2023: A year of reading

Whew! 2023 was certainly an unexpected roller-coaster ride of a year. I am incredibly thankful for all of the prior preparation in my life that came before the experiences of the year. This chunk of time became a gift from my Father, simply because I can say I know Him better. I have longed to be able to ‘slow down’ in the amount of reading I am doing, but His answer is “not yet.” As I was reading one book, usually the author would reference other books, and so I followed these recommendations to create the list you see below. I did a lot of reading on loss, grief, trauma and religious abuse. Most of the reading this year was nonfiction and pretty heavy. Several books will land on my read again list for 2024, especially Discipleship on the Edge by Darrell Johnson. I am hoping for a slower pace and the ability to synthesize my own thoughts and gleanings from all of the input from 2023 through more journaling this year. We’ll see what my Father has in store.

Several doors slammed in my face this year, and that unsettled my soul. There were several scary circumstances that the Lord engineered to increase my faith. I surprised myself in lots of ways, and found gratitude a beautiful result. Plenty of new-to-me revelation occurred for me to assimilate into my journey. While there might have been a shift in my sight over the last several years, this year, I think there was a fine-tuning in my focus. Certainly still walking by eyes of faith, but a sharper focus on particular aspects of the spiritual realm. Pray that I am able to write about this in more depth, it has been exciting and rewarding to increasingly think with the mind of Christ.

My reading list from 2023

Here are the list of books for 2023 in the order I completed them.

• A Woman of Strength and Purpose by Cynthia U. Tobias
• The Renewed Mind by Larry Christenson
• The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me by Major W. Ian Thomas
• The Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee
• Leading with a Limp by Dan B. Allender
• Prophetic Ministry by T. Austin Sparks
• Victory in Christ by Charles Trumbull
• Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton
• The Way of the Cross (Beyond Humiliation) by J. Gregory Mantle
• Alex Rider: Nightshade by Anthony Horowitz
• Wildwood Imperium by Colin Meloy
• Dear Abba by Brennan Manning
• Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr.
• Restoring Broken Things by Steven Curtis Chapman and Scotty Smith
• The Believer’s New Covenant by Andrew Murray
• The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God through prayer, wisdom and silence by Henri J.M. Nouwen
• Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness by Michael Card
• Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown
• Teaching to Change Lives by Dr. Howard Hendricks
• Pure Heart: Restoration of the Heart through the Beatitudes by Tom and Donna Cole
• Unpacking Pain with Jesus by Courtney Deyerle
• Sit Walk Stand: The Process of Christian Maturity by Watchman Nee
• In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri J.M. Nouwen
• The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes
• A Fragile Stone: The Emotional Life of Simon Peter by Michael Card
• Not Good if Detached by Corrie ten Boom
• The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen
• Life of the Beloved by Henri J.M. Nouwen
• There Were Two Trees in the Garden by Rick Joyner
• More Jesus, Less Religion: Moving from rules to relationship by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton
• Taking our Cities for God: How to break spiritual strongholds by John Dawson
• The Blessing: Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance by John Trent and Gary Smalley
• The Tabernacle: Shadows of the Messiah by David M. Levy
• Hit Hard by Pat and Tammy McLeod
• Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief by Pauline Boss
• Tired of Trying to Measure Up by Jeff VanVonderen
• Something’s Not Right by Wade Mullen
• Paul, Women and Wives (Part 1, first half of the book) by Craig S. Keener
• Bandersnatch by Erika Morrison
• Redeeming Power by Diane Langberg
• Healing Grace by David A. Seamands
• Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges
• Lament for a Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff
• The Healing Path by Dan Allender
• A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards
• A Grace Disguised: How the soul grows through loss by Jerry Sittser
• The Great Meaning of Metanoia by Treadwell Walden
• Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven by James Bryan Smith
• The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn
• Trauma and Recovery by Judith Lewis Herman, M.D.
• Discipleship on the Edge: An Expository Journey through the book of Revelation by Darrell Johnson
• Devoted to Israel by Murray Tilles
• A Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith
• Lifetime Guarantee: Making your Christian life work and what to do when it doesn’t by Bill Gillham
• A Table in the Wilderness (Daily Devotional) by Watchman Nee
• Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

My journey through the Word

My Bible reading plan this year was the Grant Horner plan. He encourages a moderate pace of reading (no time to slow down and study, really) and around 10 chapters a day. I also read through the Psalms each month at a pace of about 5 per day. I enjoyed the massive intake of Scripture since there are connections throughout the Word. How neat to see themes emerge in seemingly unrelated places. I used a daily devotional by Watchman Nee called A Table in the Wilderness, and really enjoyed his insight. I also read through the book of Colossians several times and also read through several other New Testament books with a study group on Sunday afternoons. This was a particularly sweet time for me this year.

Have you read any books you would recommend? Leave a comment below.