Reading list from the past
One of my favorite things is reading. I remember completing reading challenges in school for prizes of pizza, book fair certificates, tickets to ball games and just the fun of keeping a list. I had a grandfather that fostered my love of reading. He would take me to used bookstores around his home (sometimes we would travel for almost 2 hours). Even on vacations we would sneak away to find a local used book store. We discovered so many off-the-wall places, and he enjoyed helping me build my vast library. Books are everywhere in my home, and when my grandfather passed, I was gifted his enormous library, too. Our interests are varied, yet it was a simple commonality that we could share.

I have kept the list of books that I’ve read the last few years. My memory is not so great, and I find that time is slipping all around; I’ve lost the breadth of time that came with youth. Now my days are confused with weeks and months, and years seem compressed in liquid moments. Lists help me with the spacing of time, and it helps me in remembering my journey. I thought I would list some books I’ve read. Everything I read helps me in some way or another, even if the text is pointing me away from a place I’d rather not visit or live. I think it is just as important to know where you want to go in life as it is to know what you’d like to avoid.
Books from 2019
These are in order as I read them:
Books I read for Lent:
Book I read for Eastertide:
Books I read for Advent:
The most important of all my reading is God’s Word. In 2019, I read the Bible according to Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s reading plan and used D.A. Carson’s commentaries For the Love of God (Volumes 1 and 2). This was also the year that I used a brand new journaling Bible in the English Standard Version, and kept notes and journaled directly in my Bible as I read and moved through the year. At the end of the year, the Lord asked me to place the name of The Pioneer (my oldest) on the cover and write him a note. This will be a keepsake Bible for him.

Takeaway
As I read back over this list, I can see the theme of preparation through the books. I had prayed early in the year that God would strengthen my faith; looking back, I can clearly see Him answering. It was the year before COVID shutdowns, and the surprise leading of an intense discipleship group. It was two years before God closed some doors in hard and unwelcome ways, and yet, with my current eyes of faith, it makes so much more sense!
Do you have a love for reading? Books that have helped in your transformation? Leave your comments and recommendations below.