Recent reads.

Star for Jesus (And Other Jobs I Quit): Rediscovering the Grace that Sets Us Free by Kimberly Stuart- We knew Kimberly Stuart when we went lived in Des Moines (over ten years ago) and went to church together. She is funny and friendly and a delight. I also listen to her podcast and I would recommend it, along with this book! I love her stories in this book and how she weaves them in with points about His love and grace for us and how to extend that to the weary world. A great read!

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls- Wow, what a memoir. It's hard to even summarize- it was powerful and hard but good read. What a life she and her family lived. Her parents were deeply dysfunctional and lived in extreme poverty, her siblings and her basically caring for themselves. It's a moving story, filled with emotion, showing deep resilience. It tells of her childhood and growing up into adulthood and making it to New York. It was one of those books that I am very glad I read, but don't want to read again, if that makes sense. 

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar- Wow, another powerful read and one that I am glad I read but don't want to read again, if that sentiment makes sense. I sometimes watched the Duggar family on TLC and loosely followed their family, so I had heard about what happened to Josh (the oldest Duggar brother) and how he had sexually abused some of his sisters awhile back and how he is now currently in prison for child pornography. How deeply sad. She talks about that some in her book, but also talked a lot about how it was growing up in the Duggar family, most specifically with having Jim Bob as her father and things she went through with him- about what it was like being filmed and how the dynamics of that (contracts, payment, time commitment, etc.) affected her. It was a very insightful and honest look into her Duggar perspective, and her bravery in pursuing therapy to work through her issues and try to bring healing to family relationships.