Stuff That Matters in Life

Katy’s Weblog

On Saturday, a friend shared her favorite verse – Isaiah 41:10.

She said she did not know that verse, but she heard God speak to her in similar words when she was feeling overwhelmed and distressed about her job. When she got home and told her husband, he showed her Isaiah 41:10 – almost the exact words that came to her when she was driving home.

Read more of “God speaks”

After talking to some friends about finding friends for support, it got me thinking about my journey of friendships through life stages.

It’s easier to have friends when you are single, in college. Everyone you see daily are in the same stage of life, with similar issues, and it’s easy to find people who understand you, a meeting of the minds. As a Christian, I naturally gravitated towards finding friends for support in a Christian fellowship group.

Read more of “Friendship and support”

I’ve been attending a small church for the last 20 years. Everyone in a small church has to wear several hats, and I had taken on some leadership roles. I don’t think I’m gifted as a leader. I’ve always seen myself as a teacher and discipler. But since there are many needs in a small church, I do whatever needs to be done.

Read more of “Good works”

Same Life, New Story by Jan Silvious has the subtitle “Change Your Perspective to Change Your Life”. It is indeed a good book for women who are going through difficult circumstances and need encouragement to change. The book is also said to be a Bible study. But it’s not a study guide as I expected. It’s more just a book with discussion questions.

There are 10 chapters, each based on a woman in the Bible, and the characteristic she displayed in overcoming an obstacle and choosing a better way. Each theme of the chapter is illustrated by many stories of contemporary women facing a problem, usually a problem of her past. The Bible woman is an illustration of how we can rewrite our story to live a better life.

After each chapter, there are personal reflection questions and group discussion questions. There is also a journal prompt to have you write down the action you will take to change.

The book is very readable with some good insights, but I wouldn’t use it as a Bible study.

Disclosure:  Thomas Nelson provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for this review. Opinions are entirely my own.

Another book given to me by B for my birthday. She warned me it’s a tear jerker, and it is. I cried at several parts of the book.

Same Kind of Different As Me is a true story of the friendship between Ron and Deborah Hall, an affluent white couple, and Denver Moore, a rough, homeless black man. I am glad it made it on the New York Times Bestseller list; I hope lots of people read it and get inspired by the message in the book.

The message is not just about friendship and love – you know, all that good stuff. But the gospel message is there, about human sin, redemption, forgiveness, and the realities of life here on earth. Real life does not always end with happily ever after, but God has a purpose for all that happens, true for the Halls and true for us.

Ron Hall started with a careless and pompous attitude towards the homeless. He said he was acting much like Henry Higgins. But Denver Moore changed his life.

I am convicted that I don’t often look past the exterior of the needy. This book allowed me to see that they are in fact a “same kind of different as me.”

Josephine Tey, the pen name of Elizabeth Mackintosh, is a contemporary of Agatha Christie. I’ve been trying to request her books from the library, but it seems not many of her books are in print. The first time I requested a book by Tey, it arrived in Chinese! That was interesting.

A Shilling for Candles is a whodunnit type of mystery. I like the way it’s written, good character development, believable plot, and a satisfying ending. But I did guess who the killer was, without reading the ending first.

Tey is not as good as Christie, but, hey, of course no one can match the Dame. The book was entertaining enough that I will request another of her books again, not in Chinese please.