Game-changer

Time for an 'awww' moment...when I initially opened this blog, it was to record the valuable lessons God has taught on my journey with the Him. Then my sweet husband came home one day with a beautifully bound journal, and presented it to me. His words went something like, "your thoughts are valuable enough to me that I felt you should have something worthy to record them in" and of COURSE I melted. Disgustingly sweet, I know, sorry for inducing your gag reflex. But I know myself pretty well, and this my be a game-changer. I am SO not disciplined enough to journal and also blog (we are talking about someone who occasionally finds the milk hanging out in the pantry. With the cereal. Because they are friends). So mainly this blog will now be for book reviews.

Anyone that has had over five minutes of contact with me knows that I am a voracious reader, and a student at heart. I study the Bible with four different versions in hand, along with a commentary or three and a Greek translator (it's an app, not a random Greek person hanging out in my house. Although that would be very cool.) In what little free time I have, I devour Christian fiction as fast as the authors can crank it out (some would call me a nerd...I would agree). One of the biggest challenges, however, has been sifting through the mountains of books out there to find the ones that truly bring a great message, combined with an interesting plot and characters you actually care about. In this day of the electronic books, everyone has become a publisher, so the mountain has grown. So even though I now have a cool new journal, I will occasionally use this blog to toss out a high five to the author. Or....not.

God exhorts us, in Philippians 4:8, to keep your mind pure:

  

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (ESV)

As in all things God commands, there is a purpose for our good. When your mind stays focused on the things above, it feeds the Spirit and keeps you in step with His will. I try and apply this command to every aspect of my life, both in my entertainment choices and in my thought life. My prayer is that my nerdy-ness will be used by God to direct others to books that will bless them.