The Books That Shaped My 2022 Story

and why you should read them too

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Author of Life and Author of My Life,

As I begin the reading of this book,
give me a sensitivity to listen,
not just to the story told,
but to the responses of my own heart,
to what I encounter in these pages.

What does it draw out of me? 
What joy? 
What longing?
What fears?
What temptation?
What hope?
What mirth?
What love of beauty?
What awe?
What wonder?
What doubt?
What faith?
What resolve?
What unfinished grief?
What untended wound?
....
So let the honest responses
of my heart to this reading
grant new insight into the story
Your grace is already telling in my own life
that I might be a more willing co-laborer
in that process.

taken from “A Liturgy before Beginning a Book” 

I love these lines from this liturgy in Every Moment Holy by Douglas McKelvey. You really can learn a lot about someone by the books on their shelf (or the items in their grocery cart, but that’s another story). On a quick glance (along with some general assumptions), you can get a feel for, in some way, the answers to questions such as who are they caring for? What are their priorities? What burdens do they carry? What felt needs are they trying to meet? What do they love? Change the “they/their” to “I,” and you can learn a lot about yourself too. ;)

I’ve shared my book lists for the past few years (2019; 2020 part 1; 2020 part 2; 2021), and they really do tell the story of my year. So here ya go — for your own Christmas break or 2023 TBR lists, or for any last-minute Christmas shopping ya need to do. You’re welcome.

• I Was Blind (Dating), But Now I See by Stephanie Rische

  • Despite the cheesy title and slightly dated details (emailing instead of texts and blind dates that are truly blind dates in a time sans social media), this book was SO good. I picked it up at a used bookstore and it’s honestly now one I’ll recommend to others. It’s written in a series of short 1-4 page essays describing the author’s experience as a late-20s Christian single woman, waiting on the Lord for marriage, navigating the aches and pains of bad dates and life changes, and seeing God’s hand of faithfulness in it all. Realistic, funny, and so encouraging! Highly recommend it for single women to read as encouragement and anyone who wants to learn from the author’s experience of waiting on the Lord and holding vulnerable desire in surrender when the answer seems to keep being ‘no’ — no matter what you’re waiting on.

• A Christ-Centered Wedding: Rejoicing in the Gospel on Your Big Day by Catherine Strode Parks & Linda Strode

  • Overall worth the read just because there are so few books like it out there, specifically about the wedding planning process. It’s written by a mother and daughter who share some of their experiences planning the daughter’s wedding as well as walking through the reasoning behind many of our western wedding traditions. There’s a key emphasis throughout on how to make engagement and all of the related festivities, the wedding planning, and the day itself worshipful and pointing ultimately to Christ. Some of it felt “hyper spiritualizing” certain things, though they repeatedly emphasized that there are no “rules” and everything they were sharing was just their own thoughts and ideas. It was helpful to have a mindset shift on how to point to Christ in wedding planning, even in things like bridal showers, choosing how you have in your bridal party, and the wedding itself. Would recommend it for women who are engaged as a light read (and to help think through things you may be forgetting or not know! haha).

• Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World by Jennie Allen

  • While nothing in this book was necessarily “mind-blowing” or new, I found it to be a really helpful perspective shift. Jennie Allen emphasizes the necessity of deep community that’s in close proximity to your daily life and gives a lot of practical ways to create and cultivate those deeper relationships. Helpful and easy-to-read book, especially if you’ve recently moved. ;)

• Becoming Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn

  • Took me a couple of tries to get into this, but once I did, I really enjoyed this book. Elisabeth Elliot is one of my “mentors I’ve never met” (even if I don’t stand by everything she says). Ellen Vaughn (a great biographer!) shares the story of the first half of EE’s life realistically. Whether or not we agree or even like Elliot’s choices, Vaughn does a great job of telling the story of her faith, human struggles, and genuine desire to obey and follow the Lord. There is supposed to be a part two soon, and I can’t wait to get ahold of that too!

• Faithful: A Theology of Sex by Beth Felker Jones

  • Short, readable overview of “the theology of sex” — explanation behind what the Bible says about God’s design and our call today, both as single and married. I liked her writing style and the setup of this book. I discovered this author through an assigned article for a seminary class last year and really like her work!

• Stay Salt by Rebecca Manley Pippert

  • I read her book Out of the Salt Shaker when I was in high school and loved it. I loved this one as well. We read it as a Lead team in my Monday Night BStud. Very practical and encouraging book on sharing the Gospel, with logic, love, stories, and conviction.

• God, Sex, and Your Marriage by Dr. Juli Slattery

  • I loved this book. I’ve heard good things about Dr. Juli Slattery and her ministry Authentic Intimacy, and this book has encouraged me to look more into her podcasts and other books! This book is such a helpful and Biblically-based picture of how God intended the design of sex for marriage — and why. It “deconstructs” some of “purity culture” … not in spite but with Biblical truth, and does not do so in a “throw everything out” way. She explains God’s design for sex within marriage between a husband and wife with the four “pillars” she names and explains as 1) Faithfulness, 2) Intimate Knowing (her explanation of the Hebrew word yada was so good!), 3) Sacrificial Love, and 4) Passionate Celebration. I read this during our engagement, and would definitely recommend this to those engaged, newly married, or long-time married.

