February Book Recommendations

Here are this month’s book recommendations. I hope you enjoy them! Let me know what some of your favorites are as well. 

 

Fiction – To Win A Prince by Toni Shiloh 

I think this book has one of the best character journeys. The former prince Ekon experiences demotion, humiliation, struggles, and quite a learning curve as his entire life changes. Along the way, he discovers surprising things about himself and his family that cause him to genuinely search for answers and meaning in life. His journey to faith is so well portrayed, and the final plot twist was incredibly moving. The other main character, Iris, also learns an important lesson, that only God can change a person’s heart. If you enjoy meaningful Christian romance, this is a worthwhile read! 

 

 

Non-Fiction – Good Leaders Ask Great Questions by John Maxwell

As a life coach, I naturally ask a lot of questions. This book had great insights about the kind of questions that are helpful and meaningful. It also covered how to listen well and other qualities of an effective leader. Knowing the best questions to ask ourselves and others can help us to grow, learn, work, lead, and serve more effectively. I really enjoyed this great resource!

 

 

Children’s – The Treasure Tree: Helping Kids Understand Their Personality by John Trent and Gary Smalley

This fun book helps children understand the different personality types in ways they can relate to. The four animal characters represent different ways of how we think and relate. The characters have to work together using their unique strengths to reach their goal. This story helps kids better understand others, as well as identify their own personality traits. Great for family reading and discussion time!

 

He Sees Me – Guest Post

This month I’m happy to share a guest post from my friend Haley. I hope her testimony of God’s faithfulness and presence encourages you today. 

 

He Sees Me – by Haley V. Craft

 

These past two years have been an extended exercise in faith for me and my husband. We’ve walked through loss, health crises, legal challenges, publishing delays, and generally put our bank account through some fights that have left it a bit more bruised than we care to admit.

 

It’s been so discouraging, and all that pressure became crushing when we got some more bad news. First, it became clear that we will have to get a new car, despite our best efforts to get our cars paid off. It was yet another financial hit at a time when we were still trying to recover after having to replace my husband’s transmission.

 

Then I discovered that the physical copies of my book, which I had just launched the day before, wouldn’t be delivered in time for an event where I had been put in the lineup of speakers specifically to testify about how God had brought me through all the challenges of my unusually complicated publishing process. 

 

I felt so defeated. How would we ever be able to afford a house? How would we ever afford the expenses of having children? All our goals and dreams seemed to fly another million miles away.

 

The next morning, I got up, turned on that day’s episode of Daily Audio Bible, and started getting ready for the day as normal. When the recording got to the daily passage in Psalms, this is what I heard:

 

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord,

And He delights in his way. 

When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, 

Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand. 

I have been young and now I am old, 

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken 

Or his descendants begging bread.” 

–Psalm 37:23–25 (NASB)

 

If there has ever been a time when I experienced, more than just believed, the truth that God sees us and our struggles, it was at this moment. I was drowning in fears of financial failure and how that would affect our ability to care for our future children, and God met me right there through a few verses of Scripture written thousands of years ago.

 

Experiencing this reminded me of Exodus 3 when God told Moses that He had seen the oppression and pain of His people. The word translated as seen in our Bibles, doesn’t just refer to physical sight in the original language. It also carries a connotation of understanding something by experiencing it.

 

God wasn’t just saying that He saw what was going on from a distance. He was there with His people, experiencing their pain and providing the rescue they needed. That’s the God we serve! He’s not just interested in walking with us through the garden of Eden. He’s the God who joins us in the valley of the shadow of death, bringing with Him everything we need to make it through.

 

I don’t know about you, but just the thought of the Almighty being willing to come meet me in those dark and scary places relieves the tension in my shoulders. There is rest to be found in the truth—rest from fear and rest from despair—and I pray that you lean into that rest. Especially on the difficult days.

 

“The Lord said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey'” (Exodus 3:7–8a NASB).

 

*I recommend Haley’s new book Practicing Swordplay. It’s a practical, powerful guide to overcoming the enemy’s lies and confidently walking in God’s truth as the victor you are in Christ! 

 

Haley V. Craft is a follower of Jesus and a life-long learner who fell in love with the power and beauty of language when she was in college. When she’s not teaching, she loves encouraging others to discover God’s fingerprints in the ordinary. She and her husband live in Mississippi where she enjoys making her students laugh, writing, and hobbies like designing jewelry and enjoying the sunshine with a comfy chair and a good book. You can connect with Haley V. on her website where she writes a weekly devotional: https://haleyvcraft.com/