Purging 2

Part of my urge to purge includes "completing" projects. Completing the playroom and transitioning Michelle upstairs was one of those projects. My office is another (it has been in process for about three years, and has improved over time, but still has LOTS of things that need a home/shredder/file so will continue to be in process for awhile). My bedroom is a third, and I am about half-way through with what I am doing there - it is feeling lighter as well, though in general has always been very restful for me because I am very careful to keep excess out in there.

However, this is where my "completing" needs to happen versus purging. I have way too many books stacking up next to my bed again; I continue with a tendency to start reading many books at the same time (whenever one draws my interest). I LOVE books ~ I read often and can spend hours reading (when not playing my new word games addiction). Each night after the kids are in bed and Bo is studying for his classes, I will read and rest with quiet joy/peace. I started "finishing" books awhile back, which helped, but I started so many recently that it needed to be a focused effort. I re-started recently and have begun to make a dent in the piles.

I received a book called "More Whispers of Angels" for Christmas which I loved and read quite quickly (little vignettes that bring our attention to God's hand in our everyday lives). I also finished three novels in a series I had started (six total; these were the last three). But those books don't really count to me as I always read novel type books very quickly. It is the ones that are informational or teaching oriented that I take longer with, though still enjoy immensely. I would say 80 to 90 percent of what I read falls in this category. I have also challenged myself to continue to read the bible through EACH year since I finished last year, as I tend to read the new testament much more than the old, in general, when doing devotions.

I have now finished "How To Forgive...When You Don't Feel Like It" by June Hunt (which I started almost a year ago, then put aside; it is/was a very good book with much food for meditative thought and lots of scripture which I appreciated). and "The Excellent Wife" by Martha Peace ~ which also was a book I started nearly a year ago, but put aside. It, too, was an excellent tool for learning and encouragement.

The last book I re-started after many months of rest was "The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life" by Charles Spurgeon. This book is meaty and each chapter took a long time for me to read (relative to my normal speed) as I tended to have to focus more closely on what he was trying to convey. I had stopped reading it because of fatigue (fatigue in my life for deep topics that took too much out of me ~ which was the same with the other two books) but I had a fresh wind recently and was renewed in my yearnings for prayer as an ongoing part of each day ~ some really neat quotes from his book included:

"Faith is not believing fanatically but believing the truth. There is a wonderful difference between believing your imaginations and believing what God has distinctly promised. Faith and imagination are two very different things. God keeps us from the falsehood of folly and leads us into the truth of wisdom! "

"How can the ways of the world be followed and the communion with God maintained?...If we could but stand on this earth as upon a mere shadow and live as those who will soon be done with this poor transient life! If we held every earthly thing with a very loose hand, we would not be caring and worrying and fretting, but we would be praying, for thus we grasp the real, the substantial, and plant our feet upon the invisible - which is, after all, the eternal."

I have also been reading many Jerry Bridges books; "The Discipline of Grace" is one I recently finished (also "Respectable Sins, Confronting the sins we all tolerate" which was great). I will post on it at another time - I am really getting a lot out of how this author shares the gospel message and expands upon it's truths.

Praise God for Books! :-)