but the trip itself wasn't necessarily wrong. Phoebe just wanted to start her own life, and all is well...that is, until she loses her faith and crosses the line from determined to stubborn. Phoebe's friend moves back to the Amish community, having had enough of the English world and longing to return to the forgiving arms of her parent, leaving Phoebe having to pay the rent for their apartment alone. It isn't long before Phoebe is broke. But instead of returning and asking forgiveness from her parents, whom she disobeyed and dishonored, she allows her pride to take over and stubbornly refuses to go back home - refuses to admit she's wrong.


Before long, Phoebe has no choice and must turn to someone for help. During her journey to try to get back with her ex, Phoebe learns an important lesson and returns to the faith. She forces herself to swallow back her pride and return to her parents, who instantly forgive her and help her get back onto the right path.

Phoebe's stubbornness cost her a lot. Not only by then did she have a sum of debt because she refused to go home, but she also lost a lot of respect and hurt a lot of people. Stubbornness is far from being a virtue, and for many people it is something hard to keep at bay(I, myself, am not very good at not being stubborn, lol). But, with prayer, God can, and does, assist us with our downfalls. And for that, I myself am eternally grateful. :)

When trying to think of a good book to use for a book discussion, Promises to Keep kept popping up. It had such a strong message interlaced through it that would be perfect to talk about. Have you read it yet? It just came out this year and is the first book by Ann Tatlock I have read. If you haven't read it yet, I highly encourage you to check it out. :-)



The strong thread that wove through this book and pulled everything together was the dream of two little girls. The dream of wanting a Daddy. We've all had dreams, right? At least, I know I've had tons! I take after my dad, who is a big dreamer. :-)

Roz and Marie each promised to pray and help each other out to recognize their dream of having a daddy. I don't want to give anything away in this fun story, so will tread lightly. But the lesson the two girls learned is sometimes God has a very different plan in mind to grant them their wish.

They couldn't see it at the time, but after a while, when they looked back on their life, they realized that God did answer their prayers, just not the way they had thought - He didn't take the path toward their dream that they had planned on.

Promises to Keep is a perfect example of God knowing best. While we may wish, hope, and pray for something, God doesn't always grant us our wish - or He answers it in a different way. Why? Because God knows the overall outcome. He sees what we can't. And He knows what is best for His children.

A Merry Heart is one of my all time favorite books. I haven't read it in ages(a.k.a - a year :P), but I recently got it during a book swap so I will definitely be picking it up again soon!


Miriam Stoltzfus has lost nearly everything. The man she loves dumps her and moves away to marry someone else, her father dies, and her niece is seriously injured in an accident. Miriam has given up on ever being happy and continues living her life in solitude and depression. She welcomes few into her life and blocks out her family in friends.

Miriam's mother often brings up Proverbs 17:22 - A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Miriam felt like she had lost everything - but really, she had many more things to be thankful for that she wasn't seeing past her curtain of sorrow. The hardest thing for her - the thing that made the most lasting mark - was that fact that her boyfriend jilted and left her. Miriam no longer felt that men were to be trusted, and resolved to never bestow feelings upon one again.






Miriam ends up marrying Amos - a widower in need of a wife to take care of his daughter who has loved Miriam since childhood. Both have agreed to have it be a marriage in name only - the way Miriam wants it. Miriam ends up learning an extremely valuable lesson that is not taught often anymore - love is a choice, not a feeling. In the beginning, she refused to allow herself to trust him or allow him to touch her at all. It was all extremely platonic. Eventually, Miriam learns that she doesn't have to have mushy gooshy feelings toward the man to love him - love is a choice she must make. She must also choose to be happy again.






When Miriam learns that Amos loves her, she still is hesitant to become man and wife fully and stays in her own room. It isn't too long before Miriam realizes that she, too, loves Amos, and that with God's help, she can be the wife he needs. 






It was an amazing story with an extraordinary lesson to learn from it - contrary to common belief, love is not a feeling. It is not those butterflies one feels when her love walks into view. Love is a choice - a choice to be patient, kind, non-envious, non-boastful, humble, honoring, non-self seeking, not easily angered, and to not keep a record of wrongs. 


Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 
Love never fails. 

This week our book discussion will be based off of the book The Bride of Peace by Cindy Woodsmall.

