Thursday, September 26, 2013

Every Waking Moment by Chris Fabry

Chris Fabry is one of my favorite authors so I was very excited to have the opportunity to review his book, Every Waking Moment.    Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a free copy of this book to review.

It seems that Mr. Fabry is one of those authors who writes books that speak to me personally in one way or another.  Every one of his books has touched me in a different way.  From Borders of the Heart , which spoke to me about a calling to ESL ministry, to Almost Heaven, which spoke to the musician heart in me.
Now he has written a book that has spoken to me in my calling as a social worker who works with the elderly and disabled.
I love doing book reviews but I also do not want to spoil the book for those who will read it in the future!
This book was 5 stars!!!  A nursing home is the setting with a caring lady who is preparing to leave the job she has there.  She has discovered in her time working with the elderly a very unusual worker who is somewhat disabled in her own ways but who has a gift for connecting with those who have dementia or Alzheimer's and being able to bring back the person who is "lost" inside.

Of course, there had to be a "bad guy" and the new lady who takes over the nursing home had me just aching for her to do something wrong so she could be fired from the place!  The character development in this book is excellent.

The main character Treha is an enigma from the beginning.  She has a special connection with others but seemingly an inability to express her own emotions.  She is smart and yet simple at the same time.

The residents in the nursing home love her.  I loved getting to know the residents.  Part of my job is visiting the elderly and disabled and hearing their stories of life is one of the favorite parts of my day.  Mr. Fabry is able to combine stories within a story by giving us individual stories of the residents as a part of the whole picture.  He shows how the elderly, the disabled and those who we may overlook or dismiss as "slow or simple" have their own life story as we do....if we put ourselves in the other person's shoes and listen to them share about their life, we come away from the conversation with more love, respect, and understanding.

I suggest you get this book, read it and re-read it.  An awesome book!  I know I did not talk a whole lot about the story but it is one of those that you really just need to read yourself and enjoy word by word, sentence by sentence.  At the end you will be glad that I didn't spoil any details for you :)  I tried to read it slowly, to make it last, but I just couldn't...it was that good. :)



Friday, September 6, 2013

Sent by Hilary Alan

 The book is entitled Sent.  This book is a special book to me because it deals with a "regular" American family who willingly gave up some hopes and dreams in order to do what God called them to do.
So many times we think , "I can't do that or I can't go there."  But it just isn't true.  We can do what God calls us to do and the Alan family in this story reminds me of just that.
It was interesting to me, being from NC, that they were from NC as well.
This book is not just the good parts of following the Lord...it covers the hard parts too.  The times when you just don't understand why He called you to a certain place or a certain activity, but you trust Him anyway.
Very inspiring story.  If you are considering the ministry, considering going on a mission trip, feeling the call of the Lord on your heart to do or go...then read this book.  It will be a blessing to you!
I provided this honest review in exchange for a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books.