Welcome to the Australasian Christian Writers Tuesday Book Chat. This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
Can you recommend a book that has helped you deal with a major life issue?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group.
Let’s chat!
I remember when mum died I read a book by Cecil Murphey and Liz Allison called “Words of Comfort for Times of Loss”. It was a book that was both a comfort and practical help at the time. It had suggestions on how to cope with special occasions like Christmas. He also wrote another book ” Because You Care: Spiritual Help for Caregivers” with Twila Beck that was also helpful as I was a carer for my mother.
Your turn.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation in a comment on this post or in a comment on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group.
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And don’t forget: if you’d like to participate in our weekly Book Chat by posting the question and your answer on your blog, drop us an email via our Contact page and we’ll send you the list of questions for 2020.
The timing was wrong for helping me, but I plan to recommend Christine Dillon’s Grace in Strange Disguise to friends in crisis who are struggling with their faith when God isn’t doing what others have told them He should.
I can understand how sometimes a book is at the wrong time for us but could help another. I have read a few after the fact but I think as you said you now can recommend it as you can see how it would have helped you.
I have read a few books dealing with DV in different ways that I have prayed reach the hands of those dealing with it. Partly to understand that what is happening is not ok (IE mental abuse) and partly to let them know there is help and a way out.
After mum died I seemed to be reading a few books with either a child who had lost their mother or a main character having lost a mother often awhile back and some of the things said were what I was feeling. The child was upset cos he couldn’t remember his mothers voice and thought it meant he couldn’t remember her. I at the time also couldn’t remember her voice and it was a struggle. I don’t remember the reply to the child now but it helped me at the time. I know it was a book by Mary Connelly but I don’t remember the title.
So many! I process by reading and thinking. Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist helped me through a time of depression. It became a roadmap of sorts.
What We Talk About When We Talk About God By Rob Bell helped me when I was questioning God. His poetic words spoke to my soul and helped me to reconnect with God.
Brene Brown’s books have helped me deal with many life issues.
Lots of fiction over the years has spoken into my life. Francine Rivers’ books, for example.
I tried to reply yesterday but the computer didn’t like me. (I need a new one bad)
I read a book by Virginia Smith which had a secondary character Aunt Louisa who Identified with. She was also single and a carer for her mother. The main character was staying with her grandmother and could see how she was manipulating Aunt Louisa and controlling her life. She called her grandmother on it and helped her Aunt stand up to her mother. At the time I was caring for my mother and without a boyfriend I could have been Aunt Louisa. It opened my eyes a little too and gave me hope.
Books can often open our eyes to a situation we are in but need it pointed out or like this book see it played out. I could see how the grandmother was controlling and knew I was being controlled but it also showed how it can take an outside person to help with a situation.
Robin Jones Gunn’s Sisterchicks series have been helpful in many ways and at different times. I’ve read all of them at least twice, and each time there is something helpful. Sisterchicks in Gondolas has been the most helpful, but it really depends on what’s happening at the time as to which in the series helps at the time. They are also ones that can be read on their own, so I’ll go back to some of them more than others.
True about the Sisterchick books there is so much in the book besides a fun read. the book set in Hawaii made me need to go there. Sisterchicks downunder had me laughing so much as several things in the book had happened to me. (Think the spa scene with the bubbles only for me they didn’t go on into the room but the bathroom had bubbles everywhere). I had to try chocolate fish.
Another book I related too was one where the main Character became homeless through not fault of her own and ended up living in a refuge. That could have been me. I had to move when the landlord got a bit funny but trying to find something wasn’t easy and if not for God’s hand in where I am now living I was very close to being homeless.
For some reason, lots of people, including Christians, are afraid of death. After reading a book called “My Dream of Heaven” I am excited about going Home to be with the LORD and my ancestors! It was written in 1898 so it’s in a beautiful old English style. Highly recommend for anyone who is afraid of dying.
https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Heaven-Rebecca…/dp/1606830139
Thanks for commenting. I know when mum was in pain and in the nursing home all she wanted to do was die to be with God. When she did pass away yes I missed the mum of my youth but I wasn’t sad for her as I knew she was where she wanted to be. I know someone who is a Christian but always makes comments like when we die we will be in heaven but I hope its a long time away or I hope its not soon. It’s like he is scared to die. I can see this book would be helpful. (I do understand some people are not so much scared for themselves but for those they will leave behind. My friend passed away last year from cancer and her biggest fear wasn’t dying it was for her children without her especially an adult child with special needs)
Back in 1992, I lived in outback QLD and I had received a Koorong catalogue in the mail each month – I delighted in ordering birthday presents from its colourful pages. I saw a book called “God in the Dark” and thought that I would buy it, in case I heard of someone who needed comfort during cancer or loss. The day it arrived, my mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – up until then if you got cancer it was a death sentence, but around this time it began to be “not necessarily the case” so we had some hope she’d make it. As I read this book, it “just so happened” to be the same time as Luci was dealing with her husband’s cancer. It helped me greatly to get through a very uncertain time in my life:
https://booko.com.au/9780310208914/God-in-the-Dark-Through-Grief-and-Beyond
Its amazing how a book can be of help. Its great how sometimes a book comes at just the right time. Thanks for stopping by.