Lena has grown up bearing the lasting scar of thoughtless jokes made by children when she was younger. While knowing now that she's older that they didn't know any better, some of the things said are not easily forgotten.
Lena was born with a large birthmark that runs down the side of her face. She's into her twenties and has never been courted. And the one man she loved ended up marrying a beautiful woman...


Lena has accepted how God made her and harbors no ill feelings toward Him, but some of the events that take place in her life she believes to be because of her mark: never having been courted and the man she loves marrying a far prettier woman. What Lena doesn't realize is that she is gorgeous and many people think so. And not only that, but it is her virtues that make her who she is - and it isn't how she looks that defines her.


It is what is within that is cherishable - not how we appear on the outside. Ever heard the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover?" Well as an experienced book-reader, I can say that this is enormously true. Some of the greatest books out there don't have gorgeous covers and you have to actually look into it to find that it is an amazing story. Well, the same is true with people. Outward appearances mean nothing to God. He looks within to find what is worthy. He looks for fear and reverence, humility, selflessness, kindness, compassion, patience, and faithfulness.


Not only that, but God wants us to be happy with who He has made us.

A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Proverbs 15:13


Imperfections don't define you - it is how you overcome them and discover joy that matters.

For today's discussion post, I thought to talk about Kathryn Cushman's recent book, Another Dawn. In the book, there is one lesson that stands out from all the others.

After Grace returns to her hometown to help her father recover from a surgery, we discover that she blames him for the death of her mother. It's a valid reason for her to blame him - it really was because of something he did and chose to do.

But not long after this...something happens in their little town. Because of a decision she made years ago for her son, the town has become infected by a serious illness. As young babies fall sick, everyone begins to blame Grace. It was her choice and she chose not to do something concerning her son's medical records, and now the babes in their small town were suffering for it.

It wasn't long before she made the connection - the townspeople were doing the exact same thing to her as she was doing with her father.

Because of a decision HE made years before, her mother died and she blamed him.
Because of a decision SHE made years before, the babies in town were sick and they blamed her.

She had come full circle.

It was hard for her to admit this. But when she did, she realized how wrong she was. Now that she was on the receiving end of blame, she could look at her attitude towards her father in a whole different light. Sure, his actions still resulted in the early death of her mother...but her actions also resulted in the serious sickness of several young children who could die from it.

Often, you think and see things very differently when you are actually IN the shoes than when you are an onlooker to the situation. Grace realized this first hand. She had wanted to hold a grudge against her father for her entire life...but now she couldn't. God had shown her, through a series of circumstances, that you should not judge someone when you do not know or understand the entire situation.

Has this ever happened to you? You think one way, but then when you are actually IN a situation like that, you see things totally different? I know I have! It reminds me that we, as Christians, should not judge others when we ourselves are not in that situation. The bible says not to judge. Period.

I read Head In The Clouds recently and absolutely LOVED it! I couldn't think of a better book to do my book discussion on this week.

Hey all! Today I will be using Jerry Jenkin's new book, The Brotherhood, for our book discussion. Please feel free to comment with your thoughts!

Oh, and btw, I am giving away a copy of this book on my blog. It was really good. You can go here to read my review. After that, make sure you go HERE to enter to win!! :-D

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There are quiet a few lessons to learn within this book, but I decided to discuss just one for today. One character trait that Boone had to deal with in The Brotherhood is his desire to be everyone's savior. In school, he came to the rescue of the bullied and before long was feared by the bullies. In the police department, he was passionate at his job, and earned a reputation of always coming to someones help and constantly talking about taking down the many gangs in the streets of Chicago.

What's the point of me telling you all this? Well, sometimes we Christians can do the same thing. Not intentionally, but we can. I know I do sometimes. I am so protective of those I love - I never want them to come to any harm. Then if there is a close call, I blame myself and think of a way I could have been there. Thinking I should have been there.

Then I realize - I can't be everywhere. I can't protect them forever. They are in the Lord's hands. He cares for them 100 times more than I do - He will protect them. Just like it says in Proverbs 18:10 - "The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." God has us all in the palm of His hand. We just need to learn to trust in Him - even when His will is not ours.

Joshua 1:9 - "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

So, there you have it. Are you the protective kind? I'd love to hear your thoughts!