• Jesus Through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord by Rebecca McLaughlin

  • I was looking forward to reading this book as soon as I saw the author tweet about her research a couple of years ago. I love Rebecca McLaughlin and her writing. She writes (and speaks) with intelligence, conviction, Biblical and historical research, and helpful (and funny) contemporary analogies. She is fair and clear in demonstrating through the Gospels how Jesus valued women through His interactions and His Spirit’s inclusion of their testimonies as key. There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter that would be helpful for a small group book study on this too.

• Jesus & Gender: Living as Sisters & Brothers in Christ by Elyse Fitzpatrick & Eric Schumacher

  • This book was preceded by Worthy: A Celebration of Women by the same authors, which I haven’t read yet but have heard good things! I have been digging deeper into what my own convictions are on women in the church, as someone with a teaching gift and a desire to be biblically faithful. The more I study, the more I don’t think those things are mutually exclusive, yet there’s still so much more to learn. I enjoyed this book and the authors’ emphasis on the Incarnation of Christ as a key component in this conversation. They advocate for “voluntary humility, reciprocal benevolence, and mutual flourishing.” Some of their arguments seemed a little weak towards the end of the book, but I need to spend some more time digging a little deeper myself. I would recommend this book, and there are discussion questions at the end of the book that would be great for a group!

• She Reads Truth: Holding Tight to Permanent in a World That’s Passing Away by Raechel Myers & Amanda Bible Williams

  • An encouraging read that interweaves two women’s stories — Raechel & Amanda, the founders of She Reads Truth ministry — and points readers to promises from God’s Word. I’ve been working for SRT in a seasonal position this Advent and reading this has given me a greater appreciation and understanding of the SRT studies and podcast.

• Talking Points: Abortion by Dr. Lizzie Ling

  • With the overturn of Roe v. Wade this summer and a lot of conversation surrounding this issue, I was looking for a few easy-to-read resources to recommend. This is a brief read that provides a fairly simple overview of a pro-life perspective on abortion. Yes, it is 100 pages, so it will be just an overview, but I thought some of what they had to say could have been explained more thoroughly. They do provide resources at the end that would be helpful for someone wanting to understand their “talking points” more deeply and the nuanced discussions they lead to. Nothing really profound in this book if you’ve heard any pro-life argument before. The Case for Life is a much more in-depth resource.

• Growing Slow: Lessons on Un-hurrying Your Heart from an Accidental Farm Girl by Jennifer Dukes Lee

  • Not the typical book I’d pick up, but so glad I did. The author shares her story of living on a farm with analogies the Lord has taught her through agriculture. She divides the book into 4 sections by season — Spring, Summer, Fall, & Winter — and some analogies have continued to speak to the “winter” season I’m walking in. Such a good book, especially if you connect well with metaphors!

• Social Sanity in an Insta-World edited by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra

  • To be honest, I thought this book would be a cliche “how to” book on managing social media well. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised and convicted. I read this book so quickly because I needed it. Each chapter is written by a different woman who addresses a different aspect of our relationship with social media, from Jen Wilkin’s chapter on our identity as humans with limitations and Laura Wifler’s chapter on influence and wisdom — Proverb’s Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly personified in social media. It pushed me to “leave” Instagram for a time (and have been much better for it!) and to craft much more intentional rhythms in how I use social media. Written for women, but there are still many practical takeaways for men as well.

• Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman

  • My husband Kyle is going back to school to get an engineering degree, and a Holocaust Literature & Film class was one of his last gen. ed requirements he had to take. I re-read this graphic novel to join in on the fun. haha It tells the true story of the author gathering the story of his parents’ experiences as Holocaust survivors. A graphic novel that’s a bit dark and heavy, but still a good read.

• Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to Be Noticed by Sara Hagerty

  • I was so sad when I finished this book but so grateful for its impact. This was on my shelf for a few years and I could never get into it. Not until I articulated my desire to be seen in a very “hidden” season of transition…and this book spoke to that area of my heart and cultivated such conviction and encouragement. I resonated SO much with the personal stories she wove into the book as she also followed the story of Mary of Bethany pouring oil on Jesus’ feet. So thankful for this book in this season of my life.

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My Omer of Manna

sweet like honey

I got to drive up to Michigan for a quick trip this past weekend and spent quality time with my “Monday night Bstud” women. This group has been such a source of life to me for the past several years, and my Monday nights are not the same! We had a White Elephant Book Exchange, which was honestly the best thing ever. Each person had to bring a new or gently used book they loved. When each book was opened, the person who had brought that shared what it was about and why they loved it. Unlimited steals made it fun too. Highly recommend for your next party — and please invite me to it.

Speaking of books, did you know that Iceland has a tradition called Jolabokaflod (“the Christmas book flood”) where every Christmas Eve families gift books to each other and read them that night with hot chocolate? There’s even an annual book catalog sent to households in November that people use to select books to gift. You can read more about it here and here. I told Kyle that I think I was born in the wrong country and that we’ll 1000% be doing this with our kids.

I’d love to hear what books you loved this year or if any of these books were added to your Amazon cart! ;)